Chinatown (; ) is an urban enclave situated in the southern part of the Sydney Central Business District, in

New South Wales ) , nickname = , image_map = New South Wales in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of New South Wales in AustraliaCoordinates: , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , es ...

, Australia. It comprises the majority of the Haymarket suburb, between

Central station Central stations or central railway stations emerged in the second half of the nineteenth century as railway stations that had initially been built on the edge of city centres were enveloped by urban expansion and became an integral part of the ...

and Darling Harbour. It is part of the local government area of the

City of Sydney The City of Sydney is the local government area covering the Sydney central business district and surrounding inner city suburbs of the greater metropolitan area of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. Established by Act of Parliament in 1842, th ...

, and is Australia's largest Chinatown. Sydney, and the colony of New South Wales, experienced Chinese migration as early as 1828. The first group of Chinese labourers from Amoy (modern day Xiamen) embarked for

in 1848. With the discovery of gold in 1851 Chinese immigration increased, and by 1855 the number of Chinese immigrants reached around 17,000. The Chinese population had traditionally been represented by those who came from Southern China (i.e. provinces such as Guangdong and Fujian), due to the majority of colonial ports being located in the southern coast of China.

History

Pageant of Nations, Sydney Town Hall 1938

One of the many nationalities to arrive in Australia during the Gold Rush years of the 1850s were the Chinese, and large groups stayed on after the Gold Rush itself ended. They settled largely in their own communities, working in locations across Sydney, with many of these Chinese immigrants becoming market gardeners on the city's fringe. By 1861 there were some 13,000 Chinese living in New South Wales, and during this time the Chinatown was in The Rocks district, also known as the 'Chinese Quarter'. Anti-immigration sentiment was rife during the 1880s, and a Royal Commission into "Alleged Chinese Gambling and Immorality" began in 1892, due to the number of opium dens and

brothels A brothel, bordello, ranch, or whorehouse is a place where people engage in sexual activity with prostitutes. However, for legal or cultural reasons, establishments often describe themselves as massage parlors, bars, strip clubs, body rub ...

that were found in the area, similar to Melbourne's Chinatown. This attitude of negativity towards the Chinese had settled down by the time of

Federation A federation (also known as a federal state) is a political entity characterized by a union of partially self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a central federal government ( federalism). In a federation, the self-govern ...

in 1901. By the 1920s, Sydney's Chinatown migrated over to Campbell Street, in the vicinity of the popular Capitol Theatre. Since 2019, Dixon Street and other intersecting streets are completely vehicle-free every Friday from 4pm, in order to host the Friday night markets. Different stalls selling Asian street food, desserts, and confectionery line the streets and alleyways, and the markets can become extremely busy.

Location

Traditional boundaries

Officially, Chinatown does not have clearly defined borders, due to its continuous growth. The traditional core of the Haymarket Chinatown has been centred around Dixon Street, a pedestrian street mall with many Chinese restaurants, and with a

paifang A ''paifang'', also known as a ''pailou'', is a traditional style of Chinese architectural arch or gateway structure. Evolved from the Indian subcontinent's ''torana'' through the introduction of Buddhism to China, it has developed many styles ...

(a traditional Chinese gateway) at each end. At the eastern side, running parallel with Dixon Street, are Sussex Street and George Street, Sydney city's main thoroughfare. Other streets and lanes within Sydney's Chinatown include Factory Street,

Goulburn Street Goulburn Street is a street in the central business district of Sydney in New South Wales, Australia. Goulburn Street is in the southern portion of the Sydney central business district and runs from Darling Harbour and Chinatown in the w ...

, Little Hay Street, Kimber Lane and Thomas Street. At the eastern end of Chinatown, at the corner of George Street and Hay Street, there is a sculpture made from a dead tree trunk; created by artist Lin Li in 1999 and named ''Golden Water Mouth''. Its designer believed that it would bring good fortune to the Chinese community.

Recent expansion

The current location of modern day Chinatown is actually the third known area to have been considered a Chinatown. When Sydney's produce market moved from what became the site of the Queen Victoria Building to the Belmore Markets, the Haymarket and

Surry Hills Surry Hills is an inner-city suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Surry Hills is immediately south-east of the Sydney central business district in the local government area of the City of Sydney. Surry Hills is surround ...

areas became the focus for Sydney's Chinese citizens. By the 1920s Chinatown began to consolidate at its current location. Haymarket Market City

On Hay Street, the construction of The Peak Apartments, a residential skyscraper, in 1996 and the newly renovated Market City shopping complex built over the Paddy's Market further consolidated Chinatown. Market City contains food courts with chain restaurants (such as

Haidilao Haidilao International Holding Ltd., operating as Haidilao (), is a chain of hot pot restaurants founded in Jianyang, Sichuan, China in 1994. Its restaurants typically operate under the name Haidilao Hot Pot. It is the largest hotpot ch ...

