Chinatown in the 21st Century – A New Chinatown: Visions of Chinese in America

Thomas Tam: Ladies and Gentlemen, I would like to welcome all of you to the last session of the Chinatown Workshop. Before I begin, I would like to express my appreciation to Mr. York Chan, President of the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, for hosting this last session of the workshop. It is appropriate that we come to the building of the oldest organization in the Chinese community to talk about the future of Chinese America in the 21st century.

Mr. York Chan would like to begin by reading a statement. He would read it in Chinese, and I will try my best to translate it for him.

York Chan: [speech in Chinese]

Thomas Tam (translation of York Chan’s speech): Ladies, gentlemen and distinguished guests, welcome to the workshop. The topic of this workshop is the future of Chinese Americans in the 21st century, we welcome you.

The Chinese have stepped foot in New York at the beginning of the 1860’s. It is about 140 years ago. At first, the Chinese went to the west. Most of them were railroad builders. They leveled mountains and filled up valleys. Going through the wilderness with extreme difficulties, they built up the railroad that connects the east and the west. After the railroad was finished, they were discriminated against and they were unable to work. They have to move east and come to New York.

Only by working together could they resist outside pressure and discrimination. That led to the birth of the first community organization. The Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association was started under adverse conditions. For 120 years, it has taken up the responsibility of helping Chinese immigrants to find jobs, to come in and out of the country, to solve problems, to fight for their rights for equal treatment and to protest against discrimination. That is the reason Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association was called the “big brother” of the Chinese community.

This situation has changed. Recently, native born Chinese, new immigrants and old immigrants are leaving Chinatown and becoming elites of the mainstream society. They now occupied very important positions in the government and many other industries.

The Chinese community also benefited from the services provided by many different organizations. Even though there are problems that still need to be solved, the present situation is a tremendous improvement from the past. For example, youth can go into college with the help of low interest loans. Senior citizens can enjoy free lunches, move into subsidized housing and get medical attention, etc.

Based on so many changes, I myself am full of hope with the development of the greater Chinatown. Even though it has been reported that Flushing and Eighth Avenue in Brooklyn have taken away the leadership of Manhattan’s Chinatown, I think that this is an erroneous conception. There are three reasons for my conclusion.

First of all, there’s a tremendous amount of man-power available. According to the 2000 census, Asian American in New York City is roughly about 800,000. Chinese is about 46%, and so roughly, they are about 360,000. If you count the illegal immigrants, based on a very conservative estimate, within the greater New York area, the number of Chinese should be at least 700,000 to 800,000 people. With tremendous increase of Chinese in this city, it has created problems in terms of employment, but it has also improved the man-power for economic development. The continual development of different Chinatowns is really dependent on the inexhaustible supply of relatively cheap labor.

The second point is that there is a tremendous amount of capital. Even though Chinatown is a tiny little place, it has more than 50 Chinese or outside banks. There are even more in the making or in expansion. There is also a tremendous amount of venture capital that is moving into New York. For example, recently the huge Silver Palace was bought by a company. When they were asked if they needed financing, they said, “Don’t worry, we will cover it all ourselves.”

The third element is that there is a tremendous amount of talent in just about every field. The development of Chinese in America is no longer limited to the labor-intensive trades of the past. There are many Chinese who are now working in high-technology, in financing, and in many important industries.

According to an informal survey, Chinese lawyers that are registered are now more than 300. There are more than 200 accountants, more than 700 MDs, more than 250 dentists, and there are more than 120 Chinese herbalists. Investment consultants alone, there are more than 100 of them.

The grocery shops of the past have now become super markets. Retail shops have become big trading companies. It truly indicates the tremendous potential of Chinatown and the Chinese in America.

There is no limit to the expansion of Chinatown. The Lower East Side of New York may be limited, but there is tremendous movement towards the east. The saturation in Chinatown has forced the population to look for residential and shopping places outside of Chinatown. That is the reason for the development of Flushing in Queens and 8th Avenue in Brooklyn.

Some people may say that the new Chinatowns have replaced or weakened the status of the old Chinatown. This is an erroneous view. The development and prosperity of the new Chinatowns is in fact the extension of the old Chinatown. There are many industries in the new Chinatowns that are subsidiaries of the old Chinatown. They, in fact, complement one another. Take a look at the mini-vans operated by the Chinese merchants. They circulate within the Chinatowns, the old and the new, endlessly. They become such an important transportation tool. It’s like circulating blood to the vital elements of one’s body.

