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The Beach Street gate into Boston's Chinatown. A park surrounding the Paifang gate is under construction as of 25 May 2006

The only historic Chinatown in New England, Chinatown is located in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. Centered on Beach Street, the neighborhood borders Boston Common, Downtown Crossing, the South End, and the Southeast Expressway/Massachusetts Turnpike.

The first Chinese immigrants arrived in the Chinatown area in 1890. Prior to their arrival, the land was reclaimed by filling a tidal flat between 1806 and 1843 and first settled by White Anglo-Saxon Protestants. After residential properties in this area became less desirable due to railway developments, it was settled by a mixed succession of Irish, Jewish, Italian, Syrian and Chinese immigrants as each group replaced another to take advantage of low cost housing and job opportunities in the area. During the late nineteenth century, garment manufacturing plants also moved into Chinatown, creating Boston's historic garment district. The garment district was active until the 1990s.

During the 1950s, the construction of the Southeast Expressway cut into a large part of Chinatown. In the 1960s and 1970s, Tufts University constructed the Tufts-New England Medical Center in Chinatown after a long negotiation process with community leaders. The settlement of these negotiations resulted in the provision of funds for the construction of new community housing in Chinatown. During this period, city officials also designated an area adjacent to Chinatown as Boston's red light district, also known as the Combat Zone. However, the Combat Zone virtually disappeared by the 1990s between the dual expansions of Chinatown from the east and Emerson College from the west.

Chinatown remains a center of Asian-American life in New England, hosting many Chinese, Japanese, Cambodian, and Vietnamese restaurants and markets. However, a competing satellite Chinatown, known as "Chinatown South," is emerging in Quincy, Massachusetts, as discussed below. Chinatown is one of Boston's densest residential districts, with a density of over 28,000 people per square mile in 2000. Nearly 70% of Chinatown's population is Asian, with a median household income of $14,289.

The traditional Chinatown Gate (paifang), surrounded by lions, is located at the intersection of Beach Street and Surface Road. Once a run-down area housing little more than a fan building for the Central Artery Tunnel, a garden is now being constructed at this site as part of the Big Dig project. The Gate is visible from the South Station Bus Terminal, and is a popular tourist destination and photo opportunity.

The non-profit community newspaper Sampan provides English-language news and information about Chinatown.

Currently, Chinatown is experiencing a threat from gentrification. Large luxury residential towers are built in and surrounding an area that was overwhelmingly three to five-story small apartment buildings intermixed with retail and light-industrial spaces. A property developer has purchased the Dainty Dot Hosiery building, which is listed in the National Register of Historic Places, with plans to turn it into condominiums. Chinese community organizations such as the Asian Community Development Corporation are also building housing developments which offer mixed- and low-income housing.

Chinatown has excellent local and regional transportation connections due to its proximity to South Station, Interstate 93, and the Massachusetts Turnpike. Two Chinese-owned bus services (Fung Wah and Lucky Star/Travelpack) provide hourly connections with New York's Chinatown.

In recent years, a new satellite Chinatown has been rapidly emerging approximately 10 miles (16 km) to the south on Hancock Street in suburban Quincy. This is due to the rapid influx of Hokkien-speaking Mainland Chinese immigrants from the province of Fujian, as well as a large growing ethnic Vietnamese population. There are already several large Asian supermarkets such as the Kam Man Foods and Super 88 supermarket chains, and other businesses that are competing with Chinatown. Several businesses operating in Chinatown now have extensions in Quincy.

• Chinatown Profile Census 2000
• Developer buys historic Hub textile building for $9m, plans residences

• Chinatowns in North America
• Chinatown bus

• Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center
• Asian American Civic Association
• Asian Community Development Corporation
• Chinatown Heritage Project
• Patriot Ledger Special Report: Chinatown South
• Photos of Boston's Chinatown

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