San Francisco, California [2] - part 2

(This is the second part of a two-part post. For the first part, please click here)

Intro

I had already continuously walked 5 miles or so at this point, but the highlight of the day was yet to come: Chinatown. It's probably the most un-American place I've visited in America.

Walking south from North Beach, Chinese text gradually begins to appear on signs.

Fluffy cakes at a Chinese bakery.

Exterior of said bakery.

Products with no English labels line shelves. Then again, how many non-Chinese speakers would want any of these products?

Chinese people over the age of 40 generally don't use driers.

Produce store.

The non-touristy part of Chinatown is actually much livelier than the touristy part.

As you head deeper into Chinatown proper, there are actually fewer shops open and people present than on the edge. This is pure speculation, but I suspect that the touristy stores deep inside Chinatown were impacted heavily by COVID and never really recovered, whereas the shops on the north edge were never dependent on tourists to begin with.

The whole neighborhood feels like a relic of times past, back when Chinese immigrants to America mostly consisted of desperately poor undocumented individuals mostly hailing from Zhejiang and Fujian, and opened restaurants, nail salons, and spas. Few young Chinese roam the streets, and those who do are clearly second-generation like myself.

The new generation of Chinese immigrants in the Bay is wealthier, educated, and much more geographically diverse in origin within China. They move to places like San Mateo, Cupertino, and Milpitas near their FAANG offices, and probably view the inhabitants of Chinatown with a bit of distaste. As China gets wealthier and American antipathy towards Chinese people grows stronger, even poor Chinese will have less and less reason to seek a better life in America and replace the older generation. One wonders what will become of Chinatown when the people that defined it slowly disappear.