Friday, January 20, 2012
Chinatown in the Wane
Urban US Chinatowns wane as Asians head to suburbs
America's historic Chinatowns, home for a
century to immigrants seeking social support and refuge from racism, are
fading as rising living costs, jobs elsewhere and a desire for wider
spaces lure Asian-Americans more than ever to the suburbs.
Associated Press
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WASHINGTON — America's historic Chinatowns, home for a century
to immigrants seeking social support and refuge from racism, are fading
as rising living costs, jobs elsewhere and a desire for wider spaces
lure Asian-Americans more than ever to the suburbs.
As the Lunar New Year begins Monday, annual festivities in Washington, D.C.'s shriveled Chinatown are, for the first time, being promoted by a large marketing firm. New York's Chinatown, one of the nation's oldest, has lost its status as home to the city's largest Chinese population, based on the 2010 census.
Shifts also are under way in Los Angeles, Boston, Houston, San Francisco and Seattle, where shiny new "satellite Chinatowns" in the suburbs and outer city limits rival if not overshadow the originals.
"The traditional Chinatown is changing, and in most cities it is no longer the residential, political and cultural center of Asian-American life that it once was," said Wei Li, an Arizona State University professor who chairs the Census Bureau's advisory committee on the Asian population.
She explained that urban Chinatowns continue to serve a role for newly arrived immigrants with less education or lower skills who seek entry-level work, as well as for elderly residents with poor English skills who can't drive. But middle-class families are almost nowhere to be found, and in many cities, rising downtown property costs and urban gentrification threaten their traditional existence.
"Some have become functional as tourist attractions," Li said.
Signs of Chinatown decline can be seen in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, home to the nation's largest Asian-American population at 1.9 million. There, Monterey Park, deemed part of an "ethnoburb" outside Los Angeles after it became majority Asian-American in the 1990s, has long been a first stopping point for newly arrived Chinese seeking bigger houses away from downtown Los Angeles.
Due to fast growth, the Asian-American suburban population has spread to other areas of California's San Gabriel Valley and more recently to Irvine, where their share of the population jumped from 30 to 39 percent over the last decade.
"Irvine is one of the new wave of Asian communities, but it is not overtly Chinatown," said Ralph Lee, 28, of Irvine. Lee, whose immigrant parents reared him in the affluent seaside community of Newport Beach, Calif., has never been to the Los Angeles Chinatown.
Nationwide, about 62 percent of Asian-Americans in the nation's large metropolitan areas live in the suburbs, up from 54 percent in 1990 and the highest ever. Tied with Hispanics as the fastest-growing group, the nation's 4.4 million Asians are more likely than other minorities to live in the suburbs; only whites, at 78 percent, are higher.
Since 2000, nearly three-fourths of Asian population growth in the U.S. occurred in suburbs, many of them in the South.
"While the general image of Asians is associated with Chinatowns, Koreatowns or urban neighborhoods with Indian restaurants, the majority of all major Asian groups now live in the suburbs," said William H. Frey, a demographer at Brookings Institution, who reviewed the census data. "Suburban living is still the American dream for most minorities in the U.S. and a sign of `making it,' and better schools are also a draw."
It wasn't always that way.
The first neighborhoods known as Chinatowns emerged in the 1800s during the Gold Rush and the building of railroads. After the work was done, a shortage of jobs led Congress to pass a law in 1882 banning the entry of new Chinese laborers. Seeking refuge, many Chinese in the U.S. avoided jobs that directly competed with white labor and opened laundries and restaurants in urban Chinatowns.
The neighborhoods prospered for much of the 20th century after the ban was lifted, before a loosening of federal immigration laws in 1965. That spurred waves of Asian immigrants in subsequent decades who filled existing Chinatowns and pushed new growth of communities elsewhere.
Today, lower-income immigrant families are now more apt to move to outer city areas in Flushing, Queens, or Sunset Park, Brooklyn, than New York's Chinatown, drawn by affordability and wider spaces. More immigrants, especially those who are affluent or hold college degrees, are heading straight to suburbs in the South including Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and Texas, where high-tech or manufacturing jobs are in greater supply.
The shifting migration is spurring development of new mini-Chinatowns in the suburbs and South, typically large shopping malls where residents living in subdivisions miles away can get a day of cultural community at the hair salon, Dim Sum restaurant or Asian supermarket.
"The movement from big-city ethnic enclaves suggests that discrimination and other barriers to upward mobility have declined," said Daniel Lichter, a Cornell University sociology professor who is president of the nonprofit Population Association of America. Still, traditional Chinatowns aren't necessarily going away, he says, comparing them to pockets of "Little Italy" where Americans of all backgrounds now shop and eat.
