Brooklyn's Chinatown in New York, NY

The Sunset Park neighborhood in the south of Brooklyn, New York has been drawing newcomers from China and other East Asian countries for the past thirty years. This process has been happening for so long that the neighborhood is now referred to as "Brooklyn's Chinatown"--to contrast with the larger, more famous Manhattan Chinatown that has been existing just across the East River since the nineteenth century. After the Manhattan Chinatown, and the Chinese neighborhood in Flushing, Queens, the Brooklyn Chinatown contains New York City's third-highest concentration of Chinese who have settled into America.

Although not as famous as the Manhattan Chinatown, the Brooklyn Chinatown is just as commercially vigorous, and just as much of a nexus for East Asian and Chinese culture. Chinese-owned establishments line the streets, especially along 8th Avenue between 68th to 42nd streets. Restaurants of all price ranges are especially common in the Brooklyn Chinatown. They serve traditional and not-so-traditional Chinese and Chinese-American fare. Other Chinese establishments in the area include Chinese video outlets, which sell hard-to-find imported Chinese and Japanese DVDs (parents should take note: some of the wares on display at these establishments are not suitable for children), and Chinese bakeries, which sell delicious baked treats at very low prices, considering the price of food in the rest of New York. Interspersed throughout these retailers are Chinese grocers and markets, which sell traditional herbs and vegetables you would never be able to find anywhere else. Chinese temples (Christian and Buddhist) and the headquarters of various Chinese community organizations round out the unique establishments that make their home in Brooklyn's Chinatown.