Researcher: Ayaan Virk

As we walked down Chinatown, I was immersed by the various stores from bakeries, to restaurants, to general convince stores. On a single street, you could feel the cultural influence in every shop. It made me wonder, how did this cultural enclave initially form and how they usually end up forming.

To tackle this task, I did research on how Chinatown came to be formed itself. It started in the 1850s with the Gold Rush, in which tens of thousands of Chinese people came to California seeking gold. However, due to heavy amounts of discrimination and stemming from that, lack of opportunities, many went East and ended up in New York City. It was around the 1870s when a decent sum of Chinese people settled around the Five Points near Mott Street. This was the seeds for Chinatown’s beginning.

From here, Chinatown had a hand laundry boom. Essentially these were laundromats with illegally smuggled Chinese workers who needed jobs, hand washing clothing. This boom brought jobs, economic prosperity, ands solidified Chinatown as a significant place. More importantly, the shared culture of people that were Chinese drew them to live there as it was the closest part of New York to their native country. Here they tasted their own foods, saw their own people, and felt their culture. Although they faced discrimination and acts such as the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, the residents of Chinatown stood strong and continued to expand. As a result more businesses formed in terms of import/export, restaurants, and more. Eventually it lead to the Chinatown we know of today. A little history aside, I did some research on the conflicts between Little Italy and Chinatown as I found that fascinating!

The reason the Italians and Chinese initially had great conflicts was due to competition amongst each other. They felt the other was stealing their jobs, places for them to live, and all their opportunities. This lead to an “us vs. them” mentality. Cultural differences and gang activity also fostered conflict among the two. I tried finding some stories/information about the Chinese vs Italian gangs but not much came up. The history overall was very intriguing! It was awesome to see how a small community overcame discrimination to form when of the greatest cultural enclaves in NYC.