Day 341: Chinatown, Oakland, California
📌APIA Every Day (341) - Oakland’s Chinatown emerged alongside San Francisco’s Chinatown (APIA Every Day 3) during the 1850s Gold Rush era. After the 1906 Great Earthquake, many of San Francisco’s Chinese residents relocated to the Oakland district to rebuild their businesses and homes. Following this development, Oakland’s Chinatown has remained an essential cultural destination for Chinese Americans throughout the Bay Area for over a century.
The earliest Chinese immigrants to Oakland first began establishing settlements in the city’s downtown centered around 1st and Castro Streets. Many of these residents worked in canneries, cotton mills, and other low-wage industries, and were drawn to the East Bay by greater access to farmland and job opportunities compared to San Francisco. By the 1870s, due to discriminatory laws and targeted displacement by city officials, the community was eventually forced to relocate to the district's present location around 8th and Webster. In 1906, the burgeoning Chinatown experienced rapid expansion as thousands of Chinese survivors of the San Francisco earthquake resettled in the Oakland neighborhood.
In the decades that followed, various social organizations and institutions were established in the area, including the Wa Sung Service Club and the Chinese American Citizens Alliance. By the 1930s, over a dozen schools and multiple churches served the educational and religious needs of the community. During World War II, after the repeal of the Chinese Exclusion Act in 1943, the city’s Chinatown experienced another period of growth as Chinese immigrants were hired to work in shipyards. However, this prosperity decreased in the post-war era as younger generations of Chinese Americans began moving out of the district and various urban development projects were initiated in the area. This led to a period of stagnation until a revitalization began in the 1960s with the arrival of new Asian immigrants, primarily from Southeast Asia.
Now a multi-ethnic neighborhood, Oakland’s Chinatown continues to serve as a central cultural and commercial district for Chinese and other Asian American communities. However, the area is currently struggling with issues of public safety, poverty, and reduced business after Covid. In response to these challenges, community members have been organizing new programs and events to help revitalize the area, including hosting the district’s first-ever night market in 2024.
Written by Avneet Dhaliwal
LEARN MORE:
Visit Oakland: History of Asian Culture in Oakland Chinatown
Oakland Chinatown Oral History Project
Oakland Library: A Brief History of Oakland’s Madison Square
AsAmNews: Oakland Chinatown Looks for New Leaders to Survive — Fear of Crime a Top Priority
NBC Bay Area: Oakland’s Chinatown to launch night market in hopes to revitalize neighborhood
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