Walking through Chinatown today, you will encounter layers of its identity: the memories of a Chinatown long gone, the visions of a Chinatown that could have been, the Chinatown that remains a home for long-term residents, and the Chinatown being reshaped for tourists and transplants. In a neighborhood that has been created and stewarded by immigrant Asian American residents, luxury developments now dot the landscape – raising rents, and displacing residents. At the same time, those developments have exacerbated the […]

From a comfortable armchair on a small stage at the Boston Chinatown Neighborhood Center, Gish Jen asked: “Do you ever feel like you’re living in one reality and there’s a string pulling you to a different world?” Her audience laughed in recognition, and Jen smiled. “I do, too. So does Hattie Kong.” Jen, whose name appears often on lists of eminent contemporary Asian-American writers, was about to begin a reading to promote her new book, World & Town. Hattie Kong […]