In fact, Toronto now has five Chinatowns, but the major commercial centre and meeting place for the community is located downtown. If someone looked at a picture taken at the corner of Spadina Ave and Dundas St. on a Saturday afternoon, they could easily mistake it for Hong Kong. On weekends, the sidewalks, already crammed with open-air food stalls, overflow with hundreds of people eager to shop, eat and socialize.
Traffic is high.
This is the largest and busiest Chinatown in the city. It's also the most visible symbol of a very diverse community. The Chinese people who live in Toronto come from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, the Philippines, as well as from Mainland China. The first Chinese arrived in Toronto at the turn of the century and lived in the area of York St. between Queen and King. But it was during the 1950s, when the construction of the New City Hall was announced, that the community moved north to the current neighbourhood.