Saturday, September 29, 2007

Chinatown


Chinatown more than a place, is an idea. There are hundreds of Chinatowns in the world - it exists basically in mostly countries and big cities of North, South and Central Americas, Europe, Oceania, Africa, Mid-Eastern and central Asia, I mean, they are everywhere. And none of them obviously, are located in China (otherwise would have an actual name).
But Chinatown in an international reference for the -note that- not only Chinese but mostly all oriental nations area in the town. They may differ from place to place but basically is a kind of far oriental cultural ghetto. Chinatown in New York doesn't looks different.

There are records of chinese presence in New York since the XIX century, although the main entrance from orientals in America was San Francisco. In New York, they share the Low East Side with Italians and Jews. Today chinatown is quite established and provides a quite interesting view for the unadvised visitor. The feeling is like you still are in NY but why you can't read or understand anything?

images and history at http://www.nychinatown.org/

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