Chinatowns in Queens

{{short description|Neighborhoods in New York City}}

{{Use American English|date=January 2025}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2024}}

{{Infobox Chinese

| title = Chinatowns in Queens

| pic = Chinatown 1.jpg

| piccap = Intersection of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue in Flushing Chinatown (法拉盛華埠)

| picsize = 300px

| settlement_type = Neighborhood of New York City

| s = 皇后区唐人街

| t = 皇后區唐人街

| showflag = pj

| p = Huánghòu-qū Tángrén-jiē

| poj = Hông-hiō-khu Tn̂g-lâng-koe

| tl = Hông-hiō-khu Tn̂g-lâng-kue

| phfs = Vòng-hiu-khî Thòng-nyìn-kâi

| w =

| mi =

| gr =

| tp =

| j = Wong4 Hau6 Keoi1 Tong4 Jan4 Gaai1

| y =

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| h = fongˇ heu kiˊ tongˇ nginˇ gieˊ

}}

There are multiple Chinatowns in the borough of Queens in New York City. The original Queens Chinatown emerged in Flushing, initially as a satellite of the original Manhattan Chinatown, before evolving its own identity, surpassing in scale the original Manhattan Chinatown, and subsequently, in turn, spawning its own satellite Chinatowns in Elmhurst, Corona, and eastern Queens. As of 2023, illegal Chinese immigration to New York has accelerated, and its Flushing neighborhood has become the present-day global epicenter receiving Chinese immigration as well as the international control center directing such migration.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/24/us/politics/china-migrants-us-border.html|title=Growing Numbers of Chinese Migrants Are Crossing the Southern Border|author=Eileen Sullivan|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 24, 2023|access-date=November 24, 2023|quote=Most who have come to the United States in the past year were middle-class adults who have headed to New York after being released from custody. New York has been a prime destination for migrants from other nations as well, particularly Venezuelans, who rely on the city’s resources, including its shelters. But few of the Chinese migrants are staying in the shelters. Instead, they are going where Chinese citizens have gone for generations: Flushing, Queens. Or to some, the Chinese Manhattan...“New York is a self-sufficient Chinese immigrants community,” said the Rev. Mike Chan, the executive director of the Chinese Christian Herald Crusade, a faith-based group in the neighborhood.}} As of 2024, a significant new wave of Chinese Muslims are fleeing religious persecution in northwestern China’s Xinjiang Province and seeking religious freedom in New York,{{cite web|url= https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/15/americas/new-york-city-chinese-migrants-flushing-intl-latam/index.html|title= Caught between China and the US, asylum seekers live in limbo in New York City|author=Tara John and Yong Xiong|publisher=CNN|date=May 17, 2024|access-date=June 9, 2024}} and concentrating in Queens.

Context

The New York metropolitan area is home to the largest ethnic Chinese population outside Asia, comprising an estimated 893,697 uniracial individuals as of 2017,{{cite web|url=https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/17_1YR/S0201/330M400US408/popgroup~016|title=SELECTED POPULATION PROFILE IN THE UNITED STATES 2017 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates New York-Newark, NY-NJ-CT-PA CSA Chinese alone|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=January 27, 2019|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200214002005/https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/17_1YR/S0201/330M400US408/popgroup~016|archive-date=February 14, 2020|url-status=dead}} including at least 12 Chinatowns - six{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/24/nyregion/asian-new-yorkers-asian-new-yorkers-seek-power-to-match-surging-numbers.html |title=Asian New Yorkers Seek Power to Match Numbers |author=Kirk Semple |newspaper=The New York Times |date=June 23, 2011 |access-date=2014-10-03}} (or nine, including the emerging Chinatowns in Corona and Whitestone, Queens,{{cite journal|url=http://geographyplanning.buffalostate.edu/MSG%202002/13_McGlinn.pdf |title=Beyond Chinatown: Dual Immigration and the Chinese Population of Metropolitan New York City, 2000 |page=4 |author=Lawrence A. McGlinn |journal=Middle States Geographer |year=2002 |volume=35 |issue=1153 |access-date=2014-10-03 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121029075400/http://geographyplanning.buffalostate.edu/MSG%202002/13_McGlinn.pdf |archive-date=2012-10-29 }} and East Harlem, Manhattan) in New York City proper, and one each in Nassau County, Long Island; Cherry Hill, Edison, New Jersey; and Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey, not to mention fledgling ethnic Chinese enclaves emerging throughout the New York City metropolitan area. Chinese Americans, as a whole, have had a significant tenure in New York City. The first Chinese immigrants came to Lower Manhattan around 1870, looking for the "golden" opportunities America had to offer.{{cite web |url=http://www.ny.com/articles/chinatown.html|title=The History of New York's Chinatown|last=Waxman|first=Sarah |publisher=ny.com |access-date=2014-10-03}} By 1880, the enclave around Five Points was estimated to have from 200 to as many as 1,100 members.

