Chinatown | |
|---|---|
 Chinatown businesses line Jackson Street, with the Bay Bridge in the background. | |
  Chinatown Location within Central San Francisco | |
| Coordinates: 37°47′39″N 122°24′25″W / 37.79417°N 122.40694°W | |
| Country |  United States |
| State |  California |
| City-county |  San Francisco |
| Government | |
| • Supervisor | Aaron Peskin |
| • Assemblymember | Matt Haney (D)[1] |
| • State senator | Scott Wiener (D)[1] |
| • U. S. rep. | Nancy Pelosi (D)[2] |
| Population (2000) | |
• Total | 34,891 |
• Estimate (2013) | 34,557[3] |
| Time zone | UTC−8 (Pacific) |
| • Summer (DST) | UTC−7 (PDT) |
| ZIP Codes | 94108, 94133, 94102, 94111, 94109 |
| Area Codes | 415/628 |
The Chinatown centered on Grant Avenue and Stockton Street in San Francisco, California, (Chinese: 唐人街; pinyin: tángrénjiē; Jyutping: tong4 jan4 gaai1) is the oldest Chinatown in North America and one of the largest Chinese enclaves outside Asia. It is also the oldest and largest of the four notable Chinese enclaves within San Francisco.[4][5][6] Since its establishment in the early 1850s,[7] it has been important and influential in the history and culture of ethnic Chinese immigrants in North America. Chinatown is an enclave that has retained its own customs, languages, places of worship, social clubs, and identity.
The Chinatown district is primarily Cantonese and Taishanese-speaking, both dialects originating in southern China. Most Chinatown residents have origins in Guangdong Province and Hong Kong; albeit there are some Mandarin-speaking residents from Taiwan and central and Northern China, but lesser in comparison to Cantonese-speaking people, despite Cantonese being a minority language amongst people in China and ethnically Chinese people in Asia.
There are two hospitals, several parks and squares, numerous churches, a post office, and other infrastructure. Recent immigrants, many of whom are elderly, opt to live in Chinatown because of the availability of affordable housing and their familiarity with the culture.[8] Due to a combination of factors, some more broad-based related to difficult circumstances for San Francisco itself, while other factors are more specific to this neighborhood, San Francisco's Chinatown faces a struggle for survival.[9]
- ^ a b "Statewide Database". UC Regents. Archived from the original on February 1, 2015. Retrieved November 21, 2014.
- ^ "California's 11th Congressional District - Representatives & District Map". Civic Impulse, LLC.
- ^ Montojo, Nicole (June 2015). "Community Organizing amidst Change in SF's Chinatown" (PDF). Urban Displacement.
- ^ Fong-Torres, Shirley (2008). Clement Street: The "Other" Chinatown. iUniverse. ISBN 9780595448678.
- ^ Hoiberg, Dale: The New Encyclopædia Britannica MicroPaedia vol. 10, Page 388., Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc, 2007.
- ^ Wanning, Esther: Culture Shock! USA, Color Plateno. 2, after Page 180., Marshall Cavendish Editions, 2008
- ^ "The Official San Francisco Chinatown Website". Sanfranciscochinatown.com. Retrieved December 6, 2011.
- ^ Habal, Estella (June 28, 2007). San Francisco's International Hotel: Mobilizing the Filipino American ... Temple University Press. ISBN 9781592134472.
- ^ Ralph Jennings (July 21, 2023). "US Chinatowns are shrinking, and while some want to fight, new ones are springing up". South China Morning Post. Retrieved October 12, 2023.
In San Francisco's Chinatown, the oldest hub of Chinese-owned businesses in the United States, vacancy signs pockmark the district's dining establishments, gift shops and herb stalls. And at a Chinatown across San Francisco Bay in Oakland, rampant storefront graffiti and the fear of robbery chill the daily bustle of kerbside grocery shopping.