Asian-Americans are the wealthiest, most-educated, and fastest-growing demographic group in America today. They tend to be urbanized, travel extensively, engage in business, and embrace cutting-edge technology. The Asian-American buying force exceeds $150 billion a year, but only recently, many major corporations have realized the significance of this market to their future earnings. One of the largest Chinese markets in America, Southern California, comprises the largest Asian and Pacific Islander population in the Nation. Asian and Pacific Islanders account for 1.7 million people in the area’s overall population. The ethnic Chinese community is the largest subgroup and represents 25% of the total Asian and Pacific Islander population. In the metropolitan Los Angeles area, approximately half of the Chinese population is from the wealthy island of Taiwan. For decades, Southern California has been the nexus of immigration to America. More than half of the new immigrants from Asia settled in California year after year. 85% of these people read a Chinese-language newspaper on regular basis. According to a Census projection (2000), the total Chinese population in Southern California is approximately 600,000. Source – Chinese L.A. Daily News and Taiwan News