With more than 200,000 residents (125,000 of them Chinese and the rest other Asian ethnicities), 7 Chinese newspapers, 12 Buddhist temples, around 150 restaurants and over 300 garment factories, Chinatown is Manhattan's most populous ethnic neighborhood, one of busy restaurants and exotic street markets. Since the Eighties, it has pushed its boundaries north across Canal Street into Little Italy and sprawls east into the nether fringes of the Lower East Side around Division Street and East Broadway.

The Chinese community has been careful to preserve its own way of dealing with things, preferring to keep affairs close to the bond of the family and allowing few intrusions into a still-insular culture. And while insularity means that much of Chinatown's character survives relatively unspoiled - especially on streets such as Canal, Pell, Mott and Bayard - it has also meant non-union sweatshop labor and poor overcrowded tenements ill-kept by landlords. However, unless you stay in Chinatown for a considerable length of time it's unlikely you'll see much of this seamier side. Most tourists, like most New Yorkers, come here not to get the lowdown on Chinese politics but to eat excellent Chinese food or to hunt for bargains along Canal Street .

The best way to reach Chinatown is to take the #J, #M, #N, #Q, #R, #W, #Z or #6 train to Canal Street