Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Definitely California. New York state doesn’t have much Chinese influence outside of New York City or its metropolitan area and the vast majority of that population is in New York City with much of the rest of that population in New Jersey rather than New York state. Meanwhile, all four of California’s major metropolitan areas have significant and often long-standing Chinese populations and have also had a good deal of Chinese politicians at both municipal and state levels.
Well here's the thing about NYC: There are over 600,000 Chinese people in NYC, and might be more since illegals aren't counted. There aren't any California cities who have nearly as many Chinese people as NYC. Additionally, its not like California itself isn't international either.
Plus I believe there are a few Chinese congresspeople from Queens, so they have political representation.
It really is between NYC vs. California though. If so, then NYC is way more Chinese than California is.
Here's more on my take, California has a strong case simply from the incredibly large numbers of Chinese across all of its 6 largest MSAs (perhaps more but I'm not sure beyond those). But I'll admit that my viewpoint comes from my personal experience, which may be shaped specifically by my network and experiences.
When I am in NYC, I'm almost always only in Manhattan. And my particular activities are derived from spending time with my diverse set of friends and enjoying all that Manhattan has to offer.
On the other hand, now that I think about it, when I visit Cali I am much more likely to be visiting my family (both me and my wife are Chinese) and I have three cousins in LA, one in SD, one in San Jose, and my wife has a cousin in SJ, one in Oakland, and her brother and uncle/aunt are in SF. So while we do have plenty other friends in Cali, our networks skew far more Chinese and therefore frames my impression and my activities out west. Now is this a result of there being more Chinese influence out there? Maybe but probably not. I'd imagine there are lots of Chinese people who have lots of family in NY and few in CA.
Now all that said, I do think there's one critical difference that I have experienced...again maybe it's not real and simply perceived due to my time in NYC being almost exclusively in Manhattan, but basically many of the heavily Chinese communities I've been to in CA seem like regular cities/towns in the region. These deeply ingrained Chinese communities aren't like typical ethnic enclaves...but rather they seem like just another town that happens to be heavily populated with Chinese, albeit with Chinese writing on signs etc. Often they are upscale areas or downtown areas also.
I remember NPR talking about the rise of one of these areas in LA. It was an area where a land developer back around the 70s advertised in Taiwan and lured heavy Taiwanese investment. I want to say Arcadia but not sure. Anyway they started the piece by playing audio from the city council meeting, which was called to order in Mandarin lol.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Bubb Rubb
Well here's the thing about NYC: There are over 600,000 Chinese people in NYC, and might be more since illegals aren't counted. There aren't any California cities who have nearly as many Chinese people as NYC. Additionally, its not like California itself isn't international either.
What you're really saying is NYC has a big ass city population. It takes adding together the populations of the 7 largest cities in CA to equal NYC's population.
NYC is so large it beats just about every city in raw numbers.
NYC has way less Chinese influence than San Francisco. I have a friend from back east who went to San Francisco for the first time last year and he mentioned it was cool/ different to see a US city with such a strong Asian influence and how much more wide spread it was in the city beyond just China Town.
I don't know how you could have been to both places and think it is anything besides California.
Location: Appalachian New York, Formerly Louisiana
4,409 posts, read 6,536,583 times
Reputation: 6253
As a whole, California. NY is not without it, even in smaller towns in recent times (look at modern Watkins Glen), but Cali has a massive head start and it's more wide-spread than in NY state.
As a whole, California. NY is not without it, even in smaller towns in recent times (look at modern Watkins Glen), but Cali has a massive head start and it's more wide-spread than in NY state.
Yeah, people may be surprised that the Ithaca area/Tompkins County is about 10% Asian, with Chinese making up about 5% of the area’s population. That puts that county in 4th place in the state in that regard. It isn’t just college students, as you can find schools in the Ithaca City SD with high Asian percentages. Watkins Glen may be getting spillover from that area.
You have select places in other parts of the state like Brighton, Vestal, parts of Amherst, parts of Colonie, parts of DeWitt and some college towns tend to have at least some Chinese residents. So, it may come down to where you look.
New York City, 2016:
Total Population: 8,537,000
Asian Population: 1,205,000...14% of total
Chinese Population: 590,000...6% of total
San Francisco-Oakland Urban Area, 2016:
Total Population: 3,529,000
Asian Population: 997,000...28% of total
Chinese Population: 440,000...12% of total
California wins this one by a long shot. NYC may have a bunch of Chinatowns, but the West Coast definitely has a stronger Chinese presence.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