However, the Chinese Exclusion Act, which went into effect in 1882, caused an abrupt decline in the number of Chinese who immigrated to New York and the rest of the United States. Later, in 1943, the Chinese were given a small quota, and the community's population gradually increased until 1968, when the quota was lifted and the Chinese American population skyrocketed. In the past few years, the Cantonese dialect that has dominated the Chinatowns for decades is being rapidly swept aside by Mandarin Chinese, the national language of China and the lingua franca of most of the latest Chinese immigrants.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/nyregion/22chinese.html |title=In Chinatown, Sound of the Future Is Mandarin |date=October 21, 2009 |access-date=2011-06-29 | work=The New York Times | first=Kirk | last=Semple}}

=Citywide demographics=

{{See also|List of U.S. cities with significant Chinese-American populations|Chinese Americans in New York City}}

As the city proper with the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia by a wide margin, estimated at 628,763 as of 2017,{{cite web|url=https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/17_1YR/S0201/1600000US3651000/popgroup~016|title=ACS DEMOGRAPHIC AND HOUSING ESTIMATES 2017 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates Chinese alone - New York City, New York|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|access-date=February 15, 2019|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200214004442/https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/17_1YR/S0201/1600000US3651000/popgroup~016|archive-date=February 14, 2020|url-status=dead}} and as the primary destination for new Chinese immigrants,{{cite web|url=https://www.dhs.gov/yearbook-immigration-statistics-2012-legal-permanent-residents|title=Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2012 Supplemental Table 2|publisher=U.S. Department of Homeland Security|access-date=2014-03-08}} New York City is subdivided into official municipal boroughs, which themselves are home to significant Chinese populations, with Brooklyn and Queens, adjacently located on Long Island, leading the fastest growth.{{cite web|url=http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/36/36047lk.html|title=Kings County (Brooklyn Borough), New York QuickLinks|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|access-date=2014-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140304220709/http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/36/36047lk.html|archive-date=2014-03-04|url-status=dead}}{{cite web|url=http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/36/36081lk.html|title=Queens County (Queens Borough), New York QuickLinks|publisher=U.S. Census Bureau|access-date=2014-03-08|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160225014329/http://quickfacts.census.gov/qfd/states/36/36081lk.html|archive-date=2016-02-25|url-status=dead}} The boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn encompass the largest Chinese populations, respectively, of all municipalities in the United States.

{{NYC Chinatowns|queens=yes}}

<span class="anchor" id="Flushing"></span><span class="anchor" id="Flushing Chinatown"></span> Flushing Chinatown

{{Infobox settlement

| name = Flushing Chinatown

| official_name =

| native_name = {{zh|s=法拉盛}}

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| settlement_type = Neighborhood of Queens

| image_skyline = 41stAveFlushing.jpg

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| image_caption = 41st Avenue in Flushing Chinatown

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| subdivision_name1 = New York

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| subdivision_name3 = Queens

| subdivision_type4 = Region

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{{Infobox Chinese

|title=Chinatown, Flushing

|picsize=250px

|s=法拉盛华埠

|t=法拉盛華埠

|showflag=stp

|p=Fǎlāshèng Huá Bù

|w=Fa3la1sheng4 Hua2 Pu4

|mi={{IPAc-cmn|f|a|3|l|a|1|sh|eng|4|-|h|ua|2|-|p|u|4}}

|gr=Faalashenq Hwabuh

|poj=Hoat-la-sēng Hôa-po͘

|tl=Huat-la-sīng Huâ-poo

|phfs=Fa̍p-lâ-sin Fà-phu

|tp=Fǎlāshèng Húa Bú

|y=

|j=Faat3laa1sing4 Waa4 fau6{{Cite web |url=http://py.chinesebay.com/cm/%E6%B3%95%E6%8B%89%E7%9B%9B%E8%8F%AF%E5%9F%A0 |title=Jyupting & Pinyin for 法拉盛華埠ChineseBay 粤拼-國語拼音字典 Cantonese-Mandarin Pronunciation Dictionary |access-date=2016-06-28 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161005200753/http://py.chinesebay.com/cm/%E6%B3%95%E6%8B%89%E7%9B%9B%E8%8F%AF%E5%9F%A0 |archive-date=2016-10-05 |url-status=dead }}

