Gothamist's Jen Chung on Mourning the Intimacy of New York's Blog Scene | Asia Society Skip to main content

Unsupported Browser Detected.
It seems the web browser you're using doesn't support some of the features of this site. For the best experience, we recommend using a modern browser that supports the features of this website. We recommend Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, or Microsoft Edge

  • Policy
    • Asia Society Policy Institute
      • Topics
      • Countries & Regions
      • Publications
      • Initiatives
      • Watch & Listen
      • Events
      • About
      • Support Us
    • Center on U.S.-China Relations
      • Home
      • About
      • Projects
      • Reports
      • Past Events
      • ChinaFile
  • Arts
    • Asia Society Museum
      • Visit
      • Exhibitions
      • Programs
      • Collection
      • Asia Society Triennial
      • The Asia Arts and Museum Network
      • Learn
      • Support
    • Asia Arts Game Changer Awards
      • About
      • Honorees
      • Ceremonies
      • Photos
      • Support
    • Creative Voices of Muslim Asia
      • Resources
      • Exhibitions
      • Videos
    • Film
    • Literature
    • Performing Arts
  • Education
    • Center for Global Education
      • Professional Development
      • Educator Resources
      • Our Ideas
      • Asia Society at Home
      • Education For Equity
      • About
  • Initiatives
    • Arts
      • Arts & Museum Summit
      • Asia Arts Game Changer Awards
      • Asia Society Museum: The Asia Arts & Museum Network
      • Creative Voices of Muslim Asia
      • U.S.-China Museum Summit
      • U.S.-Asia Entertainment Summit
    • Education
      • Center for Global Education
      • China Learning Initiatives
      • Global Cities Education Network
      • International Studies Schools Network
    • Leadership
      • Asia Game Changer Awards
      • Asia 21 Young Leaders Initiative
      • Global Talent Initiatives
      • U.S.-China Dialogue
    • Policy
      • Asia Society Policy Institute
      • Center on U.S.-China Relations
    • Sustainability
      • Asia Society Policy Institute
      • Coal + Ice
  • Countries & Regions
    • Column One
      • Afghanistan

      • American Samoa

      • Armenia
      • Australia
      • Azerbaijan
      • Bahrain
      • Bangladesh

      • Bhutan

      • Brunei

      • Cambodia

      • Central Asia
      • China
      • Cook Islands

      • Cyprus
      • East Asia
      • East Timor
      • Fiji

      • French Polynesia

      • Georgia

      • Guam
    • Column Two
      • Hong Kong
      • India
      • Indonesia
      • Iran
      • Iraq
      • Israel
      • Japan
      • Jordan
      • Kazakhstan
      • Kiribati
      • Kuwait

      • Kyrgyzstan
      • Laos
      • Lebanon
      • Macau
      • Malaysia
      • Maldives
      • Marshall Islands
      • Micronesia

      • Mongolia

    • Column Three
      • Myanmar

      • Nauru

      • Nepal

      • New Caledonia

      • New Zealand

      • Niue
      • North Korea

      • Northern Marianas
      • Oceania
      • Oman

      • Pakistan

      • Palau
      • Palestine

      • Papua New Guinea
      • Philippines
      • Qatar

      • Samoa
      • Saudi Arabia
      • Singapore

      • Solomon Islands

    • Column Four
      • South Asia
      • Southeast Asia
      • South Korea
      • Sri Lanka
      • Syria
      • Taiwan
      • Tajikistan
      • Thailand
      • Tibet
      • Tokelau
      • Tonga
      • Turkey

