It may come as a surprise to many but the oldest Chinatown in the world is not in the U.S. but actually in a country much closer to the real China. In 1594, Governor Luis Pérez Dasmariñas created Binondo, a settlement for Catholic Chinese migrants who had moved into the Philippines. Binondo is considered by many to be the first and oldest Chinatown in the world.

Also, did you know that Mexico also has a large Chinatown complete with underground tunnels and secret passages?

But have you ever wondered…. Why are there so many Chinatowns around the world? Of course, ethnic enclaves are common in big cities but none compare with the popularity of Chinatowns. So why and when did Chinatowns become a thing? And how have they managed to stick around for so long?

You’re watching Explore Mode and in this episode we are diving into the origins of Chinatowns.


Music:
Cherry Blossom and Arcane
Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/b...


Sources:
https://www.nytimes.com/1861/01/15/ar...
https://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquak...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Look_Ti...
https://99percentinvisible.org/episod...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Wi...
https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswit...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinato...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binondo...
https://www.huffpost.com/entry/americ...
   • An underground world in Mexicali reve...  
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_Chin...
http://www.culturaldiplomacy.org/acad...

Produced by Sofia K.
Edited by Amanda Lee