Asian neighborhoods attract immigrants as they offer a like community from where the immigrants left. They can live in an area where everyone speaks the same language, they can find restaurants and grocery stores with the foods they"re used to. They can find clothing and jewelry stores offering styles they"re accustomed to, and they can also find newspapers and magazines written in their languages. According to CityofChicago.org in 2000 in Chicago alone there were 125,409 Asian and Pacific Islanders. They appear to live harmoniously as it's hard to differentiate where one Asian neighborhood leaves off and another one starts. Asian Americans include Chinese, Filipinos, Japanese, Koreans, etc. .
The Chinese began migrating to the United States, mainly California, in the early 1850s in search of a better life. The United States welcomed these Asians because they were hard workers who worked for low wages. They were employed by Union Pacific Railroads to complete the transcontinental railroad in 1869. The Chinese population doubled itself from 1860-1870. However during the late 1870s anti-Chinese legislation and exclusion laws began. Chinese began to cluster together in ghettos of American cities and towns for survival, which were the forerunners of today's Chinatowns. The Chinese then began to look eastward in the U.S. where anti-Chinese sentiments were not as strong, and there was better employment. Major cities like New York, Boston, and Chicago began attracting the immigrants. This was the beginning of the Chinese culture in the Chicago area.
Filipino's found they"re way to the United States in a different way. Filipino students were sent to America to attend major universities and colleges on a government pension. They were there to study various academic disciplines, and get degrees to prepare the Philippines for a democratic way of American-tutored life upon their return to their homeland.