|ci={{IPA|yue|fāːtláːsȉŋ wȁːpòu|}}

}}

Flushing Chinatown ({{lang|zh|法拉盛華埠}}), or Mandarin Town Flushing ({{lang|zh|國語埠法拉盛}}){{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5PSYZMs8TzEC&q=fort+lee+koreatown+pyong+min&pg=PA237|title=Asian Americans: Contemporary Trends and Issues Second Edition, Edited by Pyong Gap Min|publisher=Pine Forge Press - An Imprint of Sage Publications, Inc.|year=2006|access-date=2010-11-08|isbn=978-1-4129-0556-5}} in Flushing, is one of the largest and fastest-growing ethnic Chinese enclaves outside Asia, as well as within New York City itself. Flushing Chinatown is in Main Street and the area to its west, particularly along Roosevelt Avenue, has become the primary nexus of Flushing Chinatown. However, Chinatown continues to expand southeastward along Kissena Boulevard and northward beyond Northern Boulevard. The Flushing–Main Street station is the busiest New York City Subway station outside Manhattan. The Flushing Chinatown houses over 30,000 individuals born in China alone, the largest Chinatown by this metric outside Asia and one of the largest and fastest-growing Chinatowns in the world.{{cite web|url=http://www.businessinsider.com/i-ate-my-way-through-flushing-queens-and-now-i-get-why-its-the-bigger-and-better-chinatown-2015-5|title=This is what it's like in one of the biggest and fastest growing Chinatowns in the world|author=Melia Robinson|website=Business Insider|date=May 27, 2015|access-date=July 23, 2017}} Flushing is undergoing rapid gentrification by Chinese transnational entities.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/aug/13/flushing-queens-gentrification-luxury-developments|title='Not what it used to be': in New York, Flushing's Asian residents brace against gentrification|author=Sarah Ngu|newspaper=The Guardian US|date=January 29, 2021|access-date=August 13, 2020|quote=The three developers have stressed in public hearings that they are not outsiders to Flushing, which is 69% Asian. 'They’ve been here, they live here, they work here, they’ve invested here,' said Ross Moskowitz, an attorney for the developers at a different public hearing in February...Tangram Tower, a luxury mixed-use development built by F&T. Last year, prices for two-bedroom apartments started at $1.15m...The influx of transnational capital and rise of luxury developments in Flushing has displaced longtime immigrant residents and small business owners, as well as disrupted its cultural and culinary landscape. These changes follow the familiar script of gentrification, but with a change of actors: it is Chinese American developers and wealthy Chinese immigrants who are gentrifying this working-class neighborhood, which is majority Chinese.}}

=History=

==Before Chinatown==

{{Main|Flushing, Queens#History}}

In 1645, Flushing was established by Dutch settlers on the eastern bank of Flushing Creek under charter of the Dutch West India Company and was part of the New Netherland colony. The settlement was named after the city of Vlissingen, in the southwestern Netherlands, the main port of the company; Flushing is the historic anglicization of the Dutch name of that town.

In 1664, the English took control of New Amsterdam, ending Dutch control of the colony, and renamed it the Province of New York. When Queens County was established in 1683, the "Town of Flushing" was one of the original five towns which comprised the county.{{cite web |url=http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Map/5.Bor.Q.Rich.html |title=Before the Five Borough City:Queens |access-date=2014-10-03 |archive-date=2012-03-14 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120314044721/http://www.bklyn-genealogy-info.com/Map/5.Bor.Q.Rich.html |url-status=dead }} This later map shows former boundaries of the Town of Flushing. The map does not show the towns that were part of Queens and are now part of Nassau. Many historical references to Flushing are to this town, bounded from Newtown on the west by Flushing Creek (now often called the Flushing River), from Jamaica on the south by the "hills"—that is, the terminal moraine left by the last glacier, and from Hempstead on the east by what later became the Nassau County line. The town was dissolved in 1898 when Queens became a borough of New York City, and the term "Flushing" today usually refers to a much smaller area, including the former Village of Flushing and the areas immediately to the east and south. It was later settled by multiple ethnicities, including people of European, Hispanic, South-West Asian, African, and eventually East Asian ancestry.

==Emergence as Little Taipei / Little Taiwan==

In the 1970s, a Chinese community established a foothold in Flushing, whose demographic constituency had been predominantly white, interspersed with a small Japanese community. This wave of immigrants from Taiwan were the first to arrive and developed Flushing's Chinatown. It was known as Little Taipei ({{lang|zh|小台北}}) or Little Taiwan ({{lang|zh|小台灣}}). Many who arrived were the descendants of former soldiers and political supporters of Chiang Kai-shek and the Chinese Nationalist Party, which had lost the war against the Chinese Communist Party, and established themselves in Taiwan. Along with immigrants from Taiwan at this time, a large South Korean population has also called Flushing home.

Before the 1970s, Cantonese immigrants had vastly dominated Chinese immigration to New York City; however, during the 1970s, the Taiwanese immigrants were the first wave of Chinese immigrants who spoke Mandarin rather than Cantonese to arrive in New York City. Due to the dominance of Cantonese-speaking immigrants, who were largely working-class in Manhattan's Chinatown ({{zh|c=紐約華埠|j=Nau2 Joek3 Waa4 Fau6}}), as well as the language barrier and poor housing conditions there, Taiwanese immigrants, who were more likely to have attained higher educational standards and socioeconomic status, could not relate to Manhattan's Chinatown, and chose to settle in Flushing instead. As the Taiwanese population grew, a Flushing Chinatown was created with a higher standard of living and better housing conditions.

