Philadelphia Councilmember Helen Gym poses for a photograph in the Chinatown neighborhood of Philadelphia, Friday, July 22, 2022. PHILADELPHIA — — Wei Chen wants people who visit Philadelphia's Chinatown to see past the amber-colored roast ducks hanging in a restaurant window and notice the two older women chatting in Mandarin on the steps to the apartments above.
“We are very sensitive to the Chinatown community’s concern in light of prior Center City proposals and are committed to listening to and working with the community in a way that hasn’t happened before," the statement read. The 76ers’ current home is in south Philadelphia, a few miles from downtown, along with most of the city’s other pro sports teams.
The home of the Washington Capitals hockey team and the Wizards basketball team moved to D.C.'s Chinatown community in 1997. Economic development experts say the increased foot traffic and more desirable real estate brought revitalization, but for the Chinatown community it meant rising rents and chain restaurants forcing them out.
But in Philadelphia, Chinese-speaking households have been one of the fastest-growing populations, according to the census. The community passed the 5% threshold recently, meaning Chinese languages became official ballot languages. Asian and other immigrant communities contributed to the city reversing a decades-long trend of losing population in recent censuses.