![]() "For the amount of money I make, I won’t be able to afford to live in Chinatown."Īccording to Boston’s Department of Neighborhood Development, the average annual income for a family in Chinatown is only about $14,000. "I live really far right now, so I would really love to move to Chinatown if I can." "I really want to move to Chinatown," she said through Chen's translation while at Happy Family Food Market on Hudson Street. Many, like Baoen Qiu, who lives in Randolph, regularly return to Chinatown to shop. Residents are moving to towns like nearby Malden, where the Chinese population has tripled, and Quincy, where it’s quadrupled. But the Chinese population has been steadily decreasing. Urban renewal, right? Classic."Ĭhen, the organizing director of the Chinese Progressive Association, says the roadway construction cut through the heart of Chinatown, displacing 300 families.īoston’s Chinatown is the third-largest Chinatown in the nation. "But when they built the Expressway they chopped it in half. "This building over there that says 'Welcome to Chinatown,' this building used to be twice as big," she said. The paifang at Chinatown’s Beach Street entrance, at sunrise (Jesse Costa/WBUR) Karen Chen is too young to remember, but says you can still see the damage that was done. The gate was erected in 1982, right next to land that was taken by the state for the common good - construction of the Massachusetts Turnpike and Central Artery decades earlier. The Chinese characters on the ceremonial gate translate to: “All under Heaven for the common good.” They’re being displaced by a new wave of immigrants - wealthy entrepreneurs, from China.Ī pair of giant imperial stone lions guard Chinatown's Beach Street entrance. New luxury apartment buildings are driving up property values, and driving out longtime residents. At one time the area was even called Syriatown.īut today, the neighborhood of low-rise buildings is in high demand. Over the decades, cheap rents made the neighborhood an attractive place for waves of immigrants - Irish, Italians and Jews. (Jesse Costa/WBUR)īoston’s Chinatown was built on wasteland - tidal flats and landfill. The Kensington apartments and Millenium Place condominiums, behind, tower over Chinatown at the intersection of Stuart, Kneeland and Washington streets. ![]()
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