Chinatown, Manchester facts for kids
Quick facts for kids Chinatown |
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 Chinatown's Faulkner Street paifang |
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| 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 |
| EU Parliament | North West England |
| UK Parliament |
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| Manchester Chinatown | |||||||||||||
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| Traditional Chinese | 曼徹斯特中國城 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 曼彻斯特中国城 | ||||||||||||
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| Alternative Chinese name | |||||||||||||
| Traditional Chinese | 曼徹斯特唐人街 | ||||||||||||
| Simplified Chinese | 曼彻斯特唐人街 | ||||||||||||
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Chinatown in Manchester, England, is a vibrant and exciting area. It is the second largest Chinatown in the United Kingdom. It is also the third largest in all of Europe!
You can find it on Faulkner Street in Manchester city centre. This area is full of amazing restaurants, shops, and bakeries. You can try food from China, Japan, Korea, Thailand, and Vietnam. There are also supermarkets where you can buy special ingredients.
Contents
How Did Manchester's Chinatown Start?
The first Chinese people came to Manchester in the early 1900s. Many of them worked in the laundry business.
Manchester's very first Chinese restaurant was called Ping Hong. It opened on Oxford Street in 1948.
A lot more Chinese people moved to the UK in the 1950s. This was because there were many jobs available. Also, a new law called the British Nationality Act 1948 made it easier to enter the country. Many farmers from Hong Kong also moved. Their homes were being destroyed as cities grew bigger.
Growing Businesses in Chinatown
After more people arrived, many new Chinese restaurants opened. By the 1970s, Chinatown had even more businesses. These included medicine shops, supermarkets, and places for money and legal help.
The Chinese Arts Centre opened in Chinatown in 1989. It helps share Chinese culture and art. In 2013, the Bank of East Asia opened its first Manchester branch here.
Where is Manchester's Chinatown Located?
Chinatown is a small part of Manchester's city centre. It's shaped like a rectangle.
- To the west, you'll find Mosley Street, the Manchester Art Gallery, and the Portico Library.
- Portland Street is to the east.
- Princess Street is to the south.
- Charlotte Street is to the north.
Sometimes, maps show Chinatown going further south to Oxford Street. Next to Chinatown, to the east, is the city's gay village. Piccadilly Gardens is to the north.
Chinatown is very much a city area. Its streets are mostly laid out in a neat grid plan.
What Are the Main Sights in Chinatown?
One of the most famous sights in Chinatown is the large archway on Faulkner Street. This special archway is called a paifang. Cars drive right underneath it!
The Famous Archway
The archway was built in China and shipped to Manchester in three big containers. Workers started building it around Christmas in 1986. It was finished by Easter in 1987. This was a year after Manchester became a sister city with Wuhan in China.
The archway was a gift from Manchester City Council to the Chinese community. It is decorated with beautiful dragons and phoenixes.
Over time, the archway needed some repairs. Netting was put up to stop tiles from falling off. The Manchester Chinatown Community Group held events to raise money for the repairs. One event was a fun dragon boat race on dry land in June 2012. The archway was fully repaired in early 2013.
The Guardian Telephone Exchange
Another interesting building in Chinatown is the Guardian telephone exchange. Today, BT owns this building. They use it for phone and internet connections.
But this building has a secret! It sits on top of an underground bunker. This bunker was built between 1949 and 1954. It was paid for by NATO. The bunker was a fallout shelter. It was designed to protect important officials if an atomic bomb exploded. It has more than four miles of tunnels!
People were not allowed to know about the bunker until 1967. Polish workers who could not speak English built it.
Historic Buildings
Chinatown also has several listed buildings. These are buildings that are important because of their history or special design. Two examples are 55 Faulkner Street, Manchester and 36 Princess Street. The building on Princess Street is now an aparthotel called Roomzzz.
How to Get Around Chinatown?
Chinatown is easy to reach by public transport.
- The closest Metrolink tram stops are Piccadilly Gardens and St Peter's Square tram stop. Piccadilly Gardens is also a big bus station.
- The nearest National Rail train stations are Manchester Oxford Road to the south. Manchester Piccadilly is to the east. You can get to Piccadilly by tram.
If you come by car, there's a car park off Faulkner Street. It's decorated with an Asian theme. There's even a painting of a junk, which is a type of old Chinese boat, on a brick wall.
Images for kids
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Chinatown in 2006
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Celebrations at Chinese New Year, 2008
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George Street, Chinatown
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City Tower, as seen from George Street
