Two-year-old Alex Mac peers through the window filled with meat at Wing Wah Barbecue in Seattle's International District.

Jimmy Mar's grocery business retains the charm of an old-time family store. Jimmy Mar's grocery business retains the charm of an old-time family store.

Charlie Johnson practices the Tai Chi sword form at Seattle Kung Fu Club in the International District.

Students Charlie Johnson, left, and Mike Subert, right, join Tai Chi master John Leon in class at Seattle Kung Fu Club.

Dawn Cheung, 5, studies Mandarin Chinese at Chong Wa school.

Thao Tat looks out his apartment window on a neighborhood where an estimated third of the residents are considered elderly, low income. A dietician and an outreach worker from a social service agency visit Tat to check his weight and offer dietary supplements.

The Kingdome looms over the International District Village Square, a $19.6 million mixed-use development project under construction. on South Dearborn Street. It is scheduled to open in February.

Jeanette Rattner gets accupuncture treatment from licensed accupuncturist Raymond Chan in Chan's Chinese medicine center.

Chinatown International District architecture vies for attention with downtown Seattle skyscrapers, in the view from Hing Hay Park.

Georgie and Bob Chin sold their vintage meat market to their son, Mark, right, a few years back. In addition to meat sales, the shop annually is one of the state's top retail outlets for lottery tickets.

About one-third of residents of the Chinatown International District are low-income elderly, some studies say. The neighborhood is filled with housing and social service agencies attempting to meet the unique needs of the neighborhood's population.