      • Turkmenistan

      • Tuvalu
      • United Arab Emirates
      • Uzbekistan
      • Vanuatu
      • Vietnam
      • Wallis and Futuna
      • West Asia
      • Yemen
  • Current Affairs
    • Topics
      • Business
      • Climate Change
      • Governance
    • Programming
      • Beyond the Headlines
      • Business of Asia
    • Center on U.S.-China Relations
      • Home
      • About
      • Projects
      • Reports
      • Past Events
      • ChinaFile
  • Look & Listen
    • Asia Society Magazine
    • ChinaFile
    • Podcasts
    • Video Gallery
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
  • Visit
    • Visit Us
      • Hong Kong
      • New York
      • Texas
    • Global Network
      • Australia
      • France
      • India
      • Japan
      • Korea
      • Northern California
      • Philippines
      • Southern California
      • Switzerland
      • Washington, D.C.
  • About
    • About Asia Society
    • Inclusion & Diversity
    • Background & History
    • Board of Trustees
    • Senior Leadership
    • Global Staff
    • Global Council
    • Careers
    • Interns and Volunteers
    • Financial Statements
    • For the Media
      • Press Releases
  • Support
    • The Campaign for Asia Society
    • Corporate Engagement
      • Business Council
      • Technology and Innovation Council
      • Global Talent and Diversity Council
      • Rising Executives Network
      • Enhancements to Membership
      • Corporate Membership
      • Global Corporate Leaders
    • Membership
    • Donate
    • Donor Privacy Statement
ASIABLOG
Subscribe
Search
  • Policy
    • Asia Society Policy Institute
      • Topics
      • Countries & Regions
      • Publications
      • Initiatives
      • Watch & Listen
      • Events
      • About
      • Support Us
    • Center on U.S.-China Relations
      • Home
      • About
      • Projects
      • Reports
      • Past Events
      • ChinaFile
  • Arts
    • Asia Society Museum
      • Visit
      • Exhibitions
      • Programs
      • Collection
      • Asia Society Triennial
      • The Asia Arts and Museum Network
      • Learn
      • Support
    • Asia Arts Game Changer Awards
      • About
      • Honorees
      • Ceremonies
      • Photos
      • Support
    • Creative Voices of Muslim Asia
      • Resources
      • Exhibitions
      • Videos
    • Film
    • Literature
    • Performing Arts
  • Education
    • Center for Global Education
      • Professional Development
      • Educator Resources
      • Our Ideas
      • Asia Society at Home
      • Education For Equity
      • About
  • Initiatives
    • Arts
      • Arts & Museum Summit
      • Asia Arts Game Changer Awards
      • Asia Society Museum: The Asia Arts & Museum Network
      • Creative Voices of Muslim Asia
      • U.S.-China Museum Summit
      • U.S.-Asia Entertainment Summit
    • Education
      • Center for Global Education
      • China Learning Initiatives
      • Global Cities Education Network
      • International Studies Schools Network
    • Leadership
      • Asia Game Changer Awards
      • Asia 21 Young Leaders Initiative
      • Global Talent Initiatives
      • U.S.-China Dialogue
    • Policy
      • Asia Society Policy Institute
      • Center on U.S.-China Relations
    • Sustainability
      • Asia Society Policy Institute
      • Coal + Ice
  • Countries & Regions
    • Column One
      • Afghanistan

      • American Samoa

      • Armenia
      • Australia
      • Azerbaijan
      • Bahrain
      • Bangladesh

      • Bhutan

      • Brunei

      • Cambodia

      • Central Asia
      • China
      • Cook Islands

      • Cyprus
      • East Asia
      • East Timor
      • Fiji

      • French Polynesia

      • Georgia

      • Guam
    • Column Two
      • Hong Kong
      • India
      • Indonesia
      • Iran
      • Iraq
      • Israel
      • Japan
      • Jordan
      • Kazakhstan
      • Kiribati
      • Kuwait

      • Kyrgyzstan
      • Laos
      • Lebanon
      • Macau
      • Malaysia
      • Maldives
      • Marshall Islands
      • Micronesia

      • Mongolia

    • Column Three
      • Myanmar

      • Nauru

      • Nepal

      • New Caledonia

      • New Zealand

      • Niue
      • North Korea

      • Northern Marianas
      • Oceania
      • Oman

      • Pakistan

      • Palau
      • Palestine

      • Papua New Guinea
      • Philippines
      • Qatar

      • Samoa
      • Saudi Arabia
      • Singapore

      • Solomon Islands

    • Column Four
      • South Asia
      • Southeast Asia
      • South Korea
      • Sri Lanka
      • Syria
      • Taiwan
      • Tajikistan
      • Thailand
      • Tibet
      • Tokelau
      • Tonga
      • Turkey

