logo
episode-header-image
May 2021
17m 27s

The fight for San Francisco's Chinatown

Bbc World Service
About this episode

San Francisco is home to the oldest and largest Chinatown in North America. But with boarded up businesses and an upsurge in anti-Chinese attacks, the past 14 months have been some of the toughest this community has faced. Will this historic and bustling quarter of San Francisco recover?

Vivienne Nunis meets Yiying Lu, a graphic designer from Shanghai who recently made the city her home. She's working with many local businesses to bring visitors back. We also hear from celebrity TV chef Martin Yan on the unifying power of food, and from local business-owners combating racist stereotypes perpetrated by the former US president.

Producer: Sarah Treanor

(Picture: San Francisco police officers patrol Grant Avenue in Chinatown; Credit: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Up next
Yesterday
What a dry Danube means for Europe’s energy
Europe's drought has reduced water levels on the Danube, causing headaches and lost income for companies generating electricity from hydro, coal-fired and nuclear power plants. We travel down the river, stopping off in Austria, Hungary, Serbia and Romania to look at how each coun ... Show More
17 m
Apr 2026
Headspace: from mindfulness app to military partner
Headspace started life as a mindfulness app. Now it's partnering with the US Navy and investing in artificial intelligence for mental health support.The company's CEO Tom Pickett speaks to us about therapy, the increasing role of technology, and tackling burnout at scale.If you'd ... Show More
17m 28s
Apr 2026
Anthropic: the $300bn AI firm at war with the White House
Anthropic’s rise from startup to one of the world’s leading players in artificial intelligence has been staggering, but so in recent weeks has been its row with the US Government.Today, we look at that journey to becoming a 380 billion dollar company, ask why Claude has become on ... Show More
17m 28s
Recommended Episodes
Feb 2024
A Tale of Two Chinatowns
Residents of Philadelphia’s Chinatown have mobilized against plans for a new arena in their backyard. To find out how their concerns might bear out, Today, Explained reporter Miles Bryan heads to DC’s Chinatown, where a similar story played out 30 years ago. This episode was repo ... Show More
26m 42s
Nov 2015
Chinatown
Nearly every major city in the world has one- a district where Chinese immigrants have settled to live, work and eat. This week in a collaboration with BBC Radio 4’s ‘The Food Programme’, Dan Saladino takes you on a tour of Chinatowns around the world. From one of the oldest, in ... Show More
26m 29s
Apr 2021
More Than Just a Hospital
More than a century ago, the people of San Francisco’s Chinatown came together in the face of racism and built their own hospital. Now, Covid-19 has brought the community together again. In today’s episode, CNN’s Harmeet Kaur tells us the origins of Chinese Hospital and how its l ... Show More
14m 29s
Feb 2023
The Chinatown Punk Wars
<p>When LA punks were looking for a place to play in the late 1970s, Chinatown welcomed the unruly scene. But it was an uneasy alliance that led to fierce rivalries, hurt feelings, blatant racism, and broken toilets. At the center of it all was a 62 year old Chinese immigrant nam ... Show More
43m 14s
Sep 2025
The Plague of San Francisco | The Wolf Doctor | 2
With plague spreading in San Francisco, Dr. Joseph Kinyoun faces fierce resistance from a city and state desperate to protect its image. Unwilling to back down, Kinyoun's (KIHN-yuunz) relentless efforts to contain the plague put him at odds with powerful opponents determined to s ... Show More
39m 30s
Nov 2021
CLASSIC: How White America Tried To Destroy Chinese Restaurants
<p>Today Chinese restaurants serve some of the most popular cuisine in the United States, with more than 41,000 restaurants scattered around the country. Yet in the 1900s these restaurants were so controversial that labor unions, hate groups and even politicians joined forces in ... Show More
36m 19s
May 2022
Chicago
Anthony Bourdain visits the iconic Old Town Ale House, eats mapo tofu in Chinatown, and shares a home-cooked meal with rapper Lupe Fiasco. Original Airdate: Season 7, 2016 To learn more about how CNN protects listener privacy, visit cnn.com/privacy Learn more about your ad choice ... Show More
46m 58s
Mar 2015
China
Linda Yueh travels to Shanghai to find out how the economic slowdown and the government’s anti-corruption drive is changing how people do business in China.As part of the A Richer World season we go around the world in 40 days, visiting six key countries and meeting the people wh ... Show More
26m 47s