The Chinese- Fujianese Community

Manhattan’s Chinatown is located in the shadow of the World Trade Center, both literally and figuratively.  In the three months following 9/11, one in four Chinese immigrants (or roughly 8000 workers) lost his/her job; this in a community that was already one of the poorest in the city.  People from the Fujian province of China speak their own dialect, and as such are chronically underserved by the many organizations that would provide assistance after a disaster: most literature is written in Cantonese or Mandarin.  Additionally, many Fujianese are undocumented immigrants, having paid $30, 000 to $50,000 to be smuggled here illegally.  Many are still in debt to the “snakeheads,”or smugglers, who brought them to this country.

Three years after 9/11, families in Chinatown are still facing fears about deportation, the inability to sponsor loved ones’ immigration to the US, and the mental and physical health of themselves and their children, since the air quality was not much different there than in Lower Manhattan.  In fact, there has been a 67% rise in the number of children in a Chinatown asthma program subsequent to the attacks.

School guidance counselors are still referring children of Chinese immigrants to the New Life Center as educators are noting increasing incidences of truancy, based in large part in children’s confusion and anxiety in the wake of 9/11.  Language difficulties exacerbate this feeling of confusion; public schools offer bi-lingual classes, but they are taught in Mandarin.  Many youths saw their dreams of opportunity in America shattered with the collapse of the Twin Towers, a recognizable symbol of prosperity and promise.  That they saw it from the vantage point of their own homes and schools was that much more traumatic.  The New Life Center continues to aid families with ESL classes and after-school programs, legal assistance, referrals to social service agencies, and mental health counseling, and is the only agency specifically devoted to the needs of Fujianese- speaking people.