Chinatowns Locations Locator Map and Directory

A Chinatown (a.k.a. "China Town") is defined as an ethnic diaspora of Chinese people located in a country other than China, although the definition is often stretched to encompass other Southeast Asian people such as Koreans and Vietnamese. While Chinatowns exists across the globe, this map shows Chinatowns in the USA and Canada. Most American Chinatowns and Canadian Chinatows are home to recent immigrants and unskilled labored who do not have the English proficiency to compete in the general job market. They therefore choose to open typical Chinese businesses such as Chinese restaurants, martial arts studios, and laundrymats. Because of their uniqueness in their respective cities, many chinatowns are considered significant centers of tourism and tourism, even while existing as actual living and working communities.
Many of the western Chinatowns in states like California and Alberta were founded during the second half of the 19th century, when the gold rush and the construction of the Pacific railroad system (i.e. the Central Pacific Railroad, the Union Pacific Railroad, and the First Transcontinental Railroad) drew hundreds of thousands of Chinese laborers out west. Although many of these Chinatowns have languished overtime, some still flourish, such as the San Francisco Chinatown, which today boasts being the oldest and one of the largest Chinatowns in North America. Other notable chinatowns in North America include Vancouver, New York City, Chicago, San Diego, Toronto, Boston, Philadelphia, and Montreal. Check out the map for some of the remarkable histories of these Chinatowns.