E. Broadway from the Manhattan Bridge Walkway on September 11, 2001

Due to the attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, Manhattan’s Chinatown, a neighborhood blocks away from Ground Zero, was thrown into chaos. Streets in and surrounding the neighborhood were closed to vehicular traffic for weeks after the attack, and phone service was unavailable in the following months. Additionally, since Chinatown was not officially labeled a “disaster zone” by the government, residents and businesses north of Canal Street were prevented from receiving government aid. Chinatown was so troubled that historian Betty Lee Sung noted in a report, commissioned by Asian Americans for Equality, that “due to restricted access to the neighborhood in the aftermath of September 11th, it destabilized the local economy in fundamental ways: garment factories, restaurants, and small businesses that are primary sources of employment for immigrants with limited language and job skills have gone out of business or suffered significant revenue losses.” Even though businesses in Chinatown have rebounded to an extent, many New York natives say the neighborhood has not been the same since 9/11.