A few years ago, when I was in Berlin, I noted the lack of specific neighbourhoods i.e. no Chinatown! save for the area that is predominantly Turkish. My German friend replied: "Here people are spread out not like in North America where you have ghettos." Well, she did have a point, I suppose.
Thing is, I find Chinatowns comforting. Everywhere I have travelled, I have managed to find a kind of Chinatown – London, Montreal, Paris, Naples, Sao Paulo etc…
Most of these "ghettos" had their start in the early 1800s, when the Chinese government opened up borders and allowed the movement of migrants all over the world (of course, there has been Chinese trade and migration prior to that). Specifically, the Cantonese, the Hokkien, the Teochew and Hakka peoples were the most active – settling in places such as North and South America, Australia and even Cuba.
