Chinatown, New York City

I was really cautious when I planned my sightseeing tour to WTC thru NYC because I was on my own. I was not sure whether it is safe going to Chinatown, because it is located next to East side and Bowery Street. But calm down, I now think it's ´pretty safe during the day. I'm happy I went there, it is amazing seeing so many chinese people in the middle of NY, few whites (mostly tourists I guess). I felt like being in Hongkong!!!

New York City’s Chinatown, the largest Chinatown in the United States—and the site of the largest concentration of Chinese in the western hemisphere—is located on the lower east side of Manhattan. Its two square miles are loosely bounded by Kenmore and Delancey streets on the north, East and Worth streets on the south, Allen street on the east, and Broadway on the west. With a population estimated between 70,000 and 150,000, Chinatown is the favored destination point for Chinese immigrants, though in recent years the neighborhood has also become home to Dominicans, Puerto Ricans, Burmese, Vietnamese, and Filipinos among others.

Chinatown is born
Chinese traders and sailors began trickling into the United States in the mid eighteenth century; while this population was largely transient, small numbers stayed in New York and married. Beginning in the mid nineteenth century, Chinese arrived in significant numbers, lured to the Pacific coast of the United States by the stories of “Gold Mountain” — California — during the gold rush of the 1840s and 1850s and brought by labor brokers to build the Central Pacific Railroad. Most arrived expecting to spend a few years working, thus earning enough money to return to China, build a house and marry.

By 1880, the burgeoning enclave in the Five Points slums on the south east side of New York was home to between 200 and 1,100 Chinese. A few members of a group of Chinese illegally smuggled into New Jersey in the late 1870s to work in a hand laundry soon made the move to New York, sparking an explosion of Chinese hand laundries.

Chinatown Today
Today’s Chinatown is a tightly-packed yet sprawling neighborhood which continues to grow rapidly despite the satellite Chinese communities flourishing in Queens. Both a tourist attraction and the home of the majority of Chinese New Yorkers, Chinatown offers visitor and resident alike hundreds of restaurants, booming fruit and fish markets and shops of knickknacks and sweets on torturously winding and overcrowded streets.

A definite must, not only to have a great meal, but also to spend some time shopping. Make sure you bargain just like you would if you were in a Hong Kong market! As a matter of fact, walking through NYC's Chinatown brings back a lot of memories of my childhood growing up in Hong Kong. It even smells like Stanley Market for those of you who are familiar with HK.

Chinatown was a must see in New york City along with Little Italy. Good food and especially cheap shopping from the hundreds of tiny shops that litter the sidewalks. You can decide for yourself if the labels are real. :)

To me, Chinatown seems more busy than any other part of the city (if you can believe that), but I enjoy their kind of hustle and bustle. But what I enjoy even more in Chinatown is dim sum, boba/bubble tea, and a well cooked duck!

I love visiting Chinatown in different parts of the world. And I like walking around NYC Chinatown in particular.

You can bargain for some sourveniors, have tasty Chinese (or Vietnamese, if you prefer) food.

China Town in Canal Street is a place where the imitaions are for sale everywhere, from Louis Vuiton to Gucci. The persons who sale this kind of things are conected by wakie-talkies so if the cops come they quickly hide all these products...always ask for better price.

As China Towns go, New York City's China town doesn't have the traditional buildings one has come up to expect from a Chinatown like the one in Shanghai or San Francisco. However, it is one of the most interesting spots in Manhattan. You can find amazing deals on anything from a decent $4 meal to a pirated software or movie. I really liked ending my days in China town to enjoy a delicious and inexpensive meal. Just take the Canal Street exit on metro lines 4, 5, or 6 and walk around to find the place of your liking :).