Photos of New York's Chinatown in the early 1980s

• Portraits and candids were taken between 1981 and 1984 in lower Manhattan
• Photographer Bud Glick has remastered the photos digitally for a New York museum exhibition

By Joel Christie for The Mailonline

Published: 02:16 EST, 9 January 2015 | Updated: 04:38 EST, 9 January 2015

Today it is a mecca of Asian influence and American tourism - a melting pot of exotic food, lively bars and cheap jewelry and gift shops.

But between 1981 and 19841, New York's Chinatown was undergoing something of a revolution, as the primarily-older, predominantly-male residents that had created the area in lower Manhattan were forced to move aside for the young families and workers that were immigrating to the United States from Mainland China.

This is the period that photographer Robert 'Bud' Glick spent time capturing, and his body of work has now gone on display at the Museum of Chinese in America.

From men and women hard at work to intimate portraits of family life and what is what like back then, Glick's photos are a snapshot of a very specific time in the neighborhood's history, that transformed it into a simmering part of the city.

Turning point: Photographer Bud Glick captured New York's Chinatown at a time when it was undergoing a major transformation

Incoming: Changes in immigration laws saw an influx of young workers and families from Mainland China

Lively: The result of the influx was the neighborhood went from ageing to bustling

Hard-at-work: The area quickly became a place of industry and hard labor

At home: This intimate portrait captures a man in his 'bachelor apartment' in 1982

Industrious: Workers here are hard at work in a garment factory

Signalling change: Celebrating Chinese New Year on Bayard St. in New York City's Chinatown in 1984

Quick peek: A child looks out to the street from a shop on Division St in 1992

But for Glick, it was more about taking something old and allowing it to get a new life.

'It's exciting to revisit personal work that I did more than 30 years ago and interpret it digitally, a process that allows me the ability to get more out of a negative than I ever could in the darkroom,' he told The Atlantic magazine.

'I'm able to give new life to old work.

'More importantly, time has changed me and the way that I see the work.

'I've found images, overlooked in the past, that due to the passage of time have taken on new meaning and import.'

Paying respects: Seen here is the site of a funeral in 1982

A man carries signs into a funeral in 1982

People watching: Residents are seen here in the streets of New York's Chinatown

Clean: The photos show a major time of change for the Manhattan neighborhood

Tired: A girl rides the F train in the early 1980s

Moving out: Men sit in a store on Mulberry St in 1982. At the time the area was predominantly full of older men

Rest: A woman has a break from her work in a laundry

Catching up: Newspapers were one of the only ways immigrants could keep up-to-date with what was happening at home

Congregation: Women stand and chat at Columbus Park in 1983

News: A man reads in his apartment in 1982

Meeting point: Young men stand on the street in 1982

Flashback: The photos capture a crucial point for Chinatown

From 1981 to 1984, photographer Bud Glick worked on a photography project as part of the New York Chinatown History Project

For more information on the work of Bud Glick, visit his website budglickphoto.com.

Additional information for the photo exibition can be found at the website of the Museum of Chinese In America.