Choisy Park
When the weather is nice, the inhabitants of the 13th gather in Choisy park to sit and read, play ping-pong or basketball, or practice tai-chi while the children play in the playground. Let’s talk to some of the non-Asian 13th residents to see what they think about the Asian community of the 13th.
A recurring idea that I heard was that Asians are not bothersome, they are discreet, we don't have problems with them, and one person even specified, "unlike the others." There were also people who said that the Asian community was very closed and that it was difficult to make friends with them.
I spoke with a woman who has a Cambodian husband and who studied Laotian at the National Institute of Eastern Languages and Civilizations (INALCO). She participates in many activities related to Asian cultures, such as concerts, movies, tai chi, and qi gong three times a week. She has lived in the 13th for 40 years.
A person of Senegalese origin said that Asians were "super nice" and that he was friends with a Chinese family because their daughters played together. He told me that Chinese and Africans were the same because they respected their parents and did not put them in nursing homes.
I spoke with a man and a woman who were watching their children play. The man had seen a report on the fact that Asians are considered "the model minority".
He has been doing tai chi for 3 years, and he also participated in a tour of the Asian quarter of the 13th in the past. He told me that there was a lot of racism and that there had always been because France is a colonial country. The woman told me that the solution to racism was interracial marriage. She said, on the other hand, that the Asian community was welcoming. She has lived in the 13th for 14 years.
Many of these residents participate in Lunar New Year events, notably the Lunar New Year parade of the 13th.