By Timmy Odejimi
INCREDIBLE pictures reveal the famous Chinatown of San Francisco during the nineteenth century, where the largest Chinese community outside Asia lived.

From merchants at work to children walking with their parents, the stunning black and white images show the Chinese residents of Chinatown draped in their traditional clothing and going about their daily lives.

One picture shows fishmongers and butchers at the well-known Fish Alley, an area also known as ‘Fisherman’s Wharf’, and a place where tourists today can watch fishermen hauling in their catch.

San Francisco has the oldest and second largest Chinatown in North America, with around 15,000 Chinese residents, many of whom do not speak English.

Chinatown is one of the Bay Area’s major tourist attraction, with over seventy-five per cent of San Francisco’s tourists visiting Chinatown, an approximately 2million visitors-a-year.

The iconic area was established in 1848 and has been incredibly significant and influential in the history and culture of ethnic Chinese immigrants in America.