New York Chinatown Timeline
1859 — New York Times reports 150 Chinese men living in lower Manhattan
1868 — Burlingame Treaty
1870’s — Large influx of Chinese immigrants from the West
1875 — Page Act
1880 — Burlingame Treaty renegotiated
1882 — Chinese Exclusion Act
1892 — Geary Act
1898 — United States v. Wong Kim Ark
1924 — Immigration Act of 1924
1930s — Chinatown becomes a tourist attraction for New York City residents
1933 — NY City Council passes discriminatory laundry act.
1937 — Japan invades China.
1941 — Japan attacks Pearl Harbor
1943 — Magnuson Act is passed
1943 — Chinese American New Yorkers lobby the U.S. government
1946 — Chinese War Brides Act becomes law.
1949 — Chinese Communists defeat Chinese Nationalists in Chinese civil war.
1950 — China enters the Korean War
1953-1957, 1962-1964— Refugee legislation enables thousands of Chinese refugees from the People’s Republic of China to enter the US from Hong Kong.
1955 — The U.S. government prosecutes China Daily News of New York
1956 — Under government pressure for its leftist activities, the Chinese Hand Laundry Alliance dissolves.
1965 — Chinatown population reaches 20,000
1965 — Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 is passed
1968 — Chinese influx keeps growing
1969 — I Wor Kuen forms
1972 — President Richard Nixon visits the PRC,
1974 — Asian American activists protest the construction of Confucius Plaza
1979 — US normalizes relations with PRC, recognizing it as legitimate government of China.
1980s — Mainland Chinese begin to join the influx of Chinese into New York
1990’s — Chinatown reaches a population of 95,000
2001 — Chinatown businesses are severely affected by the 9/11 attacks.
Images:
1. Chinatown in late 1800's. (Image from NYPL Digital Library)
2. Chinatown now. (Image from LIFE)