Explore Manhattan’s Chinatown, from neighborhood favorites to unique curated events. Start with the best-known things to do, then check out "What's happening" for upcoming limited events in Chinatown.
These special events are sourced from the web and social media, then carefully curated based on cool and unique events you might enjoy doing in Chinatown.
We update this page on a daily basis, so be sure to bookmark us and return for fresh events.
Walk Mott, Pell and Doyers Streets, then sit down at Nom Wah for dim sum and tea. You can order shrimp dumplings, shrimp siu mai and the house special roast pork bun, a steamed wheat flour bun filled with pork and caramelized onions.
At MOCA, you can follow Chinese American lives through immigration history, personal stories and the building of communities. The core exhibition includes a general store assembled from salvaged objects and memories of Chinatown stores across the country. It examines exclusion laws alongside Chinese Americans' contributions to politics, culture and everyday life.
Eastern European Jewish immigrants built the Eldridge Street Synagogue in 1887, in what is now Chinatown. You can explore its restored architecture with a docent or a self-guided digital tour. The museum traces the building's place in the Jewish Lower East Side, its decline and the restoration that returned it to public use.
At Chinatown Fair, you can switch from walking to rhythm and dance games, or challenge someone to air hockey. The Mott Street arcade also has racing games, basketball and skeeball. Choose this stop when you want something active between meals and museum visits.
Find upcoming street fairs, performances and other unique events in Chinatown.
8 things worth doing in the next 7 days · Friday, October 16th – Thursday, October 22nd
No events listed for Friday, October 16 yet.
No events listed for Saturday, October 17 yet.
| Event | Date | Where | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
 Contemporary Works for Trumpet & Clarinet | Sun, Oct 18 | 17 Essex St., across from Seward Park, Lower East Side, Manhattan, 10002Chinatown · Manhattan | 7pm |
| Event | Date | Where | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
 Cube Meetup | Mon, Oct 19 | OS NYC, ChinatownChinatown · Manhattan | Mondays 6:30pmPrice not listed |
 MTG Mondays (Commander) | Mon, Oct 19 | OS NYC, ChinatownChinatown · Manhattan | Mondays 6pmPrice not listed |
| Event | Date | Where | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
 Lambda Literary Award-Winner Shares Her New Novel, Needlemouth | Tue, Oct 20 | 44 Mulberry St, across from Columbus Park, Chinatown, Manhattan, 10013Chinatown · Manhattan | 6pm |
 The Bowsery | Tue, Oct 20 | OS NYC, ChinatownChinatown · Manhattan | Tuesdays 7pm; check-in 5pm$20 entry |
| Event | Date | Where | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
 Bon Appétit Editor Shares Her New Cookbook, East to East | Wed, Oct 21 | 44 Mulberry St, across from Columbus Park, Chinatown, Manhattan, 10013Chinatown · Manhattan | 7pm |
 Stock Exchange (Smash Melee Tournament) | Wed, Oct 21 | OS NYC, ChinatownChinatown · Manhattan | Wednesdays 7pm$20 |
| Event | Date | Where | Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
 Pushcart-Nominated Writer Shares Her New Book, Bone Symphony | Thu, Oct 22 | 44 Mulberry St, across from Columbus Park, Chinatown, Manhattan, 10013Chinatown · Manhattan | 6pm |
A price sits under the hours when an event is not free. Tap an event for its details, the time and place, and the organizer's link.
Kate Amrine and Ford Fourqurean perform contemporary music for trumpet and clarinet as Spark Duo.
🚇 East Broadway (F) · 2 min walk
🍴 Eat nearby · 4 places, closest 2 min walk
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Join OS NYC’s weekly Magic: The Gathering gathering for games of Commander.
🚇 Grand St (B D) · 5 min walk
🍴 Eat nearby · 4 places, closest 2 min walk
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Meet fellow Magic: The Gathering players at OS NYC’s weekly Cube meetup.
🚇 Grand St (B D) · 5 min walk
🍴 Eat nearby · 4 places, closest 2 min walk
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Take on other Smash Bros. Ultimate players in The Bowsery's weekly tournament at OS NYC.
🚇 Grand St (B D) · 5 min walk
🍴 Eat nearby · 4 places, closest 2 min walk
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K-Ming Chang and Alice Evelyn Yang discuss Needlemouth, a novel about three cousins facing a hungry demon’s violent demand.
🚇 Chambers St (J Z) · 5 min walk
🍴 Eat nearby · 4 places, closest 2 min walk
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NYC Melee hosts a weekly Smash Melee tournament where you can compete in the bracket.
🚇 Grand St (B D) · 5 min walk
🍴 Eat nearby · 4 places, closest 2 min walk
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Rachel Gurjar and bookseller Lucy Yu discuss a cookbook rooted in Indian cooking and Gurjar’s experience of making a life between cultures.
🚇 Chambers St (J Z) · 5 min walk
🍴 Eat nearby · 4 places, closest 2 min walk
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Michelle Phương Hồ joins poet Monica Sok for a conversation about Bone Symphony and its treatment of war, colonialism and family.
🚇 Chambers St (J Z) · 5 min walk
🍴 Eat nearby · 4 places, closest 2 min walk
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A massage clinic that takes both walk-ins and booked appointments, in a quiet setting.
