The nation's stagnant economy hasn't soured the sweet success of Chinese restaurants, according to an industry study.
The Chinese Restaurant News estimated there were 43,139 purveyors of the ancient cuisine as of January 2007. That's up from about 36,000 in 2002 and 30,000 in 1992.
"A lot of Chinese people tend to enter the restaurant business as an easy way to start with their American dream," said Betty Xie, editor in chief of the industry trade pub, based in Fremont, Calif.
New York has become a particularly hot pot of growth, according to the group, with about 23,000 Chinese restaurants in early 2007 compared to 1,400 a decade earlier.
Chinese food has also climbed the culinary bamboo pole statewide with 4,769 establishments last year and 3,730 in 1997, according to CRN.
"It's a safe bet this trend will continue," said Wilbur Zelinksy, a Penn State geography professor who authored a 1987 study predicting an explosion of Chinese and other ethnic eateries. "It's nice to be right every now and then.
"The only question is how it'll compete with other ethnic types of food," he added. "So far it's holding it's own."
Xie attributed the growth to three inter-related factors: increased Chinese immigration, entrepreneurial chefs striking out on their own and the spread of junk Chinese food as fast food of choice for poor, urban Americans.
It's that last variable - the expansion of Chinese junk food - that's the single sour element of this sweet ride of Chinese food, Xie said.
"There's growth there in the low end, because it's easy," she said. "Chinese people go into these areas because there's very low investment and they're willing to take that risk.
"And to a degree, that's damaged the whole brand," she added. "These limited restaurants, you can't talk about high quality with sugar, fat, low quality of meat. But on other hand, people are being fed."
The founders of Joe's Shanghai said they struck jade by creating a demand where there was previously no supply - in soup-filled steamed dumplings.
Now 13 years after opening their first restaurant in Flushing, the three-restaurant chain is one of New York's best known Chinese eateries.
'We had no idea [it'd be a success]," said Raymond Wong, manager of the Pell Street Joe's. "When my boss opened Joe's Shanghai, there were no other Shanghai restaurants and soup dumplings, so maybe people who have never had it would give it a try."
The Chinese Restaurant News estimated there were 43,139 purveyors of the ancient cuisine as of January 2007. That's up from about 36,000 in 2002 and 30,000 in 1992.
"A lot of Chinese people tend to enter the restaurant business as an easy way to start with their American dream," said Betty Xie, editor in chief of the industry trade pub, based in Fremont, Calif.
New York has become a particularly hot pot of growth, according to the group, with about 23,000 Chinese restaurants in early 2007 compared to 1,400 a decade earlier.
Chinese food has also climbed the culinary bamboo pole statewide with 4,769 establishments last year and 3,730 in 1997, according to CRN.
"It's a safe bet this trend will continue," said Wilbur Zelinksy, a Penn State geography professor who authored a 1987 study predicting an explosion of Chinese and other ethnic eateries. "It's nice to be right every now and then.
"The only question is how it'll compete with other ethnic types of food," he added. "So far it's holding it's own."
Xie attributed the growth to three inter-related factors: increased Chinese immigration, entrepreneurial chefs striking out on their own and the spread of junk Chinese food as fast food of choice for poor, urban Americans.
It's that last variable - the expansion of Chinese junk food - that's the single sour element of this sweet ride of Chinese food, Xie said.
"There's growth there in the low end, because it's easy," she said. "Chinese people go into these areas because there's very low investment and they're willing to take that risk.
"And to a degree, that's damaged the whole brand," she added. "These limited restaurants, you can't talk about high quality with sugar, fat, low quality of meat. But on other hand, people are being fed."
The founders of Joe's Shanghai said they struck jade by creating a demand where there was previously no supply - in soup-filled steamed dumplings.
Now 13 years after opening their first restaurant in Flushing, the three-restaurant chain is one of New York's best known Chinese eateries.
'We had no idea [it'd be a success]," said Raymond Wong, manager of the Pell Street Joe's. "When my boss opened Joe's Shanghai, there were no other Shanghai restaurants and soup dumplings, so maybe people who have never had it would give it a try."
