RAB Source Entry 3 – Einstein Leung

South China Post, “New York’s Manhattan Chinatown still reeling from Covid-19 pandemic 2 years on” Jan 3, 2022, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4J5BOO-682I

RQ: How has COVID-19 affected New York City’s Chinatown

Summary:

 The article, in the South China Morning Post called “The Ongoing Struggles of Manhattan’s Chinatown in the Wake of the COVID Pandemic Two Years Later” sheds light on the difficulties that businesses in the area are grappling with. Eateries such as New Shanghai Deluxe restaurant. Apart from causing strain the pandemic has also fueled xenophobia resulting in a rise in prejudice and bias, against Asian American groups. In 2021 as reported by a gift shop owner nearby Chinatown area revealed that their business was operating at 40% of its levels before the pandemic hit and this was worsened by anti Asian sentiments prevailing in the community. Both of these small immigrant owned businesses shared that they were not able to pay their full rent leading to anxiety and unease.

Rhetorical analysis:

In a social commentary by South China Morning Post titled “New York’s Manhattan Chinatown is Still Reeling From Covid-19 two years After Days of New York’s Manhattan Chinatown’s lockdowns”, the author lets the audience understand the challenges that Chinatown continues to face as a community that predominantly comprises small and immigrant business owners. The pandemic’s impact is made more intimate by stories of business owners, like the gift shop owner who was located across the New Shanghai Deluxe who managed to be operating at only sixty percent of its pre-2020 capacity even through the year of 2021. This does not depersonalize the statistics, but on the contrary, creates a sense of fellow-feeling for the viewers. Also next to such personal addresses are the logos, like, already by the year 2022 the businesses were unable to pay the full amount of rent and the amount of customers at season times cut down to a drastic range, which illustrates the economic issues these businesses continue to endure. These devices work in a harmonious manner as they evoke emotions of the audience and give an endorsement of rational understanding to the problem of the economic dependency of the people of the fog and the increasing alien views in the United states and so forth on the business community of Chinatown.

Notable Quotes:

“So many people now don’t wanna come” – Rose Wu (New Shanghai Deluxe)

“Many customers cancelled their reservations” – Rose Wu (New Shanghai Deluxe)

“I asked him to retire if someone was willing to take over the business” – Rose Wu (New Shanghai Deluxe)

“Our business is not profitable” – Rose Wu (New Shanghai Deluxe)