), an 800+ seat Dim Sum Restaurant (''The Eight Modern Chinese Restaurant''), boutique shops, City Amusements (a large indoor entertainment complex), and the Haymarket Paddy's Markets, a Wednesday-to-Sunday produce and flea market. Likewise, the completion of Darling Square in late 2017 adjacent to Market City added multiple new apartment complexes and a plethora of new facilities and restaurants that fully integrated Chinatown into the urban core of Sydney. Unlike the Chinatowns in some other countries, Sydney's Chinatown has been relatively free of crime and hygiene issues. However, since there are many skyscrapers in Sydney, there are some concerns within the Chinese community about the building height restrictions imposed by the image-conscious local government authorities.

Suburbification

There are also satellite Chinatowns that have emerged in the past two decades in several Sydney suburbs such as Cabramatta, Ashfield, Hurstville, Eastwood, Campsie,

Parramatta Parramatta () is a suburb and major Central business district, commercial centre in Greater Western Sydney, located in the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located approximately west of the Sydney central business district on the ban ...

, Chatswood, Burwood, Flemington and Kingsford. Each of these suburbs are increasingly diverse in that people from specific regions in China settle together in one suburb, traditionally known as an

ethnic enclave In sociology, an ethnic enclave is a geographic area with high ethnic concentration, characteristic cultural identity, and economic activity. The term is usually used to refer to either a residential area or a workspace with a high concentration ...

. For example, Ashfield is known as 'little Shanghai' whilst Hurstville has a high concentration of people from Hong Kong. However, Sydney's Chinatown still remains both a social and cultural centre for the Chinese Australian community in Sydney as it continues to expand.

Demographics

Chinese New Year Parade in Chinatown Sydney

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, in 2016 the Chinatown and Haymarket area included a significant population of Chinese (31.9%), Thai (18.3%), Indonesian (5.6%), English (5.1%) and Korean (4.8%) population. The most spoken languages at home apart from English were Thai (20.4%), Mandarin (20.3%), Indonesian (10.2%), Cantonese (5.1%), and Korean (4.8%). Furthermore, there is a significant student population from Asia, due to the close proximity of educational institutions such as the University of Technology Sydney, Technical and Further Education (TAFE NSW), and the

University of Sydney The University of Sydney (USYD), also known as Sydney University, or informally Sydney Uni, is a public research university located in Sydney, Australia. Founded in 1850, it is the oldest university in Australia and is one of the country's ...

. As of 2016, 25.9% of the residents in Chinatown were studying at university or TAFE and 33.4% of individuals in the Haymarket area had a attained a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

or above. As a centrally located Chinatown (that is adjacent to, and being gradually absorbed by the growing central business district), there are many white collar workers. Out of the 65,950 workers in the surrounding area in 2017, 18% worked in finance & financial services, 17% in the government, and 13.6% in professional & business services. The median weekly household income in 2016 was $1,696, slightly above the national average of $1,659 in 2019.

Chinese Garden of Friendship

Sydney is the

sister city A sister city or a twin town relationship is a form of legal or social agreement between two geographically and politically distinct localities for the purpose of promoting cultural and commercial ties. While there are early examples of inter ...

Guangzhou Guangzhou (, ; ; or ; ), also known as Canton () and alternatively romanized as Kwongchow or Kwangchow, is the capital and largest city of Guangdong province in southern China. Located on the Pearl River about north-northwest of Hong Kon ...

in China, and as a gift to Sydney during the Australian Bicentenary in 1988, the Chinese Garden of Friendship () was constructed west of Chinatown in the Darling Harbour precinct. The relationship between Sydney and Guangzhou (previously romanized as Canton), the capital of

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

province, is particularly strong because of trade and migration since the earliest days of colonisation. The agreement stipulated

would provide the design of the garden and key building materials, furniture and artworks that are intrinsic to the classic garden typology, while New South Wales would manage and fund its construction through the Darling Harbour Authority. It is one of the few public traditional Chinese gardens outside of China and is a horticultural expression of a private garden and can also be classified as a scholar's or classical garden. The gardens were added to the

New South Wales State Heritage Register The New South Wales State Heritage Register, also known as NSW State Heritage Register, is a heritage list of places in the state of New South Wales, Australia, that are protected by New South Wales legislation, generally covered by the Heritag ...

on 5 October 2018. The garden hosts activities such as lessons on its history and design philosophy, landscape tours, school visits, wedding functions, koi fish feeding, among others.

