newark's chinatown was an unincorporated community and neighborhood within the city of newark in essex county, new jersey, united states. it was an ethnic enclave with a large percentage of chinese immigrants, centered along market street from 1875 and remaining on some scale for nearly one hundred years. the center of the neighborhood was directly east of the government center neighborhood. the first chinese businesses appeared in newark in the second half of the 19th century and in the early part of the 20th century. by the 1920s, the small area had a chinese population of over 3000.