Boston Chinatown Banquet - Nothing Else to Lose

The Vietnamese Chinese who fled Vietnam significantly altered a part of Washington Street previously untenable for development. They were the only group willing to risk launching businesses near the dangerous, mob-run "Combat Zone". They brought new vitality to the area, paving the way for subsequent redevelopment, contrary to the popular belief that credits city policies with the transformation. Ironically, the massive City-sanctioned gentrification of Washington Street threatens to push out Vietnamese Chinese businesses and wipe away all traces of their important contributions to the area. This piece focuses on the more spontaneous and largely unheralded form of urban development.

Storytellers: Peter Kiang, Trinh Nguyen, Tunney Lee

Video footage: Mike Blockstein, David Hartman, Jeremy Liu, Kim Szeto

Interviews: Mike Blockstein, Victor Fong, Jackson Hau, Eun-Joung Lee, Peter Pan, Kim Szeto, Andrew Tong, Kathy Tran, Carol Wong, Kim Wong, Johnny Yong

Archival video courtesy of: Andrew Leong

Producer: Mike Blockstein

Editor: David Lawrence

A Chinatown Banquet is a series of short educational films about Boston Chinatown, sparking learning and dialogue across generations, disciplines and geography. The Banquet offers an unprecedented glimpse into the history, culture, and character of the neighborhood. This multimedia project highlights the Asian American experience and Chinese culture in Boston and was created as an educational tool by youth in the Asian Community Development Corporation (ACDC or AsianCDC) Young Leaders Network (YLN) which has grown to become A-VOYCE (Asian Voices of Organized Youth for Community Empowerment). These "courses," offering a rich view of the forces that shaped and continue to influence Chinatown, consist of audio and video interviews with community members and others who offer insight into specific issues, interspersed with contemporary and historic footage, images and information, music and ambient sounds. As a part of the Chinatown Heritage Project, the Banquet is a compendium of Chinatown's history, political struggles, culture and physical environment and living conditions.

http://www.chinatownbanquet.org/index2.html
http://www.asiancdc.org/heritage/home.html
http://www.asiancdc.org/

Category:

Nonprofits & Activism

Tags:

• Boston
• Chinatown
• Asian
• American
• Chinese
• Culture
• Education
• Community
• Development
• Corporation
• ACDC

[tsmith01220]

Bring The Martoranos back to downtown.

[ab1azee]

Yes.

[okdudein08]

I've noticed that Vietnamese businesses have drastically declined in Chinatown since the mid-80's. What happened? Did the Vietnamese establish cultural centers in Dorchester instead?