Preserving Chinatowns in the United States

Chinatowns have been bastions of community resilience for over 160 years. New threats make preservation more important than ever.

Karen Yee

Introduction

Written by National Trust for Historic Preservation staff Di Gao, Senior Director of Research and Development & Priya Chhaya, Associate Director of Content.

Historic Chinatowns are communities of resilience, and while they do not look the same across the country, they all reveal different sides of the formation of America and teach us more about our identity as a nation. From the bustling density of Chinatowns in major urban centers, to the smaller Chinese communities in rural landscapes—ones that have long gone quiet, leaving single streets or mere buildings as evidence where they once stood—these places have the power to tell intergenerational stories that continue to redefine what it means to be American.

In the summer of 2021, as Chinatowns continued to grapple with the fallout of the dramatic decline in business brought on by the pandemic and an alarming rise in xenophobia and racism against the Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI) community, the National Trust for Historic Preservation worked with Karen Yee, a graduate researcher studying at the University of Maryland, to develop a tool and research ways to identify, elevate, and preserve these treasured places that tell Chinese American history.

Her work focused on three different questions:

  • What is the current state of preservation activity associated with Chinatowns/International Districts, and what opportunities exist to strengthen existing community work?
  • What types of places associated with Chinatowns/International Districts have been identified, protected, and interpreted?
  • What research and data have been collected on this topic, and what gaps remain?

Many of these areas are recognized as International Districts to represent the multi-ethnic identities and nationalities present in these communities today including Filipino, Indian, Vietnamese, Korean, Japanese, Cambodian, Laotian, Hmong, Thai, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Burmese and so many others. For this story, we focus on Chinatowns as places where a majority of the population was/is Chinese and the communities self-identify as Chinatown.

This StoryMap provides a brief timeline of the history of Chinatowns, as well as resources for identifying these places and preservation tools that could help protect them. Learn more about Asian and Pacific Islander Americans across the country, and discover how you can get involved.

The National Trust for Historic Preservation recognizes that Chinatowns are occupying unceded indigenous lands, and are part of a continuum of immigration, settlement, resettlement, and change.  Learn more about tribal lands where your Chinatown is located. 

Chinatown communities tell an important and multilayered story about the integral role that Chinese communities have played in shaping the United States and American identity for centuries.  

The Formation of Chinatowns

There is no single story of Chinatowns across the United States. They each have different beginnings, with some establishing themselves in the 1860s while others formed in the 1970s and even later.

Early historic Chinatowns were generally located in the same places where Chinese laborers worked. They were filled with grocers, restaurants, laundries, and other small businesses. Most importantly, these early Chinatowns served as a vital social and economic support network for Chinese laborers facing discrimination, while also serving as a second home.  

Community organizing was important for early Chinese immigrants who had to rely on each other. While these organizations kept Chinatowns together, angry mobs comprised of non-Chinese laborers and armed with political support burned them down. Many historic Chinatowns were often rebuilt in different parts of town or cities, or they moved altogether to larger, well-established Chinatowns.

As shown in the timeline below, Chinese immigrants demonstrated resilience in the wake of numerous events and legislation that impacted the growth and demographics of the Chinatown community between 1790-1965.

Responding to Racism Against the AAPI Community Today

Today, new threats continue to impact Chinatowns and members of the AAPI community across the country. Chinatowns have been impacted by urban renewal, gentrification and displacement, aging building stock in need of repair, lack of public investment, and inequitable zoning and land use policies, among other forces.

In the wake of COVID-19, small businesses in Chinatowns around the country experienced unprecedented devastation. Further, anti-Asian hate crime rose by 150% between 2019-2020. [ 1 ] This is in part due to fearmongering that wrongly associated COVID-19 with the AAPI community.

But more importantly, the increased reports of anti-Asian crime has helped shed light on the harmful narratives that surround both the Chinatown and AAPI community. The  model minority myth  and the idea that AAPIs are perpetual foreigners have impacted the way we have preserved and seen our Asian American communities.  

Rising above voices of hatred are the voices of younger generations, community advocates, and groups who have come together nationwide to combat these negative narratives and work to preserve AAPI spaces. Change is happening now in the AAPI community, and historic preservation must step up to be a part of that change.

Examples of voices rising above hate and turning to solutions are found in the  Additional Resources section  of this StoryMap.

Where Are Our Chinatowns?

Thus where are our Chinatowns in the United States? In order to conduct the preliminary research, we identified Chinatowns as places where a majority of the population was/is Chinese and the community had referred to itself as a Chinatown.

