1. Singapore
Singapore’s
Chinatown, once home to the first Chinese settlers in what’s now a
heavily Westernized city-state, is one of its few distinctly Asian
neighborhoods. The enclave was home to the area’s earliest Chinese
settlers. Several of its institutions, such as the Heritage Centre, Food
Street, and Night Market, preserve the culture of its original
inhabitants, while some areas of the district are designated national
heritage sites. Many historic buildings remain as relics of the past, as
well as to complement the otherwise modern landscape.
2. Melbourne
Melbourne
boasts the oldest Chinatown in the world, established during Victoria’s
Gold Rush in 1854. Catch the world’s longest Chinese dragon– the
Millennium Dai Loong Dragon tops 100 meters — in action as it is brought
to life by 200 people during the Chinese New Year parade.
3. Kuala Lumpur
The
capital of Malaysia was actually founded by Chinese tin prospectors in
the 1850s, who played a pivotal role in the city’s transformation from a
jungle settlement to a center for the tin mining industry. The Chinese
remain the city’s dominant ethnic group and control a large proportion
of the country’s commerce. Chinatown, known locally as Petaling Street
or Jalan Petaling, is famous for its food stalls and night market, where
shoppers can load up on fresh produce and counterfeit DVDs, watches and
purses (don’t forget to haggle).
4. Georgetown, Penang, Malaysia
Arriving
in Georgetown, Penang, off the west coast of Malaysia after a long
journey from Thailand, you may almost think that you accidentally
traveled all the way to China. The city’s Chinatown is one of the
largest and best preserved in the world, with everyday sights and sounds
reminiscent of a small city in China. Most residents are descended from
Chinese immigrants who arrived in Penang during the colonial era and
made their fortunes as traders and shopkeepers. Many of their original
shops are still intact today.
5. Toronto
In
the most ethnically diverse city in the world, residents have their
pick of seven Chinatowns. The city’s main Chinatown was formed in the
late 1960s, when many businesses in the original Chinatown were forced
to move. Since the 1980s, the Greater Toronto Area’s Chinese community
has migrated to the suburbs of Scarborough, Mississauga, Richmond Hill,
Markham, and North York, where shopping centers are reminiscent of Hong
Kong’s malls and street stalls.
6. New York
New
York’s first Chinese residents began arriving in Manhattan’s Lower East
Side in the late 19th century to escape discriminatory measures on the
West Coast. In the 1980s, the neighborhood eclipsed San Francisco’s as
the largest Chinatown outside Asia. But don’t overlook the city’s other
Chinese enclaves – in Elmhurst and Flushing in Queens, and along Avenue U
and 8th Avenue in Brooklyn. In fact, Flushing’s Chinatown has now
surpassed Manhattan’s in size.
7. Vancouver
There’s
a reason this city has been nicknamed “Hongcouver.” In the years
leading up to Hong Kong’s 1997 handover to China, waves of wealthy
immigrants flooded the city. The mayor, Sam Sullivan, even speaks
Cantonese. Vancouver’s Chinatown dates back to the early 20th century,
although recent arrivals have headed for the suburb of Richmond, where
many of the Chinese restaurants are considered the best outside of Hong
Kong.
8. San Francisco
The
city’s Chinese New Year parade, an annual event since the 1860s, is the
largest Asian cultural celebration outside of Asia. Chinatown may seem
like a tacky tourist trap, but one cannot ignore the history and
significance of one of the world’s best-known Chinese quarters, once the
stomping grounds of Sun Yat-Sen and Amy Tan. The original enclave,
built in the 1850s by settlers who had arrived during the gold rush and
railroad days, would be the world’s oldest had it not been destroyed in
the 1906 earthquake. Since the 1960s, much of the city’s Chinese
community has moved into the Sunset and Richmond districts, while newer
immigrants often settle in the suburbs around the Bay Area.
9. Yokohama, Japan
Yokohama
Chinatown is the largest throughout Asia, in developing the environment
when the Port of Yokohama was opened to foreign trade in 1859 because
many of the Chinese traders and settled here. The roads and streets of
Chinatown is marked by nine flashy colors, but the gate was found at
all.
10. Bangkok, Thailand
Bangkok
Chinatown is famous just as Yaowarat or Sampeng, after the strolling
nearby, Bangkok’s Chinatown is as old as the city itself. In the late
1700s, as a young Bangkok city expanded, Chinese merchants were asked to
move. They settled here near the river where they have since that time
will be quick to this point. The tourists will be fast to show the
“Traimit Wat temple”, which the largest houses gold Buddha, weighing in
more than five tons. Do not miss the great shopping opportunities,
especially the items on display in the old Chinese pharmacy.
