From K-QED. On the West Coast you can find Chinatowns from Seattle to San Diego,

and in the Bay Area we have two of the oldest, in San Francisco and Oakland.

But did you know that San Jose used to have a Chinatown? It's actually had five throughout its history.

This week I'm Bay curious, why isn't there a Chinatown in San Jose today? Support for Bay Curious

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We sent KQED Silicon Valley reporter Adity Bunle

to unravel the mystery of San Jose's lost Chinatowns.

To answer this question, I had to first understand why San Jose had so many Chinatowns to begin

with.

We have to go back to the mid-1800ss around the time of the gold rush.

Thousands of immigrants came from all over the world looking for gold,

including many from China.

So many of those Chinese immigrants that came were working class.

That's James Lai, a professor of ethnic studies at Santa Clara University.

And they came for the same reason why they still come to this very good day for economic opportunity.

James says a lot of them found work in mines or on the transcontinental railroad.

And those were often short-term contracts that they were being paid to come, room and board, and

transportation would be provided.

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