| Chinatown | |
|---|---|
 Chinatown's Faulkner Streetpaifang | |
| Metropolitan borough | |
| Metropolitan county | |
| Region | |
| Country | England |
| Sovereign state | United Kingdom |
| Post town | MANCHESTER |
| Postcode district | M1 |
| Dialling code | 0161 |
| Police | Greater Manchester |
| Fire | Greater Manchester |
| Ambulance | North West |
| UK Parliament | |
| |
| Manchester Chinatown | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Traditional Chinese | 曼徹斯特中國城 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 曼彻斯特中国城 | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
| Alternative Chinese name | |||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 曼徹斯特唐人街 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 曼彻斯特唐人街 | ||||||||||||
| |||||||||||||
Chinatown inManchester, England, is the second largestChinatown in theUnited Kingdom and the third largest in Europe.[1] Its archway was completed in 1987 on Faulkner Street inManchester city centre,[2] which contains Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Nepali, Malaysian, Singaporean, Thai and Vietnamese restaurants, shops, bakeries and supermarkets.[3][4]
The first Chinese settlers arrived in the city in the early 20th century; many were engaged in thelaundry trade.[5] Manchester's firstChinese restaurant, Ping Hong, opened on Oxford Street in 1948.[5] A Chineseimmigration wave began in the 1950s,[6][7] when there were severe labour shortages, and in response to theBritish Nationality Act 1948 which allowed easier access into the country.[7]Hong Kong's rapid urbanisation also meant that farmers' traditional homes were being destroyed byurban sprawl, so many decided to migrate.[6][7]
Chinese restaurants multiplied after the immigration boom. By the 1970s other Chinese businesses had opened, such as medicine shops, supermarkets and financial and legal services serving the area,[6][7] including a Hong Kong government office and branch ofThe Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation.[7] In 1989, theChinese Arts Centre opened in Chinatown.[8] In 2013, theBank of East Asia opened their first Manchester branch on Charlotte Street in Chinatown.[9][10]
Chinatown is a small area of Manchester's city centre. Its boundaries form a rectangle, surrounded byMosley Street,Manchester Art Gallery and thePortico Library to the west,Portland Street to the east,Princess Street to the south, and Charlotte Street to the north.[11] However, these boundaries are not official; some maps extend Chinatown further south toOxford Street.[12] To the east lies the city'sgay village, centred onCanal Street, and to the north liesPiccadilly Gardens. Being in the city centre, the area is entirely urbanised. Unlike Manchester city centre as a whole, Chinatown's streets appear largely in agrid plan.
One of Chinatown's most noticeable landmarks is the archway on Faulkner Street. Thepaifang, underneath which road traffic passes, was specially built in China and shipped over in three containers.[13] Construction commenced over Christmas 1986 and was completed by Easter 1987,[13] a year after the city of Manchester was twinned withWuhan.[14] The structure was a gift fromManchester City Council to the Chinese community,[15] and is adorned with dragons and phoenixes.
After many years exposed to the elements, the arch required restoration work to be undertaken; netting was wrapped around a part of the structure to prevent further tiles from dislodging.[15] The Manchester Chinatown Community Group undertook a series of charity events, including a dry landdragon boat race in June 2012.[15] In early 2013 the archway was repaired by Manchester and Cheshire Construction Company.[13]
Another Chinatown landmark is theGuardian telephone exchange. The building is now owned byBT and used for communications work, though it was constructed for an entirely different usage. The building lies atop an underground bunker, constructed between 1949 and 1954 and paid for byNATO. The bunker was afallout shelter designed to protect officials in the event of an atomic bomb and features over four miles of tunnels. The media were banned from revealing the bunker's existence until 1967 and it was built by Polish workers who could not speak English.[16]
Chinatown has a number oflisted buildings, including55 Faulkner Street, Manchester[17] and 36 Princess Street,[18][19] an aparthotel for national chainRoomzzz.
The area's nearestMetrolink stations arePiccadilly Gardens (which is also abus interchange), andSt Peter's Square tram stop. The nearestNational Rail stations areManchester Oxford Road to the south andManchester Piccadilly to the east of Chinatown, the latter of which can be reached by Metrolink services. Furthermore, there is a car park off Faulkner Street for visitors driving into Chinatown in private vehicles. It is decorated in an oriental theme, in keeping with Chinatown, and a mural of ajunk, a Chinese sea vessel, is contained within a brick wall overlooking the car park.
53°28′43″N2°14′24″W / 53.4786°N 2.2401°W /53.4786; -2.2401