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 Markham’s experience as a suburban Chinatown is similar to that of neighbouring Richmond Hill and emerged in the 1990s, though the developments are more spread out through the municipality.

Highway 7 between Woodbine and Warden Avenues has malls of shops and restaurants, though less intensely developed than that of Richmond Hill a few kilometres west. Another older plaza is at the southwest quadrant of Highway 7 and Kennedy Road.

The most well-known Chinese mall in Markham is the Pacific Mall, at Kennedy Road and Steeles Avenue East, which, combined with neighbouring Market Village Mall and Splendid China Tower, forms the largest Chinese shopping complex in North America, with over 400 stores between the three malls. In close proximity, at Steeles East and Warden Avenue, there is the New Century Plaza mall and a half-block away there is a plaza of Chinese shops anchored by a T & T Supermarket.

Markham itself has the largest proportion of Chinese among all the GTA municipalities. In the 1980s and early 1990s, then-Mayor Tony Roman was leading trade delegations to Asia in which he promoted Markham as a great place to live and invest. While influx new immigrants brought many jobs and much wealth to the areas they settle, their presence and “Chineseness” became a target of racial intolerance from some. In 1995, Deputy Mayor of Markham Carole Bell argued that the concentration of ethnic groups were a cause of social conflict, saying “the weakness of it comes when there is a concentration, when you are getting only one group of people”. She went on to say “everything’s going Chinese” in Markham, stating that they were driving away the “back bone of Markham away…the people who run festivals, coach our kids, organize our business communities, Brownies, Guides, Scouts.” In response, the twelve mayors of the Greater Toronto Area signed a letter dissociating themselves from Bell’s comment.[1]

A list of Chinese malls and plazas in the Markham area:

First Markham Place

Warden Centre

Metro Square

New Century Plaza

Peachtree Centre

Newton Centre

Pacific Mall

Market Village Mall

Splendid China Tower

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 During the 1990s, wealthy Chinese immigrants, primarily from Hong Kong, moved directly to suburban Richmond Hill, where they set up businesses and shops catering to that community.

Many shops and restaurants were established in suburban-style shopping malls and plazas (such as Times Square, Commerce Gate, and First Markham Place) along a stretch of Highway 7 between Bayview and Leslie Street. The most intense development is concentrated around the Commerce Valley Drive/Beaver Creek Road loop.

Similarly thriving Chinese plazas in Markham are also on Highway 7, just several kilometers east and many families often visit both communities on the same day.

A list of Chinese malls and plazas in the Richmond Hill area:

Times Square

Commerce Gate

Wycliffe Village

Shoppes of the Parkway

Ho-View Place

Lexus Bayview Square

Goldenview Centre

Jubilee Square

Richlane

Glen Cameron Place

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 The former city is home a large pockets of Chinese immigrants, but there are only a few malls serving it and mostly located in the east end, and so most travel to the Agincourt area. The smaller plazas containing restaurants and supermarkets have proliferated in the 1980s at the Finch Avenue/Leslie Street intersection, Keele Street and Sheppard Ave, and around Victoria Park Avenue and McNichol Avenue. These often compete with and complement the Agincourt Chinatown. The Finch-Leslie plaza is still thriving, due to the relative wealth of North York, though its patronage has now diversified. However, the gradual departure of the northern Scarborough Chinese clientèle has led to the decline of Victoria Park-McNichol.

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 Mississauga’s growing Chinese population is spread out across the vast suburb, but the commercial community has been traditionally centred around the Chinese Centre, located at 888 Dundas Street East, just east of Cawthra Road. This large complex, built during 1978, was constructed to reflect China’s cultural heritage; an elaborate gate greets visitors on Dundas Street, with a Nine Dragon mural just inside, while red towers with pagoda-styled roofs abound. Growth of this Chinatown is limited, but Mississauga’s Chinatown remains an active community.

The second newer stretch includes markets and restaurants in strip mall plazas close to the intersection of Burnhamthorpe Rd. West at Central Parkway (near the Erindale GO station) which remains in the growth phase catering mostly to the needs of the growing Chinese population in the city who live nearby.

