cooncat - We ended up in Belleville on our last trip to Paris only because we thought it was the "China Town" of Paris.

There were a lot of Chinese eating places but found the whole area rather seedy. We did have a chinese lunch and then left. There seemed to be a lot of North Africans around and the whole place was very cosmopolitan but not worth the trip. We probably needed to explore more or have a proper guide.

Even if you don't read French, you can get a little bit off this website:

http://www.belleville-village.com/index.php

There is a photo that looks like what you've described a couple of posts above...

p.s. the original Chinatown is in the 13th, although there is some newer development in Belleville

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...-2004Oct8.html