In this interview, Harry Lee Chow talks about growing up near Chinatown in Washington, D.C., the history of his ancestry, attending local schools, and the racial climate of the local area. Chow describes being a child of first generation immigrants from China and his initial childhood reluctance to learn his parents' native language and religion. Chow recalls the effects of Lady Bird Johnson's Beautification initiatives in Chinatown, the Chinatown Courtesy Patrol, the Chinatown Creative Workshop, and working at the aquarium store called Chinatown Tropicals. He also recalls learning martial arts from friends around town and the 1968 riots after Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated. Chow also describes changes to Chinatown that came with gentrification, anti-Chinese sentiments, and Chinese history and culture.