Chinatown in Chicago is an internationally known area located within the Chicago city limits. It ranks as the sixth highest Chinese population today with an approximate population of 48,447. Known for the restaurants and shopping focused in and around Armour Square, the area remains a popular tourist spot and is home to many of the Chinese immigrants living in Chicago. This notoriety played a role in the decision making process when choosing what to cover for a research topic meanwhile another factor why Chinatown turned out to be the setting for our research paper was due to it’s location as it is only a 10 minute drive from UIC’s campus. The Chinatown Community Vision Plan Executive Summary also served as a source of inspiration to choose Chinatown as the location for our project. …show more content…
Over the course of the gold rush there were many jobs for men willing to help build the railroads. A lot of Chinese men came to America with the hopes of making money to send back to their families in China. While in America they found that the opportunities here were far greater than those back in China and so they began to permanently settle in America. Once the railroad was completed they faced racism and local violence in California which led to some immigrant Chinese families moving to Chicago. In Chicago they found space to pursue things they could not in China, such as becoming laundry men, grocers, merchants, and restaurant owners. Around the year 1890, there were approximately 560 Chinese living in Chicago. The Chinese population in Chicago grew significantly during the 1950’s and 60’s, with the population estimated to be anywhere from 7,000 to 14,000 Chinese, which was enough to rank Chicago as the fourth largest Chinese population in America at the