Top largest Chinatowns
June 15, 2011 5:26 PM Subscribe
Top 15 Chinatowns in North America based on size?
Can anyone list the top 15 largest Chinatowns in North America? I know of New York, San Francisco, Boston, Toronto, Vancouver and Chicago, already. I am also aware of the multiple Chinatowns located in a single city. List 15 after that.
Can anyone list the top 15 largest Chinatowns in North America? I know of New York, San Francisco, Boston, Toronto, Vancouver and Chicago, already. I am also aware of the multiple Chinatowns located in a single city. List 15 after that.
Does the entire San Gabriel Valley count? Los Angeles has a "Chinatown", but Rosemead, Monterey Park, Alhambra et al have 100s of thousands of Chinese.
posted by Ideefixe at 5:37 PM on June 15, 2011
posted by Ideefixe at 5:37 PM on June 15, 2011
Do you mean the kitschy kind of Chinatown? Because Toronto has a pair of small ones, but a huuuuge area to the North of the city which has little to no English signs for blocks on end.
posted by jlunar at 5:59 PM on June 15, 2011
posted by jlunar at 5:59 PM on June 15, 2011
It might help to define Chinatown. Is it an area with a high density of ethnically Chinese? Is it the official Chinatown with the signs and pagodas and whatnot? As mentioned, Los Angeles has a Chinatown, but the population that lives there is much much smaller than that of the majority Chinese towns in the San Gabriel Valley. Also do you mean large as in population or land?
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 6:18 PM on June 15, 2011
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 6:18 PM on June 15, 2011
Response by poster: I mean large population-wise. In New York City, large populations of Chinese live in Sunset Park and Bensonhurst in Brooklyn, Elmhurst and Flushing in Queens, and of course the Chinatown in Manhattan.
posted by ayc200 at 6:22 PM on June 15, 2011
posted by ayc200 at 6:22 PM on June 15, 2011
To quote the SGV wikpedia entry:
The San Gabriel Valley has the largest concentration of Chinese American communities in the United States.[18] Eight of the ten cities in the United States with the largest proportion of Chinese Americans are located in the San Gabriel Valley.[18] According to a 2004 report by the Asian-Pacific American Legal Center, the cities of Walnut, San Gabriel, San Marino, Rosemead and Monterey Park contain an Asian American majority.[19] Many "new "Chinatowns have been established in many cities in the SGV reflecting the rich heritage brought to the Southland.
I don't know anyone who refers to the SGV as any sort of Chinatown.
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 6:22 PM on June 15, 2011
The San Gabriel Valley has the largest concentration of Chinese American communities in the United States.[18] Eight of the ten cities in the United States with the largest proportion of Chinese Americans are located in the San Gabriel Valley.[18] According to a 2004 report by the Asian-Pacific American Legal Center, the cities of Walnut, San Gabriel, San Marino, Rosemead and Monterey Park contain an Asian American majority.[19] Many "new "Chinatowns have been established in many cities in the SGV reflecting the rich heritage brought to the Southland.
I don't know anyone who refers to the SGV as any sort of Chinatown.
posted by mandymanwasregistered at 6:22 PM on June 15, 2011
Data point: that Wikipedia page's section about Houston totally neglects to mention the new Chinatown on the west side, on Bellaire near the Beltway. So no telling what other inaccuracies it contains.
posted by MexicanYenta at 6:39 PM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by MexicanYenta at 6:39 PM on June 15, 2011 [1 favorite]
I think you may run into some problems with the word 'Chinatown'. To me it implies an ethnic group either limiting itself or being limited to a certain area. It's like referring to Manhattan as having the largest Ghetto in American because of all the Jews who live there.
posted by benito.strauss at 7:10 AM on June 16, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by benito.strauss at 7:10 AM on June 16, 2011 [1 favorite]
I think you may run into some problems with the word 'Chinatown'. To me it implies an ethnic group either limiting itself or being limited to a certain area.
Except that cities have places that call themselves "Chinatown". I don't think anyone believes that Chinese people in Oakland are only allowed to live in Chinatown.
What's not clear is what ayc200 is looking for- Oakland has lots of Chinese people, but they don't all live in it's official "Chinatown". I think census districts are only broken down into "Asian American", so that's pretty unhelpful (many Mongolians, Hmong, Vietnamese, and Koreans live in/near Oakland Chinatown).
posted by oneirodynia at 8:32 AM on June 16, 2011
Except that cities have places that call themselves "Chinatown". I don't think anyone believes that Chinese people in Oakland are only allowed to live in Chinatown.
What's not clear is what ayc200 is looking for- Oakland has lots of Chinese people, but they don't all live in it's official "Chinatown". I think census districts are only broken down into "Asian American", so that's pretty unhelpful (many Mongolians, Hmong, Vietnamese, and Koreans live in/near Oakland Chinatown).
posted by oneirodynia at 8:32 AM on June 16, 2011
I would think the one in NYC has to be on that list. It is slowly expanding also.
posted by majortom1981 at 12:02 PM on June 16, 2011
posted by majortom1981 at 12:02 PM on June 16, 2011
Except that cities have places that call themselves "Chinatown" ... What's not clear is what ayc200 is looking for
I agree. You can list the self-declared Chinatowns out there, but that's going to be very different from the greatest concentrations of Chinese-Americans (or Chinese-Canadians). Like jluna points out.
posted by benito.strauss at 1:25 PM on June 16, 2011
I agree. You can list the self-declared Chinatowns out there, but that's going to be very different from the greatest concentrations of Chinese-Americans (or Chinese-Canadians). Like jluna points out.
posted by benito.strauss at 1:25 PM on June 16, 2011
Among Canadian CMAs, the three with the largest Chinese populations are Vancouver, Toronto and Calgary, if that helps, and they also have the largest "Chinatowns" in Canada, though cities (not CMAs) like Richmond BC and Markham ON have the largest Chinese populations, per capita, in North America.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 3:15 PM on June 16, 2011
posted by ethnomethodologist at 3:15 PM on June 16, 2011
...and no, Montreal wouldn't be on that list. Only one-fourth the Chinese population of Calgary, as a percentage if its population.
posted by ethnomethodologist at 3:17 PM on June 16, 2011
posted by ethnomethodologist at 3:17 PM on June 16, 2011
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