"Chinatown may change from being strictly safe havens for new Asian immigrants to serving America's never-ending appetite for new cultural experiences," Lichter said.
In the Washington, D.C., metro area, which has a population of one-half million Asian-Americans, fewer than 500 Asians live in Chinatown, down from around 3,000 in 1970. Once a close-knit community of modest shops and rowhouses, it now has become known more for a sports arena, high-rise luxury apartments and national chains including Starbucks, Bed Bath & Beyond and Hooters.
The Chinese residents have scattered to large Asian communities in suburban Montgomery County, Md., and Fairfax County, Va. Many who remain are elderly and live in federally subsidized housing, taking vans several times a week to Great Wall, a Chinese supermarket in suburban Falls Church, Va., so they can buy groceries.
"I'm not going to deny that Chinatown is shrinking," said Soohyun "Julie" Koo, director of the district's Office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs, who lives blocks away and is advising the planners of next week's Chinese New Year parade. Parade organizers recently told a local paper they had decided in the Year of the Dragon - a symbol of power - that it was time to think big to attract sponsors and promote the neighborhood's heritage.
Shirley Woo, 62, a district native who now lives in Fairfax, Va., has been visiting Chinatown since childhood. Her Chinese immigrant parents owned a laundromat in the city and would socialize with friends and dine there. But outside Chinatown, their options were limited, and she remembers taking trips to New York to stock up on groceries and other staples.
Now, she said, her mother lives in Silver Spring, Md., and has several nearby options that serve authentic Cantonese cuisine.
"Most people don't go down there to eat anyway," Woo said. "You don't think of Chinatown as having the best Chinese food."
---
Associated Press writer Amy Taxin in Irvine, Calif., contributed to this report.
---
Online: http://www.census.gov
As the Lunar New Year begins Monday, annual festivities in Washington, D.C.'s shriveled Chinatown are, for the first time, being promoted by a large marketing firm. New York's Chinatown, one of the nation's oldest, has lost its status as home to the city's largest Chinese population, based on the 2010 census.
Shifts also are under way in Los Angeles, Boston, Houston, San Francisco and Seattle, where shiny new "satellite Chinatowns" in the suburbs and outer city limits rival if not overshadow the originals.
"The traditional Chinatown is changing, and in most cities it is no longer the residential, political and cultural center of Asian-American life that it once was," said Wei Li, an Arizona State University professor who chairs the Census Bureau's advisory committee on the Asian population.
She explained that urban Chinatowns continue to serve a role for newly arrived immigrants with less education or lower skills who seek entry-level work, as well as for elderly residents with poor English skills who can't drive. But middle-class families are almost nowhere to be found, and in many cities, rising downtown property costs and urban gentrification threaten their traditional existence.
"Some have become functional as tourist attractions," Li said.
Signs of Chinatown decline can be seen in the Los Angeles metropolitan area, home to the nation's largest Asian-American population at 1.9 million. There, Monterey Park, deemed part of an "ethnoburb" outside Los Angeles after it became majority Asian-American in the 1990s, has long been a first stopping point for newly arrived Chinese seeking bigger houses away from downtown Los Angeles.
Due to fast growth, the Asian-American suburban population has spread to other areas of California's San Gabriel Valley and more recently to Irvine, where their share of the population jumped from 30 to 39 percent over the last decade.
"Irvine is one of the new wave of Asian communities, but it is not overtly Chinatown," said Ralph Lee, 28, of Irvine. Lee, whose immigrant parents reared him in the affluent seaside community of Newport Beach, Calif., has never been to the Los Angeles Chinatown.
Nationwide, about 62 percent of Asian-Americans in the nation's large metropolitan areas live in the suburbs, up from 54 percent in 1990 and the highest ever. Tied with Hispanics as the fastest-growing group, the nation's 4.4 million Asians are more likely than other minorities to live in the suburbs; only whites, at 78 percent, are higher.
Since 2000, nearly three-fourths of Asian population growth in the U.S. occurred in suburbs, many of them in the South.
"While the general image of Asians is associated with Chinatowns, Koreatowns or urban neighborhoods with Indian restaurants, the majority of all major Asian groups now live in the suburbs," said William H. Frey, a demographer at Brookings Institution, who reviewed the census data. "Suburban living is still the American dream for most minorities in the U.S. and a sign of `making it,' and better schools are also a draw."
It wasn't always that way.
