European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 30, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                A photo a non engllish pm King Chenet women work in one of Many clothing manufacturers along Chinatown curls net Bojoh Pomfret associated press Hin town bucking the trend is an ethnic new York neighbourhood that s growing. It s also becoming gentrified and westernized and not everybody is Happy about that. Most of Manhattan s old ethnic neighbourhoods Are losing their identity As a result of an exodus to the suburbs economic redevelopment or a Lack of new immigrants. But each month about 1,500 new residents arrive in Chinatown located along canal Street above lower Manhattan. Over the last 15 years Chinatown s population has tripled loan estimated 160.000, while the area it occupies has increased from about four Square blocks to three Square Miles. Some residents like Charles Lai a Community activist say that growth is undermining the ties that unite the residents of the historical Community. Skyrocketing land or let Are forcing businesses and restaurants to leave the area fragmenting the Community some say. And the flight of second generation chinese from Chinatown is slowly turning the Community into an old people s Home where Community organizations and lineage groups Supply outmoded services to a changing population. Others like Peter Zheng news editor at the China daily news one of 10 newspapers that serve the Community contend Chinatown and the chinese Are entering the mainstream of american life no longer isolated by the great Wall of canal Street. Chinatown started in the mid-19th Century As a Bachelor society of about 5.000 poor male labourers who spent their Days and nights washing clothes laying bricks scrubbing dishes and thinking of their Homes in Southern China. The chinese exclusion act of 1882, which prohibited chinese women from immigrating to America limited the area s growth. The act was repealed in 1943 and refugees from China s civil War were allowed into the United states. By 1960, about 20,000 people lived in Chinatown. In 1965, the Federal government increased from 105 to 20,000 the annual quota of chinese permitted to immigrate to the United states. The quota was doubled in 1982 to include the newly recognized people s Republic of China. Political and economic upheaval in Vietnam Hong Kong China Taiwan the Philippines and latin America Home to 400,000 ethnic chinese continue to add to the Boom. But the real change is in the Type of chinese who Are coming to America and Chinatown. Immigrants in the past came mainly from the Countryside and often were illiterate. Over the last 15 yeas most of Chinatown s new residents have come to America with skills education and capital says Charles Wang president of the Chinatown planning Council a quasi governmental Agency which administers a variety of social services. The old concept about chinese As laundry men and waiters is  says Heo Peh Lee president of Shi Jie enterprises a major new York Developer. In Hong Kong All the wealthy people Are running away says Joseph . Mei president of the chinese consolidated benevolent association. They re buying passports and burying their Money in the Usa seventeen Banks now operate in the area which use to be served by three. Travel companies compete with vegetable stalls for business Pace while service industries  upon garment Iaci ories which Are moving to Brooklyn and Queens. Tenements which sold for $60,000 in the mid-1960s Are now commanding More than $1 million. But life in Chinatown is losing the Community feeling that made it unique says Margaret Fung the executive director of the asian american Legal defense and education fund we re fighting against the rest of Manhattan says Lai the executive director of the Chinatown Hist Oncal project. We keep saying that we want to keep our lives Here and the culture  the Middle and upper Middle classes who have invested in Chinatown Are making it Loo expensive Tor its traditional residents the poor labourers who although fewer in number still make bustling Chinatown their Home say Lai and Fung the Valdef has sued new York Over proposed zoning changes which would allow More luxury housing in the Community one suit charges that the City by encouraging genl fiction in Chinatown forces lower income families to flee the area or enter the burgeoning ranks of new York s homeless it s pretty Clear that people can t live  Fung says. There Are also tensions Between first and second generation chinese Lai says. As economic Success comen to the sons and daughters of immigrants they leave  and move to Greener pastures in Brooklyn que is and Long Island. It seems that in order to make it in America you have to leave your Community Lai says. Out there has to be a creative Way to got the talented to practice their Trade and skills within the Community. We just Haven t found  most of the new immigrants who Settle in Chinatown come with Money and skills. Lai says. They Don t need the traditional networks to find them a Job like the old ones used  As a result the old business and lineage groups which used to find housing and jobs for new settlers have become social clubs where aging chinese men play Mah Jonggu and read the newspaper. From the late 19th Century to the 1960s, the lineage groups made up of people with the same family name or immigrants hailing from the same Village were one of the prime forms of association in chinese communities overseas. The groups served As a Buffer to a sometimes hostile foreign world and Are an important link Between inc chinese and their new surroundings. Immigrants arriving from villages would invariably find a relative or a relative s Friend in these groups who would gladly provide information on How to Cope with Halo outside China. The groups were also an important conduit Lor information from Home As new immigrants can in with the latest news on weddings births local politics and crop conditions. But now immigrants get the news from newspapers their jobs from professional services and their housing from want ads. The groups still serve a function but they Aro outdated Lai says Lai and Fung predict that one Day Chinatown will be just a tourist attraction devoid of Community tics and neighbourhood organizations and inhabited by chinese americans who have forgotten their past developers such As Lee scoff at the worries of Lai and Fung who represent what Lee Calls the intellectuals of  Chinatown is a Community not Only for the illiterate and hard labourers but for  Lee says there might be some injustices Here but that s pail of the  upper income families moving into Chinatown will help not Hurt the Community because they will spend Money there Lee says. We want to make Chinatown prosperous so we want to get the Best people moving in Lee says Why do you want people with no ability to pay moving into the area Lee says the breakdown of Chinatown s Community groups is Welcome evidence that Chinatown is moving Day by Day minute by minute into the mainstream of american  the chinese won t be Able to hide behind their family groups  says Zheng of the China daily news. Chinatown is shedding its image. It will become More aggressive and  the intellectuals Are living in the  Lee says. They Are nostalgic for a Chinatown of 50 years  like a boat against the current lie says invoking an old chinese expression. If you Don t go Forward Ihen you re going  the stars and stripes Page 15