Chinatown | |
---|---|
Neighbourhood | |
Location of Chinatown in Calgary | |
Coordinates: 51°03′03″N114°03′54″W / 51.05083°N 114.06500°W | |
Country | Canada |
Province | Alberta |
City | Calgary |
Quadrant | SE |
Ward | 7 |
Government | |
• Mayor | Jyoti Gondek |
• Administrative body | Calgary City Council |
• Councillor | Terry Wong |
Area | |
• Total | 0.2 km2 (0.08 sq mi) |
Elevation | 1,045 m (3,428 ft) |
Population (2021) [2] | |
• Total | 2,250 |
• Average Income | $16,174 |
Calgary's Chinatown is a district of Calgary located along Centre Street in the southeast area of Downtown Calgary immediately west of the Downtown East Village. Calgary's Chinese Cultural Centre, with its traditional architecture and decor (styled after the Temple of Heaven in Beijing), is largest facility of its kind in North America. It serves the Chinese community of Calgary and provides educational and cultural programs for the wider community and its visitors. [3] ). The Dragon City Mall and Sien Lok Park (a a Chinese cultural park located on the south Bow River pathway) are also located in this district.
Harmony Park is located on the border of Chinatown at 115 4 Ave. S.W. It was formerly named James Short Park in honor of a turn-of-the-century school principal and alderman who led opposition to the establishment of Calgary's Chinatown in the early 1900s, and was renamed in 2022 as part of the City's efforts to become more inclusive. [4]
The area along Centre Street north of downtown and continuing for several blocks is also very Asian-influenced and is often thought of as the city's second Chinatown. International Avenue is also a major multi-ethnic centre in the city's southeast with considerable Asian influence.
As of 2024, Chinatown has an area redevelopment plan [5] called "Tomorrow's Chinatown" that is intended to "support Chinatown’s future as a vibrant, culturally rich place for people to live, visit, work and do business." [6]
After the completion of the Canadian Pacific Railway, some Chinese railway laborers settled in Calgary, with some migrating there [7] and others because they could not return home after the Government of Canada reneged on a promise to provide transportation home after the railway was finished. [8] From 1885 to 1888, five Chinese businessmen established Chinese laundrys on Stephen Avenue, and a Chinese community began to be established around them. [7]
Smallpox arrived in Calgary in June 1892 when a Chinese resident was found with the disease, and by August nine people had contracted the disease with three deaths. Calgarians placed the blame for the disease on the local Chinese population, resulting in a riot on August 2, 1892. [9] : 128 Local authorities razed the laundry un which he was living and placed th occupants in quarantine outside the town. [7] When authorities released four of the quarantined subjects in August, [7] a mob descended on the Town's Chinese-owned laundries, smashing windows and attempting to burn the structures to the ground. [7] [9] : 131–132 The local police did not attempt to intervene. Mayor Alexander Lucas had inexplicably left town during the riot, [9] : 132 and when he returned home he called in the North West Mounted Police to patrol Calgary for three weeks to prevent further riots. [9] : 130
In the City of Calgary's 2021 municipal census, Chinatown had a population of 2,250 living in 1,445 dwellings, a 24.3% increase from its 2011 population of 1,269. [2] With a land area of 0.2 km2 (0.077 sq mi), it had a population density of 7,900/km2 (20,000/sq mi) in 2012. [10] [11]
Residents in this community had a median household income of CDN$54,400 in 2021 (vs.$98,000 for the city as a whole), and there were 27% low income residents living in the neighbourhood. [2]
As of 2021, 54% of the residents were immigrants. [2] A proportion of 98.4% of the buildings were apartments of more than five storeys, and 74% of the housing was used for renting. [2]
Toronto Chinatowns are ethnic enclaves in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, with a high concentration of ethnic Chinese residents and businesses. These neighbourhoods are major cultural, social and economic hubs for the Chinese-Canadian communities of the region. In addition to Toronto, several areas in the Greater Toronto Area also hold a high concentration of Chinese residents and businesses.
Chinatown is a neighbourhood in Vancouver, British Columbia, and is Canada's largest Chinatown. Centred around Pender Street, it is surrounded by Gastown to the north, the Downtown financial and central business districts to the west, the Georgia Viaduct and the False Creek inlet to the south, the Downtown Eastside and the remnant of old Japantown to the northeast, and the residential neighbourhood of Strathcona to the southeast.
Washington, D.C.'s Chinatown is a small, historic area of Downtown Washington, D.C. along H and I Streets between 5th and 8th Streets, Northwest. The area was once home to thousands of Chinese immigrants, but fewer than 300 remained in 2017. The current neighborhood was the second in Washington to be called “Chinatown” since 1931. Originally, the first Chinatown was built in the Federal Triangle on the south side of Pennsylvania Avenue some time after 1851, but was moved to the H Street area when a new federal building was built there. In 1986, a Chinese gate was built over H Street at 7th Street. By 1997, prominent landmarks such as the Capital One Arena, a sports and entertainment arena, occupied the area. The neighborhood is served by the Gallery Place station of the Washington Metro.