The map below shows 83 identified Chinatowns and categorizes these Chinatowns into four types: Traditional, Revitalized, Satellite, and Commercial. It is important to note this categorization is meant to help understand the evolution of Chinatowns but is not a formal definition for these places.

Modern and historic newspapers, local community projects, academic journals, and oral histories served as the primary resource materials in identifying 83 Chinatown communities. The categorization method for these Chinatowns were taken from an article written by Robert Aronson and Emily Kent in 2008. They realized that current Chinatown literature primarily focused on Chinatowns in large urban cities. In response to this, they developed their own framework for identifying Chinatowns across the United States in order to better understand how these different types of Chinatowns contribute to national trends in Chinatown development.

These historic sites encompass both historic and new Chinatowns that have developed in the past 160 years. Some are thriving cultural centers while others are long-gone. Although this preliminary analysis is not comprehensive, this data will help both researchers and communities understand the history and scope of Chinatown growth and development nationally.

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🔵 Traditional Chinatowns were formed before War World II and were a result of Chinese laborers congregating together as a form of protection from the discrimination that they faced both in and outside of the workplace. These Chinatowns also occupied small spaces as a result of restrictive legislation that prevented Chinese laborers from being able to live freely in other places. Most early traditional Chinatowns were comprised of southern Chinese immigrants.

🟠 Revitalized Chinatowns are traditional Chinatowns that have evolved due to the influx of immigrants arriving to Chinatowns from the lifting of restrictive immigration legislation such as repeal of the Magnuson Act of 1943 and the passage of the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965. They are also more family-oriented than previous traditional Chinatowns as new immigrants formed families.

🟢 Satellite Chinatowns are ethnic enclaves that had developed outside of traditional Chinatown locations and may be located in suburban areas. They are typically populated by both Chinese and other Asian and Pacific Islander American (AAPI) groups. One common type of satellite Chinatown is an ethnoburb which developed in the 1970s as Chinese residents moved out of urban cities and into the suburbs.[ 2 ]

🟣 Commercial Chinatowns developed from commercial roots. The first type of commercial-styled Chinatown occurs when a Chinese business moves to an area where there are little to no Chinese presence. The second type of commercial Chinatown occurs when investors purposely market a strip mall or a shopping center as a Chinatown. In both cases, Chinese businesses arrive first to an area before a Chinese community begins to settle into the area. Although settlement may not always occur afterwards, these areas begin to experience an increase of Chinese and other AAPI-owned businesses.

Explore the map further by toggling on and off each category.

Current Preservation Efforts

Although the previous map locates a majority of Chinatowns that have been recorded in community archives, the reality is that many of these communities have already been deeply impacted by urban renewal, gentrification, displacement, and other external forces.

As a result, preservation work on Chinatowns have been primarily driven by community members who have kept the memories of Chinatown alive through archives, oral history projects, mapping, and cultural events. Their work has also expanded past traditional preservation roles, like participating in zoning board reviews, raising funds for small businesses, and developing social networks to strengthen community coalitions.  

On a national level, Chinatowns have not been broadly recognized by existing preservation policy and tools. This may be related to a larger issue to how the field identifies places as historically significant. Traditional preservation practice often emphasizes the architecture and physical integrity over cultural and social significance which in turn excludes places that have been historically occupied by racial and ethnic minorities. Underrepresented communities like Chinatowns are less likely to be preserved because there may be little to no physical remnant of the community left.

Chinese immigrants and other minorities have historically been excluded from landownership (redlining, racial covenants, and Alien Land Laws), making it difficult for communities to lay down permanent roots. [ 3 ] Other times, Chinatowns have been burned down by racial riots or torn apart by urban renewal projects. A focus on social and cultural significance would allow more inclusivity in historic preservation.   

The underrepresentation of places related to historically excluded communities can also been seen through the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) which records and documents all historic sites, properties, and items that are of national cultural significance to United States history. According to the 2020 Congressional Research Report Overview on the Federal Role in Historic Preservation (2020), it noted that in FY 2014, only 8 percent of all total listings on the National Register relate to underrepresented communities.[ 4 ] This rings especially true in the case of Chinatown historic districts and buildings associated with them. 

Based on preliminary research, we found that out of the 83 Chinatowns identified, only eight Chinatowns had been listed on the National Register as a historic district, and there were 11 historic districts that intersected with historic Chinatown history in their nomination form. Within these 11 historic districts, Chinatown histories were often composed of a few sentences or paragraphs in the context of district history. Most of these historic districts did not delve deeply in discussing how these Chinatowns made an impact on the growth and development of the area.

