In late summer 2025, I was returning to the U.S. on a United Airlines flight from Hong Kong. As I often do on long trans-Pacific flights, I spent about two hours working on unfinished papers and the rest of the time relaxing—catching up on recently released movies and doing some leisure reading. As I scrolled through the movie list, I came across Wolfs (2024), starring Brad Pitt and George Clooney—a New York City story. I often use a simple criterion for selecting in-flight movies: big Hollywood stars and New York City (forgive my simple taste!). Wolfs fit perfectly, so I started watching.
One scene caught my attention. The two stars are chasing a young man through Manhattan’s Chinatown in the middle of the night. The young man pauses to catch his breath in front of a Chinatown souvenir shop. I thought to myself, “This can’t be happening,” because that shop was the very place where I had conducted an interview just weeks earlier. After finishing the movie, I went to sleep.
A few days later, I returned to Chinatown and mentioned the film to the shop owner. She seemed completely unaware of it: “They asked us to close the shop for one day, and we got paid well.” To her, it was just another workday in Chinatown—nothing special. However, I couldn’t help but think that these shop owners have truly seen the world.
This episode led me to reflect on recent studies of residential segregation in the United States. Using conventional residence-based measures, Chinatown would appear highly segregated, consistent with classic literature on enclave economies. However, recent studies (e.g., Palmer et al. 2013; Yang and Cheng 2025) highlight the limits of such measures. Even when immigrants live in segregated neighborhoods, their daily activities often expose them to far more diverse social worlds.
Using mobile phone data, my research group found that in the three months prior to the onset of COVID-19, visitors from nearly 60 countries came to Chinatown. During the same period, visitors arrived from all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Few neighborhoods in the U.S. likely exhibit this level of global and national exposure.
I have studied Manhattan’s Chinatown for more than two decades. This work continually stimulates my sociological imagination, and, in some cases, challenges established perspectives in immigration research. Here, I share several observations that may be of interest to fellow sociologists.
The Rise of the Second Generation
One of the most striking developments in Chinatown during the past two decades is the growing presence of the second generation (Mishan 2023). This is somewhat surprising, as scholars of immigration often view movement into the mainstream economy—away from ethnic enclaves—as a key marker of assimilation (Alba and Nee 2003; Kasinitz et al. 2008; Zhou 1997).
The increasing presence of the second generation is reshaping Chinatown in important ways. Beyond traditional immigrant organizations, new types of organizations have emerged, often led by second-generation actors. For example, Welcome to Chinatown (WTC), founded by Jennifer Tam and Vic Lee and launched at the height of COVID-19, played a critical role in supporting struggling small businesses. The organization raised funds for entrepreneurs and created opportunities for restaurant owners to provide meals for essential workers. In 2024, WTC established a small business innovation hub aimed at empowering entrepreneurs, building connections, and promoting sustainable growth.
Importantly, the rise of the second generation is not limited to a few isolated cases. Our 2025 survey of small businesses in Chinatown shows that nearly 30 percent of owners or managers are second-generation. This influx has brought new energy and introduced innovative business practices often associated with younger generations.
Chinatown for All
On any given day, a walk through Chinatown reveals that most people on the streets are not Chinese, instead reflecting a broad cross-section of society. This diversity is evident not only among consumers but also among business owners.
In our fieldwork, we observed many non-Chinese business owners, including individuals of Korean, Vietnamese, Malaysian, and Mexican backgrounds. Particularly visible is the large concentration of South Asian entrepreneurs—many from Bangladesh—who operate souvenir shops along Canal Street, some of whom have expanded into nearby Little Italy. Notably, this development predates recent political shifts in New York City: the election of Zohran Mamdani as the next mayor of New York City-the first Muslim and person of South Asian descent in New York City’s history (NPR 2025).
Our research also identified 44 souvenir shops in Chinatown owned by non-Chinese (mainly immigrants from Bangladesh). In addition, Chinatown serves as an important employment hub for Latino workers, both locally and as destinations for recent immigrants across the country. One employment agency in Chinatown, for example, specifically recruits Latino workers for Chinese-owned businesses nationwide.
Chinatown as an Important Business Hub
Today, Chinatown is more than a destination for dining, shopping, or starting a business—it also functions as a key hub connecting smaller Chinese immigrant communities across the United States.
In some ways, Chinatown resembles the role of a global city (Sassen 2001). While global cities such as New York serve as central nodes in global economic, financial, and cultural systems, Manhattan’s Chinatown plays a comparable role within the Chinese restaurant economy in the U.S.
As I discuss in my recent book From Chinatown to Everytown: How Chinese Immigrants Have Expanded the Restaurant Business in the United States (Liang 2023), the expansion of Chinese restaurants across the U.S. relies on three key components. First, employment agencies in Chinatown supply workers—both Chinese and Latino—to restaurants nationwide. Second, the Chinatown bus system, created by Chinese immigrant entrepreneurs, provides transportation infrastructure for this mobile workforce. Third, Chinatown serves as a supply hub, providing everything from menus and kitchen equipment to furniture and cash registers. To underscore its reach, Chinatown businesses even supply tofu products to one of New York City’s few three-Michelin-star restaurants, Eleven Madison Park.
So, colleagues attending the ASA 2026 Annual Meeting: take a subway ride to Chinatown. Enjoy a meal, pick up souvenirs, and, at the same time, draw on your sociological imagination to explore the many questions this vibrant community raises. And if you have a deep pocket and a taste for vegan cuisine, you might even try the tofu dishes at Eleven Madison Park.