Bilingual street signs

There are many bilingual street signs across Chinatown, denoting the name of streets, lanes, and roads in both English and Chinese. Some of the names are based on their Cantonese pronunciation (e.g. Hay Street; 禧街 which is pronounced ''"Hēi Gāai"'' in Cantonese, but ''"Xǐ Jiē"'' in Mandarin") whilst others are based on their Mandarin pronunciation (e.g. Liverpool Street; 利物浦街 which is pronounced ''"Lìwùpǔ Jiē"'' in Mandarin, but "''Léihmáhtpóu Gāai"'' in Cantonese). Some of these signs are accompanied by their official

street signs. On the bottom of each of these signs, it reads, "Welcome to Chinatown" and "歡迎光臨華埠". File:Bilingual Dixon Street sign, Sydney Chinatown.jpg, Dixon Street; 德信街 (Cantonese: ''Dakseun Gāai''; Mandarin: ''Déxìn Jiē'') File:Bilingual Factory Street sign, Sydney Chinatown.jpg, Factory Street; 發多利街 (Cantonese: ''Faatdōleih Gāai''; Mandarin: ''Faduōlì Jiē'') File:Bilingual Goulburn Street sign, Sydney Chinatown.jpg, Goulburn Street; 高賓街 (Cantonese: ''Gōubān Gāai''; Mandarin: ''Gāobīn Jiē'') File:Bilingual Hay Street sign, Sydney Chinatown.jpg, Hay Street; 禧街 (Cantonese: ''Hēi Gāai''; Mandarin: ''Xǐ Jiē'') File:Bilingual Kimber Lane sign, Sydney Chinatown.jpg, Kimber Lane; 金貝里 (Cantonese: ''Gāmbui Léih''; Mandarin: ''Jīnbèi Lǐ'') File:Bilingual Little Hay Street sign, Sydney Chinatown.jpg, Little Hay Street; 小禧街 (Cantonese: ''Síuhēi Gāai''; Mandarin: ''Xiǎoxǐ Jiē'') File:Liverpool Street Chinatown.JPG, Liverpool Street; 利物浦街 (Cantonese: ''Léihmáhtpóu Gāai''; Mandarin: ''Lìwùpǔ Jiē'') File:Bilingual Sussex Street sign, Sydney Chinatown.jpg, Sussex Street; 莎瑟街 (Cantonese: ''Sāsāt Gāai''; Mandarin: ''Shāsè Jiē'') File:Bilingual Thomas Lane sign, Sydney Chinatown.jpg, Thomas Lane; 湯馬士里 (Cantonese: ''Tōngmáhsih Léih''; Mandarin: ''Tāngmǎshì Lǐ'') File:Bilingual Thomas Street sign, Sydney Chinatown.jpg, Thomas Street; 湯馬士街 (Cantonese: ''Tōngmáhsih Gāai''; Mandarin: ''Tāngmǎshì Jiē'') File:Bilingual Ultimo Road sign, Sydney Chinatown.jpg, Ultimo Road; 歐廸模道 (Cantonese: ''Āudihkmòuh Douh''; Mandarin: ''Ōudímó Dào'') File:Old bilingual Ultimo Road sign, Sydney Chinatown.jpg, Older sign for Ultimo Road; 歐田磨路 (Cantonese: ''Āutìhnmòh Louh''; Mandarin: ''Ōutiánmó Lù'')

Gallery

Dixon House Chinatown Sydney.jpg, Dixon House, 80 Dixon Street Chinatown Night Market, Sydney.jpg, Friday Night Markets in Chinatown Entrance to Sydney's Chinatown illuminated at night.jpg, Entrance to Chinatown via Haymarket, at night Darling Square Sydney 2.jpg, Darling Square has extended Chinatown towards Darling Harbour Sydney Chinatown.jpg, Haymarket (2013) Building in Chinatown, Sydney.jpg, The Sydney office of the

Kuomintang The Kuomintang (KMT), also referred to as the Guomindang (GMD), the Nationalist Party of China (NPC) or the Chinese Nationalist Party (CNP), is a major political party in the Republic of China, initially on the Chinese mainland and in Tai ...

Sydney Chinese Gardens HDR (8403135289).jpg, The Chinese Garden of Friendship Corner store in Chinatown, Sydney.jpg, Corner store in Chinatown Lunar New Year in Chinatown, Sydney.jpg, Lunar New Year celebrations 2012 Lunar New Year in Chinatown, Sydney.jpg, Lunar New Year celebrations

Cultural depictions

* Sydney's Chinatown is the setting and film location of the music video for

David Bowie David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the ...

's 1983 single ''

China Girl China Girl may refer to: Music *China Girl (song), "China Girl" (song), a 1977 song by David Bowie and Iggy Pop, rerecorded and released as a single by Bowie in 1983 *"China Girl", a song by John Cougar, released in 1982 on the album ''American Foo ...

''. * Parts of Sydney Chinatown appear in the 1999 film '' Two Hands'' * A scene for Dulcea's

compound Compound may refer to: Architecture and built environments * Compound (enclosure), a cluster of buildings having a shared purpose, usually inside a fence or wall ** Compound (fortification), a version of the above fortified with defensive struc ...

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

's 1995 superhero film '' Mighty Morphin Power Rangers: The Movie'' * Appeared in ''The Wolverine'' in October 2012

References

External links

CC-By-SA A Creative Commons (CC) license is one of several public copyright licenses that enable the free distribution of an otherwise copyrighted "work".A "work" is any creative material made by a person. A painting, a graphic, a book, a song/lyrics ...

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