Philadelphia Chinatown () is a predominantly Asian American neighborhood in Center City, Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation (PCDC, ) supports the area. The neighborhood stretches from Vine Street on the north; Arch Street on the south; North Franklin Street and North 7th Street on the east; to North Broad Street on the west. Unlike some traditional Chinatowns, the Philadelphia Chinatown continues to grow in size and ethnic Chinese population, as Philadelphia itself is, as of 2018, experiencing significant Chinese immigration from New York City, to the north, and (as of 2019) from China, the top country of birth by a significant margin sending immigrants to Philadelphia.{ "type": "FeatureCollection", "features": [ { "type": "Feature", "properties": {}, "geometry": { "type": "Polygon", "coordinates": [ [ [ -75.16242092417089, 39.952248157291706 ], [ -75.1504029723583, 39.950767987495524 ], [ -75.1491824781988, 39.95630125684115 ], [ -75.15256105049049, 39.95679142570614 ], [ -75.16230271576207, 39.957922282638194 ], [ -75.16334340238247, 39.953408068414724 ], [ -75.16249905922452, 39.95335828043478 ], [ -75.16242092417089, 39.952248157291706 ] ] ] } } ] } History In the mid-late 19th century, Cantonese immigrants to Philadelphia opened laundries and restaurants in an area near Philadelphia's commercial wharves. This led to the start of Philadelphia's Chinatown. The first business was a laundry owned by Lee Fong at 913 Race Street; it opened in 1871. In the following years, Chinatown consisted of ethnic Chinese businesses clustered around the 900 block of Race Street. Before the mid-1960s it consisted of several restaurants and one grocery store. In the mid-1960s, large numbers of families began moving to Chinatown. During various periods of urban renewal, starting in the 1960s, portions of Chinatown were razed for the construction of the Vine Street Expressway and the Pennsylvania Convention Center. The Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation was formed in 1968. This gave community and business leaders more say in matters of local development. In the late 1990s, the Philadelphia Phillies baseball team was hoping to build a new ballpark in downtown Philadelphia to replace the aging Veterans Stadium in South Philadelphia. Several locations were considered, including 12th and Vine Streets, just north of the Vine Street Expressway. The Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation mounted an intense opposition to the ballpark plans. Residents were concerned that the ballpark would destroy Chinatown. The PCDC staged protests and rallies that united neighborhood groups, religious, labor, ethnic, and political groups. Eventually the Phillies built Citizens Bank Park at the South Philadelphia Sports Complex, which opened in 2004. In years