Chinatowns around the World Battle COVID and Xenophobia
The BBC explores how the various Chinatowns around the world have been battling loss of business caused by COVID lockdowns, along with fear and xenophobia.
Sam Wo’s, a restaurant in San Francisco’s Chinatown, had been hit hard by COVID just like other businesses there.
The lockdowns had not yet happened but anti-Asian sentiment kept customers away. “All the Italian restaurants in North Beach were still busy and packed and then you went through the tunnel to Union Square and those guys had lines waiting to get in. And then you drive around Chinatown and it’s completely empty,” Sam Wo’s co-owner Steven Lee told the BBC.
“So we know that xenophobia was affecting small businesses. Why would other districts be busy and we’re not?”
In the 12 months since, it has been forced to cut its staff numbers from 23 to three due to a lack of customers.
“People wouldn’t show up, they were just scared,” Mr Lee tells the BBC. “We had to rally and tell people to fight the virus, not the people and all this kind of stuff – but it didn’t help much.”
In the Japanese city of Yokohama, this went beyond mere avoidance; anti-Chinese notes were left on the doors of restaurants in March. Sales had plummeted to 10% of what they were the year before. The mayor of Yokohama railed against these notes, and locals voiced their support for their Chinatown, telling businesses to “hang in there” and promising to visit again.
In many Chinatowns, the lockdowns then worsened an already dire situation.
“I know many businesses in Chinatown have closed. It’s terrifying,” Ying Hou, who runs Shandong MaMa in the Australian city of Melbourne, told the BBC. “There are gift houses where tourists come to buy souvenirs – most of them didn’t make it and have closed down.”
Ms Ying says her business is down 50%, but fortunately the shop is the only one in Chinatown to sell fish dumplings. Melbourne gave rent relief to many businesses, but this is now coming to an end. And now Melbourne is about to be plunged into a new five day lockdown surrounding the Australian Open.
However, many are finding new answers to the problems posed by COVID. In New York, after Chinatown turned into a “ghost town” with the lockdowns closing down even essential businesses by May, Karho Leung took a page out of Hong Kong barber shops’ reactions to COVID and installed dividers and other measures. He advertised these safety enhancements, which went viral and resulted in a surge of business from pent-up demand.
Mr Leung added to his business and others that were struggling by embracing social media and online delivery companies such as Uber Eats.
Organisations made up of ordinary citizens are also helping to keep their cities’ Chinatowns afloat as well. Send Chinatown Love is helping Chinatown businesses there with their online and social media presence to help generate business, creating “food crawls” to drum up foot traffic.
“Everything started happening around January, February of last year, which is the most lucrative and joyous and festive times for Chinatown. They took a hit with that business and lost most of it,” said Louise Palmer, who is a representative for the group. “So they ended up going into lockdown in March at a deficit, which kind of set a really terrible precedent for what the rest of the year would look like.”
Meanwhile, in San Francisco, in a hopeful development, business is picking up again since outdoor dining became allowed. Mr Lee said that Chinatown is booming again, and is planning to open a nightclub.
“We’re the oldest Chinatown in the country. We’re the tourist attraction that everybody comes to when they come to San Francisco. So we have to preserve it,” Mr Lee said.
Source: BBC News
