13th arrondissement of Paris | |
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French municipal arrondissement | |
Paris and its closest suburbs |
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Country | France |
Region | Île-de-France |
Department | Paris |
Commune | Paris |
Government | |
• Mayor | Jérôme Coumet |
Area | |
• Total | 7.15 km2 (2.76 sq mi) |
Population (8 March 1999 census) | |
• Total | 171,533 |
• Estimate (2005) | 181,300 |
• Density | 24,000/km2 (62,000/sq mi) |
^[p] Population sans doubles comptes: single count of residents of multiple communes (e.g. students and military personnel). |
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The 13th arrondissement of Paris (also known as "arrondissement des Gobelins" (meaning district of tapestries)) is one of the 20 arrondissements (administrative districts) of the capital city of France.
Situated on the Left Bank of the River Seine, it is home to Paris's principal Asian community, the Quartier Asiatique, located in the southeast of the arrondissement in an area that contains many high-rise apartment buildings. The neighborhood features a high concentration of ethnic Chinese and Vietnamese businesses. The current mayor is Jérôme Coumet (Socialist), who was re-elected by the arrondissement council on 29 March 2008 after the list which he headed gained 70% of the votes cast in the second round of the French municipal elections, 2008.
The 13th arrondissement also hosts the Bibliothèque François Mitterrand and the newly built business district of Paris Rive Gauche.
The 13th arrondissement is still growing in population, mainly because of an influx of Asian immigrants. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, the first wave of Vietnamese refugees from the Vietnam War settled in the arrondissement, largely concentrated near Masséna Boulevard. Later waves of refugees and Asian immigrants transitioned from being exclusively ethnic Vietnamese to include ethnic Chinese from Vietnam, Laotians and Cambodians. These migrants largely settled in the southern area of the arrondissement, creating an Asian quarter and establishing a commercial district and community institutions.Teochew, Cantonese, Vietnamese, Lao and Khmer are spoken by many residents in the community.