4.9★ from 6,389 Google reviews
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An outdoor public pier on the East River at Jefferson Street, opened in 2019 across roughly 60,000 square feet.
4.6★ from 3,786 Google reviews
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A cat café where you spend your time in a room with the cats.
4.6★ from 1,401 Google reviews
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The museum is the Eldridge Street Synagogue itself, built in 1887 and restored — the visit is walking through the sanctuary and looking at the building.
4.7★ from 1,219 Google reviews
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A Mott Street video arcade with a published game list, best known for its tic-tac-toe and dancing chicken machines.
4.1★ from 936 Google reviews
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5★ from 811 Google reviews
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A plain, no-frills massage studio.
4.9★ from 609 Google reviews
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This is a gaming lounge in Chinatown where you play high-end gaming PCs, Xbox, PlayStation 5 and Nintendo Switch 2, all available throughout the day.
4.6★ from 578 Google reviews
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A bronze standing figure of Confucius, about eight feet tall on an eight-foot marble pedestal, on the traffic island where the Bowery meets Division Street.
4.2★ from 537 Google reviews
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A two-hour guided walking tour.
4.9★ from 486 Google reviews
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A bookstore stocking Asian-American literature and writing by authors of color.
4.8★ from 445 Google reviews
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4.2★ from 436 Google reviews
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A small massage parlor where trained staff work on feet or the whole body.
4.7★ from 390 Google reviews
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A Chinatown coffee shop on Mott Street serving specialty coffee alongside pastries, sandwiches and salads.
4.7★ from 239 Google reviews
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A cooking school on Henry Street where classes are hands-on in a working restaurant kitchen — the photos show students kneading dough, rolling fresh pasta through a machine and learning knife technique from the chef.
4.4★ from 232 Google reviews
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You walk a neighbourhood with a guide and eat at four or five stops along the way.
5★ from 227 Google reviews
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A vintage clothing store on the second floor of a Chinatown mall under the Manhattan Bridge, styled with a garden theme.
4.4★ from 202 Google reviews
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A stand-up showcase on the Lower East Side with seven professional comedians on each bill, in a small room where the lineup is not announced in advance.
4.8★ from 170 Google reviews
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A small, tidy massage storefront.
4.9★ from 154 Google reviews
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You board the Nautical Empress at Pier 36, dock 6, for a one-hour loop along the East River.
4.8★ from 145 Google reviews
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4.5★ from 143 Google reviews
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You depart from Pier 36 at 299 South Street and sail under the Manhattan and Brooklyn Bridges with skyline on both sides, then out through New York Harbor to the Statue of Liberty.
4.9★ from 141 Google reviews
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A small shop specialising in underground and avant-garde releases that are difficult to track down elsewhere.
4.8★ from 139 Google reviews
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4.2★ from 130 Google reviews
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A secondhand shop on East Broadway dealing in books, records and tapes.
4.9★ from 125 Google reviews
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You book a table by the hour and play.
4.7★ from 124 Google reviews
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Massage is the focus here, with foot massage among the options.
4.7★ from 120 Google reviews
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A Chinese-language bookshop with a children's section running from picture books and phonetic-annotation readers up to illustrated retellings of the Journey to the West and Shan Hai Jing, plus bilingual Chinese-English titles.
4.5★ from 106 Google reviews
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A record shop in Chinatown.
4.9★ from 91 Google reviews
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A tobacco shop specialising in vintage smoking gear, with retro candy sold alongside it.
4.8★ from 86 Google reviews
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4.6★ from 76 Google reviews
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A massage spa with treatments focused on the back, legs and neck.
4.7★ from 74 Google reviews
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4.7★ from 74 Google reviews
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A family-run photo shop that shoots passport photos and develops 35mm film.
4.6★ from 71 Google reviews
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4.8★ from 69 Google reviews
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These are private, custom-designed walking tours across all five boroughs, led by guides who are native New Yorkers.
5★ from 68 Google reviews
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4.8★ from 67 Google reviews
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4.6★ from 60 Google reviews
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4.1★ from 56 Google reviews
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4.7★ from 50 Google reviews
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Private karaoke rooms in Manhattan with sound systems and LED lighting, booked for birthdays or a night out.
4.6★ from 45 Google reviews
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This is the north plaza of Columbus Park, renamed in 2019 for Dr.
4.2★ from 41 Google reviews
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4.8★ from 41 Google reviews
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5★ from 36 Google reviews
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A vintage clothing shop on East Broadway run by three partners who source high-end designer vintage, so the racks are curated rather than dug-through.
4.4★ from 29 Google reviews
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5★ from 27 Google reviews
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4.8★ from 27 Google reviews
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This is a community art school inside the Manny Cantor Center, not a drop-in attraction — families come for registered classes.
4.7★ from 23 Google reviews
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A gallery running one solo show at a time, each up for roughly six to ten weeks.
4.6★ from 20 Google reviews
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Spring Studio runs ongoing life drawing sessions from a model seven days a week, all day and five evenings, at 91 Canal St on the 4th floor.
4.8★ from 20 Google reviews
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5★ from 13 Google reviews
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5★ from 10 Google reviews
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You can choose Cantonese roast meats and wonton soup at Great N.Y. Noodletown or old-fashioned chop suey at Wo Hop.
You can browse custom porcelain and artist publications at Wing on Wo & Co., or decorative objects for your home at Wah Yeung Co.
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