A New China Town?

**louis** · May-10-21, 08:42 AM

I was scouring the web for pics of the old China town now buried under TFC Center when I came upon this strange website: http://www.detroitchinatownllc.com/

The website was registered in 2019 and the group seeks to boost business connections between China and Detroit.

They also seem to be planning to construct a brand new China town:

Detroit Chinatown Project
The main purpose of Detroit Chinatown LLC is the developement of the mixed-use Detroit Chinatown Project. This project will be in the city of Detroit and will include both commercial and residential real estate. The complex will incorporate modern architecture with Chinese elements. The project will be developed in four phases which will include Chinese restaurants, entertainment, retail, apartments and office buildings. This project will span about 40 acres [[161,874 sqm) and has a planned investment of up to $360 Million. Detroit Chinatown will be a new landmark of Detroit and a revolution for Michigan retail business and life style.

Has anyone heard of these people before or have any more details?

**southen** · May-10-21, 10:16 AM

There is no such development spanning 40 acres. This looks like someone decided to have a little fun or is trying to scam. All the images are stock and they ripped off Bedrock's Detroit video.

**401don** · May-10-21, 11:51 AM

There's a phone number in Madison Heights. Maybe the kid's mom will answer.

**ShadowSoarer** · May-10-21, 02:06 PM

I believe I first came to know about that website around 2017. The website hasn’t changed since 2019. The Detroit Chinatown project is pretty much all talk. There is no details in terms of specifics or location. The last thing that was sort of announced by Jeff Li the co-founder was on Click on Detroit News in 2018. Below is the link to it, but yea so far it is all talk.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qNzB-Ro_-08&t=11s

I believe I asked them about it in 2018 or early 2019 on their FB and they just said soon. I think I posted another comment about it in late 2019 and no replies.

As far as I’m concerned Detroit Chinatown LLC created the Detroit Chinatown Festival in 2018 and 2019 as well as help organize the Detroit stop Asian hate rally and others community things such as donating PPE early on during the pandemic, Asian events, etc.

Would like to see some sort of International District in Detroit considering the relative diversity in the Metro Detroit region. Not sure when is the last time a major US city built a Chinatown/Koreatown [[maybe Las Vegas, Houston, or Dallas even those are fairly suburban and decades old now). Would be huge for Detroit if something like this would be built, but likely won’t. I guess for now we’ll just have to go to Novi, Canton, Troy, or Madison Heights. Although they are trying to build an Asian Village in Novi, but it is taking a long time and just a small generic strip mall.

**royce** · May-10-21, 04:16 PM

I'm not affiliated in any way with this website and proposal. However, I've always believed that one way to increase Detroit's population is to recruit immigrants from other parts of the world to live here, especially groups of people who are used to the kind of climate region that we have here in Michigan, humid-continental. One group to tap could be the Chinese. Why? Because much of China is in the same humid-continental climate region as Detroit. A Chinatown would naturally develop from where these new Chinese citizens would live. A lot of ifs would have to happen for this to come to fruition. However, it's a start.

**ShadowSoarer** · May-10-21, 05:28 PM

Originally Posted by royce

I'm not affiliated in any way with this website and proposal. However, I've always believed that one way to increase Detroit's population is to recruit immigrants from other parts of the world to live here, especially groups of people who are used to the kind of climate region that we have here in Michigan, humid-continental. One group to tap could be the Chinese. Why? Because much of China is in the same humid-continental climate region as Detroit. A Chinatown would naturally develop from where these new Chinese citizens would live. A lot of ifs would have to happen for this to come to fruition. However, it's a start.

It is interesting to see where immigrants settle in the US like you have a fairly large population from the Middle East despite those countries having a different climate than Michigan. Asians tend to like warmer climates [[majority of people probably do), but tend to settle in large Metro Areas with a lot of higher paying jobs like tech/engineering as an example. Like the Detroit Metro Area probably has a larger Asian population than most metro areas in Florida despite the warmer climate.

Chinatowns have been more on the decline due to the younger generation pursuing different career paths rather than taking ownership of the previous generations’ business. Although would be nice if Metro Detroit had large concentration of Asian businesses in one area.

**Satiricalivory** · May-10-21, 05:32 PM

Shame it's all fake because I like the concept. A Chinatown with modern office buildings would be cool, like a little Shanghai.

**Henry Whalley** · May-10-21, 05:39 PM

Urban planning tends to destroy home-grown ethnic neighborhoods. If we had a new Chinatown, I'm afraid it would be more like a theme park than a real place.

**Danny** · May-10-21, 05:46 PM

I do not see that a new Detroit Chinatown is going to happen. Chinatowns in most American Cities remain stable because of years of families and source of anchor of jobs. Detroit's Chinatown failed long ago because of these problems:

1. The Old Detroit Chinatown was at Third Street and Fort St. historically since the late 1800s. The Chins, Chungs and Moys were dominate families that ran their businesses there. By the 1950s a proposed Lodge FWY. forced them all out.

2. When Chinatown re-developed in Cass St. and Peterboro St. it did fine, but the problem is when more other Chinese people arrived in that area, most of them were speaking Mandarin. The Chinese families who lived at south Cass Corridor Area were speaking Cantonese. And there were no Community Centers to keep the culture going. Later more crackheads and heroine addicts arrived in the area and made a ruckus. And the last draw came when Vincent Chin was killed at a local bar on Woodward Ave. and Glendale St. in Highland Park in 1980.

