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Chinatowns in Brooklyn
The first Brooklyn Chinatown was originally established in the Sunset Park area of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is one of the largest and fastest growing ethnic Chinese enclaves outside of Asia, as well as within New York City itself. Because this Chinatown is rapidly evolving into an enclave predominantly of Fuzhou immigrants from Fujian Province in China, it is now increasingly common to refer to it as the Little Fuzhou or Fuzhou Town of the Western Hemisphere; as well as the largest Fuzhou enclave of New York City.
Brooklyn's Chinese population has grown larger than the original Chinatown area, forming three larger Chinatowns between Sunset Park, Bensonhurst, and Avenue U in Sheepshead Bay. While the foreign-born Chinese population in New York City jumped 35 percent between 2000 and 2013, to 353,000 from about 262,000, the foreign-born Chinese population in Brooklyn increased from 86,000 to 128,000. The newer Brooklyn Chinatowns that evolved are mostly Cantonese speaking and therefore they are sometimes regarded as a Little Hong Kong/Guangdong or Cantonese Town.
The 2020 census data from New York City Department of City Planning indicated that Bensonhurst had Brooklyn's largest number of Asian residents, with 46,000, with Central Sunset Park containing 31,400 Asian residents. The Asian population in southern Brooklyn is primarily Chinese-speaking.
The New York metropolitan area contains the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia, comprising an estimated 893,697 uniracial individuals as of 2017, including at least 12 Chinatowns – six (or nine, including the emerging Chinatowns in Corona and Whitestone, Queens, 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 (relatively) long tenure in New York City. The first Chinese immigrants came to Lower Manhattan around 1870, looking for the "golden" opportunities America had to offer. 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, Cantonese, which 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.
As the city proper with the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia by a wide margin, estimated at 628,763 as of 2017, and as the primary destination for new Chinese immigrants, 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. After the City of New York itself, the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn encompass the largest Chinese populations, respectively, of all municipalities in the United States.
In the earlier part of the 20th century, Eighth Avenue in Sunset Park was primarily home to Norwegian immigrants, and it was known as "Little Norway", or "Lapskaus Boulevard", as the Norwegians termed it. Later on, as Norwegians left, the neighborhood increasingly became abandoned by the 1950s.
In 1983, the first Chinese American grocery store in Brooklyn (Store name: Choi Yung Grocery) was opened on 5517 Fort Hamilton Parkway. Selling both Asian and American products and in 1985. The first Cantonese style seafood restaurant opened on 8th Avenue in between 55 and 56 Street (Store name: Canton House Restaurant). In 1986, Winley Supermarket was opened on the corner of 8th Avenue (5523 8th Avenue). Those unprecedented supermarkets and the first Chinese seafood restaurant served the predominantly local residents of the area and attracted Chinese immigrants from all areas of Brooklyn.
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Chinatowns in Brooklyn
The first Brooklyn Chinatown was originally established in the Sunset Park area of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is one of the largest and fastest growing ethnic Chinese enclaves outside of Asia, as well as within New York City itself. Because this Chinatown is rapidly evolving into an enclave predominantly of Fuzhou immigrants from Fujian Province in China, it is now increasingly common to refer to it as the Little Fuzhou or Fuzhou Town of the Western Hemisphere; as well as the largest Fuzhou enclave of New York City.
Brooklyn's Chinese population has grown larger than the original Chinatown area, forming three larger Chinatowns between Sunset Park, Bensonhurst, and Avenue U in Sheepshead Bay. While the foreign-born Chinese population in New York City jumped 35 percent between 2000 and 2013, to 353,000 from about 262,000, the foreign-born Chinese population in Brooklyn increased from 86,000 to 128,000. The newer Brooklyn Chinatowns that evolved are mostly Cantonese speaking and therefore they are sometimes regarded as a Little Hong Kong/Guangdong or Cantonese Town.
The 2020 census data from New York City Department of City Planning indicated that Bensonhurst had Brooklyn's largest number of Asian residents, with 46,000, with Central Sunset Park containing 31,400 Asian residents. The Asian population in southern Brooklyn is primarily Chinese-speaking.
The New York metropolitan area contains the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia, comprising an estimated 893,697 uniracial individuals as of 2017, including at least 12 Chinatowns – six (or nine, including the emerging Chinatowns in Corona and Whitestone, Queens, 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 (relatively) long tenure in New York City. The first Chinese immigrants came to Lower Manhattan around 1870, looking for the "golden" opportunities America had to offer. 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, Cantonese, which 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.
As the city proper with the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia by a wide margin, estimated at 628,763 as of 2017, and as the primary destination for new Chinese immigrants, 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. After the City of New York itself, the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn encompass the largest Chinese populations, respectively, of all municipalities in the United States.
In the earlier part of the 20th century, Eighth Avenue in Sunset Park was primarily home to Norwegian immigrants, and it was known as "Little Norway", or "Lapskaus Boulevard", as the Norwegians termed it. Later on, as Norwegians left, the neighborhood increasingly became abandoned by the 1950s.
In 1983, the first Chinese American grocery store in Brooklyn (Store name: Choi Yung Grocery) was opened on 5517 Fort Hamilton Parkway. Selling both Asian and American products and in 1985. The first Cantonese style seafood restaurant opened on 8th Avenue in between 55 and 56 Street (Store name: Canton House Restaurant). In 1986, Winley Supermarket was opened on the corner of 8th Avenue (5523 8th Avenue). Those unprecedented supermarkets and the first Chinese seafood restaurant served the predominantly local residents of the area and attracted Chinese immigrants from all areas of Brooklyn.