Download Brisbane`s New Chinatown – Authentic Culture and Traditional

Brisbane’s New
Chinatown – Authentic
Culture and Traditional
Experiences –
Sunnybank, Nathan,
Robertson
Sunnybank and surrounds are now
coined by Chinese locals as Brisbane's
new Chinatown, with the traditional
Fortitude Valley area seen as "old China"- expensive, a parking hassle and designed primarily for
Western tourists. Young Chinese from Sunnybank - mostly from Taiwan or mainland China - see
Chinatown in Fortitude Valley as the home of Brisbane's night clubs, and not the centre of their
culture.
Spend a day in Sunnybank or Robertson near Mt Gravatt Shopping Centre and you will walk through
the densest and most interesting population of Chinese in Brisbane.
At Sunnybank Plaza Shopping Centre, Gordon Fu's
marketing manager Lisa Smith grew up at Sunnybank
and went to MacGregor High. To this 38-year-old
professional this southern side of Brisbane has evolved
relatively comfortably over two decades into Brisbane's
real Chinatown.
"Sunnybank was established in large part by Chinese
market gardeners, because the soil is so rich," she said.
"So I think that is probably where it started, probably in
the 1940s and 1950s.”
It wasn't until the mid 1980s that she noticed how Sunnybank was evolving.
"Since growing up and realising that there is more than just China in Asia, I, and others, began to
realise that they were probably Taiwanese, or from Hong
Kong, or from mainland China. I found that this was
something that the area had to address back in 1988,
1989."
Today the region sits easily as the real Chinatown.
"It really is an automatic thing because the residents
around here access our centres because we have what
they need. We have Asian Supermarkets, we have Asian
butchers, and we have Asian bakeries. And we have a
myriad of restaurants and we find that they dine out a
lot."