New York 2024 Chinatown Reunion (April 1-5, 2024) “Together is my Favorite Place to be…2024 Chinatown Reunion, Las Vegas, NV”
The dynamic changes we have seen and experienced during these successful biennial New York Chinatown Reunions have been memorable, impressive, and transitional since the first Chinatown Reunion was held back in October 2002. Three events, among many ones, have a significant & major lasting impact over time to where we are today in 2024:
1) The original NYC Chinatown has grown & expanded and in turn, created multiple new Chinatowns in Brooklyn, Queens, and even New Jersey creating a larger diverse & interesting NYC Metropolitan area Chinese American Community. What’s next?
2) The original generation of the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, & 60’s attendees are now being replaced and/or joined by the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s & 2000’s generation in perpetuity.
3) The excellent & able reunion leadership and planning teams have transitioned seamlessly from Gladys Chin to Richard Chu in continuing these biennial reunion get together(s) among old friends and new ones in the process. And many reconnections followed via the reunion data base on the internet.
What’s next? A strategic challenge for a planning endeavor to integrate these new Chinatowns into a “NYC Metropolitan area Chinatowns’ Reunion”. Focus may be on cultural attributes, accomplishments, and contributions to the world from these new immigrant’s respective regions in China for current & future generations to appreciate and celebrate China’s rich historic-storied & proud heritage, over 4722 years.
Daniel (Danny) Lee
Overview of NYC’s Metropolitan Area Chinatown’s Satillites–Evolution & Growth
“NYC Chinatown… Original Chinatown…My Chinatown”…Songs and movies have been written and made of the original or old Chinatown located in New York City’s lower East Side of Manhattan Island. It was an amazing, exotic, and interesting neighborhood because of the transformation of the old Five Points area which was a slum & crime infested run-down neighborhood where a famous movie was made ”Gangs of New York”. Gradually, through the Chinese entrepreneurial process, hard work, family unity, thriftiness, and education, the area was transformed into a safe residential, business, and tourist attraction neighborhood with many business enterprises featuring some of the finest restaurants in Cantonese Chinese cuisine. And the children, through high academic scores and achievements, turned the local public schools into feeder schools for New York City’s top specialized academic high schools. College education followed which led to entry into professional, vocational, and business fields based on their intense drive & determination to succeed in an ever competitive world for Chinese Americans.
But… why was a separate distinct Chinese community necessary here in the USA’s Melting Pot?
An overview of historical events will provide a rational perspective on the formation of Chinatown(s) in the USA since there was racial discrimination and bias against Chinese which made it difficult to assimilate into American society with the “Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882”, followed by America’s phobia and fear with the threat of a perceived “Yellow Peril”. The law effectively prohibited citizenship for Chinese immigrants and reinforcing the exclusion of Chinese immigrants except for diplomats, merchants, and students. For the Chinese, It took 61 years later for the Magnuson Act of 1943 to repeal the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 and the Chinese were now eligible for citizenship. But it also established a quota for Chinese immigrants to only 105 per year. However, under the McCarran-Walter Act of 1952, the law admitted only a certain number of immigrants of each nationality. Unfortunately, the ethnic quota for Chinese immigrants remained, but it was now limited to 100 per year. Even laws that repealed the various biased exclusion acts continued to discriminate against Chinese and Asians.
By necessity, for the common interest of safety, shelter, security, food, financial, and social well-being, the Chinese people clustered together in Chinatown(s). In these enclaves, the strength of our family unit led to the continuation of family associations; people from the same region of China formed their own associations; and the Chinese business associations are all based in Chinatown. These associations provided a central place for people to spend time together to socialize and catch up on the latest news and events with other families and friends. A genuine feeling of belonging, safety, and social connections in times of needs or emergencies.