Today a new ethnic East Asian community is growing along John R. Rd. from 12 to 14 Mile Rd. in Madison Heights. Detroit has already lost Chinatown. Detroit will not see any redevelopment a Chinese community in Detroit anytime soon.

**K-slice** · May-11-21, 06:35 AM

Originally Posted by Henry Whalley

Urban planning tends to destroy home-grown ethnic neighborhoods. If we had a new Chinatown, I'm afraid it would be more like a theme park than a real place.

Bingo.

It's not like the ethnic areas in big cities were planned, they just happened as immigrants of similar background grouped together in the US. A developer trying to curate such an area, the without backing of a significant number of businesses/ future residents would be doomed to failure.

**CassTechGrad** · May-11-21, 08:36 AM

I don’t think you can say “China Town” anymore for the same reason you can’t say “China man”. It has to be called Chinese town. I got no problem with China town but you can get removed from Facebook for hate speech.

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**Danny** · May-11-21, 08:43 AM

Originally Posted by K-slice

Bingo.

It's not like the ethnic areas in big cities were planned, they just happened as immigrants of similar background grouped together in the US. A developer trying to curate such an area, the without backing of a significant number of businesses/ future residents would be doomed to failure.

"Urban planning tends to destroy home-grown ethnic neighborhoods. If we had a new Chinatown, I'm afraid it would be more like a theme park than a real place."

That is totally agreeable! And Detroit ethnic communities hit very hard not just on loss of an anchor of jobs, slum clearance, racial overtones and gentrification.

If it wasn't for a I-75 FWY. spitting Mexican Village in two, or some Great Depression Era of repatriation, Detroit's Mexicantown would have been thriving all the way to the West Side and beyond.

If it wasn't for a I-75 FWY. destroying Paradise Valley and Black Bottom, Black Detroiters will have been thriving like the Harlem Renaissance and growth to other areas would be slow but diversified. Possibly Black Detroiters will be living mostly in the East Side and all the way up to Macomb County Suburbs by now.

White folks would still be presence in most Detroit neighborhoods today. keeping it stable and have a moderate political and regionalization in Detroit.

Detroit should have been a diversified city and stable neighborhoods and great stores in 2020. Instead we see blight, more violent crime, abandonment and empty promises from our city leaders. And more gentrification projects will clean up the mess left over from Coleman Young to Kilpatrick Eras.

**GPCharles** · May-11-21, 09:09 AM

"Forget it, Jake; it's Chinatown."

**Gistok** · May-11-21, 10:05 AM

Originally Posted by CassTechGrad

I don’t think you can say “China Town” anymore for the same reason you can’t say “China man”. It has to be called Chinese town. I got no problem with China town but you can get removed from Facebook for hate speech.

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Another politically correct absurdity... maybe we should get rid of the name Greektown... and maybe Occidental Petroleum should be renamed... it's offensive to westerners....

**Jimaz** · May-11-21, 12:11 PM

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**Jason** · May-11-21, 06:29 PM

Originally Posted by Gistok

Another politically correct absurdity... maybe we should get rid of the name Greektown... and maybe Occidental Petroleum should be renamed... it's offensive to westerners....

It would be a politically correct absurdity if it wasn't something they dug up from right wing social media.

**Henry Whalley** · May-11-21, 08:22 PM

Originally Posted by CassTechGrad

I don’t think you can say “China Town” anymore for the same reason you can’t say “China man”. It has to be called Chinese town.

Good point!

**oladub** · May-11-21, 10:32 PM

Originally Posted by CassTechGrad

I don’t think you can say “China Town” anymore for the same reason you can’t say “China man”. It has to be called Chinese town. I got no problem with China town but you can get removed from Facebook for hate speech.

Name: hate [[2).jpg
Views: 1464
Size: 93.3 KB

There is a nice movie available on Netflix videos named China Man [[Kinamand) produced jointly by China and Denmark. The film deals with the Chinese immigrant experience in Denmark and marriage of convenience. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinamand

**401don** · May-12-21, 08:03 AM

I've never seen it written before but assumed the racist term would be spelled the way it's pronounced, without a space. Nobody pauses between China and man.

**Wheels** · May-12-21, 09:15 AM

Originally Posted by Jason

It would be a politically correct absurdity if it wasn't something they dug up from right wing social media.

This might be funny if it wasn’t the woke on the left conniving these absurd cancel culture absurdity’s!

**Henry Whalley** · May-12-21, 10:21 AM

The name Greektown is obsolete as most of the good Greek restaurants and stores are defunct. Trappers Alley and Greektown Casino were Trojan Horses that destroyed Greektown. Sad :[[

**bartocktoo** · May-12-21, 10:51 AM

Why do they have to be westerners? That's east to some. Racist.

**bartocktoo** · May-12-21, 10:52 AM

Sorry my satirical response to Gistok Post 14.

**Jimaz** · May-12-21, 12:25 PM

I once had to explain the meaning of "occidental" to a Chinese engineer. It might have seemed awkward but I figured it would have been more racist to avoid explaining it just because she was oriental. She took it well.

I also had to explain the meaning of "asymptote" — to an engineer. Now that's awkward.

**ShadowSoarer** · June-01-21, 02:51 PM

This video was recently posted, but this takes place back in 2018 and is about the development, but again there are no actual details or plans but more of a wishlist.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kXQBn_0ZBCQ