This article is part of Mochi’s winter 2023 issue, exploring what “environment” means to us as Asian Americans. From the environmentally friendly to your workplace, favorite neighborhood bar, or ethnic enclave — our environments are all that surrounds us, influences us and makes us who we are. Check out the rest of our issue here!
The first Chinatown I visited was nestled in Los Angeles, a city within a city, with lanterns as round as clementines strung across the sky and golden dragons crowning metal gates. Though I did not live there, it was a place of physical connection, one that offered the same meals my mom cooked and the same groceries we grew up buying.
Everyone has a different conception of Chinatown, whether it’s a bustling urban center or a smaller, sleepier enclave. Chinatown was where I would go to volunteer. Others might see it as a place to explore, or the destination of a day trip for cheap dim sum. Many others call it home.
The history of many Chinatowns dates back to the generations of Chinese immigrants who tried to sew themselves into the American fabric. Groceries, restaurants, and laundries, among other businesses, offered a second sanctuary to laborers who left their first home behind. But despite their vitality, Chinatowns were often misrepresented as exotic and crime-ridden, further stoking the anti-Chinese sentiments rampant in the 19th century.
Now, Chinatowns face even newer, present-day challenges. Gentrification, development, and issues existing long before the pandemic uprooted small businesses and safety, threaten to misplace lower-income residents who depend on the neighborhood for their necessities. Debt, rising living costs, and anti-Asian hate leave many without the support, security, and stability they had years earlier.
But just as the challenges seem endless, so too do the solutions. The first Chinatowns were necessitated by adversity; the resilience flowing through veiny streets and alleyways lives on today….
Read the full article here
