The Jing Fong Restaurant is the largest Chinese restaurant in New York City. The dim sum palace in Manhattan's Chinatown is an ideal place for holiday gatherings and large events.

The Chinese New Year is its busiest time every year. But this year was an exception.

As the news of the coronavirus outbreak broke in China, Chinese restaurant in New York City ready to make a hefty profit instead received thousands of phone calls canceling reservations.

"Over 1,000 tables booked for New Year parties were canceled or postponed though [at that time] there were no confirmed cases in New York," Tammy Law, General Manager of Jing Fong, told Beijing Review.

Yet rumors and misinformation spread quickly in New York. Besides the climbing fears, xenophobia and anti-China sentiment grew. Jing Fong was not the only restaurant to suffer declining profits. Gregg Bishop, Commissioner of New York City's Department of Small Business Services, told CNBC that business owners across Chinatown saw a 40-percent decline in revenues.

Even after the situation in China was contained, new cases began to be reported outside China, including in the United States. So now they are bracing for an even longer economic winter.

Gesture of solidarity

On February 15, Huang Ping, Chinese Consul General in New York, together with his wife Zhang Aiping and New York City Council officials visited the Manhattan Chinatown and dined at Jing Fong. Huang also visited and dined in some Chinese restaurants in Brooklyn and Flushing.

New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio visited Flushing and dined there on February 13. "Can I use chopsticks? No. Will I keep trying anyway? Yes. Should all of you head out to our city's MANY Asian-American owned restaurants this weekend for a bit to eat? HECK yes," de Blasio wrote on Twitter on February 13.

After the consul general's visit, there was a boost in confidence among Chinatown residents and business owners, Law said. The restaurant also saw increased traffic.

"Since that weekend, customers are gradually coming back," Law said, adding that 70 percent of the seats were filled during the dim sum brunch on February 23.

Huang Ping (middle), Chinese Consul General in New York, and his wife dined at Jing Fong Restaurant at Manhattan’s Chinatown on February 15 (COURTESY OF CHINESE CONSULATE GENERAL IN NEW YORK) 

U.S. scenario

After coronavirus clusters surged in Japan, the Republic of Korea and Italy, an outbreak in the United States is "not so much of a question of if this will happen anymore but rather more a question of exactly when this will happen," Dr. Nancy Messonnier, Director of the National Center for Immunization and Respiratory Diseases, said in a news briefing on February 25.

By March 1, two deaths due to COVID-19 had been reported in the United Statesnd an infection in New York City. Health officials and doctors are braced for a possible outbreak in densely populated cities.

Yet the Chinese community is calmer now. In early February, the Chinese Chamber of Commerce of New York wrote to all elected New York City officials on behalf of "[Chinese] corporate members who are seeking assistance from their local community and governent to help recover their business losses."

People wait in a line outside a snack bar at Manhattan's Chinatown in New York City on February 23（SHERRY QIN） 

The chamber listed five suggestions, including reducing 50 percent of commercial property taxes, 50 percent of commercial rental for landlords and temporarily reducing all commercial sales tax in all Chinese communities, according to a copy of the letter sent to Beijing Review.

The New York City Council has not yet responded to the chamber's suggestions.

Many restaurants are offering discounts to woo customers. On its official WeChat account, Jing Fong announced a grand promotion: free Peking duck, lobster with ginger and scallion or black pepper steak for a party of five at dinner time. "How many small business owners can get through this tough winter?" Jing Fong said in a press release posted on WeChat.

(Reporting from New York City)

Copyedited by Sudeshna Sarkar

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