NYC Chinatown could get 1st Chinese rep on council

NEW YORK: Chinatown is likely to get its first Chinese-American representative on the City Council, and a Taiwanese immigrant is headed for citywide office - a dramatic change for the largest US city, which had no Asian-Americans in elected office just eight years ago.

For the first time in its 150 years, the downtown Manhattan neighborhood, which is one of the biggest Chinese communities outside Asia, could be represented by a Chinese-American. Margaret Chin, whose family emigrated from Hong Kong in 1963, when she was 9, beat incumbent Alan Gerson in a Democratic primary last month and is expected to win the seat in November.

Chin, a community organizer and immigrant advocate who speaks three Chinese dialects, is heavily favored to beat Republican Irene Horvath. She said it was exciting to finally break the barrier.