The first neighborhoods known as Chinatowns emerged in the 1800s during the Gold Rush and the building of railroads. After the work was done, a shortage of jobs led Congress to pass a law in 1882 banning the entry of new Chinese laborers. Seeking refuge, many Chinese in the U.S. avoided jobs that directly competed with white labor and opened laundries and restaurants in urban Chinatowns.
The neighborhoods prospered for much of the 20th century after the ban was lifted, before a loosening of federal immigration laws in 1965. That spurred waves of Asian immigrants in subsequent decades who filled existing Chinatowns and pushed new growth of communities elsewhere.
Today, lower-income immigrant families are now more apt to move to outer city areas in Flushing, Queens, or Sunset Park, Brooklyn, than New York's Chinatown, drawn by affordability and wider spaces. More immigrants, especially those who are affluent or hold college degrees, are heading straight to suburbs in the South including Florida, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and Texas, where high-tech or manufacturing jobs are in greater supply.
The shifting migration is spurring development of new mini-Chinatowns in the suburbs and South, typically large shopping malls where residents living in subdivisions miles away can get a day of cultural community at the hair salon, Dim Sum restaurant or Asian supermarket.
"The movement from big-city ethnic enclaves suggests that discrimination and other barriers to upward mobility have declined," said Daniel Lichter, a Cornell University sociology professor who is president of the nonprofit Population Association of America. Still, traditional Chinatowns aren't necessarily going away, he says, comparing them to pockets of "Little Italy" where Americans of all backgrounds now shop and eat.
"Chinatown may change from being strictly safe havens for new Asian immigrants to serving America's never-ending appetite for new cultural experiences," Lichter said.
In the Washington, D.C., metro area, which has a population of one-half million Asian-Americans, fewer than 500 Asians live in Chinatown, down from around 3,000 in 1970. Once a close-knit community of modest shops and rowhouses, it now has become known more for a sports arena, high-rise luxury apartments and national chains including Starbucks, Bed Bath & Beyond and Hooters.
The Chinese residents have scattered to large Asian communities in suburban Montgomery County, Md., and Fairfax County, Va. Many who remain are elderly and live in federally subsidized housing, taking vans several times a week to Great Wall, a Chinese supermarket in suburban Falls Church, Va., so they can buy groceries.
"I'm not going to deny that Chinatown is shrinking," said Soohyun "Julie" Koo, director of the district's Office on Asian and Pacific Islander Affairs, who lives blocks away and is advising the planners of next week's Chinese New Year parade. Parade organizers recently told a local paper they had decided in the Year of the Dragon - a symbol of power - that it was time to think big to attract sponsors and promote the neighborhood's heritage.
Shirley Woo, 62, a district native who now lives in Fairfax, Va., has been visiting Chinatown since childhood. Her Chinese immigrant parents owned a laundromat in the city and would socialize with friends and dine there. But outside Chinatown, their options were limited, and she remembers taking trips to New York to stock up on groceries and other staples.
Now, she said, her mother lives in Silver Spring, Md., and has several nearby options that serve authentic Cantonese cuisine.
"Most people don't go down there to eat anyway," Woo said. "You don't think of Chinatown as having the best Chinese food."
---
Associated Press writer Amy Taxin in Irvine, Calif., contributed to this report.
---
Online: http://www.census.gov
comments to Chinatown in the Wane
Safety should be the highest
priority. Local Chinese merchants should promote safety and community
events. Hidden by the facade of pagoda lanterns and dragons on utility
posts and the useless entrance gate at King Street and Fifth Avenue
South, there are old people and young children who are virtual prisoners
of their tenement rooms. The city should not use Chinatown as a dumping
ground for the homeless, the drug users, the inebriates and the
hardcore street people, but instead, should come up with a comprehensive
plan to solve social problems in a otherwise beautiful city. To put it
very plainly, the city, the entire city, belongs to the people, all the
people. No one should be allowed to be intimidated, harassed, or defiled
anywhere in the city, Chinatown or elsewhere. Police should do police
work, citizens should be good citizens, the corrupt elements should be
rounded up and send to prisons or whatever corner of the world in which
they can fester by themselves and not intimidate peaceful people of all
persuasions and income levels.
The point here is that less Asians
are living in segregated ghettos. This is a good thing. People are
mixing more, living next to people of other races, intermarrying. There
are still a few good restaurants down there, but I wouldn't expect, or
hope for Asians to start segregating themselves again. It would be cool
for the city or some developer to focus on making it more of a tourist
attraction and historic sight.
I've been to Seattle's Chinatown a
few times on game day and see more homeless and druggies there than
Chinese! I think it's just a spillover from Pioneer Square.
Our 9th congressional district in
the South Seattle suburbs and Bellevue/Eastside, including Lynnwood and
other Northend areas are prime examples as Asians flock to affordable
homes and better school districts in the suburbs.
