With over 100 years ofhistory and culture behind it, it is not difficult to understand why Manhattan'sChinatown is regarded as the center of the metropolitan Chinese community. On the weekends, tens of thousands crowd onto the Chinatown's narrow thorough fares for shopping,dining, social activities, and religious worships. Many come to visitfriends and relatives and to take advantage of the specialized servicessuch as Chinese doctors, acupuncturists, herbalists, lawyers, and otherprofessional and social services unavailable in the other boroughs andsuburbs. On the weekdays, thousandscommute into Chinatown to work in hundreds of garment factories, grocerystores, and restaurants mainly by subway, buses or privately operated vans. Non-English speaking Chinese New Yorkers commute daily for specializedjobs and many also bring along their children for educational programsoffered by community based schools and social service providers.
Many workers often work ten to twelve hours days, six and even seven daysa week.
Some stay with their parents'work place after school. It is projected that bythe year 2000, there will be one million Asian Americans in the Tri-StateArea.