==Mandarin Town, Flushing==

File:Flushing, After the Rain.jpg

Over the years, many new non-Cantonese ethnic Chinese immigrants from different regions and provinces of China started to arrive in New York City and settled in Flushing through word of mouth. This led to the creation of a more Mandarin-speaking Chinatown or Mandarin Town that gradually replaced Little Taipei. This wave of immigrants spoke Mandarin and various regional/provincial dialects. The early 1990s into the 2000s brought a wave of Fuzhounese Americans and Wenzhounese immigrants. Like the Taiwanese, they faced cultural and communication problems in Manhattan's predominantly Cantonese-speaking Chinatown and settled in Flushing as well as Elmhurst, Queens, which also has a significant Mandarin-speaking population. Flushing's Chinese population became very diverse over the next few decades as people from different provinces started to arrive, infusing their varied languages and cultures into this new "Chinatown."{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MR4iVnvulMQC&pg=PA158|title=New immigrants in New York|first=Nancy|last=Foner|publisher=Columbia University Press|year=2001|pages=158–161|isbn=978-0-231-12414-0}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5PSYZMs8TzEC&q=Flushing+Chinatown+Little+Taiwan&pg=PA134 |title=Asian Americans: contemporary trends ... – Google Books |isbn=9781412905565 |access-date=August 28, 2011|last1=Min |first1=Pyong Gap |year=2006 |publisher=Pine Forge Press }}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZcBxKK0cljcC&q=Flushing+Chinatown+Little+Taiwan&pg=PA190 |title=Chinatown: The Socioeconomic ... – Google Books |date=January 24, 1995 |isbn=9781439904176 |access-date=August 28, 2011|last1=Zhou |first1=Min |publisher=Temple University Press }}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=NagJFMxtkAcC&q=Flushing+Chinatown+Little+Taiwan&pg=PA104 |title=Still the golden door: the Third ... – Google Books |author=David M. Reimers |year=1992 |publisher=Columbia University Press |isbn=9780231076814 |access-date=December 15, 2011}} Due to the increased opening of Mainland China, there has also been a growing Northern Chinese population in Flushing.

Flushing and its Chinatown abuts the rapidly growing Long Island Koreatown as well.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5PSYZMs8TzEC&q=fort+lee+koreatown+pyong+min&pg=PA237|title=Asian Americans: Contemporary Trends and Issues Second Edition, Edited by Pyong Gap Min|publisher=Pine Forge Press - An Imprint of Sage Publications, Inc|year=2006|access-date=2013-01-11|isbn=9781412905565}}

=Chinese demographic=

The intersection of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue, in the heart of the Chinatown neighborhood, hosts a large concentration of Chinese businesses, including Chinese restaurants. Chinese-owned businesses in particular dominate the area along Main Street and the blocks west of it, while Korean businesses are found in a substantial number east of Main Street and east of the Flushing Chinatown, on Union Street. The majority of signs and advertisements of stores in the area have become Chinese. Ethnic Chinese constitute an increasingly dominant proportion of the Asian population and as well as of the overall population in Flushing. Consequently, Flushing's Chinatown has grown rapidly enough to become the largest Chinatown outside Asia. The Flushing Chinatown has surpassed the original Manhattan Chinatown in size. As of 2023, illegal Chinese immigration to New York, and especially to Queens and its Flushing Chinatown, has accelerated.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/24/us/politics/china-migrants-us-border.html|title=Growing Numbers of Chinese Migrants Are Crossing the Southern Border|author=Eileen Sullivan|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 24, 2023|access-date=November 24, 2023|quote=Most who have come to the United States in the past year were middle-class adults who have headed to New York after being released from custody. New York has been a prime destination for migrants from other nations as well, particularly Venezuelans, who rely on the city’s resources, including its shelters. But few of the Chinese migrants are staying in the shelters. Instead, they are going where Chinese citizens have gone for generations: Flushing, Queens. Or to some, the Chinese Manhattan...“New York is a self-sufficient Chinese immigrants community,” said the Rev. Mike Chan, the executive director of the Chinese Christian Herald Crusade, a faith-based group in the neighborhood.}} Flushing has become the present-day global epicenter receiving Chinese immigration as well as the international control center directing such migration.

A 1986 estimate by the Flushing Chinese Business Association approximated 60,000 Chinese in Flushing alone.{{cite web|url=http://qcpages.qc.edu/Asian_American_Center/research_papers/aacre15.html|access-date=2010-03-29|title=Chinese in Chinatown and Flushing|author=Hsiang-shui Chen|archive-date=2011-07-20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720033810/http://qcpages.qc.edu/Asian_American_Center/research_papers/aacre15.html|url-status=dead}} By 1990, Asians constituted 41% of the population of the core area of Flushing, with Chinese in turn representing 41% of the Asian population. However, ethnic Chinese are constituting an increasingly dominant proportion of the Asian population as well as of the overall population in Flushing and its Chinatown. High rates of both legal{{cite web|url=https://www.dhs.gov/files/statistics/publications/LPR11.shtm|title=Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2011 Supplemental Table 2|publisher=U.S. Department of Homeland Security|access-date=2012-09-18}}{{cite web|url=https://www.dhs.gov/files/statistics/publications/LPR10.shtm|title=Yearbook of Immigration Statistics: 2010 Supplemental Table 2|publisher=U.S. Department of Homeland Security|access-date=2012-09-18}} and illegal{{cite news|url=http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-05-09/news/29541916_1_illegal-chinese-immigrants-qm2-queen-mary|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120623083222/http://articles.nydailynews.com/2011-05-09/news/29541916_1_illegal-chinese-immigrants-qm2-queen-mary|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 23, 2012|title=Malaysian man smuggled illegal Chinese immigrants into Brooklyn using Queen Mary 2: authorities|author=John Marzulli|publisher=© Copyright 2012 NY Daily News.com|date=May 9, 2011|access-date=2012-09-18|location=New York}} immigration from Mainland China continue to spur the ongoing rise of the ethnic Chinese population in Flushing, as in all of New York City's Chinatowns.

