Chinatown
Enclave of dim sum halls, herb shops, and streets shaped by the Chinese Exclusion Act.
Location
About this audio guide
This guide to Chinatown in New York opens with a young man named Mock Duck arriving from San Francisco in the spring of 1899, into a neighborhood sealed off by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, where the census would soon count over seven thousand Chinese men and only 142 women. It traces how tongs, secret societies that doubled as family and as criminal gangs, filled the space the city's laws had left, and introduces Tom Lee, who ran the powerful On Leong Tong with Tammany Hall connections and a deputy sheriff's badge. Listen for the mention of Doyers Street's sharp bend nearby, a stretch locals gave its own name.
This audio guide was created using AI.
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