There are more than 50 Chinatowns of all sizes spread across the
United States, on the surface, they're vibrant cities within a city
like New York, San Francisco, Chicago and Boston, bustling with tourists
and natives seeking authentic cuisines like hot pot and dim sum,
herbal medicines and tchotchkes. Chinatown is vibrant. There's so much energy. The energy truly is natural in the neighborhood. And that's because you have people coming from all parts of the
world, whether they're first-time visitors or identify as Asian-Americans who
want to get some great food or just feel connected to a community where they feel that
sense of belonging . But Chinatowns weren't always the tourist hubs we know them to be
today, what most visitors see is just one side of their longstanding history
as a cultural tourist destination and transforming an ethnic neighborhood into
a destination wasn't without its challenges. The story of how Chinatown originated lies within a strategy
that Asian immigrants formulated to preserve elements of their culture and
create a safe haven to escape from persecution. These distinct enclaves were created with little to no help from
local governments. The Chinese themselves started to acquire buildings, creating
business networks that would grow Chinatown to actually be a very
desirable place to live today. That was without government subsidies. That was without anything other than the ingenuity of the
Chinese people themselves. Today, this unique Asian-American cultural hub is coming under
threat from xenophobia, the pandemic and government inaction. The pandemic has taken a heavy economic toll on minority owned
businesses. Asian-Americans have been hit the hardest. This has sparked a wave of activism, with support spanning across
several generations to preserve a legacy. Chinatowns appeared early on after the arrival of Chinese in the
United States for the same reason as many other ethnic communities
formed, that is to say, they serve as a place of comfort, familiarity, sometimes security for
newly arrived people. In 1850, at the height of the California Gold Rush. San Francisco became a port of entry to the first Chinese
immigrants hired for cheap labor. Over the next 10 years, a wave of 25,000 Chinese immigrants came to the United States, most notably for the backbreaking
work of laying train tracks for the Transcontinental Pacific Railroad. Initially, the Chinese were welcome in the business people. The capitalists wanted the Chinese to come to develop
the West. Most of the infrastructure of California were built by the
Chinese, including like the roads to Yosemite. Then, in 1873, a long recession hit and Asian Americans were scapegoated, creating a wave of anti-Asian backlash, which
also became reflected in legislation. The Chinese being perceived as being too competitive and willing to work for too long of a wage. And so you have all this violence and these laws to keep out the Chinese to lessen the competition. The Chinese communities also began to serve as places of security
from discrimination and violence that they faced. America's first fledged Chinatown became a safe haven for Chinese
immigrants, and since it was located in the heart of San Francisco, it
quickly became a hub for trade and commerce. But then came the Great 1906 San Francisco earthquake. After the earthquake. City Hall wanted to get rid of the Chinese because of Chinatown
is a very valuable location, part of downtown. But some entrepreneurial minded immigrants saw an opportunity in
attracting visitors through its unique food and culture and commissioned
architects to make the neighborhood more inviting. The Chinese hired white contractors and architects to do this. And this is one reason why City Hall allowed
Chinatown to be there. Faux Chinese architecture appeared with upturned roofs and temple like filios on top of buildings and the use of
colors unusual for the rest of part of the city to actually sel
f-exoticize the Chinese community. So it was a vacation right in your old town, basically, and the Chinese pushed for that, The model of the American Chinatown has been replicated across
America and around the world. Today, there are over a hundred Chinatowns
internationally. The rise of tourism helped Chinese communities save their
neighborhoods. As cities expanded, so did their Chinatowns. But rising property values in some of America's most popular
cities are creating tension between the community, its residents and city
governments. Historically, Chinatowns were seen as ghettos for low income
workers. Today, Chinatowns in their residents continue to be targeted for
occupying prime real estate, excluding them from funding initiatives which
affect some of the city's most vulnerable elderly populations. And you forget that Chinatown, it's a community. It's home to a significant amount of seniors as well, and it's
its own ecosystem. But when you look at Chinatown and how it has
been represented in the past decade, it's a tourist destination. And when we accelerate gentrification, we're losing a sense of
community that is vital. We are at this confluence of commerce, but also it comes with a
price. There's a frustration that we have in Chinatown. When politicians come to visit us in Chinatown, they shake hands
with our business owners and our residents. But when it really comes down to helping us, somehow
we're still forgotten. Take the Chinatown in Manhattan, for example. The small business services of New York City pulled out a 35
million dollar interest free loan to help low income neighborhoods of color. But when they divided up the funds by zip code, parts of
Chinatown were folded into Tribeca, one of the wealthiest neighborhoods in the world where the
average household income is nearly eight hundred and eighty thousand dollars. We are essentially a low-income community. Still, 27 percent of everyone over the age of 65 in Chinatown
lives under the poverty line. There's a large number of those people who have
mobility issues and a larger number of those people who live alone. The pandemic has also been financially and emotionally
devastating to America's Chinatowns, which store owners reported a 50 to 80 percent
reduction of foot traffic during the height of the pandemic and when
things seemed like they couldn't get any worse... The Chinese virus. Kung-Flu. The rise in violence against Asian Americans, Hundreds of attacks against Asians across the country
since the pandemic began, The wave of attacks on people of Asian descent from the
Chinatowns of the Bay Area clear across the country to New York. Every Chinese community in the in the mid and far west became
targets of violence and they were just destroyed. So they became places of directed anger. And in some sense, both those continue to exist today. Today, the Asian-American community is facing a disturbing spike
in violent attacks propelled by anti-Asian rhetoric, coupled with a sharp
decline in business. This has caused Chinatowns, their residents and businesses to
suffer. Their business depends a lot on tourism and foot traffic and with travel restrictions, coupled with the xenophobia that
rose from the pandemic. Those two factors together started really affecting the small
businesses. The younger generation of Chinatown is stepping up to organize
funding efforts where the government has fallen short. The organization said Chinatown Love is helping to digitize cash
only storefronts. And Welcome to Chinatown has raised over a million
dollars for small businesses As Asian-American women, part of the reason why we love living
here in Chinatown is because we feel so much connection to our identity. And so for that, that's why we just felt compelled to do
something about it. There's a lot of small businesses that keep this community's
ecosystem going. Anything that you need from copying your keys to buying, like
really fresh produce, it's here. For as long as they've existed, Chinatowns have always been under
threat, but this resilience to overcome decades of violence lie in the
ingenuity of people, in the support of generations that have fought for it to
survive. Ethnic enclaves like Chinatown, there's so much immigrant grit,
they create the vibrancy and the backdrop to what celebrates American being this diverse place.
