
The Quartier asiatique, also known as the Triangle de Choisy, Chinatown, or Petite Asie, is an Asian ethnic enclave in the 13th arrondissement of Paris, France. The neighborhood originated during the early 20th century, with Chinese laborers sent to the Western Front of World War I settling in southern Paris. During the 1920s, Zhou Enlai and local Chinese students settled in the 13th arrondissement and cofounded the French section of the Communist Party of China. After World War II, the Chinese repopulated the neighborhood of Le Marais after its Jewish inhabitants had been deported during the Holocaust, and the area became known as "Little Wenzhou". During the 1970s, Southeast Asian refugees fleeing the Vietnam War, Cambodian Civil War, and Laotian Civil War arrived in Paris and settled in the 13th arrondissement; many of them were ethnic Chinese. The Asian immigrants brought business and vitality to the struggling district, and, by 2016, Chinese immigrants owned 45% of tobacco bars in the Ile-de-France and bought 50% of establishments put up for sale.