Chinatown merchants and leaders fear the plan will jeopardize local businesses, which depend on the subway stop for patronage.

The break came when the Chamber stopped supporting immediate repair of the freeway, considered by many Chinatown merchants vital to economic survival, and agreed to support the Mayor's long-term plan to tear it down and create a surface roadway.

Mr. Fusco and Mr. Burke also had to patch things up with Chinatown merchants, whose chamber of commerce once advocated tearing down Archer Courts because shoplifters used the project as their escape route.

For more minor needs, smart shoppers also know that many Chinatown merchants carry British delicacies like chewy Fruit Pastilles candies and Marmite spread.

Dashing the hopes of many Chinatown merchants, lion dancers and longtime residents, the Giuliani administration denied a request yesterday by two community groups to allow the use of firecrackers at the celebration.

To Chinatown merchants, Ms. Freed's stance was further evidence that she doesn't always make their concerns her own.

He learned from the conversation that they were Chinatown merchants; and while he clumsily fumbled with chopsticks over a bowl of chop suey, he waited for a new trend in the discussion.

However, the move angered the city's Chinatown merchants and voters, who had been significant supporters of Agnos, and played a significant role in his failure to win re-election.

The short documentary, which is called "Clogged Arteries" and focuses on traffic problems in the neighborhood, rests on the widespread assumption among Chinatown merchants that their economic woes stem largely from illegal parking.

Chinatown merchants said that since the disease reached the United States, business had declined, especially in restaurants and food shops.