Chinatown (Montreal)

The Chinatown (French Quartier chinois ) is a neighborhood in the center of Montreal. It is bordered to the west by Old Town and is situated between the Avenue Viger, the Rue Saint -Dominique, boulevard René- Lévesque and Rue Jeanne -Mance. The running through the neighborhood Rue de La Gauchetière is designed in the area of ​​intersection with the Boulevard Saint -Laurent as a pedestrian zone. There are numerous restaurants, shops and cultural institutions. Four bill gates mark the boundaries of the district.

History

In the last quarter of the 19th century, today's Chinatown initially developed for the preferred residential area of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. This resulted in numerous shops and founded several synagogues. In the 1920s, almost all the Jews departed and settled further west in parts of the city on Mont Royal down, especially in Outremont. In their place came increasingly Chinese. These were predominantly Cantonese -speaking immigrants from southern China or Chinese who had in the meantime been living in British Columbia and had been active in railway construction. Later, Hong Kong Chinese and Hoa (ethnic Chinese from Vietnam) were added.

Extensive construction projects such as the Palais des congrès de Montréal ( convention center) and the Complexe Guy Favreau - ( administrative building of the government) led in the 1970s to the demolition of many old buildings and to the reduction of Chinatown. The creation of the pedestrian area in the 1980s stopped the economic downturn and the neighborhood developed into a tourist destination. Since the late 1990s, Concordia University developed in the western area, especially on Rue Sainte -Catherine, a second Chinatown, which is enlivened by students from China and other East Asian countries.

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