      • Turkmenistan

      • Tuvalu
      • United Arab Emirates
      • Uzbekistan
      • Vanuatu
      • Vietnam
      • Wallis and Futuna
      • West Asia
      • Yemen
  • Current Affairs
    • Topics
      • Business
      • Climate Change
      • Governance
    • Programming
      • Beyond the Headlines
      • Business of Asia
    • Center on U.S.-China Relations
      • Home
      • About
      • Projects
      • Reports
      • Past Events
      • ChinaFile
  • Look & Listen
    • Asia Society Magazine
    • ChinaFile
    • Podcasts
    • Video Gallery
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Past Events
  • Visit
    • Visit Us
      • Hong Kong
      • New York
      • Texas
    • Global Network
      • Australia
      • France
      • India
      • Japan
      • Korea
      • Northern California
      • Philippines
      • Southern California
      • Switzerland
      • Washington, D.C.
  • About
    • About Asia Society
    • Inclusion & Diversity
    • Background & History
    • Board of Trustees
    • Senior Leadership
    • Global Staff
    • Global Council
    • Careers
    • Interns and Volunteers
    • Financial Statements
    • For the Media
      • Press Releases
  • Support
    • The Campaign for Asia Society
    • Corporate Engagement
      • Business Council
      • Technology and Innovation Council
      • Global Talent and Diversity Council
      • Rising Executives Network
      • Enhancements to Membership
      • Corporate Membership
      • Global Corporate Leaders
    • Membership
    • Donate
    • Donor Privacy Statement

Gothamist's Jen Chung on Mourning the Intimacy of New York's Blog Scene

May 31st, 2013


Jen Chung, co-founder of Gothamist. 

To mark Asian Pacific American Heritage Month, we'll be running Q&As with noteworthy Asian Americans throughout May. Read them all here.

For more than a decade now, Jen Chung's Gothamist website has been a daily read for thousands upon thousands of New Yorkers. Along with co-founder Jake Dobkin, Chung also oversees Gothamist's global network of nine city blogs, which includes popular sites in locales such as San Francisco, Chicago, D.C. and, ahem, Shanghai. We caught up with our favorite "mommy blogger" via email.

Tell us about your Asian heritage. How has it impacted your life? What does it mean to you?

I'm Chinese American. My parents were born in China — my dad in Canton and my mother in Shanghai — and grew up in Hong Kong. They met in Hong Kong, but then my mom came to NYC for college. A few years later, my dad decided to follow, becoming the first of the 11 kids in his family to settle in the U.S.

My mother's family eventually emigrated from Hong Kong to New Jersey. My grandmother even had a Chinese restaurant for a while, but that closed before I was born. I grew up in predominantly white suburbs in NJ and, as a young child, I didn't have any Chinese friends. When I was six, I attended Chinese school on Saturdays but it was so startling and such culture shock to be in a setting where you had to say the Pledge of Allegiance in Chinese, which it seemed like everyone else knew. I convinced my parents to let me drop out, which I thought was a victory since I could go back to watching Saturday morning cartoons. Of course, now I regret not sticking with the classes, the same way I wish I practiced piano more. 

My Chinese life — where I'd eat with chopsticks, help my grandmother make egg rolls, go to Chinatown in Sundays — was associated with my family, while I'd try to fit in and be a regular American kid during other times. But kids can be cruel and terrible — I had "GOOK" written on my high school locker. So I was very aware of being an "other."

When the film adaptation of The Joy Luck Club was released, suddenly people were curious about my culture, including myself. I hadn't realized that my mom was a baby when she left Shanghai on the last commercial flight from Shanghai! So I've been on a decades-long trajectory of trying to learn more about my roots. I'm trying to convince my mom to write all the stories she knows about my grandparents' families, because they're wonderfully sad, inspiring and even operatic.

Gothamist recently celebrated its 10-year anniversary. How is the site different today than when it first launched? How is the city different? And why?

Back in 2003, there would only be a few blog posts a day, sometimes just a sentence or link, just things that caught a few people's fancy (sort of the way you might share a link on Facebook). Given that we have dozens of posts everyday, it was definitely much more low-fi in those days. 

