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Portland's Lost Chinatown, Artthew H. Ng

University Honors Theses

Portland's Chinatown is one of the oldest North American urban Chinatowns, but is largely unexplored in the literature. It is currently a Chinatown in name only, missing Chinese residential buildings as well as popular Chinese businesses. This article explores the mystery of Portland Chinatown's birth and death, analyzing its history with a sociological lens. It had a similar lifespan to other Chinatowns in the US. However, Portland's Old Chinatown was unique, as unlike an ethnic enclave, it did not have clearly defined boundaries, growing to cover seventy city blocks at its peak. Therefore, when urban renewal started taking place in …