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Dating back to the 1880s, Boston Chinatown is one of the oldest continuous residential Chinatown communities in the U.S., a little known fact not adequately celebrated in Boston's history. This piece covers the arrival of the first Chinese immigrants in New England, brought in to break a strike...
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Boston Chinatown Asian American History Chinese Culture |
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Passed in 1882 and in effect until 1943, the Chinese Exclusion Act was the first U.S. law to ban immigration by race or nationality. Using images from actual Chinese Exclusion Act case files, this poignant piece discusses its ramifications and how U.S. Chinatown developed in response to racial...
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Boston Chinatown Asian American History Chinese History |
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Traced back to Southern China and the clannish nature of Chinese culture, family associations play a unique role in U.S. Chinatowns. During the Chinese Exclusion Act and in times of extreme discrimination, family associations were not simply a social haven. They provided work and housing...
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Boston Chinatown Asian American History Chinese Culture |
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What most people think of Chinatown, they immediately think of food. Is Chinatown simply a place for food and services? Is it more? This piece explores these questions, the contributions of restaurants to Chinatown, how “taste” has shifted with the population’s changing demographics and...
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Boston Chinatown Chinese food live work |
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The area Chinatown occupies has always been an immigrant, working-class community, driven by the proximity of labor and transportation. Originally an Irish community, it later became a predominantly Syrian-Lebanese community that was also home to Jewish and West-African-Barbadian immigrants....
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Boston Chinatown Syrian Lebanese Jewish Chinese community |
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The Combat Zone is an area within Chinatown that is legally zoned as an adult entertainment district. Deriving its name from the port-of-call sailors who frequented Boston for centuries, the Combat Zone was codified and moved to Washington Street to make way for Boston’s new City Hall. During...
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Boston Chinatown combat zone community activism |
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Boston is home to what is believed to be the only Asian women’s lion dance troupe, the Gund Kwok Asian Women’s Lion Dance Troupe. Founder Cheng Imm Tan recounts the group’s origins, the history and symbolism of lion dancing, an earlier Boston women’s dance troupe and shares what it is like to be...
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Boston Asian women lion dance chinese culture |
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