History | Capital District | Chinese Communities
The New York Exclusion records cover the years from the passage of the first exclusion legislation in 1882, to its end in 1943. The index lists both Chinese immigrants, as well as Americans of Chinese ancestry, who were traveling in and out of the country. During this time period, a total of 67 Chinese people reported having an Albany address.
The following table shows the growth of the Chinese population of the Albany-Schenectady-Troy metropolitan area, as reported to the U.S. Census from 1940 through 1970.
| Year of U.S. Census | Total No. of Chinese | No. of Foreign-Born Chinese |
|---|---|---|
1940 |
58 |
37 |
1950 |
76 |
N/A |
1960 |
183 |
88 |
1970 |
527 |
214 |
As the chart shows, in the late 1960s there was a large population increase for the Capital District, in both the number of Chinese immigrants as well as the number of U.S. citizens with Chinese ancestry. Mr. Chungchin Chen moved to the area in early 1970, and recalls that most of the Chinese inhabitants at that time were from Taiwan, and many of them had immigrated to the United States as students during the 1960s.