Growing up in New York City’s Chinatown in the 40’s, 50’s & 60’s was tough for the 1st generation American Born Chinese (“ABC”) and added a special meaning to the phrase “Street Smart” since there was a lot of racial bias in the surrounding neighborhoods. Chinatown back then had a border on the Bowery from Canal St. to Chatham Square wrapping around Worth and Mulberry & Mott Street (s) back to Canal St. The streets in Chinatown were Mott, Pell, Doyers, Park, Bayard, and Elizabeth Streets. On the peripheral of Chinatown were Forsyth, Chrystie, Eldridge, Ludlow, Orchard, Pike, Allen, Market, Division, East Broadway, Henry, Madison, Monroe, Catherine, Oliver Street(s) and St. James Place.
In this close knit-ethnic community, there were many large families. However, the Chinatown community was like an island to itself in that it was also a big tourist attraction with many gift shops, excellent restaurants, fine bakeries & coffee shops, tea houses, rice & noodle shops, Chinese & American grocery stores with everything you need, candy stores & soda fountains, several drug stores & the Chinatown Pharmacy, Buddhist Temples, Christian Churches, and the smallest US Post Office in the USA.
In addition, there was a Chinese opera and movie theaters, daily Chinese newspapers & weekly magazines with domestic & international distributions. Chinatown was known as a very safe area where many restaurants were opened all night catering to people who came down to Chinatown from uptown after the theater, opera, movies, parties, and nearby Greenwich Village to eat at all hours until early dawn. The neighborhoods around Chinatown were “Little Italy” & “SOHO” North of Canal Street; “Tribeca” to the West; and the financial district, City Hall and the municipal, state, and federal courthouses to the South.
Finally, the Immigration Act of 1965 abolished “national origin quotas” ending many years of explicit discriminatory laws from the late 1800’s and first half of the 1900’s that targeted Chinese and Asians. The years following the 1965 law were periods where the number of Chinese and other Asian immigrants increased at a very rapid rate. This was reflected in changes across the United States, especially among the Chinese in NYC’s Chinatown community. When we were growing up in Chinatown during the late 40’s to 60’s, the great majority of us were of Cantonese decent and/or subgroups from Southern China. The new immigrants, many of who still came from Southern China also came from Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Northern & Central China. Ethnic Chinese also came from other countries in Southeast Asia, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, and Philippines as either immigrants or refugees. Not only did the NYC Chinatown’s population demographics and business economic makeup changed, but the recently arrived immigrants also spoke their own respective Chinese language regional dialects; namely: Cantonese, Mandarin, Shanghainese, Taishanese, Fujianese, Hakka, Taiwanese, and many others.
Chinatown was extending pass its historic area into the surrounding neighborhoods in lower Manhattan where the boundaries are now East Broadway & peripheral streets to the East; Chamber St to the South; Broadway to the West; and Delancey St to the North with the peripheral Streets leading to it . These new immigrants and refugees of the 70’s/80’s/90’s/2000’s provided the catalyst for the growth & expansion of Manhattan’s Chinatown and the subsequent creation & growth of additional New York City Chinatowns in Sunset Park, Brooklyn (along 8th Ave); Homecrest/Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn (along Ave U); and Flushing, Queens (along Main St. & Roosevelt Ave.).
Sunset Park (Brooklyn) First Impression! Our Sunday school teacher, Miss Ruth Tornquist at True Light Church took our class to her church in Brooklyn near 8th Ave in Sunset Park. It was a large church and very impressive in comparison to True Light being in a loft on Canal St. At the time, Sunset Park was a Norwegian neighborhood with private homes and a very country like environment in comparison to Chinatown. The time period was prior to True Light laying the corner stone for the True Light Church building on the corner Worth & Mulberry St. in 1948. Little did I realize or could even imagine that Sunset Park would later become a satellite Chinatown many…many years later in the 1980’s-1990’s and beyond.