File:Bank of China on Main Street in Flushing.jpg on Main Street in Flushing]]

Flushing's Chinatown ranks as New York City's largest Chinese community with 33,526 Chinese, up from 17,363, a 93% increase. The Brooklyn Chinatown is the second-largest Chinatown of NYC with 34,218 Chinese residents, up from 19,963 in 2000, a 71% increase. As for Manhattan's Chinatown, its Chinese population declined by 17%, from 34,554 to 28,681 since 2000, to become the third-largest.{{cite news|url=http://www.nydailynews.com/changing-chinatowns-move-manhattan-sunset-park-home-chinese-nyc-article-1.948028|title=The changing Chinatowns: Move over Manhattan, Sunset Park now home to most Chinese in NYC|author=Daniel Beekman|newspaper=NY Daily News|date=2011-08-05|access-date=2012-09-18}}

Of all the Chinatowns of New York City, the Flushing Chinatown is also the most diverse, with large populations of Chinese groups from various regions of Mainland China and Taiwan. The Northeastern Chinese immigrants are increasingly becoming the largest Chinese group in Flushing.{{Cite web | url=https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/3e851680ceeb498db44e6efe4095397b | title=6323.27 mi: Northeast Chinese People in Flushing | date=5 December 2019 }}{{Cite web | url=https://fordhamram.com/69896/culture/flushing-queens-the-other-chinatown/ | title=Flushing, Queens: The Other Chinatown | date=4 February 2021 }}{{Cite web | url=https://www.npr.org/2016/01/26/463857599/leaving-chinas-north-immigrants-redefine-chinese-in-new-york | title=Leaving China's North, Immigrants Redefine Chinese in New York | website=NPR.org }}{{Cite news | url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/16/nyregion/influx-of-chinese-immigrants-is-reshaping-large-parts-of-brooklyn.html | title=With an Influx of Newcomers, Little Chinatowns Dot a Changing Brooklyn | newspaper=The New York Times | date=15 April 2015 | last1=Robbins | first1=Liz }}{{Cite web | url=https://www.brickunderground.com/live/neighborhood-secrets-what-to-know-about-living-in-manhattan-chinatown-nyc | title=Chinatown: The insider's guide to living there | date=25 April 2019 }}{{cite web| url = https://medium.com/flushing/flushing-where-mainland-chinese-immigrants-are-moving-in-42156f62943a| title = Flushing, N.Y. : Where Mainland Chinese Immigrants Are Moving In {{!}} by Muyao Shen {{!}} From Beijing to Flushing {{!}} Medium| date = 21 January 2018}}https://www.aafederation.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/2019ch.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}https://www1.nyc.gov/assets/immigrants/downloads/pdf/Fact-Sheet-NYCs-API-Immigrant-Population.pdf {{Bare URL PDF|date=March 2022}}

=Streetscape<span class="anchor" id="Chinatownscape"></span>=

{{Wide image|Flushing Queens May 2015 2.jpg|800px|3=

The busy intersection of Main Street, Kissena Boulevard, and 41st Avenue in the Flushing Chinatown ({{lang|zh|法拉盛華埠}}), one of the largest and fastest-growing Chinatowns in the world. The segment of Main Street between Kissena Boulevard and Roosevelt Avenue, punctuated by the Long Island Rail Road trestle overpass, represents the cultural heart of Flushing Chinatown. Queens' rapidly growing Chinese American population was approaching 250,000 in 2016,{{cite web|url=https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/16_1YR/S0201/0500000US36081/popgroup~016|title=Selected Population Profile in the United States - 2016 American Community Survey 1-Year Estimates Queens County, New York Chinese alone|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=December 28, 2017|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200214004137/https://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/16_1YR/S0201/0500000US36081/popgroup~016|archive-date=February 14, 2020|url-status=dead}} the highest of any municipality in the United States other than New York City overall. As of 2023, illegal Chinese immigration to New York, and especially to Queens and it's Flushing Chinatown, has accelerated.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/24/us/politics/china-migrants-us-border.html|title=Growing Numbers of Chinese Migrants Are Crossing the Southern Border|author=Eileen Sullivan|newspaper=The New York Times|date=November 24, 2023|access-date=November 24, 2023|quote=Most who have come to the United States in the past year were middle-class adults who have headed to New York after being released from custody. New York has been a prime destination for migrants from other nations as well, particularly Venezuelans, who rely on the city’s resources, including its shelters. But few of the Chinese migrants are staying in the shelters. Instead, they are going where Chinese citizens have gone for generations: Flushing, Queens. Or to some, the Chinese Manhattan...“New York is a self-sufficient Chinese immigrants community,” said the Rev. Mike Chan, the executive director of the Chinese Christian Herald Crusade, a faith-based group in the neighborhood.}}
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=Culture=

