The Future At A Glance

From Welcome to Chinatown NYC

Demographics

Although many people view Chinatown as being home to a static population of Chinese people, immigrants still come to Chinatown from all over China's 1 million square miles. Chinatown's demographics are incredibly dynamic because the community is built on new Chinese immigrants. Immigrants are coming from different regions than they did before, which means that Chinatown's demographics are changing in very significant ways.

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In the 2006 to 2008 American Community Survey Census, metropolitan area residents of Chinese origin and descent were numbered at 659,596 out of a total population of more than 8.2 million people, roughly 8% of New Yorkers. This also makes the Chinese (according to the 2006 Census) the third largest immigrant group in America (nearly half of the Chinese population is settled in New York and California). However, this data is believed to be extremely conservative due to the large population of illegal immigrants that are not accounted for.^[1]

Until the middle of the 1980s Chinatown was dominated by Cantonese speaking immigrants. However, in the 1990s an influx of Chinese immigrants from mainland China, mainly the Fujian Province, has shifted the dominant tongue from Cantonese to Mandarin. While both dialects are written the same, the pronunciations are so different that vocally they may as well be two completely different languages. This disparity creates a language barrier between many of the older and newer residents of Chinatown. Some Chinese residents who speak Cantonese refuse to even shop at a store if the staff doesn't speak their language [Cantonese]. But some are accepting Mandarin as the future language of Chinatown. Throughout the 100 year existence of the New York Chinese School, its classes were taught solely in Cantonese. In 2008, the number of Cantonese classes and Mandarin classes were essentially equal, and by 2009 Mandarin classes outnumbered Cantonese courses about three to one. Also helping to bridge this regional gap is the writing; although phonetically the two languages are different, all of China uses the same written characters. Therefore, by writing (store signs, newspapers, and announcements), people of Canton, Fujian, and the rest of mainland China can easily communicate. ^[2]

Businesses

While Manhattan’s Chinatown is struggling, the Chinese populations in Flushing, Queens and Sunset Park/8th Avenue, Brooklyn have been thriving. To many Chinese, 8th Avenue provides a Chinatown experience at a bargain price. The movement of the Chinese garment industry from Manhattan’s original Chinatown to the 8th Avenue was primarily caused by the rising rents in Manhattan. This movement is what brought life to the Chinatown in Brooklyn. Chinese garment shops filled the vacant warehouses and created a need for work, which led to more Chinese immigrants coming over and settling on 8th avenue. The influx of Chinese immigrants into 8th avenue has skyrocketed real estate prices and boosted the economy of the 8th avenue area. In some cases the rents of some storefront businesses have increased almost 500% due to the booming economy of the area.