Today, Sunset Park’s Chinatown is on 8th Ave. from 40rd St. to 68th St. resembling a revived commericial district with restaurants, grocery stores (daily–hot roast pork, roast duck, roast chicken, BBQ spareribs), bakeries, Buddist Temples, video stores, beauty saloons, community organizations, supermarkets, coffee shops, Tea Houses, Banks. Financial investment services, Christian Church services in both Englih & Chinese, and more business enterprises etc. The Chinese community began expanding out to adjacent 7th Ave. & 9th Ave and neighboring Bay Ridge with a large population moving in from Manhattan’s original Chinatown. With the surge of new immigrants and former Manhattan Chinarown residents, there was overcrowding and rising real estate and rental prices which prompted many Sunset Park Chinatown residents to move into neighboring Bensonhurst at 18th Ave, Bay Parkway & 86th St. to form another Chinatown including sections of nearby Borough Park, Bath Beach, and Dyker Heights,
Bensonhurst has become a growing satellite of Sunset Park’s Chinatown with the 2020 census indicating that Bensonhurst has overtaken Sunset Park’s 31,500 Asian residents with 43,100 Asian residents. .An interesting note is that Bensonhurst and nearby Bath Beach has the largest concentration of former Hong Kong residents, 3,725 (Bensonhurst) and 1,050 (Bath Beach) respectively according to the 2010 census.
Ave. U, Homecrest & Sheepshead Bay (Brooklyn) First Impression! Ave. U always had several Chinese restaurants as far back as I can remember in the 50’s–70’s. However, when Sunset Park started to get over-crowded and property values were on the rise, the newer immigrants and former Manhattan Chinatown residents started to move towards Ave. U, in the 1990’s, in Homecrest and Sheepshead Bay. The Ave U neighborhood went through a similar transistion and experience as Sunset Park in growth and expansion with Ave U’s business district having many different business enterprises for the new people. Ave U’s Chinatown is considerd the second Brooklyn Chinatown and is still in growth & expansion mode.
MTA-Transportation from Manhattan’s Chinatown to Brooklyn and Queens Chinatowns:
Manhattan’s Chinatown subway stations provided convenient transportation to NYC;s other Chinatowns: Canal St Station (N & Q), Sea Beach line (N) to Sunset Park and Brighton line (Q) to Ave. U, Homecrest.
Grand St Station (D & B), West End line (D) to Bensonhurst and Brighton line (B) to Ave. U, Homecrest
East Broadway Station, (F), Culver line (F) to Borough Park, Bensonhurst, Ave. U, Homecrest
Canal St’ Station (# 6) Pelham Bay Park line to Grand Central/42 St. & transfer to (# 7) Main St Flushing line) to Queens’ Elmhurst, Corona, and Flushing Chinatowns.
Flushing, Queens (along Main St. and Roosevelt Ave.) First Impression! I can still remember my 1st trip & a teenager’s observation of Main St & Roosevelt Ave. after the long ride from Grand Central/42 St. on the IRT # 7 Flushing line. For a moment, I thought I was at Herald Square in Manhattan with all the department stores and people going here & there busy shopping. Another feeling was like being in an outdoor Port Authority Bus Terminal with all the available Queen’s transfer buses on site since Main St was the terminus for the IRT #7 subway line. During the mid 1950,s, there were only two Chinese restaurants: Lums was on Main St and China House was on Roosevelt Ave. My event for the evening was to meet my blind date & her family who lived nearby on Prince St.. Her family owned the China House restaurant and she did indeed, met my expectations of looking like a model from the photo she had sent me. The start of a social adventure and a new school year for 2 high school sophmores. She attended Flushing High School, while I attended Stuyvesant. Life doses have many pleasant surprises!
Over the years…1970’s and beyond through the 2,000’s, the main business district of Downtown Flushing experienced a phenomenal Chinese business growth,& development which transformed Flushing into a satellite Chinatown of the original Manhattan Chinatown. Over time, Flushing is now considered the largest Chinatown in the New York City Metropolitan area.. There are many…many Chinese restaurants, financial institutions, and a large variety of different Chinese business enterprises along Main St between Northern Blvd, Roosevelt Ave, and Kissena Blvd.expanding in different directions, both northward and southeastward in the growth & expansion mode.
Flushing’s Chinatown enjoys a diversity of China’s regional demographics in terms of cultural language-dialects, and cuisine. The official national language in China is now Mandarin to formally standardize communications throughout the vast country of 22 provinces; autonomous regions; and recent special administrative regions.. However, many of the immigrants and families continued to speak their provincial or regional dialects in addition to Mandarin and English.
