The New York metropolitan area is home to the largest ethnic Chinese population outside Asia, comprising an estimated 893,697 uniracial individuals as of 2017,[4] including at least 12 Chinatowns - six[5] (or nine, including the emerging Chinatowns in Corona and Whitestone, Queens,[6] and East Harlem, Manhattan) in New York City proper, and one each in Nassau County, Long Island; Cherry Hill, Edison, New Jersey;[6] and Parsippany-Troy Hills, New Jersey, not to mention fledgling ethnic Chinese enclaves emerging throughout the New York City metropolitan area.

[11][12] After the City of New York itself, the boroughs of Queens and Brooklyn encompass the largest Chinese populations, respectively, of all municipalities in the United States.

Due to the dominance of Cantonese-speaking immigrants, who were largely working-class in Manhattan's Chinatown (Chinese: 紐約華埠; Jyutping: Nau2 Joek3 Waa4 Fau6), as well as the language barrier and poor housing conditions there, Taiwanese immigrants, who were more likely to have attained higher educational standards and socioeconomic status, could not relate to Manhattan's Chinatown, and chose to settle in Flushing instead.

As the Taiwanese population grew, a Flushing Chinatown was created with a higher standard of living and better housing conditions.

Over the years, many new non-Cantonese ethnic Chinese immigrants from different regions and provinces of China started to arrive in New York City and settled in Flushing through word of mouth.

Like the Taiwanese, they faced cultural and communication problems in Manhattan's predominantly Cantonese-speaking Chinatown and settled in Flushing as well as Elmhurst, Queens, which also has a significant Mandarin-speaking population.

Flushing's Chinese population became very diverse over the next few decades as people from different provinces started to arrive, infusing their varied languages and cultures into this new "Chinatown.

[2] Flushing has become the present-day global epicenter receiving Chinese immigration as well as the international control center directing such migration.

High rates of both legal[24][25] and illegal[26] immigration from Mainland China continue to spur the ongoing rise of the ethnic Chinese population in Flushing, as in all of New York City's Chinatowns.

[40][41][42] The segment of Main Street between Roosevelt Avenue and Kissena Boulevard represents the cultural heart of Flushing Chinatown.

[47][48] The World Journal, one of the largest Chinese-language newspapers outside China, is headquartered in adjacent Whitestone, Queens, with offices in Flushing as well.

[49] Numerous other Chinese newspapers such as the China Press, Sing Tao Daily, The Epoch Times, as well as other English-language publications, are available in the Flushing Chinatown.

Some entities offer education in Mandarin,[51] the lingua franca of Mainland China; others profess to provide students with intensive training in computer and technological proficiency; while still others entice high school students with rigorous preparatory classes for college entrance examinations in mathematics, science, and English literacy (see: cram school and buxiban).

The largest of the Flushing branches of the Queens Borough Public Library is located at the intersection of Kissena Boulevard and Main Street.

A diverse array of social services geared toward assisting recent as well as established Chinese immigrants is readily available in Flushing.

[54] The New York City Subway's 7 and <7>​ trains has its terminus at Flushing – Main Street; the intersection of Main Street and Roosevelt Avenue, at the heart of Flushing Chinatown, is the third busiest intersection in New York City, behind only Times Square and Herald Square in Manhattan.

[56] Flushing Chinatown is also readily accessible by automobile from several major highways, namely the Grand Central Parkway and the Whitestone Expressway/Van Wyck Expressway.

Concomitantly, Peter Koo, born in Shanghai, China was elected to succeed Liu to assume this council membership seat.

In March 2019, The New York Times reported that the Flushing Chinatown has also become the epicenter of organized prostitution in the United States, importing women from China, Korea, Thailand, and Eastern Europe to sustain the underground North American sex trade.

[49] The New York office of Hong Kong-based Lee Kum Kee International Holdings Ltd. is also located in Whitestone.