Much of the Asian and Hispanic growth is due to immigration (legal and illegal) and population growth as the American white and black population birth rates have leveled off as their growth rates have stagnated.
Much of the Asian and Hispanic growth is due to immigration (legal and illegal) and population growth as the American white and black population birth rates have leveled off as their growth rates have stagnated.
I see Seattle's Chinatown of
having potential to become quality tourist attraction and a live-in
Asian cultural metropolis. But currently it's under siege by the
homeless and the street people. With all the drug use, drunkenness, car
prowls and other petty crime the Asian population no longer feels safe
in its own neighborhood that it established one hundred years ago. The
city and police have done little to remedy the situation despite God
knows how many cries for action from the residents. Until that changes
don't expect any improvements.
The opinions expressed in reader comments are those of the author only, and do not reflect the opinions of The Seattle Times.
Wednesday, January 11, 2012
Iran and US
US and Iran head-to-head, neck-to-neck, nose-to-nose...
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90780/7702416.html
http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90780/7702416.html
Sunday, January 8, 2012
Let's End at this Note!
People's Daily Online>>Opinion
Pentagon plan changes game in Asia
(Global Times)
08:41, January 06, 2012 
The Pentagon issued a new defense plan on Thursday. The new strategy reduces defense spending in the next 10 years, ends the policy of maintaining constant strength to fight two wars at once and prepares the US to fight one war while waging a holding operation elsewhere against a second threat.
This is a contractive strategy in general, but gives prominence to the Asia-Pacific region. According to the officials of Pentagon, the changes in strategy are mainly aimed at Iran and China.
In front of such a US strategic adjustment, China should remain sober. Since it has become a firm strategic target of the US, its efforts to improve Sino-US relations have proved incapable of offsetting US worries over its rise. China can only use its strength to gain friendship from the US from now on.
The US and China are carrying out competition unprecedented in history. Under the aegis of globalization, the two are closely linked economically, which makes it impossible for the US to fully contain China. Dealing with the US containment attempts should be one of China's diplomatic strategic goals. China should unite with all possible forces and keep certain strategic initiatives against the US.
The US strategic adjustment highlights Iran's importance to China. Iran's existence and its stance form a strong check against the US. China should not treat Iran following US cultural, social and political values.
The US takes China's anti-access capabilities as another target. China should come up with countermeasures. It should strengthen its long-range strike abilities and put more deterrence on the US. The US must realize that it cannot stop the rise of China and that being friendly to China is in its utmost interests.
Fast economic development has become the biggest advantage that China has when dealing with the US. The US can hardly provoke China in the economic field, unlike its developing military strength which gives excuses for the West to suppress China. The more the two focus on economic competition, the more the situation will tilt China's way.
The growth and decline in economic strength is the starting point for national competition as well as its destination. It reflects national tendencies. But military and politics are often powerful tools to disturb or twist the trend. China should try to avoid a new cold war with the US, but by no means should it give up its peripheral security in exchange for US' ease in Asia.
This is a contractive strategy in general, but gives prominence to the Asia-Pacific region. According to the officials of Pentagon, the changes in strategy are mainly aimed at Iran and China.
In front of such a US strategic adjustment, China should remain sober. Since it has become a firm strategic target of the US, its efforts to improve Sino-US relations have proved incapable of offsetting US worries over its rise. China can only use its strength to gain friendship from the US from now on.
The US and China are carrying out competition unprecedented in history. Under the aegis of globalization, the two are closely linked economically, which makes it impossible for the US to fully contain China. Dealing with the US containment attempts should be one of China's diplomatic strategic goals. China should unite with all possible forces and keep certain strategic initiatives against the US.
The US strategic adjustment highlights Iran's importance to China. Iran's existence and its stance form a strong check against the US. China should not treat Iran following US cultural, social and political values.
The US takes China's anti-access capabilities as another target. China should come up with countermeasures. It should strengthen its long-range strike abilities and put more deterrence on the US. The US must realize that it cannot stop the rise of China and that being friendly to China is in its utmost interests.
Fast economic development has become the biggest advantage that China has when dealing with the US. The US can hardly provoke China in the economic field, unlike its developing military strength which gives excuses for the West to suppress China. The more the two focus on economic competition, the more the situation will tilt China's way.
The growth and decline in economic strength is the starting point for national competition as well as its destination. It reflects national tendencies. But military and politics are often powerful tools to disturb or twist the trend. China should try to avoid a new cold war with the US, but by no means should it give up its peripheral security in exchange for US' ease in Asia.
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