From Chinatown to Every Town

How Chinese Immigrants Have Expanded the Restaurant Business in the United States

Zai Liang

• Publisher: University of California Press
• Year: 2023
• Print ISBN:
  9780520384972
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9780520384989
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Labour Economics
• Index: Social Sciences

From Chinatown to Every Town explores the recent history of Chinese immigration within the United States and the fundamental changes in spatial settlement that have relocated many low-skilled Chinese immigrants from New York City's Chinatown to new immigrant destinations. Using a mixed-method approach over a decade in Chinatown and six destination states, sociologist Zai Liang specifically examines how the expansion and growing popularity of Chinese restaurants has shifted settlement to more rural and faraway areas. Liang's study demonstrates that key players such as employment agencies, Chinatown buses, and restaurant supply shops facilitate the spatial dispersion of immigrants while simultaneously maintaining vital links between Chinatown in Manhattan and new immigrant destinations.

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• List of Figures
• List of Tables
• Acknowledgments
• 1. Introduction
• 2. Job Search: From Immigrant Networks to Market-Based Institutions
• 3. Making the Connection: The Story of the Chinatown Bus
• 4. Choices for New Immigrant Destinations
• 5. New Businesses in New Places: Adaptation and Race Relations
• 6. The Ties That Bind: Between Chinatown in Manhattan and New Immigrant Destinations
• 7. Conclusion
• Appendix A: Methods
• Appendix B: Analysis of Job Locations
• Notes
• References
• Index