Beltline is a region of central Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The area is located immediately to the south of Calgary's downtown, and is sometimes considered part of downtown. The neighbourhood is bounded on the south by 17th Avenue, on the west by 14th Street West and on the east by the Elbow River. Beltline is one of Calgary's most densely populated neighbourhoods as well as the most urban, featuring many apartments, condominiums and offices. It has the reputation of being one of Calgary's primary areas for eclectic night-life, restaurants and urban culture.
Chinatown is a neighborhood located in the area of De la Gauchetière Street in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The neighbourhood contains many Asian restaurants, food markets, and convenience stores as well being home to many of Montreal's East Asian community centres, such as the Montreal Chinese Hospital and the Montreal Chinese Community and Cultural Centre.
Downtown Calgary is a dense urban district in central Calgary, Alberta. It contains the second largest concentration of head offices in Canada, despite only being the country's fourth largest city in terms of population. The downtown is divided into several residential, commercial, corporate, and mixed-use neighbourhoods, including the Financial District (CBD), Eau Claire, Chinatown, East Village, Beltline, and the West End.
Chinatown, Boston is a neighborhood located in downtown Boston, Massachusetts, United States. It is the only surviving historic ethnic Chinese enclave in New England since the demise of the Chinatowns in Providence, Rhode Island and Portland, Maine after the 1950s. Because of the high population of Asians and Asian Americans living in this area of Boston, there is an abundance of Chinese and Vietnamese restaurants located in Chinatown. It is one of the most densely populated residential areas in Boston and serves as the largest center of its East Asian and Southeast Asian cultural life.
Downtown Winnipeg is an area of Winnipeg located near the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers. It is the oldest urban area in Winnipeg, and is home to the city's commercial core, city hall, the seat of Manitoba's provincial government, and a number of major attractions and institutions.
Chinatown is an neighbourhood in Winnipeg, Manitoba, that was formed in 1909 and serves as an enclave of Chinese expatriates.
Sunnyside is an innercity community in Calgary, Alberta located on the north side of the Bow River immediately adjacent to Calgary's downtown. The community partners with the neighbouring community of Hillhurst to form the Hillhurst-Sunnyside Community Association. The combined communities have an area redevelopment plan in place, revised in 2009.
Lethbridge's Chinatown is a small district in downtown Lethbridge, Alberta, Canada. At the beginning of the 20th century, the district had a population of around 100 and businesses consisted of six laundries, four grocers and two restaurants. While the bulk of residences and businesses were focused along the 300 block of Ford Street — what is now modern Chinatown — this area was the centre of a much larger nine-block area.
Sunalta is a residential neighbourhood in the southwest quadrant of Calgary, Alberta.
The Chinese Cultural Centre is a building in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. It is located on the north-eastern side of downtown and was completed in September 1992.
Chinatowns are enclaves of Chinese people outside of China. The first Chinatown in the United States was San Francisco's Chinatown in 1848, and many other Chinatowns were established in the 19th century by the Chinese diaspora on the West Coast. By 1875, Chinatowns had emerged in eastern cities such as New York City, Boston, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 barred Chinese immigration to the United States, but the Magnuson Act of 1943 repealed it, and the population of Chinatowns began to rise again.
Chinatowns in Canada generally exist in the large cities of Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary, Edmonton, Toronto, and Montreal, and existed in some smaller towns throughout the history of Canada. Prior to 1900, almost all Chinese were located in British Columbia, but have spread throughout Canada thereafter. From 1923 to 1967, immigration from China was suspended due to exclusion laws. In 1997, the handover of Hong Kong to China caused many from there to flee to Canada due to uncertainties. Canada had about 25 Chinatowns across the country between the 1930s to 1940s, some of which have ceased to exist.
The Chicago metropolitan area has an ethnic Chinese population. While historically small in comparison to populations on the coasts, the community is rapidly expanding. As of 2023, there are 78,547 Chinese Americans who live in Chicago, comprising 2.9% of the city's population, along with over 150,000 Chinese in the greater Chicago area - making Chicago's Chinese community the 8th largest among US metropolitan areas. This population includes native-born Chinese as well as immigrants from Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, and also racially mixed Chinese.
Chinatown in Denver, Colorado, was a residential and business district of Chinese Americans in what is now the LoDo section of the city. It was also referred to as "Hop Alley", based upon a slang word for opium. The first Chinese resident of Denver, Hong Lee, arrived in 1869 and lived in a shanty at Wazee and F Streets and ran a washing and ironing laundry business. More Chinese immigrants arrived in the town the following year. Men who had worked on the construction of the first transcontinental railroad or had been miners in California crossed over the Rocky Mountains after their work was completed or mines were depleted in California.
First Chinatown is a retronym for a former neighbourhood in Toronto, an area that once served as the city's Chinatown. The city's original Chinatown existed from the 1890s to the 1970s, along York Street and Elizabeth Street between Queen and Dundas Streets within St. John's Ward. However, more than two thirds of it was expropriated and razed starting in the late 1950s to build the new Toronto City Hall and its civic square, Nathan Phillips Square.
Chinatown, Toronto is a Chinese ethnic enclave located in the city's downtown core of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is centred at the intersections of Spadina Avenue and Dundas Street West.