Going to malls, being Chinese? Ethnic identity among Chinese youths in Toronto’s ethnic economy

Due to the influx of new immigrants of Chinese origin, there has been a dramatic revitalization in the past three decades of Chinese ethnic economy in the major North American cities, such as New York, Los Angeles, Vancouver, and Toronto (Fong 1994; Fong 2001a; P.S. Li 1998; Tseng 1994; Wang 1999; Zhou 1992). A prime characteristic of the latest expansion of Chinese ethnic economy is the emergence of “Chinese Malls” or “Asian Theme Malls” (Preston and Lo 2000) as a new genre of suburban commercial development. These malls function as the center of the newly developed ethnoburb (W. Li 1998).1