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In the pre-Chinatown era, the area was settled in succession by Irish , Jewish , Italian , and Syria n immigrants as each group replaced another. The Syrians were later succeeded by Chinese immigrants, and Chinatown was established in 1890. From the 1960s through the 1980s Boston's Red Light District , the Combat Zone , was located next to Chinatown. But sandwiched between the dual expansions of Chinatown from the East and Emerson College from the West, the Combat Zone has shrunk to almost nothing. Currently, Boston's Chinatown is experiencing a threat from Gentrification policies as large luxury residential towers are built in and surrounding an area that was overwhelmingly three, four, and five-story small apartment buildings intermixed with retail and light-industrial spaces. Today, the area hosts many Chinese , Cambodian , Vietnamese , and Japanese restaurants and markets. While there are many employment opportunities in the district, a common sight each morning are vans from suburban restaurants, picking up both supplies from the many Asian markets and workers for the restaurants. Two bus services ('' Fung Wah '' and ''Lucky Star/Travelpack'') provide hourly connections with New York's Chinatown with the ride taking about four hours. The traditional Chinatown Gate ( Paifang ), surrounded by lions, is located at the intersection of Beach Street and Surface Road. Once a run-down area housing little more than a fan building for the Central Artery Tunnel, a garden is now being constructed at this site as part of Boston's Big Dig . The Gate is visible from the South Station Bus Terminal and is a popular tourist destination and photo opportunity. To learn more about Boston's Chinatown, read the non-profit community newspaper ''Sampan''. A NEW SATELLITE In recent years, a new satellite "Chinatown" has been rapidly emerging approximately 10 miles to the south on Hancock Street in suburban Quincy , due to the rapid influx of Hokkien-speaking Mainland Chinese immigrants from the province of Fujian as well as a large growing ethnic Vietnamese population. There are already several large Asian supermarkets such as the major Kam Man Foods and Super 88 supermarket chains, and other businesses that are giving the old Chinatown in downtown Boston a run for its money. Several businesses operating in Boston's Chinatown now have extensions in Quincy. SEE ALSO EXTERNAL LINKS
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