The 9-11 tragedy has destroyed the World Trade Center, and it also has destroyed the prosperity of Chinatown in the Lower East Side. According to some governmental report, everyday, World Trade Center had about 50,000 people working there and about 100,000 visitors from around the world. These 150,000 people, if only 10 percent would come to Chinatown to visit, would be enough to sustain the prosperity of Chinatown. The destruction of the WTC has made all of this past. For the Chinatown restaurant and gift shop business, the damage is horrendous.

Then, there is the disappearance of Chinatown garment factories. Many women have lost their jobs. They, therefore, are unable to consume. The high unemployment within Chinese community is a very serious problem. In addition, there is not enough residential space, and a tremendous lack of parking space. The lack of cleanliness within the community is another problem. All of this needs to be improved.

Right now, the New York Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association is working on the following three areas. The first is to unite the community and to find a solution to revitalize the economy of Chinatown. We are going to reflect the solution to the government. We are now working with the Asian Americans for Equality and discussing with our City Councilman, Mr. Alan Gerson to find ways to emphasize redevelopment. We have to walk on two legs. That is to say, in addition to getting government to help, we must also rely on ourselves. For example, we have a plan to erect an arch for Chinatown. We have already sent the plans to LMDC and supplied some seed money from CCBA. To my surprise, there’s tremendous outpouring of money into this endeavor. Many people living around the area are contributing money toward this effort already.

The second point is very important. That is, the organization of Chinese voters to get elected officials to solve the many problems including unemployment, lack of living space, and traffic congestion. These are the major issues that we face.

I went to a conference on the White House, the Asian Pacific Islander’s conference. I heard many people complained about the glass ceiling, so I said to the people, “Remember that a 100 or 150 year ago how the Chinese workers have suffered. We have come a long way.”

To continue our progress, we must work on horizontal integration with many Chinese groups across New York City, and we need vertical integration with many successful Chinese representatives in different levels of government, industry, as well as the grassroots. Many of you here are the elites of American society. You should not forget your origin. Your success today is the work of many people before you, the people who built the railroad, for example. It is due to the number of Chinese in this country that you are recognized by the other groups. One way to break the glass ceiling is for you to integrate with the grassroots, with organizations like us. Otherwise, you will become a tree without roots.

Within CCBA, there is a school where Chinese language is being taught. Recently because of the impressive development in China, the importance of Chinese language is being recognized more and more. Many high officials in this country are coming here to study Chinese. I wonder if I should raise the tuition because the school is subsidized. Then again, maybe it will be construed as discrimination. I should probably get some legal advice on that.

The most important thing at CCBA now is voter’s registration. A little while ago we call for a conference of all the voter groups of the city. We hope to unite the different groups. This is the number one priority for CCBA at this point.

There is tremendous potential for growth in Chinatown. In the past, we did not have enough mutual communication with many social agencies. Things have changed recently. We have called round table meetings with many different social agencies in Chinatown to discuss the process of revitalization and we have been very successful. We are going to call for a second round table discussion very shortly. For those groups that have not joined yet, we hope they can take the opportunity to join us. We can unite our forces and appear before the government so that they will hear about the needs of Chinatown.

I’m ready to answer any kind of questions. Thank you very much.

Thomas Tam: Mr. Fred Fu, the president of Flushing Chinese Business Association will now speak.

Fred Fu: In 1980, when I first came to Flushing, there are only three Chinese restaurants. One was on Main Street, one was on Roosevelt Avenue, and one was on Northern Blvd. Now we have about 80 restaurants. Chairman Chan mentioned that there are 50 banks in Chinatown. In Flushing, we have 30 banks. The population density is now almost the same as Wall Street.

The development of Flushing is because of three and a half reasons. The first reason: In 1980, a lot of Chinese businessmen came to Flushing and invest. For example, in 1982, 30 Chinese store owners created the Flushing Chinese Business Association. Now we have 300. Within 22 years, we increased ten times.

The second reason is Chinese media. They write a lot of articles about Flushing Chinese community which made Chinese immigrants feel comfortable. That’s why more and more people are coming to Flushing.

The third reason is association. In Flushing, we have a lot of associations; each one serving its own purpose. They do a lot of events to unite this community. The last point is, since two years ago, we have City Councilman John Liu. He is the direct channel between this community and the city’s highest levels of government. These are reasons for Flushing to come of age.

When Michael Chang won the French Open Championship in 1989, he was asked by a reporter, “When did you come to the states?” Most American people do not think that American faces can be yellow. I tell my friend that, before 1960, TV is black and white. Now, TV is colored, and every body knows that color is better than black and white. So we are lucky, especially in New York.