Some examples of the regional dialects are: Mandarin (Northeast & Beijing dialect), Cantonese, Hakka, Taishanese, Shanghainese, Suzhounese, Hangzounese, Wenzhounese, Taiwanese, Fuzhounese, Hokken, Mongolian, and others… beside English… if all else fails.
Some examples of regional cuisines are Taiwanese, Cantonese, Shanghainese, Hakka, Hunanese, Sichuanese, Fujianese, Xingiang, Zhejang, Korean-Chinese, and others. After all the samplings, my preference is still…Cantonese cuisine…The Best!
Flushing satellite Chinatowns in Queens-Elmhurst, Corona, & Whitestone
Elmhurst is the second Chinatown in Queens and growing rapidly. Originally, Chinese businesses were on Broadway between 81st St. and Cornish St..It has now expanded to 45th Ave.and Whitney Ave. and is developing as a satellite to nearby Flushing Chinatown. However, this Chinatown has more Southeastern Asian Chinese businesses including Singaporean, Malaysian, Indonesian, Thai, and Vietnamese. Typical business on Broadway include the 2 largest Chinese supermarkets, Hong Kong Supermarket and New York Supermarket selling different food varieties to the ethnic Asian Chinese community.. Financial Institution have also emerged to serve the Chinese community in Elmhurst among other businesses.
Corona and Whitestone:
Corona is emerging as another Chinatown neighborhood between Elmhurst and Flushing Chinatowns along the Main St. Flushing IRT #7 subway line with stations at 103 St., Corona Plaza, 111th St., and Willets Point before going underground to Main St, Flushing’s terminus.
Whitestone has had a surge of Chinese Americans migrating into the area since 2000 given its close proximity to Flushing’s Chinatown. Not surprising at all…
(Note): Nice quiet area: During the early 1960’s I had an apartment in Beechhurst, Queens while working at Grumman Aerospace Corp. in Bethpage LI. on the Apollo Moon Project. The Whitestone/Beechhurst area was a great midpoint between Manhattan and Grumman and attending graduate school in the evenings. For recreation. my roommate and I had a power boat moored at the Throgs Neck Marina for cruising and water skiing, with our dates at many of the scenic inlet waterways on Long Island Sound..
New Jersey Chinatowns: Edison, Parsippany/Troy Hill, Cherry Hill, West Windsor (close proiximity to Princeston University) where there are large Chinese enclaves developing in these surburban locations
Newark**. Remember Newark, NJ’s Chinatown? It was located on Mulberry, Lafayette, and Green Streets near the government center and Broad & Market Streets. As I recall during the 1950’s, there were a lot of social interaction between the guys & girls of both the NYC and Newark’s Chinatowns. Basketball games and social gatherings were held at the Presbyterian Church on Broad St. close to Chinatown. There was always a crowd of guys & girls around to socialize with after the game to check each other out socially.
One evening in May, I received a phone call from one of the Irvington NJ girls asking me “if I would be her escort to her Junior Prom?” A little surprised, I said yes. Being in her natural environment at the prom was an enlighting experience for me since she was so engaging & popular as “Captain of the Cheerleaders” at Irvington High School. It was quite an accomplishment for an American Born Chinese (“ABC’) in the 50’s. Being an attractive, pretty, & lovely young lady, as she was also very smart, I was not surprised! A year later, I escorted her to her Senior Prom at Irvington High School and she was my date at the Stuyvesant Senior Prom in NYC where we capped the evening off with a night at the famous Latin Quarters.
There was at least 3 great swinging & memorable parties given by the New Jersey crowd: 1) Stevens Institute of Technology in Hoboken NJ’s fraternity house party hosted by the Brothers-Mon; 2) party on the Wing Farm hosted by the one & only dynamic Ella Wing; and 3) A house party at 81 Columbia St. Brownstone house hosted by the Brothers-Eng. It may have been a small Chinatown but the Newark guys and girls were a very active and socialable group…and they knew how to party in a big way!
Today, Sadly…the Newark NJ Chinatown is no longer in existence.since many of the younger generations have moved away to the suburbs and other states.
