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TOUR TO CHINATOWN: THE LARGEST FOREIGN COMMUNITY IN NEW YORK |
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A living example of how immigrant communities arrive, thrive and move on in New York: what was once Little Italy is now almost entirely Chinatown located almost in Canal street. The city's layered immigrant history is evident everywhere particularly at the Church of the Transfiguration, the focal point of the Chinese Roman catholic Community. Nearby the Eastern States Buddhist temple has 100 gold Buddhas gleaming candlelight. On the Bowery contemporary aret is displayed at the Asian American Arts center.
Just turn to your right from Chatam Square and there you are! Chinatown is a different world: the very silence of it has a foreign sound to one coming out from Chatam Square.
Since few of the early Chinese seamen in New York ventured far from the docks of Lower Manhattan, the earliest opportunity for new Yorkers to see an authentic chinese was on the stage or in variety houses.
When Chinese arrived in Manhattan you can see Chinese old men wearing Chinese costumes, the walls of buildings were plastered with red and white posters bearing Chinese characters in orange and black.
The main draw in Chinatown is the food; the 400 restaurants have satisfied new Yorker's cravings for cantonese, Hunan and Szechuan fare, as well as Thai and Vietnamese cuisines for many years. In the shops along Mott, canal and east Broadway, you will find unusual foodstuffs like Chinese herbal medicines.