This preliminary research makes clear that the formal preservation of Chinatowns has not been successful on a widespread scale.

This maps shows the 83 Chinatowns that were found (left) compared to 19 NRHP district listings (right).

Updates to existing nominations and/or the creation of new nominations will be vital for preserving the Chinatowns that have not been included. This information is important for future researchers who may use this information to guide education lesson plans, development projects, and other actions.

The Future of Preservation in Chinatowns: Tools and Case Studies

Historic preservation has often been viewed as a method of protection for landscapes, buildings, and objects, but its purposes are much deeper than that. The core focus of historic preservation is to preserve culture and heritage—whether tangible or intangible—and to help tell the American story. Thus, when we think of preservation, we must also think about the communities of which the heritage and culture belong to.

In order for historic preservation to support Chinatowns or any ethnic community, it must focus on a holistic approach that looks beyond buildings and focuses on communities. There are many ways in which preservation has begun to address issues of social justice and strengthen its role in working with communities to foster equitable development and engagement. 

Preservation Tool #1: Historic Property Designation

Historic property designation is one of the major tools of historic preservation. It is a nomination process that selects a building, site, or landscape into some type of historic property register.

There are three types of historic property registers: national, state, and local registries. The purpose of these registers is to inventory sites that have local, state, or national cultural significance. Each register has their own individual benefits and restrictions. 

Designation has the benefits of: 

  • Protection from developmental pressures.  Local designations are one of the best forms of protection for historic properties. Typically, exterior alterations, demolitions, and new buildings in historic districts or on a historic property requires a historic design review board to approve the process. This is beneficial for communities like Chinatowns who are in areas at risk of unfavorable development. National and state register designations may not offer the same level of protection as a local designation with a strong local historic preservation ordinance. It’s important to check-in on each jurisdiction’s rules and regulations for historic properties.  In addition, designation also impacts planning decisions because historic districts and properties are an additional legal layer to consider when developing zoning plans.
  •  Historic Tax Credits . For income-producing properties that are designated on the National Register of Historic Places (NRHP), they may be eligible to apply for historic tax credits. Some state and local registries also have historic tax credits available for properties designated on these levels. Historic tax credits are beneficial for rehabilitation projects and have been used in conjunction with low-income housing tax credit in order to build or rehabilitate historic buildings into affordable housing.  
  • Awareness. The process of designation into any registry can present an opportunity for local communities to write their own official story. Designations are also made available on public record, presenting valuable material for research and education while also solidifying the importance of the community’s heritage and culture.  

Case Study |Inclusive Designation: Weeksville, Brooklyn, New York 

Weeksville [5] was a historic Black community that existed up until the 20th century. Urban renewal and white flight contributed to the decline of the town. In 1968, Pratt Institute professor James Hurly and pilot Joseph Haynes discovered a remnant of the town that is now known as the Hunterfly Road Houses. [ 6 ] Unfortunately, the area was to be demolished to make way for public housing. As a result, community members like Joan Maynard founded the Society for Preservation of Weeksville and Bedford-Stuyvesant History in order to document and help restore Hunterfly Roadhouses as a museum in order to prevent their demolition. Community partners, preservationists, and activists came together to petition for designating these properties on both the New York City Landmarks and the National Register. They were designated in 1970 as a NYC Landmark and added onto the National Register in 1971. As a result of the designation, the Weeksville community was able to preserve an important piece of Black history while also helping to open opportunities for collaborate among the community.  

Case Study | Inclusive Designation and Historic Tax Credit: Shelly School Apartments, West York, Pennsylvania

The Shelly Schools [ 7 ] were built in 1897 and 1905 and were used as educational facilities until 1958. In 1997 the buildings were purchased by PFG Capital who used a combination of Low-Income Tax Credits (LITC) and Historic Rehabilitation Tax Credit in order to renovate the building into affordable housing. The federal HRTC provides a 20% tax credit on certain rehab projects, and in this case the Shelly School was able to obtain about $303,162 in credit to help complete the project. The buildings were added to the NRHP in 2001 and the project was completed in 2002. This is a case study example where historic tax credits resulting from historic property designation can be utilized in creating successful rehabilitation projects that focus on affordable housing especially when combined with LITC. 