A word or two on our reunion leadership over the years:
First of all, a tribute to the late Don Dick & his team who initially conceived of a NYC Chinatown Reunion to be held in Las Vegas NV. back in 2001-2002
A question remains as to how we were so fortunate to have these biennial Chinatown Reunions which requiresd a lot of time & effort in the planning, organizing, and executing? Two reunion leaders; namely: Gladys Chin 2002-2012 and Richard (Dick) Chu 2014-2024 emerged, who were destined for this role in their social developing years, without realizing it. And the leadership ability probably just came naturally!
Back in the 50’s, Gladys Chin was already in the NJ/NY circles directing social events and relationships when she got most of the Newark NJ boys together with the NYC Chinatown girls at Bradley Beach, NJ one summer. Many trips across the Holland Tunnel followed this initial get together. In turn, it was social reciprocity for a number of NY guys who went across the Hudson to date the NJ girls. The happy end result was that a number of close relationships and even marriages followed these social endeavors of the NJ/NY “Trans-Hudson Connections”. A tribute and warm hearty toast should be made to Gladys and her volunteer reunion team for their dedication and hard work in putting together these past eventful Chinatown Reunions (2002-2012) for the 40’s/50’s/60’s crowd to enjoy in Las Vegas, NV.
Richard (Dick) Chu grew up at 37 Mott St which was a “communal social oasis” within this large building in the center of Chinatown at the time. In addition, his Father and Uncle ran the Chinatown Pharmacy which was also home to the Chinese Community Club (CCC). Dick was exposed to the many CCC sponsored Chinatown social activities such as the Spring Field Day & Baby parade at Columbus Park; Christmas parties for the kids; Chinatown Lion dances on Chinese New Year; ballroom dances; bowling tournments; and numerous other social and athletic events, as a young man. After graduating from the School of Pharmacy at Columbia University, Dick worked with his Father and eventually took over the Chinatown Pharmacy and ran it. He continued the CCC Chinatown social and athletic activities which further enhanced his leadership and organizational ability and skill sets.
When Gladys decided to retire as our reunion leader, Dick was the ideal and perfect replacement. We are grateful and appreciative to Dick and his reunion team for their dedication and hard work in organizing & bringing us the Chinatown Reunions (2014-2024) for the 40’s-2000’s crowd to enjoy in Las Vegas, NV..
A few Last Words:
Over the years via business, education, travels, teaching, religious faith, and life experiences, I can truly appreciate our NYC’s Chinatown community and the foundation developed there through education, hard work, intense competitive drive, and tenacity to succeed to be the best you can be in America. Great family support, disciplined religious teachings, determination, and Chinese American pride were essential psychic drivers.
We are blessed that America is still the land of opportunity, achievement, and success if you want it bad enough and work hard to achieve it even in today’s chaotic societal environment of a poor economy; high inflation; massive entitlements; no respect for the law; government corruption; open borders; huge annual financial deficits; our national debt currently at $34T dollars; etc…and a drive towards redistribution of wealth; yours & mine.. Whats in your wallet?… “The Chinese word for Crisis is also Opportunity”.
My simple thoughts on aging and experience:
”Across the dimension of age, nothing ever stays the same and time waits for no one…along the the age continuum” Do enjoy the Present (every moment of it) and believe in the Future…while celebrating the Past.
All the Best…Be Sharp…and Be in Good Health…Our most Precious Asset…
Daniel (Danny) Lee,
Nashua, New Hampshire
February 10, 2024, Happy Chinese New Year of the Dragon, 4722…
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Happy Chinese New Year of the Dragon..4722…February 10, 2024
Good Health….Prosperity….Safe Travels
Cantonese:
Sun Nin Fai Lok! 新年快樂 Happy New Year!
Gung Hay Fat Choy! 恭喜發財 Happiness And Prosperity!
Sun Tai Geen Hong! Good Health!
Lung Mah Zing Sun! Strength of the Dragon and Energy of the Horse!
Chut Yup Ping On! Safe Travels!
Sum Seung Si Sing! Whatever your desires!
Mandarin:
Xin Nian Kuai Le 新年快樂 Happy New Year!
Gong Xi Fa Tsai 恭喜發財 Happiness And Prosperity!
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