Usera is a district of Madrid, Spain. It lies on the southern (right) bank of the Manzanares. It is home to about a 10% of the Chinese citizens in the whole Madrid region. History The district was created in the city restructuring that took place on March 28, 1987. The district was formed from the northern part of the Villaverde district and the abolished Mediodia district. The name of the district comes from the Usera neighborhood, located in the north of the district. This neighborhood has its origin in some land located to the north of the municipality of Villaverde that belonged to "Tio Sordillo", a farmer from the municipality whose daughter married . The Colonel proposed that the development of this land would be more profitable than cultivation, so between 1925 and 1930 the land was divided into plots and sold. The person in charge of the delineation and layout of the streets was Colonel Marcelo's administrator, who decided to name many streets after members of the Usera family, as well as his service personnel and some neighbors. Examples of streets named this way are Isabelita, Amparo or Gabriel Usera streets. In the late 1930s Usera gained notoriety because of the so-called Usera Tunnel scam, which cost the live of at least 67 people. Usera began to grow from the 1960s onwards with immigrants mainly from rural areas in the rest of Spain, which developed a new network of commercial and service industries. From the 1980s onwards the district was negatively affected by drug addiction and insecurity. However, since the 2000's, Usera has been revitalized by becoming Madrid's Chinatown. With the arrival of thousands of Chinese families the character of the neighborhood has changed completely and safety increased. Nearly 11,000 Chinese citizens currently live in Usera, reproducing its business models, traditions, gastronomy and festivals. Geography Location Usera is located to the south of the centre of Madrid. It is bounded to the east by the Manzanares River (between the Praga Bridge and the M-40), to the south by the M-40 motorway and to the west by the A-42 autovía. It is bordered by the district of Carabanchel to the west and northwest, Arganzuela to the north, Puente de Vallecas to the east and Villaverde to the south. Subdivision The district is administratively divided into 7 wards (Barrios): Orcasitas (121) Orcasur (122) San Fermín (123) Almendrales (124) Moscardó (125) Zofío