Little tokyo, los angeles Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Little tokyo, los angeles - Essay Example These men worked as laborers in ranches, road building, gardens and laundry. They faced heavy discrimination in the late 19th century. However, despite the discrimination, Chinese people occupied greater positions, especially, in the laundry and agricultural sector. As a result, they expanded their territory hence acquiring more blocks and buildings. In addition, their population also increased to 3000. However, over the years, the Exclusion Act Laws restricted any large increase in growth. These laws prohibited the Chinese people from owning land, and it forced them to lease or rent units for their homes and businesses. Between 1890 and 1910, Chinatown comprised 15 streets and alleys, and the building units were about 200 units. Apart from this space, Chinatown also had three temples, a theatre, its own newspaper, and a telephone exchange. In addition, the town had few women; therefore, the Exclusion Act was lifted so that Chinese women and children could also immigrate over to join the Chinese men present in Los Angeles (Cho, 14-26). This resulted to community organization. Since the government prohibited the Chinese to have ownership of their personal property, few of them improvised and maintained their properties. This resulted to a decline in the appearance of the old Chinatown. The Chinese did not mind about how the town looked, for instance, they never paved the streets during the end of the old Chinatown. In the end, the Chinese lost all their property because they gave up fighting for whether or not they legally owned the lands they had dearly paid for. In addition, all the improvements and payments had been rendered private. Therefore, there existed no valid proof of anything in consideration to land. As a result, the Chinese were forced to leave their homes, hence the collapse of the old Chinatown (Cho, 27). Fortunately, this collapse resulted to the formation of the new Chinatown; two years after the