The Chinese community in Boston has an extravagant lunar new year celebration every year so we decided go to Chinatown Boston to see the celebration for ourselves. But not before getting stuck in traffic……and not being able to find parking.
So we were get there and we see these crazy costumes….And hear loud firecracker noises. But what do these celebrations even mean? Well what we learned from talking to others at the festival is that the tradition is to dress up and make as much as noise as possible to scare away the demon Nian and bring good luck for the upcoming year.
And it’s the year of the dragon, which According to chinahighlights.com means” if one is born in the year of the dragon, they often possess natural courage, tenacity, intelligence along with enthusiasm and confidence”. The Year of the Dragon for 2024 means it is projected to bring about opportunities, changes, and challenges”.
Chinatown has always brought a unique culture to Boston. But now with the rise of the cost of living, many original chinatown residents are leaving, and it is becoming more and more gentrified. JC in the video has more details on this in the video above.
But what even is Chinatown? Well, in the 1800s, chinese immigrants came to the west coast to participate in the gold rush. A company called the Sampsons shoe factory in North Adams Massachusetts, whose workers were on strike, saw this as an opportunity. They recruited chinese laborers from california to work as strike breakers. However, when they were done, they moved back out west.
But anti-chinese resentment was growing and so many left the west and came to Boston. These newcomers settled in the Southcove, (between downtown and south end). This area was, at the time, low rent and many other immigrants also settled in this area. Chinatown was formed.
However, the chinese were excluded from manufacturing jobs so they decided to form their own self sustainable communities. Did you know it was illegal for them to become naturalized citizens because of the chinese exclusion act?
So, they had their community. But their were still attempts to drive them out. In 1903, chinatown gang violence gave police the excuse to round up and deport undocumented China-men. 234 were arrested and 50 were deported.
But nowadays, Chinatown is becoming unaffordable. Did you know that according to the Chinatown Progressive Association, 80% of chinatown residents report housing insecurity. And demographics are shifting for chinatown. According to JC (who appears in the video above) a lot of the older residents are getting replaced by newer, richer immigrants.
But how have these changing demographics affected Chinatown businesses? For this we talked to two business owners: Jackie who owns a convenience store in Chinatown and Tom who owns Peach Farm Seafood, a restaurant that has been in business for 30 years which we can confirm is bomb. Watch in video above.
But even with the changing demographics, people are still coming to Chinatown, showing love and helping the local businesses. Cho Chang is a prime example of this as he drove all the way from New Hampshire for the celebration. You can hear more from him in the video above.
I don’t know the future of Chinatown, but what I do know is that they have always persevered despite numerous attempts to drive them out. If Chinatown does go one day, it will be a huge loss for the city of Boston.