Flushing Chinatown now rivals Manhattan's Chinatown as a center of Chinese culture{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/nyregion/22chinese.html|title=In Chinatown, Sound of the Future Is Mandarin|date=October 21, 2009|access-date=April 6, 2010 | work=The New York Times | first=Kirk | last=Semple}} and has been called the "Chinese Times Square" or the "Chinese Manhattan".{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/10/05/realestate/downtown-flushing-where-asian-cultures-thrive.html|title=Downtown Flushing: Where Asian Cultures Thrive|first=Vera|last=Haller|newspaper=The New York Times|date=October 1, 2014|access-date=July 30, 2017}} The Lunar New Year Parade has become a growing annual celebration of Chinese New Year. More and larger Chinese supermarkets are locating and selling a diverse and uniquely vast array of Chinese food and ingredient selections in Flushing, the largest of which include Hong Kong Supermarket and New York Supermarket, which also happen to be rapidly growing Chinese American chain supermarkets.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_4QcI7q4CG0C&q=Hong+Kong+Supermarket+Flushing&pg=PA97 |title=Queens: What to Do, Where to Go (and How Not to Get Lost) in New York's Undiscovered Borough |first=Ellen |last=Freudenheim |date=31 October 2006 |publisher=Macmillan |isbn=9780312358181 |access-date=December 15, 2011}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YjJSI1L5QCQC&q=Hong+Kong+Supermarket+Flushing&pg=PA79 |title=Nosh New York: The Food Lover's Guide to New York City's Most Delicious Neighborhoods |first=Myra |last=Alperson |publisher=Macmillan |date=September 20, 2003 |isbn=9780312304171 |access-date=July 30, 2017}}{{cite web|last=Greenhouse |first=Steven |url=http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/supermarket-to-pay-back-wages-and-overtime/ |title=Supermarket to Pay Back Wages and Overtime – NYTimes.com |publisher=Cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com |date=December 9, 2008 |access-date=July 30, 2017}} The segment of Main Street between Roosevelt Avenue and Kissena Boulevard represents the cultural heart of Flushing Chinatown. Flushing's rise as the largest epicenter of Chinese culture outside Asia has been attributed to the remarkable diversity of regional Chinese demographics represented. The growth of the business activity at the core of Downtown Flushing, dominated by the Flushing Chinatown, has continued to flourish despite the COVID-19 pandemic.{{cite web|url=https://www.curbed.com/2022/12/new-new-york-report-review-hochul-adams-doctoroff.html|title=Can the Hochul-Adams New New York Actually Happen?|author=Justin Davidson|publisher=Curbed - New York magazine|date=December 15, 2022|access-date=December 18, 2022}}

==Languages==

Many languages are spoken in Flushing Chinatown. English can be heard alongside many Sinitic languages, such as various Mandarin (Northeastern Mandarin, Beijing dialect),{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/22/nyregion/22chinese.html|title=In Chinatown, Sound of the Future Is Mandarin|date=2009-10-21|access-date=2011-07-16 | work=The New York Times | first=Kirk | last=Semple }} Min (Fuzhounese, Hokkien), Wu (Shanghainese, Suzhounese, Hangzhounese, Wenzhounese) and Cantonese, while Hakka varieties and Mongolian are now emerging.

==Cuisine==

The popular styles of Chinese cuisine are ubiquitously accessible in Flushing,{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/07/30/dining/30flushing.html|title=Let the Meals Begin: Finding Beijing in Flushing|author=Julia Moskin|work=The New York Times|date=2008-07-30|access-date=2011-06-26}} including Korean-Chinese cuisine, Hakka, Taiwanese, Shanghainese, Hunanese, Sichuanese, Cantonese, Fujianese, Xinjiang, and Zhejiang cuisine. Even the relatively obscure Dongbei style of cuisine indigenous to Northeast China is now available in Flushing,{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/10/dining/10chine.html|title=Northeast China Branches Out in Flushing|date=2010-02-09|access-date=2011-05-09| work=The New York Times | first=Julia | last=Moskin}} as well as Mongolian cuisine and Uyghur cuisine.{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/08/25/dining/food-queens-us-open.html|title=A World of Food, Outside the U.S. Open Gates|author=Max Falkowitz|newspaper=The New York Times|date=August 25, 2018|access-date=August 25, 2018}} These diverse Chinese immigrant populations have brought with them their own regional food cuisines which have led to Flushing being considered the "food mecca" for Chinese regional cuisine outside of Asia.{{cite web|url=https://ny.eater.com/2018/3/13/17085910/tianjin-chinese-flushing-nyc|title=A Look at Tianjin Cuisine, Northern Chinese Fare Found in Flushing|website=eater.com|date=13 March 2018|access-date=April 14, 2018}}{{cite web|url=https://www.villagevoice.com/2017/11/03/in-flushing-a-beacon-for-northeastern-chinese-cuisine-shines-bright/|title=In Flushing, A Beacon for Northeastern Chinese Cuisine Shines Bright|website=villagevoice.com|date=3 November 2017|access-date=April 14, 2018}}

==Media==

The World Journal, one of the largest Chinese-language newspapers outside China, is headquartered in adjacent Whitestone, Queens, with offices in Flushing as well. Numerous other Chinese newspapers such as the China Press, Sing Tao Daily, The Epoch Times, as well as other English-language publications, are available in the Flushing Chinatown.

