Chinese-Americans in Portland, Maine refers to the Chinese-American residents and businesses of

Portland, Maine Portland is the List of municipalities in Maine, most populous city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat, seat of Cumberland County, Maine, Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 at the 2020 census. The Portland metropolit ...

, United States. An informal and small

Chinatown Chinatown ( zh, t=唐人街) is the catch-all name for an ethnic enclave of Chinese people located outside Greater China, most often in an urban setting. Areas known as "Chinatown" exist throughout the world, including Europe, Asia, Africa, O ...

once existed around Monument Square. The first Chinese person arrived in 1858 with the Chinatown forming around 1916, mainly lasting until around 1953. The last vestiges of Chinatown existed until 1997, when the last Chinese laundry closed. By that time,

urban renewal Urban renewal (sometimes called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address real or perceived urban decay. Urban renewal involves the clearing ...

already claimed all of the remaining buildings. The Portland area has a small Chinese community, at around one percent. While there are no facets of a Chinatown, there are several Asian/Chinese stores. Asians, including some Chinese, have presence in South Portland and

Scarborough Scarborough or Scarboro may refer to: People * Scarborough (surname) * Earl of Scarbrough Places Australia * Scarborough, Western Australia, suburb of Perth * Scarborough, New South Wales, suburb of Wollongong * Scarborough, Queensland, sub ...

, and businesses that target Asian and Chinese patrons are found in those cities, especially

Costco Costco Wholesale Corporation is an American multinational corporation which operates a chain of membership-only big-box warehouse club retail stores. As of 2021, Costco is the third-largest retailer in the world, and as of August 2024, Cos ...

in Scarborough, the first branch established in Maine. The Asian population is 3.4%, as of 2023. Aside from Chinese, ethnic Cambodians/Khmer have a community in Portland; over 1,000 Cambodian Americans live in Maine.

History

Portland's Chinatown existed modestly, with most Chinese being isolated as a result of discrimination and the

Chinese Exclusion Act The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 was a United States Code, United States federal law signed by President Chester A. Arthur on May 6, 1882, prohibiting all immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. The law made exceptions for travelers an ...

of 1882. By 1895, there were enough Chinese people that a Chinese community began to form, though mostly with men whose wives were prohibited from migration by the newly created law. The first Chinese restaurant opened in 1880 at 1 Custom House Wharf. At the time, the city had nine Chinese men. The community celebrated their first

Moon Festival The Mid-Autumn Festival (for other names, see § Etymology) is a harvest festival celebrated in Chinese culture. It is held on the 15th day of the 8th month of the Chinese lunisolar calendar with a full moon at night, corresponding to mid- ...

on October 8, 1884. Most Chinese men who lived in Chinatown attended the Chinese Sunday School opened by the Second Parish Presbyterian Church in 1888. That Sunday School closed in the late 1890s. The First Baptist Church opened its Chinese Sunday School in 1905. That school lasted until the mid-1950s. Some members of the First Baptist Church's Sunday School went to China as missionaries. The Maine State Laundrymen's Association formed in January 1903, with more than 100 members, to fix prices and bring laundryman together socially. Even though Maine had dozens of Chinese laundries at that time, the Association had no Chinese members. By 1920, around thirty Chinese laundries existed in the city. By around the 1950s, the Chinese community had shrunk to the point that Chinatown almost ceased to exist. By 1966, Chin Kow, called "The General" by his customers and friends, closed Portland's last Chinese laundry, wiping out the last remaining vestige of Chinatown.

Services

There is a Chinese Gospel Church in Portland, and a Chinese community center called the Chinese and American Friendship Association of Maine.

References

{{Ethnicity in Maine Ethnic groups in Portland, Maine Portland Maine Asian-American culture in Maine