According to records of the time, there were only one or two hundred Chinese people in New York in 1850. But by 1896, when Li Hung-chang passed through New York on the way to attend the coronation of Nicholas of Russia, and Chinese dangled flags of welcome from their homes, the Chinese district was already one of more than 10,000 persons.
據記載，一八五○年，紐約才只有一、二百人；到了一八九六年，李鴻章參加俄皇尼古拉加冕大典路過紐約時，紐約華埠「華人比戶懸旗歡迎」，已經「人多於蟻」，是個上萬人的小社區了。