The changing Chinatowns: Move over Manhattan, Sunset Park now home to most Chinese in NYC
BY Daniel Beekman
DAILY NEWS WRITER

Friday, August 5th 2011, 4:00 AM


Friends Jing Chen & Wendy Zheng in Sunset Park, home of the biggest Chinese population in the City.

Chinatown is no longer the most populous Chinese neighborhood in New York - and that's not an oxymoron.

Chinese enclaves in Brooklyn and Queens have eclipsed the historic Manhattan neighborhood, according to a new report based on data from the 2010 Census.

Both Sunset Park East in Brooklyn and Flushing in Queens now boast more Chinese residents than Chinatown. The outer borough nabes have grown rapidly due to an influx of new immigrants and Manhattan Chinese seeking lower rents.

"I lived in Chinatown before," said Wei Leng Chan, 60, as he stood smoking a cigarette on Eighth Ave. in Sunset Park one day last month. "But the apartments there are too small and expensive."

Sunset Park is now New York's largest Chinatown, with 34,218 Chinese residents, up from 19,963 in 2000, a 71% increase. Bustling Flushing ranks second, with 33,526 Chinese, up from 17,363, a 93% increase.

In contrast, Chinatown's Chinese population has dropped 17% since 2000, from 34,554 to 28,681, according to the report by the Asian American Federation (AAF), a Manhattan nonprofit.

The Chinese population of the Bronx is much smaller and less concentrated, said AAF demographer Howard Shih.

"I used to live here, but now I live on Eighth Ave.," said May Chui, 34, a supermarket cashier born in Hong Kong, as she shopped in Chinatown in Manhattan recently. "The rents are too high in Chinatown - $2,000 for a small apartment."

Chinese New Yorkers and community advocates attribute the demographic shift to housing, jobs and immigration.

The median rent for an apartment in the vicinity of Chinatown spiked 30% from 2005 to 2009, according to the nonprofit Asian Americans for Equality (AAFE).

Hundreds of cheap Chinatown units have been removed from rent regulation due to housing law loopholes, while market rents in the neighborhood have skyrocketed, driven by the construction of luxury apartments.

"The housing crisis in Chinatown has definitely contributed to the growth in Flushing and Sunset Park," said Richard Lee, policy advocate at AAFE.

Meanwhile, Chinatown has shed jobs. The neighborhood's textile industry has shrunk in the aftermath of 9/11, with factory work moving to Brooklyn and New Jersey, said Shih.

"Driving and parking in Chinatown is a mess," added Sunset Park real estate broker Hon Leung. "The only thing sustaining it now is the tourists."

Immigration has also contributed to the development of Sunset Park and Flushing. Sunset Park is largely populated by recent arrivals from the Fujian province, while immigrants from Beijing, Shanghai, Taiwan and Malaysia have flocked to Flushing.

"Flushing is convenient. We have lots of buses and the subway," gushed Queens resident Yuyuan Xu, 67, from Shanghai. "The shopping is cheaper here."

"Walking down Eighth Ave., you mostly hear Mandarin and Fujianese," said Sunset Park resident Wendy Zheng, 24.

And private shuttle buses run all day long between Chinatown, Sunset Park and Flushing, charging $2.50 per ride to passengers sipping sweet bubble tea.

Jan Lee, a Chinatown landlord who grew up in the Mott St. building he owns, admits the neighborhood has changed, with young professionals moving in.

But Lee, 45, is confident Chinatown will remain the heart of New York's Chinese community. Most Chinese lawyers, doctors and funeral parlors are located there.

"Chinatown is always going to be a destination for new immigrants - no matter what," he said.

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