Chinatown

(Jeremy C. Fox for Boston.com) The C-Mart supermarket sits on property designated for affordable housing nearly three decades ago. By Jeremy C. Fox, Town Correspondent City and state officials have joined Chinatown leaders who are closely watching a neighborhood organization, but all parties are declining to say what action they may take. The office of Attorney General Martha Coakley has sent a letter to the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of New England — under scrutiny by Chinatown community leaders in recent months due to a controversial...

On the surface, a big Wal-Mart store might seem out of place in the midst of the old-fashioned curio shops, the little dim sum eateries and the colorful lanterns and pagodas that make up one of the oldest Chinatowns in the United States. But then so does the Catholic church that offers Sunday Masses in Croatian. Or the one that performs them in Italian. Not to mention the imposing statue of French hero Joan of Arc that stands just a stone's throw from the one of modern China's founding father, Sun Yat-Sen.

It is midmorning on a rainy Wednesday, dank and clammy along Essex Street, and handwritten script on a sidewalk sign promises comfort from the concrete city: "Dim Sum. " Through the door, up two flights of stairs and into a wide room at Chau Chow City, and suddenly: steaming tea and rolling carts and quick scratches on an order ticket. Fried taro with pork. Stuffed shrimp bean curd. Sticky rice wrapped with lotus leaf. More tea. A dozen or more tables are busy with customers, and every one is Asian.

(Jeremy C. Fox for Boston.com) The C-Mart supermarket sits on property designated for affordable housing nearly three decades ago. By Jeremy C. Fox, Town Correspondent City and state officials have joined Chinatown leaders who are closely watching a neighborhood organization, but all parties are declining to say what action they may take. The office of Attorney General Martha Coakley has sent a letter to the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of New England — under scrutiny by Chinatown community leaders in recent months due to a controversial...

Developers of a 26-story residential tower at the edge of Chinatown said they will start construction in the next few months, adding to a flurry of apartment buildings getting underway across the city. The project by Hudson Group North America and Forest City Enterprises Inc. will result in 240 apartments and a new restaurant on the site of the vacant Dainty Dot building at 120 Kingston St. Demolition of the Dainty Dot is scheduled to begin in weeks, with construction of the tower to follow shortly afterward.

As unpleasant as it may be to consider, winter is almost here. Reader Kathleen Creegan Damaskos has an added worry about the imminent wintry weather: She tells GlobeWatch she's worried that snow will make some unsafe sidewalks near Chinatown more treacherous for pedestrians. "The sidewalks along Avenue de Lafayette in the Downtown Crossing area between Chauncy Street and Kingston/Essex Streets have numerous large pits that, at one time, may have been covered with metal grates for planted trees," Creegan Damaskos wrote in an e-mail.

How to get there Fung Wah Bus Transportation 617-345-8000 (Boston area),212-925-8889 (New York)www.fungwahbus.comFung Wah buses leave South Station in Boston every hour on the hour, 7 a.m.-11:30 p.m., making the trip to New York in four hours. From New York, buses leave every hour on the hour from 7-10. Fare is $15 one way. What to do Explore Chinatown www.explorechinatown.com This publicly funded tourism promotional campaign maintains an excellent website and an information booth at Canal and Walker streets, staffed weekdays 10...

Chinatown leaders say the lack of affordable housing is the neighborhood's most pressing issue, but for nearly 30 years a key business and social services organization has sat on a prime piece of property intended for that purpose. Now, the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association of New England is expected to sign a new lease that could tie up the property, at Herald and Washington streets, for decades more. As early as Tuesday, the association may vote on a 10-year extension, with two optional five-year extensions to follow, for the C-Mart supermarket.

A woman suffered a minor leg injury, and a car and bank window in Chinatown were damaged yesterday afternoon when a large section of brick and concrete fell from an eight-story building, the Boston Fire Department said. Firefighters were called to 40 Beach St. about 4 after an estimated 4- by 8-foot section of the building's façade fell, according to spokesman Steve MacDonald. Beach Street between Washington Street and Harrison Avenue remained closed last night while inspectors assessed the building's structural integrity.

By Jeremy C. Fox, Town Correspondent Construction will soon begin on a Chinatown senior facility to more than double its space, improve energy efficiency, and provide on-site medical care. On Thursday, Mayor Thomas M. Menino will join the Greater Boston Chinese Golden Age Center and Rogerson Communities for a groundbreaking ceremony to celebrate the upcoming improvements to the Hong Lok House, a housing development for low-income seniors in Chinatown. The project will replace 28 existing units described by the Boston Redevelopment Authority as "substandard and...

