History Main / FriendlyLocalChinatown

* ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'': "Chinoiserie"
** In general Chinatown is a fairly common setting in all parts of the ''Franchise/LawAndOrder'' franchise. Commonly the plots involve Chinese gangsters and [[TheIllegal illegal]] [[AsianHookerStereotype prostitutes.]]

%% * [[http://youoffendmeyouoffendmyfamily.com/an-open-letter-to-tv-writers-on-how-to-write-your-%E2%80%98chinatown%E2%80%9D-episode/ This blog post]] points out several cliches of "Chinatown episodes."

* In ''Film/{{Gremlins}}'', Randall Peltzer buys Gizmo at the Chinatown in New York. In the [[Film/Gremlins2TheNewBatch sequel]], Daniel Clamp (a bit of a Donald Trump [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed parody]]) is buying property there to build a shopping centre.

[[folder:Film]]

It is a known fact of social sciences that minority ethnic groups in a foreign country tend to bunch together, often for company and mutual protection -- not to mention, for new immigrants, being able to talk to people. In the American West through the 1880s and '90s, mob violence against the 'heathen Chinee' living in smaller towns led to the survivors' leaving to live in a few enclaves in the larger cities.

One manifestation of this is "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinatown Chinatowns]]", which feature in countless cities worldwide. Streets with ''paifang'' arches at the entrance, full of Chinese restaurants, shops, acupuncturists, and so on, they have become a rich source for scriptwriters (who for some reason have not noticed how modern day Chinatowns have become mostly pan-Asian affairs, with Chinese herbal stores, Japanese electronic stores, and Vietnamese noodle shops all next to each other).

One manifestation of this is "Chinatowns", which feature in countless cities worldwide. Streets with ''paifang'' arches at the entrance, full of Chinese restaurants, shops, acupuncturists, and so on, they have become a rich source for scriptwriters (who for some reason have not noticed how modern day Chinatowns have become mostly pan-Asian affairs, with Chinese herbal stores, Japanese electronic stores, and Vietnamese noodle shops all next to each other).

* ''ComicBook/DoubleHappiness''.

* The ''Series/DoctorWho'' story ''The Talons of Weng-Chiang''.
* ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}''

* [[http://youoffendmeyouoffendmyfamily.com/an-open-letter-to-tv-writers-on-how-to-write-your-%E2%80%98chinatown%E2%80%9D-episode/ This blog post]] points out several cliches of "Chinatown episodes."

* ''VideoGame/VampireTheMasqueradeBloodlines''

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' has Asiantown.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheFairlyOddParents'' had "Little Ireland".

Want to have [[TheTriadsAndTheTongs Triad]] members in a story? Have them in Chinatown. Ming dynasty vases being sold illegally? Chinatown. [[OpiumDen Opium Dens]]? Chinatown. People who [[AllAsiansKnowMartialArts know martial arts]]? Chinatown. You don't even need to leave your own city!

* Manila's Chinatown is the first and oldest existing one, dating back to 1594. Formerly called Parian, it was now called Binondo.[[note]]Not entirely the exact same Chinatown; that initial Parian was founded for the unconverted Chinese just outside the east walls of CitadelCity Intramuros—on the same side of the Pasig River, on the south bank, where it was very easy to attack with the cannons from within Manila's walls in the event of an uprising. Converted Chinese meanwhile were directed to live in the new district of Binondo some years later, across the Pasig River from Intramuros, on the north bank. The Parian continued existing for a time even after the Catholicised Chinese settlers were moved into Binondo, but it's long gone today, with only the "Parian Gate" in the Intramuros walls serving as an existing reminder.[[/note]]

* Even [[OopNorth Newcastle ]] has a Chinatown. It consists of a single small street near to St James Park, with a couple of Chinese restaurants and a Chinese supermarket. However, a very ornate gate will fool you into thinking it's bigger than it looks.

* ''[[Literature/BritsuneGardenSeries Britsune Garden]]'' has Nihontown, a Japanese version of London’s Chinatown, due to the high population of Japanese immigrants in its universe’s United Kingdom.

* ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'' has one on a deserted island.

