Residents Forced Out of Washington, D.C.'s Chinatown

Expensive new condos loom over Chinatown's Friendship Archway in Washington D.C. Amid such vigorous gentrification, residents worry as "an ethnic enclave of mom-and-pop storefronts [will] be transformed into a kitschy block where Chipotle is written in Chinese characters — and luxury condos and glittering nightspots."

For the Washington Post, Yanan Wang writes about ongoing displacement. "It was about a year ago that residents of [Jenny] Tang's apartment complex, Museum Square, received demolition notices. The building houses roughly half of Chinatown's remaining Chinese community, and although many could not read what was written in the English-language letters from the building's owner, their African American neighbors helped them to understand: the building's Section 8 contract was due to expire, and the owner planned to demolish their tawny home to make way for a new development."

"'Rich people would never have lived here before, but we've set down our roots,” [resident Jianhong Wang] says. 'Now that circumstances are better, they're trying to buy everything.'" [...] Resident Tie-Sheng Dai writes, "'Our vision of the country has been disrupted by a greedy owner who hasn't lived here a single day.'"

There are some willing to defend the beleaguered residents. "The D.C. Council passed emergency legislation in March to protect residents from Bush's high asking price." Non-Chinese community leaders have also come forward. Bush Companies is asking $800,000 per apartment.