A Push to Save North America’s Chinatowns
Advocates from New York, San Francisco, Chicago and 15 other cities met in Vancouver for the first time to share their challenges with racism and gentrification in Asian communities.
Vancouver Chinatown, the largest in Canada, is fighting to survive blight and economic hardship intensified by the Covid-19 pandemic. Similar challenges are shared by Chinatowns across North America.
Photographer: Amy Yee/Bloomberg CityLab
Across North America, Chinatowns from San Francisco to New York have been battered by challenges intensified by the Covid-19 pandemic and a surge in anti-Asian racism. Public safety, gentrification and the struggles of small businesses pose existential threats to historic neighborhoods.
Such problems prompted representatives from 18 US and Canadian Chinatowns to convene in Vancouver for the first intra-Chinatown conference last month. More than 50 attendees represented chambers of commerce, law enforcement, social service providers, museums, advocacy groups and others serving Asian American communities, as well as the US and Canadian governments.