Cyrildene () is a suburb of

Johannesburg Johannesburg ( , , ; Zulu and xh, eGoli ), colloquially known as Jozi, Joburg, or "The City of Gold", is the largest city in South Africa, classified as a megacity, and is one of the 100 largest urban areas in the world. According to Demo ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, predominantly home to Chinese people. The area is found east of the Johannesburg CBD and is surrounded by the suburbs of Linksfield,

Observatory An observatory is a location used for observing terrestrial, marine, or celestial events. Astronomy, climatology/meteorology, geophysical, oceanography and volcanology are examples of disciplines for which observatories have been constructed. His ...

and

Bruma Bruma may refer to: People *Bruma (footballer) (born 1994), Portuguese football winger * Jeffrey Bruma (born 1991), Dutch football defender, brother of Marciano * Marciano Bruma (born 1984), Dutch football defender, brother of Jeffrey *Eddy Bruma ( ...

. It is noted for a new Chinatown that exists on Derrick Avenue. This new Chinatown is now considered as the main Chinatown in Johannesburg, replacing the declining Chinatown on Commissioner Street in the inner-city of Johannesburg. It is located in Region F of the

City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality The City of Johannesburg Metropolitan Municipality is a metropolitan municipality that manages the local governance of Johannesburg, South Africa. It is divided into several branches and departments in order to expedite services for the city. Z ...

History

The suburb is situated on part of an old

Witwatersrand The Witwatersrand () (locally the Rand or, less commonly, the Reef) is a , north-facing scarp in South Africa. It consists of a hard, erosion-resistant quartzite metamorphic rock, over which several north-flowing rivers form waterfalls, which ...

farm called ''Doornfontein''. It would be proclaimed as suburb on 18 May 1938 and was named after the land developer's son, Cyril Cooper. Up until approximately 2000 Cyrildene was a predominantly

Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

neighborhood. Unlike the old and now largely abandoned Chinatown in Newtown, which was largely made up of second or third generation

South African Chinese Chinese South Africans () are Overseas Chinese who reside in South Africa, including those whose ancestors came to South Africa in the early 20th century until Chinese immigration was banned under the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1904. Chinese ind ...

, the new inhabitants of the Chinatown in Cyrildene are overwhelmingly first generation Chinese immigrants from

mainland China "Mainland China" is a geopolitical term defined as the territory governed by the People's Republic of China (including islands like Hainan or Chongming), excluding dependent territories of the PRC, and other territories within Greater China. ...

. The Chinatown has a

paifang A ''paifang'', also known as a ''pailou'', is a traditional style of Chinese architectural arch or gateway structure. Evolved from the Indian subcontinent's ''torana'' through the introduction of Buddhism to China, it has developed many styles ...

(arch).

Notable residents

* L Ron Hubbard, lived in Cyrildene in the 1960s for a few months. The house is now used as a museum honoring L Ron Hubbard's contributions to South African peace. It is also used as a recruitment centre of the Church of Scientology. The house, at 40 Hannaben Street, was built in 1951 for the a Greek timber merchant called Manos Broulidakis and was designed by Frank Ludwig Jarrett.

References

Chinatowns in Africa Chinese-South African culture Historic Jewish communities Jewish South African history Johannesburg Region E Jews and Judaism in Johannesburg {{Johannesburg-stub