Join the Jing Fong picket: next steps to support the restaurant workers’ union and re-open the dining room

The fight to keep the Jing Fong dining room is far from over, as the community is standing up against the destruction of Chinatown and the Lower East Side!

Wednesdays & Sundays 12-2pm at Eastbank 183 Centre St.

Bit.ly/jointhepicket

The Chu family, the biggest landlords in Chinatown, have forced the beloved Jing Fong restaurant to close, and ignored offers from the community to take over the restaurant operations. Meanwhile politicians like Mayor de Blasio speak out against anti-Asian violence, but say nothing about the economic violence of putting over a hundred people out of work.

Alex and Jonathan Chu are putting their own profit first, ripping out the heart of Chinatown, and destroying the only union restaurant jobs in the entire neighborhood. Our elected officials sit on the sidelines and do nothing to save Chinatown despite the hardship caused by the pandemic.


TAKE ACTION to save Jing Fong and protect Chinatown and the Lower East Side: 

  1. Join the rally! 183 Centre St in front of Eastbank on March 25 at 12pm to demand the Chu family re-open the dining room. 
  2. Boycott Chu’s businesses: Eastbank, 50 Bowery Hotel, Museum of Chinese in America (MOCA), Chikarashi, Nakaji
  3. Share on social media: Use the hashtags #SaveJingFong and #SaveChinatown to call out the Chu family and tag @NYCMayor to demand he intervene

Open Letter to the Mayor Regarding Jing Fong Restaurant

For immediate release: March 4, 2021

Dear Mayor de Blasio,

The announcement of the closure of Chinatown’s iconic Jing Fong Restaurant has sent a shock wave in the community and beyond. Workers are losing their jobs and small businesses would lose faith in surviving the pandemic. Many are wondering if Chinatown can continue to exist with Jing Fong Restaurant, the heart of Chinatown, shut down. 

Such a bleak prospect is caused directly by its landlord, Alex Chu and Jonathan Chu. The Chu family is the biggest landlord in Chinatown and the owner of Eastbank. Alex Chu and Jonathan Chu have benefited from Jing Fong’s business all these years, but during the pandemic when the business has gone down, they are heartlessly trying to use rent to force the restaurant to close.

You have come out against anti-Asian violence. The closure of Jing Fong Restaurant is having a serious impact on Chinatown. Isn’t this also violence against the Chinese community? Therefore, we call on you to immediately step in and take a stand to save Jing Fong and Chinatown from being destroyed by big developers and landlords like the Chu family:

1. stop the Chu family’s eviction of Jing Fong Restaurant 

2. stop the new jail and instead use the resource to fund Chinatown recovery 

3. lower the rent and property tax to save Chinatown businesses 

4. pass the Chinatown Working Group plan to protect the whole Chinatown and the Lower East Side from displacement.