Chinatown, Baltimore

Chinatown
Neighborhood of Baltimore
Park Avenue Chinese stores
Chinatown
Coordinates: 39°17.628′N 76°37.0944′W / 39.293800°N 76.6182400°W / 39.293800; -76.6182400
Country	United States
State	Maryland
City	Baltimore
ZIP Code	21201
Area code	Area code 410

The U.S. city of Baltimore, Maryland (Chinese: 巴爾的摩; pinyin: bā ěr de mó) is home to a small Chinatown. Historically, Baltimore had at least two districts that were called "Chinatown" where the first one existed on the 200 block of Marion Street^[1] during the 1880s. A second and current location is at the 300 block of Park Ave., which was dominated by laundries and restaurants. The initial Chinese population came because of the transcontinental railroad, however, the Chinese population never exceeded 400 as of 1941. During segregation, Chinese children were classified as "white" and went to the white schools. Chinatown was largely gone by the First World War due to urban renewal. Although Chinatown was largely spared from the riots of the 1960s, most of the Chinese residents moved to the suburbs.^[2] As of 2009^[update], the area still shows signs of blight and does not have a Chinese arch.^[3] As of 2017, the area has become an “immigration hub” for Ethiopian people.^[4] In 2018, a mural of a Chinese dragon and an African lion was painted to signify the past as a Chinatown and the present as an African neighborhood. A night market in September 2018 marked the first Asian celebration of the area to an area that was “long forgotten and neglected”.^[5]