Chinatown, Anywhere
Chinese immigrants helped give reggae its start in Kingston, Jamaica. They brought chowmein to Calcutta, India, “became black” in South Africa, and are remaking fast fashion in Prato, Italy.
Today 40 million people of Chinese descent live outside China. Collectively, they represent the largest diaspora in the world.
Stories by Country
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Recent Posts
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One Big Conspiracy (Theory)
Is resistance futile? Are Chinese people around the world all working toward China's world domination? I respond to a yellow-peril-inspired article from Forbes. -
Sesame Prawn Toast and Other Gastronomic Oddities from London’s Chinatown
Lovely and sometimes baffling culinary inventions from the Chinese in the British Isles. With a lot of deep frying along the way. -
The New Italians
Would Claudia and Silvia come to love Italy? Would they think of Italy as their home? -
Ciao from Tuscany
On Via Pistoiese, Wenzhounese is the language most commonly heard, while Mandarin is second and Italian a distant third. Say the name “Prato” in Italy, one Pratese told me, and it’s now synonymous with Chinatown. -
Postcard Profile: John from Milan
"My grandparents on my father's side emigrated from Taiwan to Italy in the 1960s. We were one of the first Taiwanese families in Milano..." -
“Made in Italy” = The New “Made in China”?
True or False: “The Chinese are very clever. They’re not like other immigrants, who can be pretty thick." Q&A with a Chinese Italian about the conflict in Prato. -
How to Tell Japs from Chinese (or What I Learned on My Summer Vacation)
A field trip to the Museum of Chinese in America: Original dragon lady Anna May Wong, Bing cherries, “Poison Jim” the Squirrel Trapper, and Charlie Chinaman. -
De Bamboo Express
Discovering Chinese-Jamaican food in Brooklyn: curried goat, plait bread and jerk chicken fried rice. And then discovering major food coma. -
Final Boarding Call: Beijing to Brooklyn
Goodbye to the old capital in transformation, to everything being possible (or at least negotiable), to the surprise of a second life. -
Meet the Italian-Chinese
If I had any questions about whether Francisco and Bai were more European or more Chinese, their two-cheek kiss-hellos gave me my answer. -
Jakarta, Day 14: Siska’s Story from the Indonesian Riots
"Our school was burned down. All of it. Every time I tell the story, my heart beats so fast. People were running everywhere..." -
The Chinatown Shuttle: Better Than New York’s Subway
What's the fastest, cheapest way to get from Flushing in Queens to Sunset Park in Brooklyn? Plus: Meet Mr. Deng, my seatmate on the Chinatown Shuttle -
Going Door to Door in Chinatown, Zambia
Who are the Chinese migrants in Zambia? Why did they venture to Africa? And what are their lives like today? Q&A with ethnographer Solange Guo Chatelard. -
Priced Out of New York’s Chinatown
Why does New York's Chinatown feel emptier these days? Why do immigrants live in Florida or Ohio and commute back to NYC on weekends? -
The Last Chinese School in Calcutta
My visit to Calcutta's Pei May Chinese high school. Where were all the students? And why have so many of the city's Chinese leather tanners left India for Toronto?
