Rebuilding San Francisco's Chinatown after the 1906 earthquake

San Francisco's Chinatown was devastated by the 1906 earthquake. Prior to the earthquake, Chinatown looked like any other neighborhood in the city. However, the disaster provided an opportunity for city leaders to relocate and redefine the Chinatown area. Initially, there were plans to move Chinatown to a different region on the outskirts of the city. But due to financial concerns and the threat of losing trade revenue, Chinese business owners successfully negotiated to keep Chinatown in its original location. The Chinese community took charge of rebuilding Chinatown in a way that embraced the stereotypical image non-Chinese people had of it. The new Chinatown was carefully designed to cater to the interests of tourists, with pagoda roofs, dragon gates, and other exotic architectural elements. This visually transformed Chinatown into a tourist-friendly attraction, improving popular sentiment towards the Chinese people.