SinoVision, one of the largest Chinese-speaking media networks in North America, also has headquarters in Flushing.

==Educational centers==

In accompaniment with its rapid growth, Flushing in particular has witnessed the proliferation of highly competitive businesses touted as educational centers{{cite magazine|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/25/magazine/asian-test-prep-centers-offer-parents-exactly-what-they-want-results.html|title=Asian Test-Prep Centers Offer Parents Exactly What They Want: 'Results'|author=Alice Yin|magazine=The New York Times Magazine|date=October 25, 2017|access-date=October 26, 2017}} as well as non-profit organizations declaring the intent to educate the community. Some entities offer education in Mandarin,{{cite news|url=https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9D04E3D61730F93BA15756C0A9619C8B63&sec=&spon=&&scp=2&sq=mandarin%20classes%20flushing&st=cse|title=In Queens, Classes in Mandarin Are Also Lessons in Adaptation|date=2007-05-28|access-date=2010-04-03 | work=The New York Times | first=Ellen | last=Barry}} the lingua franca of Mainland China; others profess to provide students with intensive training in computer and technological proficiency; while still others entice high school students with rigorous preparatory classes for college entrance examinations in mathematics, science, and English literacy (see: cram school and buxiban).

=Public institutions and services=

File:QPL Flushing jeh.JPG in Flushing Chinatown.]]

The largest of the Flushing branches of the Queens Borough Public Library is located at the intersection of Kissena Boulevard and Main Street.{{cite web|url=https://www.queenslibrary.org/about-us/locations/flushing|title=Flushing|publisher=Queens Public Library|access-date=2012-02-23}} This library houses an auditorium for public events.

New York Hospital Queens, a member of the NewYork-Presbyterian Healthcare System, is a major medical center providing Flushing as well as surrounding communities with comprehensive medical care services.{{cite web|url=http://www.nyhq.org/|title=New York Hospital Queens|access-date=2010-04-16|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100619225512/http://nyhq.org/|archive-date=2010-06-19}} Numerous tertiary medical clinics also serve the residents of Flushing.

A diverse array of social services geared toward assisting recent as well as established Chinese immigrants is readily available in Flushing.{{cite web|url=https://a069-webapps3.nyc.gov/dsial/Agency_Detail.aspx?id=196|title=Chinese Immigrants Services, Inc.|access-date=2010-04-07|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100527150443/https://a069-webapps3.nyc.gov/dsial/Agency_Detail.aspx?id=196|archive-date=2010-05-27}}

=Transportation=

The New York City Subway's {{NYCS trains|Flushing}} has its terminus at Flushing – Main Street; the intersection of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue, at the heart of Flushing Chinatown, is the third busiest intersection in New York City, behind only Times Square and Herald Square in Manhattan. It is the busiest subway station in Queens and the 12th busiest station overall {{as of|2016}}.{{NYCS const|riderref}} Numerous other public bus and rail connections also serve Chinatown at the Main Street/Roosevelt Avenue intersection, including 22 bus routes as well as the Port Washington Branch of the Long Island Rail Road.{{cite web|url=http://www.mta.info/nyct/service/sevenlin.htm|title=MTA/New York City Transit Subway Line Information - Flushing-Main Street/Roosevelt Avenue|access-date=2010-04-15|archive-date=2014-04-03|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140403055847/http://www.mta.info/nyct/service/sevenlin.htm|url-status=dead}} Flushing Chinatown is also readily accessible by automobile from several major highways, namely the Grand Central Parkway and the Whitestone Expressway/Van Wyck Expressway. There are also multiple dollar van services shuttling passengers between Flushing Chinatown and the other Chinatowns in New York City and Long Island.

=Political clout=

The political stature of Flushing Chinatown appears to be increasing significantly. Taiwan-born John Liu, former New York City Council member representing District 20, which includes Flushing Chinatown and other northern Queens neighborhoods, was elected New York City Comptroller in November 2009. Concomitantly, Peter Koo, born in Shanghai, China was elected to succeed Liu to assume this council membership seat.

= Controversy =

In March 2019, The New York Times reported that the Flushing Chinatown has also become the epicenter of organized prostitution in the United States, importing women from China, Korea, Thailand, and Eastern Europe to sustain the underground North American sex trade.{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/02/us/massage-parlors-human-trafficking.html|title=Behind Illicit Massage Parlors Lie a Vast Crime Network and Modern Indentured Servitude|last1=Kulish|first1=Nicholas|date=2019-03-02|work=The New York Times|access-date=2019-12-27|last2=Robles|first2=Frances|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331|last3=Mazzei|first3=Patricia}}

