Chicago's Chinatown is home to a number of banks, Chinese restaurants, gift shops, grocery stores, Chinese medicine stores, as well as a number of services that cater to people interested in Chinese culture, including those speaking Chinese, especially the Cantonese dialect. It is a community hub for Chinese people in Chicago and its nearby suburbs, a business center for Chinese in the Midwest, as well as a popular destination for tourists and locals alike.

Some points of interest in Chinatown are:

• Chinatown Mural, a mural showing the history of Chinese immigrants in United States
• Chinatown Square, with sculptures of animals in the Chinese zodiac
• Wentworth Avenue, with shopping, restaurants, and landmarks, including the Chinatown Gate
• Pui Tak Center was designated a Chicago Landmark on December 1, 1993. It was the On Leong Merchants Association Building.
• Chinese-American Museum of Chicago, exhibits the pictures and objects for the history of Chicago Chinatown
• Ping Tom Memorial Park, with Chinese gardens along the Chicago River Chinese immigrants began arriving in Chicago in the late 1870s as ex-railroad workers faced increasing discrimination in the Western states. The population rose slowly, until the communist revolution in China coupled with a relaxation on immigration laws brought on a surge in immigrants in the 1950s and 1960s, leading to the formation of a Chinatown. By the year 1970, Chicago ranked fourth in Chinese population in American cities. Currently, Chicago has the 3rd largest Chinatown in the United States.

In the earliest days, Chinese settlement in Chicago centered around Clark Street and Van Buren Street, the north end of a heterogeneous "anything goes" part of town called the Levee District. With time the area became infamous as a vice district (mostly for non-Chinese sections). As the city's business district grew, the area became too expensive for settling immigrants, who found themselves centering around the Cermak and Wentworth Avenue area.