A list of Chinese malls in Mississauga:

Mississauga Chinese Centre/Sino Mall

Golden Plaza

Golden Square Centre

Dixie Park

The Chase Square

Newin Centre

Erindale Business Centre

Deer Run Shopping Centre

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 Agincourt (affectionately called “Asiancourt” by many) a Scarborough neighbourhood, saw an influx of Hong Kong Chinese and Taiwanese during the 1980s, especially around Sheppard Avenue and Midland Avenue. Since the development of Agincourt’s Dragon Centre Mall in the 1980s, it has become a booming “Chinatown” and was the vanguard for the proliferation of “Chinese malls”, large malls with restaurants and stores catering specifically to the Chinese community, across the GTA.

Since 2000, the Agincourt Chinese population is spread thinly and many are leaving for communities north of Toronto. Pockets of Chinese areas are likely to remain, but they will be less vibrant when compared to the late 1980s and early 1990s.

A list of Chinese malls in the Agincourt area:

Oriental Centre

Dragon Centre

Chartwell Centre

Miliken Square

Finch and Midland Square

Midland Court

Silverland Centre

Scherwood Centre

Midland Village

Cathay Plaza

Prince Mall

Mandarin Shopping Centre

Pearl Place

Miliken Wells Shopping Centre

Chartwell Shopping Centre

Centreview Square

Regency Court

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Looking south from Broadview Avenue onto East Chinatown

As property values increased in downtown Chinatown, many Chinese Canadians migrated to Toronto’s east end in Riverdale. A second, somewhat smaller, Chinese community was formed, centred on Gerrard Street East between Broadview Avenue and Carlaw Avenue. Chinese-Vietnamese and mainland Chinese immigrants dominate this district. East Chinatown, though, is somewhat smaller than Toronto’s main Chinatown, but is growing. The main part of East Chinatown is located between Broadview Avenue, and Carlaw Avenue, on Gerrard Street. At the north-most corner of East Chinatown (NW corner, Broadview & Gerrard Street), there is the Riverdale branch of the Toronto Public Library. This branch is quite bilingual in Chinese and English. East Chinatown can be accessed by taking the 504 King, the 505 Dundas, or the 506 Carlton TTC streetcars.

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Typical Chinatown restaurant window along Spadina at night 

Toronto has one of the largest Chinatowns in North America.[citation needed] It is centred around the intersection of Dundas Street West and Spadina Avenue, and extends outward from this point along both streets. It has grown significantly over the years and has come to reflect a diverse set of Asian cultures through its shops and restaurants, including Chinese, Vietnamese, and Thai.

Toronto’s original Chinatown was located on Dundas Street West and Bay Street. When the City began construction on the current City Hall in the 1960s, Chinese-oriented stores and homes formerly in the old district were required to close down and move shop, so that the area could be cleared for the new building. Consequently, the Chinese community migrated westward to Chinatown’s current location. A handful of Chinese businesses still remain around Bay and Dundas.

Since the late 1990s, Toronto’s oldest (surviving) Chinatown is struggling to redefine itself in the face of an ageing Chinese population, recent declines in tourism, and the lure of the suburban Chinatowns that continue to draw money and professional immigrants away from downtown. Unlike the newer Chinatowns in the suburbs, Dundas and Spadina relies heavily on tourism and Chinese seniors. Younger, higher-income immigrants from the Chinese mainland, Taiwan, and Hong Kong have moved out, so those left in the district are typically from older generations who depend on downtown’s dense concentration of services and accessibility to public transportation. Ethnic Chinese from Vietnam are now the faces of old Chinatown Toronto and turning some parts into Little Saigon. While the ageing population shrinks however, so too do the revenues of businesses in the district; while the majority of the grocery stores and shops still survive, most of the once-famed restaurants on Dundas have closed since the turn of the century. The area has also seen a surge in Latin American immigrants, who are changing the face of old Chinatown.

An influx of University of Toronto and Ryerson University students seeking affordable housing, coupled with the location of the Ontario College of Art and Design adjacent to Chinatown, has accelerated gentrification of the district, bringing in young professionals to the area. The changing landscape of the district’s population would bring a more multicultural flavour to the district, but could potentially eliminate its identity as a “Chinatown”.

A list of Chinese malls in the area:

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Toronto Downtown Chinatown, Spadina & Dundas

The Greater Toronto Area in Ontario, Canada, has at least six Chinatowns (Chinese: ??????/duo lun duo tang ren jie’) - three are located within the city’s boundaries, while the other three are located in adjacent suburbs.

It has expanded significantly, parallelling Toronto’s economic growth, and also because language laws in Quebec persuaded many Chinese to move from Montreal to Toronto.

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