I like Flushing because Flushing is a little bit different from Chinatown. Do you know why every Chinatown is near government buildings or police stations? Is it because Chinese were scared? The answer is very simple. All the Chinatowns have at least a history of 150 years. At that time, the city was very small and we were in downtown. That’s the reason.

Flushing came late. We came in the late 70’s and early 80’s. People were already there. We were not alone. We say that we are a minority, but in Flushing, the Asians are 51%. In Chinatown, it’s 95%. We are a majority at times.

Different people urge shop owners to put up bi-lingual signs. When people pass by, even if they don’t want food, or if they don’t want to shop at the Chinese supermarket, they still want to know what’s inside. This is very important because we share Flushing with everybody in the city.

Same thing is true when we have events in Flushing. More than 50% of the people passing by are non-Asian. They are waiting for a transfer to take the bus, but they see that we are different in Flushing.

We want to copy Chinatown. Before, we didn’t have the yellow taxi. Every time I see the movie, The Yellow Cab, people say, “This is New York.” I say, “No! This is Manhattan.” Since last year, we have a yellow cab. It’s a small thing, but we need it.

The city and community have held meetings to talk about the future of Flushing. The plans have come out now. There will be a new municipal parking lot in old Flushing, and one between Prince Street and the waterfront. Within five years, a lot of commercial buildings will be built. Within three years, two thousand residential units will come out.

Since 1980, it was mostly Taiwanese people who came to Flushing. After 1990, it’s people from mainland China. There are a lot of changes taking place in Flushing; big departments, big stores, and big hotels will be coming out.

I don’t think there will be more new Chinese immigrants coming out to Flushing like before. Taiwan and China are changing. 30 years from now, Flushing may be more beautiful, but maybe not too many Chinese people will be living there.

Thomas Tam: We’re going to take some questions. Before we go to the next speaker, I want to recognize some distinguished guests. Among them will be Michael Lau, the police captain; Doris Ling-Cohen, the Supreme Court Justice of New York State; and Margaret Fung, the director of Asian American Legal Defense and Education. Now, ladies and gentlemen, we are going to continue with our discussion. The next speaker is Mr. Paul Mak, the president of Brooklyn Chinese Association.

Paul Mak: Actually, the 8th Avenue Asian community started in the early 80’s. It was at a time when 90% of the buildings were vacant. A lot of the old timers relied on the Waterfront Department. People were drinking beer on the sidewalk and burning garbage cans.

There have been a lot of changes for the last 15 years. When I first ventured to 8th Avenue, the commercial stores with two apartments were selling for 30,000 dollars. Now, if you offer the building owners 1.5 million dollars, they still won’t take it because they still believe that there will be a better tomorrow.

You won’t be able to get a store unless you are willing to subsidize the construction cost or pay money under the table in order to get your lease. A lot of businesses have been making it, but a lot have not. We are seeing a lot of turnover of stores.

We are a community with approximately 100,000 Chinese population and 1,000 store and businesses in the surrounding area. In Brooklyn, Chinatown stretches from 39th Street to the 70s and from 3rd Avenue to 15th Avenue. It consists of Sunset Park, Bell Parkway and Bay Ridge.

We provide transportation to take people to the voting sites since we are divided into a number of different districts. We have 1,000 people voting in one district, but that’s still a small number. Politicians have been coming here and saying good things about Chinese. For them to really open up their hearts and do something for the community is something we are still working on.

We had a lot of problems where we first arrived on 8th Avenue. People resisted us coming in. Now, they have all benefited from the high rise of real estate prices. Sunset Park was rated one of the least sanitary neighborhoods within the city, so we have been working with the Sanitation Department for the last couple of months to educate the people. After so much education, enforcement is now needed to make it work.

We have over 100 mini-vans that travel between 8th Avenue, Chinatown and Flushing. We are working with the Department of Transportation, to convert 8th Avenue to one way so we won’t have too much congestion.

On 8th Avenue, a lot of people felt that they are Chinese, and they operate Chinese store, so they serve only the Chinese population. They have to understand that they need to adapt so that some of their waiters can speak English and provide friendlier services. When Chinese smoke in their restaurant, they should make sure that they stop.

In the supermarkets, it is the same. We need to open up to the existing population in our area because we need their support.

I’m not so sure whether or not there is a glass ceiling for Asian Americans. In my 20 years of experience, a lot of times Asians have to do more, they have to do better in order to be considered an equal.

Thomas Tam: Normally, I would have a lot of questions for the panelists, but because of time limit, I would open it up to the floor.