Preservation Tool #2: Economic Development Programs

Economic development and historic preservation are closely linked together as businesses are vital to the health of historic communities. Historic preservation’s role in economic development has evolved over the years and new programs have been released in which preservation has begun to utilize non-traditional preservation methods to support local businesses.  

Case Study | Economic Development: San Francisco Legacy Business Program, San Francisco, California

Some historic preservation programs have been focused on economic development like  San Francisco’s Legacy Business Program.   In 2013 the San Francisco Heritage began the “Legacy Bars and Restaurants” program which made note of businesses that contributed to the heritage and culture of San Francisco for more than 40 years. In 2015, they created the San Francisco Business Registry and Legacy Business Historical Preservation fund, which provided grants to business owners who had operated in SF for more than 30 years as well as property owners who agreed to do lease extensions for a set amount of rent. This in turn has helped small business owners remain in competitive real estate markets as commercial rents begin to rise.

Case Study | Economic Development: Little Tokyo Community Impact Fund, Los Angeles, California

Other communities like Little Tokyo in Los Angeles have turned to community land trust models in order to preserve their legacy businesses. A community land trust is when a nonprofit organization takes stewardship position of land. The  Little Tokyo Community Impact Fund  focuses landownership in order to stabilize the rising cost of rent for business owners while also helping Japanese American businesses and cultural institutions remain in the community without worrying about developmental pressures and being priced out of their location. Little Tokyo has continuously seen a majority of their adjacent properties succumb to development which has in turn made the neighborhood grow smaller. Historic preservation’s integration into non-conventional tools like land ownership will prove to be an important method for other ethnic communities like Chinatowns that are located in highly prized real estate markets. 

Preservation Tool #3: Historic Context Studies

Historic context studies provide the context needed to evaluate properties for their significance to a community and expedites the process of nominating a property to either a local, state, or national register. As seen in Tool #1, designation on a local level provides the best level of protection and opens up potential funding sources for building rehabilitation. 

In order for historic context studies to be fully beneficial for communities, the process in which they are conducted is important. Community input and consistent dialogue can produce a historic context study that is inclusive and tells the full story of the community, while also providing communities the opportunity to learn how historic preservation transcends beyond historic property designation. For instance, communities should understand that historic context studies are valuable tools that provide an avenue for important stakeholder voices to inform future development. They articulate impactful historic events and community core values and help ensure these values are reflected in redevelopment decisions to prevent unnecessary demolition and other forms of loss. Although these studies are seen as a tool to evaluate properties for historic significance, they can serve a deeper role in guiding development.

Case Study | Historic Context Study: SurveyLA, Los Angeles, California

The  SurveyLA historic resource survey  is one of the most well-known studies in the historic preservation field because of its length of study, dedication to creating a fuller story of the community, and clarity that the survey was meant to not only evaluate, identify, and record historic properties but to also help guide planning projects and city policies. SurveyLA also included developing historic context statements and the integration of GIS to organize and make public their findings. 

Preservation Tool #4: Re-interpretation

Re-interpretation is vital in addressing the harmful narratives that erase and reduce the experiences of minorities. Historic preservation in the past had focused primarily on the stories of the dominant majority, but change is occurring within the field to be more inclusive. This is in part due to the social justice movements in the past years that have fought for more public exposure in the telling of all American stories, including Black, LGTBQ, AAPI, Latinx, and communities with disabilities. Historic preservation's role within re-interpretation is centered around intensive research and community collaboration. Oral histories, community archives, and outreach programs are important in the re-interpretation process of telling a fuller story.  

Interpretation and making public the histories of the underrepresented also help to shed light on the communities that may not have been included in the developmental history of places. This is especially important in the cases of younger generations who may feel out of place because they are not reflected in public history. This sentiment is especially prominent within AAPI community where there is no federal mandate that specifies certain histories be taught in the public school system. [ 8 ] Representation matters, and helping to build identity for community cohesion is part of preservation's work. 

Case Study | Re-interpretation: Sites of Enslavement Initiative

 African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund 

SHINE (Stewarding Sites of EnSlaved History through INterpretation and Education), a powerful new initiative from the National Trust's Historic Sites Department, is an initiative that focuses on re-examining how National Trust sites with histories of slavery have interpreted the history and legacy of the "peculiar institution" and the colonial era. The goal of the initiative is for these sites to work equitably and ethically with descendants of slavery and indigenous nations to research and re-envision the histories until the full story can truly be told.

