A Comparative Study of Chinatowns around the World: Focusing on the Increase in New Chinese Immigrants and Formation of New Chinatowns

Abstract

Because of an increase in new immigrants from mainland China along with remigration, global Chinatowns are undergoing major changes. This study classifies global Chinatowns into “Old Chinatowns” and “New Chinatowns,” based on previous fieldwork conducted by the author in Chinatowns all over the world and the results of other relevant research.

Among new Chinese immigrants and remigrants, groups that occupy low socioeconomic positions tend to flow into Old Chinatowns. Some Old Chinatowns are transforming into tourist areas, and Chinatown gates have been constructed as the predominant symbol of Chinatowns. The interrelationship between the ethnic Chinese population and the host society is highly relevant to the rise and fall of Chinatowns. There are even cases where once-declining Chinatowns have been “reconstructed” by governmental tourism development, such as Kobe Chinatown in Japan and Incheon Chinatown in South Korea. Many Old Chinatowns have become increasingly multiethnic, owing to an influx of ethnic groups other than ethnic Chinese or Indochina Chinese.

Suburban New Chinatowns have been formed in the USA, Canada, Australia, and other countries as a result of such factors as an influx of wealthy new immigrants from mainland China or of ethnic Chinese who become affluent, leave Old Chinatown, and move to the suburbs. In some cases also, New Chinatowns have been formed in downtown areas by new Chinese immigrants, such as Ikebukuro Chinatown in Tokyo and Belleville Chinatown in Paris. Furthermore, large-scale commercial center Chinatowns selling Chinese products have been formed in Eastern European countries such as Hungary, Romania, and Poland, and in areas of the Middle East like Dubai.