Chinatowns in Brooklyn in the context of "Chinatown, Manhattan"

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⭐ Core Definition: Chinatowns in Brooklyn

The first Brooklyn Chinatown was originally established in the Sunset Park area of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It is one of the largest and fastest growing ethnic Chinese enclaves outside of Asia, as well as within New York City itself. Because this Chinatown is rapidly evolving into an enclave predominantly of Fuzhou immigrants from Fujian Province in China, it is now increasingly common to refer to it as the Little Fuzhou or Fuzhou Town of the Western Hemisphere; as well as the largest Fuzhou enclave of New York City.

Brooklyn's Chinese population has grown larger than the original Chinatown area, forming three larger Chinatowns between Sunset Park, Bensonhurst, and Avenue U in Sheepshead Bay. While the foreign-born Chinese population in New York City jumped 35 percent between 2000 and 2013, to 353,000 from about 262,000, the foreign-born Chinese population in Brooklyn increased from 86,000 to 128,000. The newer Brooklyn Chinatowns that evolved are mostly Cantonese speaking and therefore they are sometimes regarded as a Little Hong Kong/Guangdong or Cantonese Town.

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👉 Chinatowns in Brooklyn in the context of Chinatown, Manhattan

Manhattan's Chinatown is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City, bordering the Lower East Side to its east, Little Italy to its north, Civic Center to its south, and Tribeca to its west. With an estimated population of 90,000 to 100,000 people, Chinatown is home to the highest concentration of Chinese people in the Western Hemisphere. Manhattan's Chinatown is also one of the oldest Chinese ethnic enclaves. The Manhattan Chinatown is one of nine Chinatown neighborhoods in New York City, as well as one of twelve in the New York metropolitan area, which contains the largest ethnic Chinese population outside of Asia, comprising an estimated 924,619 uniracial individuals in 2024.

Chinatown is also a densely populated neighborhood, with over 141,000 residents living in its vicinity encompassing 1.7 square miles, "of which 28.1% identified as Asian" in 2023. Historically, Chinatown was primarily populated by Cantonese speakers. However, in the 1980s and 1990s, large numbers of Fuzhounese-speaking immigrants also arrived and formed a sub-neighborhood annexed to the eastern portion of Chinatown east of The Bowery, which has become known as Little Fuzhou subdivided away from the primarily Cantonese populated original longtime established Chinatown of Manhattan from the proximity of The Bowery going west, known as Little Hong Kong/Guangdong. As many Fuzhounese and Cantonese speakers now speak Mandarin—the official language in Mainland China and Taiwan—in addition to their native languages, this has made it more important for Chinatown residents to learn and speak Mandarin. Although now overtaken in size by the rapidly growing Flushing Chinatown (located in the New York City borough of Queens) and Brooklyn Chinatown, the Manhattan Chinatown remains a dominant cultural force for the Chinese diaspora, as home to the Museum of Chinese in America and as the headquarters of numerous publications based both in the U.S. and China that are geared to overseas Chinese.

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Chinatowns in Brooklyn in the context of Eighth Avenue (Brooklyn)

Eighth Avenue is a major street in Brooklyn, New York City. It is an ethnic enclave for Norwegians and Norwegian-Americans, who are one of the predominant ethnicities in the area among the current residents, which include new immigrant colonies, among them Chinese and Arabic-speaking peoples. Parts of it have been colloquially re-christened Little Hong Kong in recognition of these newer communities.

The avenue starts at its north at Grand Army Plaza, going through Park Slope for 1 mile (1.6 km). It is interrupted by the Green-Wood Cemetery between 20th and 39th Streets, and after traveling nearly 2 miles (3.2 km) further south through Sunset Park, finally ends at 73rd Street in Bay Ridge.

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Chinatowns in Brooklyn in the context of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn

Bensonhurst is a residential neighborhood in the southwestern section of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bordered on the northwest by 14th Avenue, on the northeast by 60th Street, on the southeast by Avenue P and 22nd Avenue (Bay Parkway) and on the southwest by 86th Street. It is adjacent to the neighborhoods of Dyker Heights to the northwest, Borough Park and Mapleton to the northeast, Bath Beach to the southwest, and Gravesend to the southeast.

Bensonhurst contains several major ethnic enclaves. It was traditionally known as a Little Italy of Brooklyn. Bensonhurst today is home to Brooklyn's second Chinatown and has the largest population of residents born in China and Hong Kong of any neighborhood in New York City. The neighborhood accounts for 9.5% of the 330,000 Chinese-born residents of the city, based on data from 2007 to 2011.

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