This article is reproduced from: Take you to travel through the UK

A few months ago, the New York Times reported a special phenomenon-In recent years, more and more overseas Chinese restaurants have chosen to close their doors and close down.

In fact, over the years, foreigners' love for Chinese food has been increasing,

 

The Chinese restaurant is not short of guests, why is it gradually decreasing?

 

So this report caused great concern and curiosity.

 

 

The article points out that according to data from Yelp, a US food review website, the number of Chinese restaurants in the top 20 cities in the United States has been declining for 5 years.

Five years ago, an average of 7.3% of restaurants in these cities were Chinese restaurants, but now only 6.5%.

this means,Over the past five years, 5 cities have added more than 20 restaurants, but the number of Chinese restaurants has decreased by 1.5.

Even in San Francisco, home of China’s oldest Chinatown, the proportion of Chinese restaurants has dropped from 10% to 8.8%.

What is the reason behind the closure of Chinese restaurants?

Is it because of the continuous expansion of other restaurant competitors in recent years and the take-out applications that have snatched their market?

Or is it because the US tightening policy on immigration makes Chinese restaurants unsustainable?

However, these do not seem to be the true answer, because according to the research data shown by Yelp, people's enthusiasm for Chinese food has not diminished, and neither the average page views nor the average ratings have declined.

 

At the same time, Indian, Korean, and Vietnamese restaurants, which are also operated by Asian immigrants, have maintained steady growth, so it is not unique to Chinese restaurants to tighten immigration policies.

In response to this phenomenon, some scholars have pointed out through research that Chinese restaurants have chosen to close down, not because of business failures caused by various crises.

 

in contrast,The closing trend of Chinese restaurants actually reflects a gratifying story.

 

It turned out that many older generations of Chinese immigrants who opened Chinese restaurants feltI have eaten too much bitterly in my own restaurant and don’t want my next generation to repeat it, Took over his own restaurant and continued to endure hardships, so he simply shut down the restaurant when he reached retirement age.

The second generation of Chinese immigrants have received a good education because of the hard work of their parents.

Due to improved education, the second generation of immigrants also have more career choices, so taking over the family restaurant is no longer the only option.

 

Jennifer Lee, who was a reporter for The New York Times, wrote a book called "The Fortune Cookie Chronicles", dedicated to the rise of Chinese restaurants in the United States.

She said,"These people chose to open a restaurant after they settled in the United States in order to save their offspring from doing this, and now their children don't have to live on it."

Many older Chinese immigrants who opened Chinese restaurants know how hard it is to open restaurants abroad.

Especially the first batch of Chinese who opened up wasteland and opened up local restaurants in the local area. The discrimination they encountered at first was unimaginable to many people.

For example, a case mentioned in the report, aTom SitChinese restaurant owner.

After opening the Chinese restaurant for more than 40 years, Tom Sit finally began reluctantly considering retirement.

For most of his life, he lived a life of working seven days a week and 12 hours a day.

When he was young, he immigrated to the United States, hoping to create a better life for his family and future generations.

 

But the only work he could do at that time was to cook food in a Chinese restaurant.

It’s okay in winter, at least you can stay warm in the kitchen without heating

However, in the summer, the kitchen of the Chinese restaurant is hot hell,

They spent almost the whole day in the hot and stuffy kitchen, their clothes soaked in sweat, dried and then soaked.

 

In addition to the bitterness of the work itself, as immigrants, they are often discriminated against by the locals.

For example, some unhealthy youths would call the Chinese restaurant to pretend to be takeaway, but they were actually making a prank.

They will imitate the Chinese accent yin and yang and ask:"Do you sell dog meat here? Can I pack it?".

Or, some street gangsters will go to the store to order food directly but have no intention of giving money. In order not to cause trouble, many small restaurant owners will quickly give them food to send them away.

 

Jhen, the son of the owner of a Chinese restaurant in the UK, had seen him before. His father was attacked by a rogue because he insisted on asking them for money.

"Once two hostile customers came to our restaurant, they ordered a dish, and after knowing their intention, my father said gently: Ok, no problem, can you give me £1?

After they said a few words back and forth, they became very angry and began to abuse my father.

I even saw them finally spit on my father's face.At that time I was very young, but I was very impressed. I feel very helpless, and very sad to see my parents want to bear this. "

In addition to seeing that their parents are being discriminated against by their faces, children of Chinese immigrants often go to the store from an early age to help them do the work they can, such as washing dishes, sweeping floors, packing, etc.

Screenshot from the BBC documentary "Takeaway Children", the same below

When there are not many guests, they do homework and study in the store until they are closed and then go home with their parents.

 

Even if they often hear parents use familiar lines to count their scores: "Why didn't you get A+?", they will not complain too much because they know clearly:

 

"My parents came here without money, (I have my current life) they made a lot of sacrifices."

"They almost devoted their entire life to the restaurant. In addition to helping in the store, my mother also drove us to piano lessons, swimming lessons and dance lessons.

They work so hard just to make us better adapt to life here. "

Tom Xue, who is 76 years old this year, is also planning to retire, so he is looking for a suitable person to replace his restaurant. After all, in the face of the restaurant he has been operating for more than 40 years, he still does not want to see it close down.

But the grown-up daughters all have university degrees and high-paying jobs. They have no intention of taking over the restaurant, and he does not want his daughters to inherit.

He is proud of his achievements. He is also proud of his daughters. They all study hard and work diligently. They are currently engaged in the work they choose and like.

"I hope their lives are better than mine and lead a better life. They did."

 

The reduction in the number of Chinese restaurants actually reflects the greatness of the older generation of Chinese parents overseas, because they do not want their children to do such tiring labor, and they will survive even if they suffer even more.

At the same time, the status of overseas Chinese has been continuously improved over the years, and their career choices are no longer limited to Chinese restaurants.

They have more choices in their hands, and they can see more Chinese people in many important positions with high technology and high income.

 

Today, many Chinese people struggling in the Chinese restaurant still live the life of '007', working 12 hours a day and 7 days a week.

 

Thanks to those catering people who are still sticking to the front line, because of you, we can taste the taste of our hometown in North America...

This article is reproduced from: Take you to travel through the UK

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