Located in the southern part of the city, Chicago's Chinatown is a tourist location and an ethnic neighborhood with traditional Asian businesses. This area offers services and retail shops, hotels, restaurants, and other places of interest for visitors and those living in the city.
According to the official Chicago Chinatown website, there are 40 restaurants in this part of the city. Some are Americanized, while others serve more traditional Chinese food. The highest concentration of restaurants is on Wentworth Avenue, and there are also a number on Archer Avenue, Cermak Road and China Place.
Chicago's Chinatown website features six hotels and motels in this part of the city: Chicago's Essex Inn, Chinatown Hotel, Best Western Grant Park, The Peninsula Chicago, Sheraton Chicago Hotel & Towers and the South Loop Hotel. There are also a number of hotels near Chinatown, including Days Inn, Embassy Suites, Hyatt Hotel, The James Hotel and Whitehall Hotel.
The Chinatown Square was built in 1993 to serve as a center of this neighborhood. There square has two levels filled with offices, retail shops and eateries. In the center of the square, visitors can find the Pan Asian Cultural Center, which is surrounded by bronze statues of the 12 zodiac signs. Bronze gates stand at either end of the square, symbolizing important Chinese accomplishments. During the year, you can find cultural performances and festivals in the square.
Located along the Chicago River, the Ping Tom Memorial Park is a 12-acre area in Chicago Chinatown that features three different plazas, a Pagoda-style pavilion, and a playground. The park was landscaped to look like a traditional Chinese garden and is named in honor of one of the civic leaders of Chinatown. Also in Chinatown is Sun-Yet Park, a tree-lined spot built to honor Dr. Sun Yet Sen, who founded the Republic of China and was a major part of the 1911 uprising that removed the emperor from power.
A number of religious locations are found in Chinatown, but one of the most famous is St. Therese Church on Alexander Street. This Catholic church has two dragons guarding the door and Chinese characters on the altars. Masses are conducted in English, Cantonese, Mandarin and Indonesian. Many tourists stop by this location because it was once the church of the infamous Al Capone and his mother. In 2003, a Buddhist Temple also relocated to Chinatown from Northern Chicago, and this place of worship includes meditation rooms and a number of statues.
Chinatown Chicago also has a number of other locations popular with tourists. The Chinatown Gate is a photo op for many, and has been welcoming visitors to the neighborhood since 1975. There's also the Nine Dragon Wall, which was inspired by a wall found in Beijing and is one of the few replicas outside of China in the entire world. Visitors can also stop at the Chinatown Mural, a mosaic that was completed in 1993 to depict the history of the Chinese people in the United States, as well as the Chinese American Veterans Memorial, which honors those who served in the military throughout the years.
According to the 2000 Census, there were more than 68,000 Chinese immigrants living in Chicago. It is physically smaller than New York's Chinatown, but is the second-largest Chinatown in the United States and has more people living and working in this part of the city than in New York's Chinatown.