Satellite Chinatowns

=Chinatown in Elmhurst=

File:Bwy Elmhurst Chinatown jeh.jpg

Elmhurst's rapidly growing Chinatown{{cite web|url=http://queens.about.com/od/photogalleries/ig/Photos-of-Elmhurst/Elmhurst-Chinatown-.htm|title=A Growing Chinatown in Elmhurst|access-date=2010-10-01|archive-date=2014-07-11|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140711032947/http://queens.about.com/od/photogalleries/ig/Photos-of-Elmhurst/Elmhurst-Chinatown-.htm|url-status=dead}} is the second in Queens, in addition to the Flushing Chinatown. Previously a small area with Chinese shops on Broadway between 81st Street and Cornish Avenue, this newly evolved second Chinatown in Queens has now expanded to 45th Avenue and Whitney Avenue and is developing as a satellite of the Flushing Chinatown. In Chinese translation, Elmhurst is named 艾浒 (Àihǔ in Standard Chinese). There are also many other Southeast Asian businesses and shops in the area, including Malaysian Chinese, Singaporean Chinese, Indonesian, Thai, and Vietnamese. Hong Kong Supermarket and New York Supermarket serve as the largest Chinese supermarkets selling different food varieties to this Elmhurst Chinatown.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YjJSI1L5QCQC&q=Hong+Kong+Supermarket+Flushing&pg=PA79|title=Nosh New York|isbn=9780312304171|access-date=12 April 2016|last1=Alperson|first1=Myra|date=20 September 2003|publisher=Macmillan }}{{cite news| url=http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/09/supermarket-to-pay-back-wages-and-overtime/ | work=The New York Times | first=Steven | last=Greenhouse | title=Supermarket to Pay Back Wages and Overtime | date=December 9, 2008}} Financial institutions have emerged along Broadway to serve the various Chinese communities of Elmhurst. Like Flushing's Chinatown, it is also very highly populated by Mandarin speakers, although many also speak other languages like Hakka.

=Chinese enclave in Corona=

An annexation of the Elmhurst Chinatown is the neighborhood of Corona, emerging as a Chinatown geographically connecting the larger Chinatowns in Flushing and Elmhurst.{{cite web|url=http://geographyplanning.buffalostate.edu/MSG%202002/13_McGlinn.pdf |title=Beyond Chinatown: Dual Immigration and the Chinese Population of Metropolitan New York City, 2000, Page 4 |author=Lawrence A. McGlinn, Department of Geography SUNY-New Paltz |publisher=Middle States Geographer, 2002, 35: 110–119, Journal of the Middle States Division of the Association of American Geographers |access-date=2013-03-19 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121029075400/http://geographyplanning.buffalostate.edu/MSG%202002/13_McGlinn.pdf |archive-date=2012-10-29 }}

=Chinese enclave in Whitestone=

File:World Journal Whitestone jeh.JPG, the largest Chinese-language newspaper in the United States and one of the largest Chinese-language newspapers outside of China, with a daily circulation of 350,000, is headquartered in Whitestone, Queens, with offices in the adjacent Flushing Chinatown as well."[http://www.worldjournal.com/contact_us-e Contact Us] ([http://www.worldjournal.com/contact_us Page in Chinese]) World Journal. Retrieved on 2014-10-03. "New York Headquarters 141-07 20th Ave. Whitestone, NY 11357"]]Since 2000, thousands of Chinese Americans have migrated into Whitestone, given the sizeable presence of the neighboring Flushing Chinatown, and have continued their expansion eastward in Queens and into neighboring, highly educated Nassau County on Long Island, which has become the leading suburban destination in the U.S. for Chinese.{{cite magazine|url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/hengshao/2014/04/10/chinese-real-estate-buyers-fan-out-to-long-islands-north-shore/|title=Join The Great Gatsby: Chinese Real Estate Buyers Fan Out To Long Island's North Shore|author=Heng Shao|magazine=Forbes|date=2014-04-10|access-date=2014-10-03}}{{cite web|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-realestate-china-manhattan-insight-idUSBREA3O0TL20140425|title=The Chinese take Manhattan: replace Russians as top apartment buyers|author=Michelle Conlin and Maggie Lu Yueyang|publisher=Thomson Reuters|date=2014-04-25|access-date=2014-11-28}} The World Journal, the largest Chinese-language newspaper in the United States{{cite web|url=https://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-10-27/one-percenters-drop-six-figures-at-long-island-mall.html|title=One Percenters Drop Six Figures at Long Island Mall|author=Carol Hymowitz|publisher= Bloomberg L.P|date=2014-10-27|access-date=2014-10-27}} and one of the largest Chinese-language newspapers outside China, with a daily circulation of 350,000, is headquartered in Whitestone. The New York office of Hong Kong-based Lee Kum Kee International Holdings Ltd. is also located in Whitestone."[http://usa.lkk.com/Us/Enterprise/SalesContact/ContactUs Contact Information] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140812125451/http://usa.lkk.com/Us/Enterprise/SalesContact/ContactUs |date=2014-08-12 }}." Lee Kum Kee. Retrieved on 2014-10-03. "30-56 Whitestone Expressway, Suite #350, Whitestone, NY 11354 USA"

See also

References

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{{Flushing, Queens}}

{{Queens}}

{{Ethnicity in New York City}}

{{US Chinatowns}}

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*Queens

Category:Neighborhoods in Queens, New York

Category:Flushing, Queens

Category:Elmhurst, Queens

Category:Corona, Queens

Category:Whitestone, Queens