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History of Chinese Americans in Metro Detroit facts for kids

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Chinese people and Chinese Americans are a big group of people from Asia living in the Metro Detroit area. You'll find many Chinese residents in places like Troy, Rochester Hills, Madison Heights, and Canton Township.

As of 2022, about 21,000 Chinese people live in Oakland County. Another 5,200 live in Wayne County, and 2,500 are in Macomb County. In Oakland County, Chinese people make up almost 2% of the population. In other counties, they are a smaller part, around 0.3% to 0.5%.

The college town of Ann Arbor also has a large Chinese community.

Inside the city of Detroit, especially near the Henry Ford Hospital, the Detroit Medical Center, and Wayne State University, many Chinese and Indian students or hospital workers live there for a short time. Most of them do not stay after their studies or work ends.

There are no Chinatowns left in Detroit. The last one changed a lot by the mid-1900s. The closest active Chinatown is in Windsor, Ontario, Canada.

History of Chinese People in Detroit

The first known Chinese person in Detroit was Ah Chee, who arrived in 1872. He started a laundry business. The first Chinese businesses in Metro Detroit opened in 1879, making Chinese immigrants the first Asian group to settle there. Many Chinese people came to Detroit after Ah Chee opened his laundries. At one time, Detroit even had its own Chinatown.

During a time called the Chinese Exclusion period, many Chinese immigrants tried to enter the United States without official permission. They often took the Canadian Pacific Railroad from Vancouver, Canada, to Windsor, Ontario. From Windsor, they would try to cross the Detroit River into the U.S. with the help of smugglers. These crossings were often very dangerous, and many people died trying.

In 1905, the first Chinese restaurant opened in Detroit. In the early 1900s, Henry Ford even hired Chinese people from Hawaii to work in his car factories. By the 1920s, Detroit had 300 Chinese laundry businesses and 12 Chinese restaurants. Helen Zia, a writer, said that the Chinese business community in Detroit was at its strongest in the 1920s.

More Chinese people moved to Detroit in the 1930s. However, the Chinese businesses and the population in Detroit's Chinatown started to shrink after the 1920s. Much of Chinatown was torn down in the 1950s to build the John C. Lodge Freeway. Because of this, Chinatown moved to a new area around Cass Avenue and Peterboro Street. In 1951, about 2,000 Chinese people lived in Detroit.

After the Immigration Act of 1965, more educated Chinese people moved to Detroit. But instead of living in the city or its Chinatown, they chose to live in the suburbs. Also, the children of the laundry and restaurant owners often moved to the suburbs or other cities for school and jobs.

In 1967, Chinese American architect Marvin Chin opened a famous tiki-themed restaurant and nightclub called Chin Tiki.

By 1980, the number of Chinese people living in Detroit was counted at 1,213. While this number might have been too low, it was clear that the Chinese population in the city was small. Family-owned businesses in Detroit's Chinatown also became fewer by the 1980s.

In 1982, a sad event happened in Metro Detroit. Autoworkers killed Vincent Chin, a Chinese American man, because they thought he was Japanese American. An article in the Detroit Free Press in 2009 said that Vincent Chin's death helped people in Detroit understand the harm of anti-Asian racism. Many Chinese Americans in Metro Detroit were upset that the two men who killed Vincent Chin received light sentences.

Cultural Institutions for Chinese Americans

The Association of Chinese Americans (ACA, traditional Chinese: 美華協會; simplified Chinese: 美华协会; pinyin: Měihuá Xiéhuì) is a group that helps Chinese Americans in Detroit. It started in 1972.

The Chinese Community Center (CCC, traditional Chinese: 美華協會華人中心; simplified Chinese: 美华协会华人中心; pinyin: Měihuá Xiéhuì Huárén Zhōngxīn) of the ACA is in Madison Heights. It opened on August 8, 2005.

In the past, groups like the Chinese Welfare Council and the On Leong Merchants Association also helped the Chinese community in Detroit. The On Leong group held social events, and the Chinese Welfare Council worked with the city government to represent Chinatown's interests.

Education for Chinese Children

The American Chinese School at Greater Detroit (ACSGD, simplified Chinese: 底特律中文学校; traditional Chinese: 底特律中文學校; pinyin: Dǐtèlǜ Zhōngwén Xuéxiào) is a school where kids can learn Chinese. It's in Birmingham and started in 1972.

Other schools that teach Chinese in Metro Detroit include:

Healthcare and Services for Older Chinese Americans

The Association of Chinese Americans used to run a clinic in the Cass Corridor Chinatown from 1973 to 1996. The Detroit Drop-In Center opened in 1990 to help older Chinese Americans in the Cass Chinatown area. In 2005, they opened more services in the Canton and Plymouth areas. In 2011, the main center moved to a new spot on Woodward Avenue.

Notable People

See also

  • Demographics of Metro Detroit
  • American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs
  • History of the Japanese in Metro Detroit
  • Wong Wing v. United States
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