‘I don't say I have a business in Chinatown’: Chinese sub-ethnic relations in Toronto's Chinatown West

Since the late 1980s, there has been a steady increase in Sino-Vietnamese (ethnic Chinese from Vietnam) businesses moving into Chinatown West, Toronto. This paper explores the relationship between Sino-Vietnamese and other Chinese in this Chinatown context. Using several surveys of economic activity, we show that Chinatown is undergoing an ethnic succession as Hong Kong businesses move out and are replaced by Sino-Vietnamese businesses. Interview data show that in competitive environments like Chinatown, the Sino-Vietnamese have networks that are both facilitated and constrained by sub-ethnic differences. For the Sino-Vietnamese businesses studied, their multilingualism in English, Vietnamese, Cantonese and Mandarin aids customer and supplier relations. These business networks are diverse, linking Hong Kong suppliers, Sino-Vietnamese retailers, Mainland Chinese and Vietnamese employees and customers. Nevertheless, the competitive nature of Chinatown constrains cooperation and collective action by similar businesses.