Social Problems in Chinatown - Decaying Chinatowns

Decaying Chinatowns

Whereas a few Chinatowns, notably the ones in Manhattan and Chicago, have been experiencing population growth and urban renewal, many others (such as San Francisco, Houston and Vancouver) have been declining over the years. Social ills such as homelessness and drug-related problems occur with some Chinatowns in urban areas. Many vagrants – often non-Chinese – are seen aggressively panhandling and sometimes causing a nuisance on the streets of older Chinatowns, making them unattractive for investment.

Homelessness has been a problem in the Chinatowns of Honolulu, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and especially Vancouver's Chinatown, which neighbors the notoriously drug-infested Downtown Eastside. In Vancouver, Los Angeles, and other cities where the Chinatown is widely perceived as part of an unsafe inner city, few people will venture there at night, so many Chinatown businesses close around 5 or 6 pm; only a handful of restaurants remain open. These Chinatowns become virtual ghost towns in the evening. By contrast, the vibrant suburban Chinatowns in North America have a bustling nightlife with a number of restaurants with longer business hours, and the Chinatowns in New York City, Seattle, and London remain popular late-night destinations.

There have been programs such as graffiti removal, in which Chinatown community members and the local police work together to improve the safety and aesthetics of Chinatowns, and, as police forces diversify, many have made more successful outreach to Chinatowns than in the past. As a case study, Chinatown in Los Angeles has improved notably in these respects although there has been political wrangling with the Chinatown leaders and city of Los Angeles. However, several revitalization plans have failed to take off due in the past to low funding. Vancouver's Chinatown has attempted to counter parking problems by erecting a large parking structure, but drug problems and perceived police ineffectiveness to clamp down on property crime in Chinatown have hampered efforts.

The exodus of ethnic Chinese from Chinatowns and their gradual acculturation into the larger society, has caused some loss of revenue. Elderly Chinese-speaking customers remain in Chinatowns and patronize Chinatown businesses, but without a large immigrant and descendant population to sustain their communities, Chinatowns increasingly rely on tourism. The Chinatown of Havana, Cuba (otherwise known as the barrio chino) with its small and declining population of Chinese origin, promotes its exotic image to the tourist trade.

Social problems aside, several longtime popular and historic Chinese restaurants have also closed in the Chinatowns of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Toronto, thus leading to the decline.

The old Chinatowns now face heavy competition from the ethnic Chinese and pan-Asian large supermarkets, shopping centers, and mini-malls found in the suburbs. Indeed, many old Chinatowns have experienced declining revenue. For example, in California the Chinatowns of San Francisco and Oakland compete with the large shopping centers in Cupertino and Silicon Valley, and the Los Angeles Chinatown faces distinct challenges from the San Gabriel Valley's multiple Chinatowns. With a multitude of acclaimed Chinese cuisine restaurants, the gleaming suburban Chinese Canadian business district of Richmond, British Columbia has nearly rendered the aging Vancouver Chinatown obsolete for business and revenue, superseding it as the focal point of Chinese culture in greater Vancouver; its influence is felt even across the border in the Puget Sound area. Manhattan's Chinatown continues to grow (having almost completely engulfed Little Italy) but its ever higher property values have driven many Chinese New Yorkers – both businesses and customers – to the Flushing Chinatown in Queens. In Houston the older Chinatown in Downtown Houston has been largely replaced with a new Chinatown in southwest Houston outside of Beltway 8 in the Alief area. In South Africa, Johannesburg Chinatown has fallen victim to crime in that city and is being largely replaced by a new Chinatown in suburban Cyrildene. In Sydney, Australia, there are also multiple quasi "Chinatowns" in the suburbs, notably in the communities of Cabramatta, Chatswood, Paramatta, among others, which are rapidly outpacing the old Chinatown in Sydney proper. New shopping centers in the suburbs of Boston are also replacing Chinatown. With new developments and investments of new shopping centers in the suburbs, many ethnic Chinese immigrants in those areas now do not need to head to overcrowded and congested old Chinatowns to gain access to the goods and services.

Gentrification has reversed decline in Chicago's Chinatown and it may reverse that of Vancouver as well, as the downtown condo tower boom of that city is now moving toward its Chinatown. New upscale 40 story condo towers are being constructed, as are urban retail centres. It is believed that with yuppie Asian and non-Asian population returning to the area, Chinatown will not only survive but will become the centre-piece of Vancouver's mosaic of diversity and neighbourhoods.

Gentrification and urban renewal are double-edged swords. There are fears that non-Chinese-inspired gentrification will change Chinatowns into something entirely different. Hence, there have been various organized vocal opposition and protests in the Chinatowns. Proposals for London's Chinatown include development of posh shops and relocation of its historic pagoda structure. In San Francisco's Chinatown, a proposed development of luxury apartments amidst a large working-class community was thwarted. In Los Angeles, development of an artist colony with non-Chinese-owned art galleries - many have replaced old Chinese American storefronts - in Chinatown has altered the landscape. Toronto's Chinatown is also facing the prospect of inevitable gentrification, with a declining Chinese population. The politics of gentrification has also been felt in the Chinatowns of Philadelphia (where a Philadelphia Phillies baseball stadium was once proposed), Boston, and Washington, DC (where the Verizon Center has significantly shrunken the Chinatown). The local population of Montreal's Quartier Chinois has thwarted a scheme that would have placed a casino within the district. For the most part, Los Angeles's Chinatown has actually embraced bohemian gentrification without much vocal opposition; Seattle's Chinatown/International District, which has long been more a commercial than a residential neighborhood, has seen a great deal of new construction and some gentrification; nearly all of this recent development is by Asians or Asian Americans, if not always by Chinese.