Many people get into historic preservation because of a personal connection to a special place. My story begins in Chinatown. Growing up, I frequented Seattle’s Chinatown-International District, where my father worked for 15 years, and it was a place where I could connect with my roots and explore my identity as a daughter of Chinese immigrants.

Later in life, I found myself moving to the East Coast and living in Manhattan’s Chinatown, a bustling dense neighborhood with close ties and ancestral roots. I loved that I could find everything I needed in the neighborhood 24/7, how the layers of history blended seamlessly with the living present, and the way shopkeepers would greet me with warmth and acceptance. It was and still is a place where I feel a deep sense of belonging as a Chinese American. It inspired me to learn about urban planning, development, and preservation and how these practices impact the future of ethnic enclaves like Chinatown.

Signs of Neighborhood Change

When living in Manhattan, for a few blissful years, I lived in a fourth-floor walk-up above a soup dumpling restaurant on Pell Street. Every day, I would pass an open door on the first floor which led to a small unit that belonged to an elderly neighbor. I could smell the aroma of decades of home cooking, admire the beauty and patina of the pressed tin ceiling, and marvel at the well-used vintage stove visible from the hallway. Glimpsing this time capsule transported me to another time and place.

One day, on my way home from work, I came back to find the apartment empty and my neighbor gone. Shortly after, the space was gutted and leased out for a higher rent. This was just one sign of underlying change. More trendy bars, galleries, and hotels were appearing while long time businesses shuttered. The more I saw, the more I realized how resilient yet vulnerable Manhattan’s Chinatown— and historic Chinatowns everywhere—are, even as they continue to nurture a vast ecosystem of people who depend on them. For decades, Chinatown communities have organized to fight large scale development and unfair planning decisions, and have experienced outmigration, suburbanization, gentrification, and cultural displacement among many other challenging dynamics.

Many formal preservation policies and tools were not designed to protect places like Chinatown. But today, there is broader recognition that there is no future in preservation unless we expand the definition of preservation, and the targets and interests of the field, to prioritize the needs of all communities who have contributed to the American story. It is long past due to ask what more the national preservation community can do to amplify existing grassroots action to support Chinatowns now and in the future.

We learned that while every Chinatown is unique, there is value in creating a well-connected peer network of Chinatowns to share effective solutions, tackle common challenges, and avoid reinventing the wheel.

We also learned that in order to make a difference, it is essential to think innovatively and expansively about the potential for preservation to help communities like Chinatowns thrive. We need to ask and answer together questions like: What does it mean to preserve a living, active community? What do Chinatown communities consider their cultural assets, and what tools and policies do we have to protect them? Collectively and individually, what makes Chinatown, Chinatown, and what will be lost if Chinatowns disappear from our shared cultural landscape?

In almost every conversation, we have also heard about cultural resources related to Chinese American history that are found in suburban and rural areas across the country. Our next mapping and documentation efforts will include these as well, with efforts already underway in communities along historic Route 66.

As preservationists, we believe in the power of place to enrich people’s lives and that by protecting places that are sacred to people, we can directly improve the lives of people who rely on these places for connection, belonging, and meaning. Investing in Chinatowns is one step towards a broader vision where more Asian American spaces and histories are honored and recognized. All of this work is mission critical to telling the full American story.