Brief by Audrey Kim, Co-Opinion Editor
Photos by Jeffrey Heng, Co-Managing Editor
On Tuesday, April 22, 23 students from the Asian Student Alliance participated in a school field trip to Philadelphia’s Chinatown to explore the neighborhood’s history and its importance in Asian American communities. This was the club’s first formal trip since November 2022, when juniors and seniors visited Chinatown and the Philadelphia Museum of Art. However, this year’s tour was open to club members from all grade levels.
Tour guides from Asian Americans United, a nonprofit organization dedicated to supporting Asian communities in Philadelphia, led the walking tour. The group focused on Chinatown’s key sites, including the Ginger Arts Center, FACTS Center, Vine Street Plaza, Little Saigon Café and the first laundromat in the neighborhood on 913 Race Street.
Throughout the tour, students learned about the Chinatown community’s ongoing struggles, particularly the effects of people in power who wish to demolish areas of the neighborhood for proposed projects such as the 2008 casino or the 76ers arena.
The tour gave students a deeper understanding of Chinatown’s history, the challenges it continues to face and its significance to the larger Asian American experience in Philadelphia.
Check out some photos from the trip below!
Audrey Kim can be reached at [email protected].
Jeffrey Heng can be reached at [email protected].
