and in the west from the Walter
Cronkite school of journalism at
Arizona state university.
Judy: The pandemic threatened
business districts across the
country but misguided fears and
rhetoric about Asian Americans
made things particularly hard
for chinatown neighborhoods.
With this report during
asian-american and pacific
islander heritage month, John
yang visited one of the nation's
most well-known China towns new
York City.
It is part of our ongoing race
matters series.
Reporter: The carts stacked with
bamboo baskets, bustling kitchen
, board games in the park.
Manhattan's chinatown looks a
lot like its pre-pandemic self.
A walk through the heart of the
neighborhood with a cookbook
author, grace young and the
scars of the pandemic are
evident.
>> This was a family-owned
supermarket and it closed during
covid.
It had been there for years and
years and it did not have the
business.
As we come along here, this was
a bakery that was the place to
go for parts and moon cakes were
out of this world.
Reporter: What else is lost when
a business like this goes out of
business?
>> It is not just about food.
What about our memories.
So many people talk about going
to this bakery since they were a
child.
When you lose a place like this,
you lose a part of yourself.
Reporter: Young, known as the
stirfry to root grew up going to
San Francisco's chinatown with
her father.
>> I grew up loving that small
town feeling about chinatown.
That feeling of belonging and
home.
Reporter: But in the four
decades of living in New York,
she says she had taken this
neighborhood for granted.
>> Because of my work, I would
be in chinatown once or twice a
week shopping for groceries or
eating food but I never
introduced myself.
Reporter: That all changed in
early 2020 whether pandemic.
>> Because of misinformation and
xenophobia, people stopped going
to chinatown.
Reporter: She started sharing
the struggles of mom and dad
businesses on social media.
♪♪
she launched a video project
with a Korean American
videographer, Dan for the new
York museum poster house telling
the stories of chinatown shop
and restaurant owners.
>> Business has dipped down even
worse and I can say that I am at
50%.
>> It is time to take more
dramatic measures.
Reporter: Hours after she
conducted those interviews, bill
de Blasio announced a citywide
lockdown bringing business to a
virtual standstill.
By 2020 one, a survey showed
more than half of Asian owned
his gnosis in New York state
reported their revenue had
dropped more than 75%.
>> This time it will take really
long.
Reporter: Dennis Chung was born
in what was then called saigon
and since 1995 she had -- he has
owned a Vietnamese restaurant
that is one of the many legacy
chinatown businesses that is not
Chinese.
The downturn in business during
the pandemic has put them behind
in their rent and today, he is
facing another challenge.
>> It looks like the business is
back to normal but you forget
one thing -- the prices of
everything are going up right
now.
>> This was his American dream
and covid turned it into a
nightmare.
Reporter: His son Tony is
getting has masters degree this
summer and has applied to med
school.
Watching his dad struggled
during the pandemic, he wanted
to help offering ideas about the
decorah and the menu and
applying for federal aid.
>> A lot of these businesses are
owned by people who do not speak
a word of English except maybe
they know how to say some food
items on their menu.
It is close to impossible for
them to apply for these
government grants.
Reporter: And on top of
everything else, the family
along with other owners have had
to deal with increased
anti-asian harassment.
>> Sometimes I see people coming
into our restaurant yelling
slurs and giving us trouble and
I see my dad trying to be strong
but I worry about him deep down.
Reporter: The history of
American chinatown's is rooted
in racism as Chinese immigrants
arrived in the mid-1900s to mine
gold and build railroads.
>> The Americans wanted cheap
labor but even as they wanted
cheap labor, they did not want
the Chinese to live among
Americans so the Chinese were
segregated to live in their own
ghettos and that is how
chinatown's formed.
Reporter: Just as some made
Asian Americans scapegoats
during covid come in the 1970's,
they were unfairly blamed for
smallpox outbreaks in cities.
>> The Chinese became targeted
as a population.
Not just as undesirable but as
biologically dangerous.
And thus, should be eliminated
and moved out of the city lock
stock and barrel.
Reporter: In recent decades,
historic China towns have faced
new challenges like
gentrification end and aging
population.
Vic Lee sees a New York City
chinatown where she lives --
>> The authenticity comes from
the residence, many of whom are
low income.
For them to be this integral
part of the community but be
unable to stay, this is what is
at risk for the authenticity of
chinatown and what it will look
like.
Reporter: For her late
grandmother who could not read
or speak English, chinatown was
her piece of America.
>> I have such fond memories of
scooping rice into the rice
bowls and carrying it to the
dinner table.
Once she sat, we would eat and I
have a tattoo which stands for
her apartment building.
Reporter: During the pandemic,
Lee cofounded a nonprofit
"Welcome to chinatown" which has
given almost $600,000 to small
businesses.
>> We are focused on lifting our
communities entrepreneurs.
Reporter: Are you optimistic?
>> Cautiously optimistic.
There is still a lot more that
needs to be done in this
community but where I am
optimistic is seeing how much
people care.
I am really excited about that.
Reporter: Grace root -- grace
young is still worried about
what she sees on the streets of
chinatown.
How do you feel when you see
empty storefronts?
>> It completely terrifies me
and I feel we have to do
everything in our power to save
and protect chinatown.
Everyone has to do our part and
history will thank us for that.
Reporter: For young, her part is
raising awareness across the
country on social media but it
is also doing what she can for
businesses in her own chinatown.
For the pbs newshour, I am John
yang in New York.