Why Chinatowns Are Shrinking

Over at The Atlantic, Bonnie Tsui has written a piece about Chinese immigrants who are being lured back to China by a more prosperous economy. This is having devastating effects on major cities’ Chinatowns, where new working-class immigrants tend to land. As the numbers of Chinese immigrants to the U.S. decreases, so will the value of the support system in these Chinatowns. As China grows, Tsui writes, Chinatowns will fall.

China's attractive economy is definitely one reason why Chinatowns are struggling. But the changing patterns of immigration in the U.S. is another likely factor. As we’ve previously noted, a recent report from the Brookings Institution shows that foreign-born populations in the U.S. are increasingly moving to small cities and suburbs within metropolitan areas. The age of big cities as entry point and holding tank for immigrants seems to be ending, if not over.