Troy, Rochester Hills, Madison Heights and Canton Township are hubs of Chinese residents in the metropolitan area.
In the Greater Metro Detroit area, college town Ann Arbor also hosts an abundant Chinese community.
[3] There are no Chinatowns in the Detroit area; the last one was losing its Chinese population and businesses, and was renovated with complete change by the mid-20th century.
[5] In 1892, several immigrants to Detroit were sentenced to hard labor for illegally entering the country but, in Wong Wing v. United States, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a jury trial was needed for such a punishment.
[7] From there immigrants could attempt to cross the Detroit river into the United States after contracting with smuggling organizations in the area.
[4] In the early 20th century Henry Ford recruited ethnic Chinese living in Hawaii to work at his automobile plants.
The previous generation of established laundry and restaurant owners had children who, instead of staying in the Chinatown area, tended to move outward to the suburbs of Metro Detroit, or to other cities for work and educational opportunities.
Zia wrote that the figure was "surely an undercount" but that the Chinese population in the City of Detroit "was unquestionably small.
Zia wrote that by that decade, the "shrinking base" in the Detroit Chinatown "reflected the diminished role of the merchants.
[19] The Chinese Community Center (CCC, 美華協會華人中心; 美华协会华人中心; Měihuá Xiéhuì Huárén Zhōngxīn[20]) of the ACA is located in Madison Heights.
[21] The Detroit Chinese Welfare Council attended political functions and represented the interests of Chinatown to the city government.