* Washington DC has a Chinatown, which features as a fixed address destination in just about every show set in DC, despite being ''really'' puny. (Same with "the red-light district"). Its problem is that it's right next to the massive Verizon Center sports arena and entertainment complex. Though, it does have the largest Chinese arch, and in order to prop up the bit of non-corporate culture in the area, the city has passed a law requiring all non-Chinese chain stores in the area (and the German Cultural Center) to post signs in Chinese.

It is a known fact of social sciences that minority ethnic groups in a foreign country tend to bunch together, often for company and mutual protection -- not to mention, for new immigrants, being able to talk to people. In the American West through the 1880s and '90s, mob violence against the 'heathen Chinee' living in smaller towns led to the survivors' leaving to live in a few Chinatowns in the larger cities.

* [[UsefulNotes/{{Chicago}} The Windy City]] also has one, which too is imaginatively referred to as Chinatown.

## It is in Center City--Philadelphia's downtown district. It's just two blocks north of the house where UsefulNotes/ThomasJefferson wrote the Declaration of Independence. Seriously. The library built next door has Chinese signage on it. It also directly abuts the massive Pennsylvania Convention Center, so it's ludicrously common for conventioneers to go to Chinatown for lunch (especially if they know how crowded Reading Terminal gets at the lunch rush).

* There's also not one, [[https://www.japan-guide.com/e/e2420.html but three Chinatowns in Japan]]. The largest of these, and the largest in the world, is located in Yokohama; the oldest one is in Nagasaki and is probably the second-oldest in the world after Manila's, dating back to the 16th century. (The third and one is in Kobe, for those who wonder)
* In an aversion the Max transit stop in Portland Or, "old town/chinatown" is not just not a WretchedHive of Tongs, and Opium Dens, it is not even Chinese at least in appearance. For the matter of that it doesn't look very old either. There would have been a lot of Chinese immigrants in Portland in old times though, so perhaps a real chinatown was simply overbuilt.

* Historically, the UsefulNotes/{{London}} Chinatown was in Limehouse, it moved west to the Shaftesbury Avenue area. Contrary to the anit-Chinese rumors, it looks like it did ''not'' have any {{opium den}}s.

* Manila's Chinatown is the first and oldest existing one, dating back to 1594. Formerly called Parian, it was now called Binondo.[[note]]Not entirely the exact same Chinatown; that initial Parian was founded for the unconverted Chinese just outside the east walls of CitadelCity Intramuros—on the same side of the Pasig River, on the south bank; very easy to attack with the cannons from within Manila's walls; converted Chinese were directed to live in the new district of Binondo some years later, across the Pasig River from Intramuros. The Parian continued existing for a time even after the Catholicised Chinese settlers were moved into Binondo.[[/note]]

* Manila's Chinatown is the first and oldest existing one, dating back to 1594. Formerly called Parian, it was now called Binondo.

* ''VideoGame/MadWorld'''s second level is supposedly one of these, made up of [[CultureChopSuey a medley of Chinese and Japanese stereotypes]]. Jack's VoiceWithAnInternetConnection snarks that "Asian-Town" looks like a more like a garish [[TheThemeParkVersion theme park attraction]] and doubts that it's designers had ever actually been to a real Chinatown, let alone anywhere in Asia.
* One of the neighborhoods in ''VideoGame/SunsetOverdrive'''s Sunset City is "Little Tokyo", complete with a large Japanese History Museum at it's center. You wind up visiting there several times in the story, since the museum is where one of your allied groups, Troop Bushido, have made camp.

* UsefulNotes/{{South Korea}} has several of those, but the most notable ones are in UsefulNotes/{{Seoul}} and Incheon. The original Chinatowns formed a century ago when the country opened it's gates have only traces of it left, due to the harsh policies of the military government towards overseas Chinese who they thought would be a major threat as they gained massive financial power in Southeast Asian countries over time. The new ones are being populated by Korean Chinese, who are ethnically Koreans but culturally Chinese as they were born in China and have spent their entire lives at there.

* One level in ''VideoGame/BatmanDoom'' is set in Chinatown. Buddhist iconography, paper lanterns and shuriken-tossing Asian thugs abound.

** Spoofed in one ''WesternAnimation/TreehouseOfHorror'' episode when they visit an immigrant neighborhood generically named "Ethnictown". Its residents include a {{UsefulNotes/Romani}} [[GypsyCurse witch]] and an [[{{Oireland}} Irish]] {{leprechaun}}.