New York City's Chinatown

New York City's Chinatown




New York City's Chinatown is located in the borough of Manhattan. Chinatown is an ethnic neighborhood and is rivaled only by San Francisco's Chinatown as the best in America. Chinatown is Located in New York City's had ethnic enclaves of Italians, Irish, Jews and Germans. Manhattan's Chinatown's borders were traditionally held to be between The Bowery, Canal Street, Worth Street and Baxter Street. However since the 1970's Chinatown has continued to expand engulfing areas which were once considered to be part of Little Italy and Tribeca. It has become the largest Chinese neighborhood in Western Hemisphere.



Chinatown initially began to thrive with the arrival of Chinese laborers in the mid 1800's. These poor laborers flocked to America to build the Transcontinental Railroad. The workers were paid poorly and often could only send for their families after many years of work. Chinatown was therefore historically male dominated and faced chronic shortages of females. Ah Ken was credited as the first permanent Chinese man to emigrate to Chinatown circa 1860. Chinese businesses began to spring up around his initial cigar store. Chinese businesses included laundries, Chinese restaurant's serving Cantonese cuisine and retail stores. Bloody gang wars were fought by the Chinese Tongs or gangs in the area. Smaller ethic areas of Vietnamese and other asian group exist within Chinatown as well. A variety of languages such as Cantonese, Mandarin and Min.