As for New York City, it was only three years after the dot-com bust and two years after the September 11, 2001 attacks, so while the economy was getting better, things still felt a bit uncertain. We were only in our first Bloomberg term and the culture stories were mostly about metrosexuals, not Brooklyn hipsters.

I guess most people say things seemed more innocent in the past, but back then, there was a small blog-photoblogger community and we got to know one another pretty well. Now the tech scene is so much bigger that there's less of that intimacy. 

What are three websites you absolutely must check every day and why?

That's an impossible question! I think I check more like three dozen sites every day to keep up with news and trends. Plus, there are the -ist sites! And Twitter and Facebook. But for the purposes of this Q&A, I'll say NYTimes.com because I've been reading the print edition since I was in middle school (and the online edition since we had internet in college); HollywoodReporter.com because I've always been fascinated by the entertainment business and once dreamed of being a TV programmer (I wrote an angry letter to Bob Iger over the cancellation of Twin Peaks); and TheOnion.com because so much of it is so spot-on. 

What are your go-to places to get your Asian food fix in the city?

Since I have a toddler, I don't get out much. I like Triple 8 Palace for dim sum because it's so big; Bann in Hell's Kitchen for Korean; and Donburiya in East Midtown for Japanese katsudon. I am also looking forward to Red Farm opening on the Upper West Side. 

Slate editor David Plotz is famously anti-panda. You famously are not. Do you have any choice words for Plotz?

He doesn't seem Zen enough to get the beauty of lazy pandas. I'm not going to stand in the way of zoos opting to take the plunge for expensive adorable creatures which then enable visitors to see the cuteness. But I'm clearly biased, since I've been in the bag for pandas ever since 1982:

Related Links

  • Follow Jen on Instagram
  • Follow @JenChung on Twitter
  • Asian Pacific American Heritage Month 2013
asian americans
bloggers
blogs
canton
china
gothamist
hong kong
interviews
jen chung
new york
pandas
popular culture
shanghai
technology
websites
asiablog
east asia

About the Author

Profile picture for user Dan Washburn

Dan Washburn is Asia Society's Chief Content Officer. The Financial Times named his book, The Forbidden Game: Golf and the Chinese Dream, one of the best of 2014.

 @danwashburn
About
  • Mission & History
  • Our People
  • Become a Member
  • Career Opportunities
  • Corporate Involvement
visit us
  • Hong Kong
  • New York
  • Texas
global network
  • Australia
  • France
  • India
  • Japan
  • Korea
  • Northern California
  • Philippines
  • Southern California
  • Switzerland
  • Washington, D.C.
resources
  • Arts
  • Asia Society Magazine
  • ChinaFile
  • Current Affairs
  • Education
  • For Kids
  • Policy
  • Video
shop
  • AsiaStore
initiatives
  • Arts & Museum Summit
  • Asia 21 Young Leaders
  • Asia Arts Game Changer Awards
  • Asia Game Changer Awards
  • Asia Society Museum: The Asia Arts & Museum Network
  • Asia Society Policy Institute
  • Asian Women Empowered
  • Center for Global Education
  • Center on U.S.-China Relations
  • China Learning Initiatives
  • Coal + Ice
  • Creative Voices of Muslim Asia
  • Global Cities Education Network
  • Global Talent Initiatives
  • U.S.-Asia Entertainment Summit
  • U.S.-China Dialogue
  • U.S.-China Museum Summit
Connect
Email Signup For the media
Asia Society logo
©2022 Asia Society | Privacy Statement | Accessibility | Terms & Conditions | Sitemap | Contact

Asia Society takes no institutional position on policy issues and has no affiliation with any government.
The views expressed by Asia Society staff, fellows, experts, report authors, program speakers, board members, and other affiliates are solely their own. Learn more.

 

 

  • Visit Us
  • Hong Kong
  • New York
  • Texas
  • Global Network
  • Australia
  • France
  • India
  • Japan
  • Korea
  • Northern California
  • Philippines
  • Southern California
  • Switzerland
  • Washington, DC