The Asian community of Cleveland and Northeast Ohio is building an enclave to showcase its growing economic and social footprint.

Located in a roughly 20-block section on Cleveland's east side, AsiaTown has elements that represent virtually all of the ethnically diverse cultures found in the area's Asian community.

"We want AsiaTown to become as well known as the Tremont and Ohio City neighborhoods," said Johnny Wu, who heads his own video production and branding company called Media Design Imaging in AsiaTown.

"We are diverse, and the area has businesses and organizations that include the Chinese, Vietnamese, Korean and even some Hispanic folks," he added.

Lisa Wong, president of the Organization of Chinese Americans Greater Cleveland, said the Republican National Convention will give the city a chance to reintroduce itself this week.

"I believe (the convention) puts us in the limelight and will allow us to reach some who may have old or outdated images of Cleveland," she said.

Wong, a third-generation Chinese American, has lived her entire life in the area. "I am very proud to be from Cleveland," she said. "We want AsiaTown to be a place where immigrants can find a job and a place to live before they learn English. They can speak in the same dialect that my grandparents used in South China."

Wu said the 2010 Census put the Asian community population at about 32,000 in Cuyahoga County, which includes Cleveland. The Chinese have been in Cleveland for well over 100 years.

Wu was born in Cleveland but raised in Central America, as his father was a diplomat. "I came back in the late 1980s to get away from my parents," he said with a smile.

Wu and Wong said they believe the area is welcoming to the Chinese and all Asians. "Cleveland has been good with diversity, and it is a welcoming city," Wu said.

Many of the Chinese and other Asians in the community are employed as educators, said Wong, noting that Case Western Reserve, Cleveland State and John Carroll are among the universities and colleges in the area.

Cleveland is also becoming known as a nationally recognized city for health care. "We also have many Asians and Chinese employed at the Cleveland Clinic and University Hospitals," she added.

For seven years, the Cleveland Asian Festival, founded in part by Wu, has grown to become a go-to event for the community.

"We had almost 50,000 attend this year's festival (a two-day event) last May," Wu said. "We want to recognize our community's culture, diversity and people."

Wong and WU believe that one of Cleveland's best attributes is its size. The city has a population of about 388,000, according to a Census Bureau estimate in 2015.

"It's just the right size - not too big and not too small," Wong said.

Contact the writers at paulwelitzkin@chinadailyusa.com, wanglinyan@chinadailyusa.com