Chinatown Amsterdam the word resonates. The representations appear multiple and changing like volutes of smoke. From the lively and colorful place to the dark and dangerous alleys represented in Polanski "Chinatown" or Cimino "Year of the Dragon", there is not only one Chinatown. Coming from the central station, between the main avenue going towards Damsquare and the church of Saint Nicholas, the red light district begins as its shown in chinatown Amsterdam map. A few gay bars further down the same street, you slide into Chinatown. The houses are the same and yet the Dutch sobriety is quickly undermined by the slightly kitschy exuberance.