ABSTRACT
Chapter 9 focuses on Chinatown. The conversation of this chapter is between Joy and her parents in a Chinatown restaurant. Joy tells her parents that she still cannot understand the names of some Chinese dishes, such as “mǎyǐ shàng shù”, even though she has learned Chinese for a few years. She also thinks that the English translations of many Chinese dishes are weird or even scary. Her dad tells her that Chinese characters and Chinese culture are not separable. Many Chinese dishes have stories. He also tells Joy that many Chinese characters with the same or similar pronunciation have impacted people’s lives. For example, during Chinese New Year, people often eat food that sounds auspicious, like rice cakes (niángāo, meaning “higher every year”). Joy tells her parents that she didn’t like coming to Chinatown before because there were many people on weekends, and grocery shopping was boring. But now, she enjoys coming here with her friends. The text of this chapter features the Chinatown in Boston. It first introduces the location, area, neighborhood, and population of this Chinatown. Then, it reviews the history and discusses the challenges this Chinatown is facing.