Will Smith jumps off the Chrysler Building and lands in 1969 to save the world from an alien invasion in the upcoming "Men in Black 3. " The action comedy franchise that saw Smith and Tommy Lee Jones first team up in 1997 returns to movie theaters next month. Footage from the time-travel bromance was shared Wednesday night with theater owners at the CinemaCon conference in Las Vegas. In the preview, Smith and Jones survive a fight with an oversized fish at a Chinatown restaurant ripe with alien patrons, only for Jones' character Agent K to suddenly disappear.

Yue Qun Lin lived for the past year in a sordid, five-story tenement in the heart of Chinatown, paying $550 in cash every month for a bed and a bathroom shared by six other immigrants. "The cockroaches and mice were everywhere," Lin said Monday, speaking in his native Cantonese, his words translated into English by an interpreter. "The fire exit door didn't open. There was only one entrance. The sprinklers were broken. I was scared every day I lived there. " But Lin and 44 other immigrants who were relocated in February from the squalid rooming...

When Erwin and Doris Mei operated King Fung Garden in Chinatown, they won a real following for scallion pancakes, Shanghai chow mein, and more — but most especially for Peking duck, ordered in advance. It wasn't hard to anticipate a craving for the bird, served in three courses: crisp skin wrapped in homemade pancakes, then stir-fried meat, then soup. When would you not want to eat it? In 2008, they left Chinatown for Brookline, opening King Fung Garden II. Now they return to their original neighborhood with China King, in the space formerly occupied by Rainbow Cafe.

(Jeremy C. Fox for Boston.com) Alice Leung, startup coordinator for the Chinatown Lantern Cultural and Educational Center, and Kye Liang, project coordinator for the Chinatown Gateway Coalition, try out iPads at the new Chinatown library. By Jeremy C. Fox, Town Correspondent For the first time in decades, Chinatown residents have a lending library to call their own, and the community will celebrate at a grand opening ceremony Saturday afternoon.

Mary Soo Hoo Park is like the foyer for two of downtown Boston's biggest draws. It lies at the base of the gate on Beach Street that welcomes visitors to Chinatown. And it kicks off the Greenway from the south, the first emerald in a necklace the city is still learning how to wear. Named in honor of a longtime community activist, Mary Soo Hoo Park was just renovated. It's not a big place, at 0.082 acres, but within its vibrant red fence is a bit of space to breathe. The park's tables, which sit in the shadow of a massive highway vent, play host to...

CHINATOWN HAS been waiting three decades for a promised affordable housing development at 50 Herald St. to break ground. It's time for the Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association, which controls the property on behalf of the neighborhood, to make good on its obligations. The land came under the association's control as a result of a cold political bargain in 1983: In exchange for supporting expansion of Tufts University and New England Medical Center, the then-powerful group received the former Smith-Corona property at the corner of Herald and Washington streets, valued at $600,000.

Mayor Thomas M. Menino yesterday panned a City Council redistricting plan that would divide Chinatown by shifting one of its precincts out of District 2, calling some features of the proposal "gerrymandering at its best. " "I don't think Chinatown should be split," Menino said, after appearing at a Thanksgiving feast at the Pine Street Inn. "It's a community of interest. " The new map was proposed by Councilor Bill Linehan of South Boston, who barely squeaked to reelection in District 2 this month over a challenger from Chinatown, Suzanne Lee. The election was so close that on Wednesday,...

Smoldering paper on the Orange Line tracks between Chinatown and Downtown Crossing stations delayed trains for about 10 minutes Saturday, a spokesman for Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority said. Firefighters extinguished the small fire about 2 p.m., said MBTA spokesman Joe Pesaturo.

(Jeremy C. Fox for Boston.com) Chinese Consolidated Benevolent Association Rick Wong, standing at center, exchanged words with board member Chungchi Che, standing at right, who questioned why the organization didn't publicly solicit proposals for the Herald Street site. By Jeremy C. Fox, Town Correspondent A Chinatown group approved a new 10-year lease with the C-Mart Supermarket for a property at Herald and Washington Streets, despite some members' demands that group make good on a 1983 pledge to use the site to develop...