Paris: Asian Paris

fabricant: translates strictly as "manufacturer" but in some contexts it denotes a wholeseller marketing to other, retail shops

My street, rue Popincourt, and the surrounding streets are lined with dozens and dozens of Asian-operated fabricants specializing in clothing either made for teenagers or hookers -or both!  Hmmm...you know you are getting older when you complain about what the young kids are wearing ;)

Today's walk looks at Asian Paris -specifically Paris' Chinatown.

The 13th arrondissement near Porte d'Italie and Porte d'Ivry, two separate major crossroads in southern Paris, serves as home to Paris' Chinatown. The French colonized Indochina (today Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia) as well as had a sphere of influence in southern China. There are many Parisians whose ancestors immigrated from East Asia.  The city also has other sizable Asian populations from India and the Middle East.

I guess I was expecting something bigger with more of a big Chinese gate for tourists such as they have in San Francisco and Philadelphia. Instead -or perhaps because I missed the core area, I found Paris' Chinatown more a large residential neighborhood of high-rise apartments and a few Asian shops and restaurants. My friend Dominique says there is a great Asian grocery story here called Tang Brothers, but I could not find it when I ventured to this area.