The First Suburban Chinatown: The Remaking of Monterey Park, California (Asian American History & Cultu) - Softcover

Fong, Timothy

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1566392624 ISBN 13: 9781566392624

Publisher: Temple University Press, 1994

Synopsis

Monterey Park, California, is a community of 60,000 residents, located east of downtown Los Angeles. Dubbed by the media the "First Suburban Chinatown, " Monterey Park is the only city in the continental United States with a majority Asian American population. Since the early 1970s, large numbers of Chinese immigrants moved there and transformed a quiet, predominantly white middle-class bedroom community into a bustling international boomtown. Timothy Fong examines the demographic, economic, social, and cultural changes taking place in Monterey Park, as well as the political reactions to change. Although the city was initially recognized for its liberal attitude toward newcomers, rapid economic development and population growth spawned numerous problems. Greater density, traffic congestion, less open space and parking, and strain on city services are problems that any city would encounter with rapid unplanned growth. The prominence of Chinese-language business signs, and ethnic restaurants, markets, and shops persuaded many older residents to focus blame on the immigrants. Fong describes how, by 1986, the once ethnically diverse city council became predominantly white and promoted such "anti-Chinese" measures as controlled growth and English as the official language. Unlike earlier waves of Asian immigrants, many of the Chinese who settled in Monterey Park were affluent and well educated. Resentment over their rapid material success was fueled by pervasive anti-Asian sentiment throughout the country. Fearing that newcomers were "taking over" and refusing to assimilate, residents supported a series of initiatives intended to strengthen "community control." These initiatives were brandedas "racist" by development interests, as well as by many of the usually apolitical Chinese in the city. Fong chronicles the evolution of the conflict and locates the beginnings of its recovery from internal strife and unwanted negative media attention. He demonstrates how the para

About this title

From the Publisher

Ethnicity issues fuel internal strife as a community faces change

Donald H. Pflueger Local History Award, Historical Society of Southern California

Outstanding Book Award in the Social Sciences, Association for Asian American Studies

About the Author

Timothy P. Fong teaches at the University of California, Davis, and at California State University, Hayward.

Edition details

• Publisher: Temple University Press
• Publication date: 1994
• ISBN 10: 1566392624
• ISBN 13: 9781566392624
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Number of pages: 240