Traditionally, historic plantation museums and other properties with histories of slavery have glossed over or erased the history of slavery to focus on the achievements of property owners, the talent of architects, the beauty of the landscape, or unique collections of period artifacts. But this practice erased the land's earlier history, presented only a portion of the lives of owners, and paid little attention to the stories of enslaved individuals and the contributions they made to these historic spaces.

By collaborating with Native American groups and descendants of the enslaved population, historic sites can uncover new stories, evidence, and artifacts that fill in the gaps of our memories about the antebellum past and help diversify the exhibitions and tours the sites offer to an ever-diversifying base of visitors, donors, and staff.

Expanding the narrative to be inclusive also means presenting the public with more educational opportunities that can help them understand how slavery has impacted the political, cultural, and economic landscape of the U.S. today.

Starting in 2022, SHINE will officially take part in a collaborative initiative between the National Trust and the International Trusts Organization (INTO) called Reimagining International Sites of Enslavement (RISE). This will provide staff from National Trust sites with international professional development opportunities as they learn about best practices in slavery interpretation alongside museum professionals from Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean. As these historic sites are visited by thousands of visitors each year, the work of both RISE and SHINE will pave a pathway for current and future generations around the globe to understand their own roots and connect history with current social issues.  

Courtesy of Elon Cook Lee, Director of Interpretation and Education for the NTHP 

Additional Resources

Preservation Organizations

The best place to find support is your local historic preservation group. Municipal governments typically have a historic preservation sector that falls under the planning department. Alternatively, many states and tribal governments have their own State or Tribal Historic Preservation Office (SHPO/THPO) that can help provide guidelines on how to be active in historic preservation work.

These national preservation organizations are working to support AAPI communities and preservation efforts:    

Archives, Collections, and Museums

Online Research and Education

Books, Articles, and Podcasts

Ways to Support Your Local Chinatown

There are many ways to provide support. Here are a few examples:

Staying Connected to the AAPI Community

The Formation of Chinatowns: Additional Reading

Responding to Racism: Additional Reading

Citations

[1] Kimmy Yam, “Anti-Asian Hate Incident Reports Nearly Doubled in March, New Data Says,” NBCNews.com (NBCUniversal News Group, May 11, 2021),    https://www.nbcnews.com/news/asian-america/anti-asian-hate-incident-reports-nearly-doubled-march-new-data-n1266980  

[2] Wei, Li . “Anatomy of a New Ethnic Settlement: The Chinese Ethnoburb in Los Angeles.” Urban Studies 35, no. 3 (March 1998): 479–501.  https://doi.org/10.1080/0042098984871 .   

[3] Linda Trinh Vo, “Essay 15: Asian Immigrants and Refugees: Demographic Transformations in the United States from WWII to the Present” Essay. In Finding a Path Forward: Asian American/Pacific Islander National Historic Landmarks Theme Study. National Park Service, 2017.  https://www.nps.gov/articles/upload/15-Essay-15-Immigrants-and-Refugees.pdf    

[4] Congressional Research Service. The Federal Role in Historic Preservation: An Overview.by Mark K. DeSantis. R45800. Washington, D.C. PDF. 2020,  https://fas.org/sgp/crs/misc/R45800.pdf 

[5] MeKonnen, Elizabeth. “Case Study Report for the National Park Service”, National Trust of Historic Places, Washington D.C., 2021  

[6] “Hunterfly Road Houses,” New York Preservation Archive Project, accessed July 5, 2021,   https://www.nypap.org/preservation-history/hunterfly-road-houses/   

[7] National Park Service U.S. Department of the Interior. Case Studies in Affordable Housing through Historic Preservation. by Bonnie Wilkson Mark et.al. CSAF-3. Washington, D.C.: National Park Service, 2005. PDF.  https://www.nps.gov/tps/tax-incentives/taxdocs/Affordable-Housing-Shelly-School.pdf   

[8] Olivia B. Waxman, “Why the Asian-American Story Is Missing from U.S. Classrooms,” Time (Time, March 30, 2021),  https://time.com/5949028/asian-american-history-schools/  

About the Author

Karen Yee graduated from the University of Maryland’s Historic Preservation and Urban Planning master’s programs in 2022. She was the recipient of the 2019 National Trust for Historic Preservation's Mildred Colodny Scholarship.

National Trust staff involved in the production of this StoryMap include:

  • Di Gao, Senior Director of Research and Development
  • Priya Chhaya, Associate Director of Content
  • Kate Lenzer, Senior GIS Project Manager
  • Julia Rocchi, Senior Director of Digital Marketing

 African American Cultural Heritage Action Fund