Welcome to Belleville – home to one of Paris’s lively Chinatowns, a burgeoning artist quarter and a dizzying array of cultures. Belleville has always been a working-class neighborhood, with immigration generating much of the area’s zest. What started in the 1920s with Greeks, Jewish people, and Armenians led to waves of North Africans, Sub-Saharan Africans, and Chinese immigrants settling here. Cheap rents have also led artists to flow into the area, making it an ideal spot for theirateliers. Belleville may not provide a typical experience of Paris, but its energy and diversity are certainly worth checking out.