Strategic Self-Orientalism

Abstract

Although Manhattan's Chinatown bears few traces of it today, from 1950 to 2005 local elites attempted to use city planning schemes to fashion an urban space that exploited exoticized notions of the quarter and its residents. Three ultimately unsuccessful proposals exemplify these “strategic self-orientalizing” endeavors: “China Village,” a Title I urban renewal proposal (1950-1954); Chinatown Revitalization Plan, an effort to alter Chinatown's streetscapes (1975); and The Unity Arch, an ornamental gate (2002-2005). Examining these proposals revises the history of Chinatown-planning nationally while revealing a story of cold-war machinations, changing immigration patterns, and the rise of identity politics.