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Kind Lands, Unkind Realities: The Conflicting Heritage(s) of the Baltimore Chinatown and Its Relations to Urban Developments in Asian neighborhoods

“From being a haven for the revolutionaries of the early age of the Republic of China (with Dr. Sun Yat-sen, dubbed “father of modern China” being the most notable temporary residents) to being a haven for the Chinese community at large, away from the discriminative and oftentimes dangerous reality that was associated with their existence as Asian immigrants in the United States […], generations of Asian Baltimoreans had thrived here in Chinatown, and the community—as well as the space in which they occupy— also became, in some ways ‘sanctified’. “

“The problem, at this point, would not be the issue of merely “gentrification”, but to understand the issue of reclamation, where the Chinese community of Baltimore are working towards allowing the heritage of their already dwindling community—in 2022, there is estimated to be less than two thousand Asian Americans living in Baltimore City— with a heritage that are at risk of being brought to oblivion. To group Baltimore—with the scattered population spread and with two communities that have a very amicable relationship with each other—in the same category as the power dynamics that had played out in cities such as Washington D.C. and Los Angeles the same way Andrew Leong argued is not unwarranted, but nevertheless problematic”

“Due to this sense of safety, it will be safe for one to say that the Baltimore Chinatown became a sacred space, especially for Chinese migrants: the relative lack of a language barrier as well as the sense of community belonging allow the space to be sacred (even if with a considerable number of citizens in Baltimore who thought of the Asian presence in the city as a profane thing). But this is not to say that the Chinese Baltimoreans did not thrive in the city; quite opposite, the Baltimore Chinese community became the place for many laureates in different disciplines […] The Baltimore Chinese community also were witnessing history, as Sun Yat-sen [chose] Baltimore as a base of operation to garner support for the cause of modernizing China, which cultivated in the 1911 Chinese Revolution, ending the dynastic rule over China and gave the start to the new Republic of China. In more ways than one, the Baltimore Chinatown became a sacred space due to these impactful individuals, even amid the widespread discrimination.”