Female Audience: One of the problems in Brooklyn Chinatown is sanitation. That’s a big problem for New York Chinatown too. It’s really bad. A lot of tourists don’t like to come to Chinatown. They call it “Spits-Town.” I grew up here in the 50’s. It wasn’t like this because there are less people then, and they took care of their sidewalks. Now the people just put all that garbage with oil or whatnot down the drain. Meanwhile, the water can’t run. They should be punished. If they are not punished, they’ll just keep doing it.

York Chan: Unfortunately, I am not a legal enforcer, otherwise I would have dished out punishment to the store owners and those who dirtied up the streets. All I can do is to educate the people, letting them know that it has given Chinatown a bad name, “the smell of Chinatown.” But if you give me some more time, we will try to come up with some workable solutions.

Professor Jerome Krase: In the old days, Chinatown was more of a neighborhood. Now it has become an emporium with many restaurants and gift shops.

The problem with so many restaurants and so much food is that the rats come out at night. Chinatown has become successful as an emporium, but it has been more difficult for other people who are living there.

Female Audience: [Asked question in Mandarin]

Thomas Tam: The speaker mentioned that she spoke for the Fa Lun Gung, an organization that produces dances and other kinds of cultural activities. She complained that she did not get enough support from her own Chinese community within NYC. In contrast, she got quite a bit of high praise and support from people elsewhere. She hoped that President Chan, President Mak, and President Fu can think about helping her in the future.

Donald Jenner: From what I heard and what I was able to understand, the forum is very nice but my impression was that this was about the 21st century. Everything that I heard was dated 1980’s and 1960’s. I didn’t hear anything about the 21st century except for a few interesting forward-looking remarks from Mr. Tam. Can we perhaps get some sort of a summary of where Chinatown is going, particularly the larger Chinese community in the 21st century?

Fred Fu: In Flushing Chinatown community, we are changing little by little. You cannot see too much change, but you can feel it. I promise you, within 10 years, Flushing will be totally changed. You’re younger than me, so you will see it.

Thomas Tam: As to the future of Chinatown, President Chan has mentioned the three most important priorities that they will pursue. The first is to unite different forces within the community to revitalize the economy of Chinatown. The second is to organize the voters of Chinatown, so that they can solve problems of unemployment, housing, and traffic. The third is to emphasize the teaching and learning of Chinese. All of these are important for the future development of Chinatown.

It is impossible to talk about the future without reference to the solution of present problems. Even though he’s the president of CCBA, it’s impossible to solve the problem by feat. He has to look at them one by one and solve them gradually.

Justice Doris Ling Cohen: First, I would like to commend the speakers for being leaders, giving their time to not only their respective community but to all Chinese Americans. What I would like to ask are the tasks residents should take on to help you. Give us one task as residents that we can help you, in your effort to bring us into the future.

[ York Chan answered question in Cantonese]

Thomas Tam: President Chan said that the most important task as a member of the community is to unite so that we become a force. He said that Congresswoman Velasquez visited him, put a sheet of paper on the table, and drew three big circles and one little tiny circle. She said that “All the billions of dollars that LMDC is giving out goes to the big corporations. There’s only a tiny little bit for Chinatown. Why is that so?” It’s because Chinatown is insignificant, and because it has too many different voices. It has to unite. After that, he immediately called for a round table discussion. This is integration on a horizontal basis.

He also said that there’s a need to integrate vertically. That is for people who are in high places in government to unite with people from the community so that they will become trees with roots. That’s where power can come from.

Robert Lee: I’m interested in how you see the role of arts and culture in Chinatown. I heard people talk about lawyers, accountants and doctors contributing to Chinatown, but I didn’t hear about the people in communication, media, art, and culture. Now that Councilman Alan Gerson and the Asian Americans for Equality are moving towards the development of a new cultural center, I am wondering how you, as leaders of Chinatown, see the situation.

[ York Chan answered in Cantonese]

Thomas Tam: President Chan said that CCBA, despite its big voice, has a very small staff. There are only three staffs working. He, himself, works twelve hours a day. He has been talking with Alan Gerson, as well as many other groups, about the issue of arts and culture and how that has to be part of the integrated solution.

[Female Audience asked question in Cantonese]

[ York Chan answered in Cantonese]

Thomas Tam: Let me just summarize President Chan’s answer to the request of CCBA’s support for Fa Lun Gung. As the president of the association, he has to abide to the decision made by the board. When he was the president of Lin Sing Association, previous to his becoming the president of CCBA, he was in support of the inclusion of Fa Lun Gung in their activities. As the president of CCBA, he will follow the decision made by the board. He hoped you would understand his position and his situation.

Paul Mak: The question about how we would move forward in the 21st century is a good one. Unfortunately, we are not members of the City Planning Commission, so we really do not control how the community develops.

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