"Whenever there is a water supply, there will be a Chinese community."

As I ventured into San Francisco's Chinatown, the sight and smell of a supposing foreign environment became familiar again suddenly. It was as if I was in the Chinatowns of London, Phnom Penh or Surabaya, the typical back alleys in Hong Kong or Shenzhen, or simply being at home in Sillypore. Sometimes it's amazing to think that there are still vibrant Chinese communities half across the globe.

Like any other Chinatowns, the one significant aspect that the Chinese had brought to their host country is food. Restaurants/eateries sprung up and dominated the streets; catering either to the Caucasians who wants to do Chinese (i.e. Chinese Food) or to the Chinese who simply wanted a taste from home. As the majority of the Chinese (these arrived in the midst of the Gold Rush in the 1850s) were the Cantonese (main dialect in Guangdong province), Caucasians often have the misconception that being Chinese IS to be Cantonese. And this often translates to language, food and culture. I once met someone who asked me if they should master Cantonese or Mandarin in order to backpack in China. Thought he sounded real silly; but I can understand why.

One may presume that American Born Chinese (or ABCs) may speak only fragments of their mother tongue (with the classic American Slang) learned from their grandparents. After several generations, it is expected that the overseas Chinese cultures get corroded since influence from "home" weakens. However, I observed that this might not apply to San Francisco, since there are constantly immigrants (from China, Hongkong) "sailing" up the shores of San Francisco Bay literally (they actually fly now). This will probably keep the Chinatown flavour intact, instead of becoming a touristy zoo where the Chinatown-ness is (somtimes) artificially infused.