Our Stories, Our Chinatown Landmarks is an ongoing audio exploration of memory and place, produced by Think!Chinatown. Through a story stroll around the neighborhood, we visit and remember our community members’ own personal landmarks and memories in Manhattan’s Chinatown. Our Stories, Our Chinatown Landmarks is a part of Chinatown Arts Festival 2023, produced by Think!Chinatown.

Welcome to Chinatown, Manhattan! One of over 50 Chinatowns in the U.S. and nine in New York City alone, Manhattan’s Chinatown is home to the largest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere. The story of Manhattan’s Chinatown begins in the middle of the 19th century. Immigration to the US from Asian countries, especially China, boomed due to factors such as the California gold rush, Chinese labor recruitment for the transcontinental railroad, and the Taiping rebellion in China. Post Civil War, resentment towards Chinese immigrants due to competition with white laborers drove members of the Chinese population towards larger cities in the East, such as New York, with the added incentive of job opportunities and a more diverse population. Chinatown was born as Chinese New Yorkers, mostly men, settled around Mott, Pell, and Doyer streets in the 1870s, forming a Chinatown of only 3-blocks which, when compared to the 55-60 block span of today’s Chinatown, creates a clear image of Chinatown’s impending growth. Though the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 along with other exclusionary laws passed by Congress slowed Chinatown’s population growth, its cultural development was not impeded, with many notable business and organization establishments taking place between the passing of the act in 1882 and its lifting in 1943. The Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 led to a dramatic population increase of Chinatown, with its boundaries expanding to an approximately 55-block area. Immigration groups shifted–where early Chinatown had been primarily populated by Taishanese-speaking Chinese immigrants, the second half of the 20th century saw a wave of Cantonese speaking Chinese immigrants from Mainland China followed by Mandarin-speaking Taiwanese immigrants and other Non-Cantonese immigrants in the 70’s and Mandarin-speaking immigrants from Fuzhou in the 80’s and 90’s. In recent decades, the vibrant community of Chinatown has been impacted by modern issues facing both New York City and the rest of the world. Gentrification and displacement have become increasingly prevalent throughout the past few decades, with luxury developments threatening to raise real estate prices and push out working class residents and longstanding family businesses. Chinatown was also hit hard by the Covid-19 pandemic, with businesses being affected as early as January 2020 due to stereotypes and racism surrounding Asian and specifically Chinese communities, and a 361% increase in anti-Asian hate crimes in 2021. Despite the challenges that have impacted Chinatown both then and now, it has remained rich in culture and community, and its resilience and character has cemented its importance in the past and present both in New York and throughout the country and world.