An Unknown History of Chinatown

Rows of buildings two to three stories high line up like matrixes, hiding its stories within each individual apartments. The Chinatown we see today are often crowded with busy shoppers and it is a concentration place for the homeless population. It is not considered to be the cleanest and most beautiful part of the Island; However, it has a graceful and exquisite history that not many people know. Honolulu was the larger ahupua'a, land section, included the areas between Waikiki and Kapalama,  including Punchbowl and Kewalo before the invasion of foreigners. However, when Captain William came, the towns started to be hugely populated and Honolulu became an official name for the town in 1825. As immigrants started to move into the island, there began more technological and cultural development. Later on as foreign sailing vessels started arriving in the Hawai'i harbor, and the Chinese population boomed, Chinatown was born.

Honolulu's Chinatown took shape earlier than the Chinatowns of San Francisco, New York, Settle and other mainland cities. As Honolulu's Chinese community grew, as did the rest of the world, it did not spawn as much social conflicts and severe discrimination experienced on the mainland. The Chinatown as we see today are full of stores and little rental apartments on top of the business establishments downstair. Those stores and apartments used to function as meeting places and aid houses, welcoming especially those who had arrived from the same Chinese village. Chinese businessmen established grocery stores, retail stores, herb shops, temples and restaurants. By 1880, Chinese held 24% of wholesale, 62% of retail, and 85% of restaurant licenses in Hawai`i. By 1896, there were 153 Chinese stores in Honolulu, 72 of them in Chinatown. The rich history of Honolulu Chinatown is offered not studied and everyday pedestrians often fail to notice its history and stories. If we pay more attention to our surroundings, we might begin to understand not only where we came from, but also how our towns began to grow. 

Work Cited:
Chinatown: Economic Adaptation and Ethnic Identity of the Chinese, Bernard P. Wong (Fort Worth: Holt, Rinehart and Winston, Inc. 1982)
Chinatown Historic Preservation Plan, Department of Housing and Community Development (Honolulu: City and County of Honolulu, 1974)
Hawaii: A Pictorial History, Joseph Feher (Honolulu: Bishop Museum, 1969)