Flushing, in north-central Queens, is often referred to as New York’s second Chinatown or Mandarin Town. Taiwanese immigrants established the first Asian immigrant foothold here in the 1970s. In this period many Taiwanese immigrants bypassed Manhattan’s Chinatown for Flushing because they did not identify with it’s working-class Cantonese culture. Other Chinese immigrants followed, along with Korean and Indian populations. Since this time Flushing has seen rapid economic and demographic growth. According to the 2010 census 72,008 people call Flushing home. The Asian population accounts for 69.2% of this total. The majority of Flushing’s Asian residents are first generation immigrants.
The heart of Flushing’s Chinatown is the intersection of …show more content…
Despite the weather, Flushing was bustling. The traffic on Main Street was gridlocked and on the sidewalk hordes of people moved quickly up the street and from shop to shop. Most people were alone, but those in groups spoke quick Mandarin, English, or other dialects. Some waited out the rain under the store awnings. The ethnic composition of the heart of Flushing’s Chinatown was heavily Asian. In addition, I saw some Hispanics and a few groups of white tourists. I saw one visibly homeless person, a black man sleeping in an alley behind 41st Street. Most people along Main Street and the side streets looked working and middle class, some wearing uniforms and others wearing nondescript causal …show more content…
Each of these locations had large Mandarin signs on their storefronts. This phenomenon reminds me of Washington, DC’s Chinatown where, due to gentrification and other factors, American chains dominate and ethnic businesses have largely been pushed out.
Along Main Street there are at least two large grocery stores on every block. Many of them have fruit stands outside the entrance pilled with not only apples and bananas, but also traditionally Asian fruits like rambutan, durian, and dragon fruit. Inside the groceries stores, narrow isles are packed with Asian products labeled in Mandarin, Korean, and Taiwanese. In each of the three groceries I went into there was an extensive seafood section, with cuts of fish on ice and large tanks of swimming shellfish. Customers clamored to order from the butchers behind the counter, usually doing so in