Chinatown is highly decorated for special occasions, here for Chinese New Year 2004.

London's Chinatown is in the Soho area of the City of Westminster, occupying the area in and around Gerrard Street. It contains a number of Chinese restaurants, provision stores and souvenir shops. Wong Kei is one of the most well known restaurants in Chinatown. Download high resolution version (700x933, 141 KB)Entrance to Gerrard Street, Chinatown, London. ... Download high resolution version (700x933, 141 KB)Entrance to Gerrard Street, Chinatown, London. ... Hand-painted Chinese New Years poetry pasted on the sides of doors leading to peoples homes, Old Town, Lijiang, Yunnan. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Soho is an area of Londons West End in the City of Westminster. ... The City of Westminster is a London borough with city status, situated to the west of the City of London and north of the River Thames. ... Gerrard Street is a street which can be found in many cities, namely: London, England Toronto, Ontario, Canada (see Gerrard Street East) This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... Wong Kei is a restaurant in Londons Chinatown located on Wardour Street, in a building opened by the actress Sarah Bernhardt. ...

History

The first area in London known as Chinatown was located in the Limehouse area of London. At the start of the 20th century, the Chinese population of London was concentrated in that area, serving the Chinese sailors who frequented in Docklands. The area began to become well known for its (legal) opium dens and slum housing, rather than the Chinese restaurants and supermarkets in the current Chinatown. However, the area was redeveloped in 1934 and much of the old housing was demolished, although a number of elderly Chinese still choose to live in this area. Limehouse Town Hall in 2004 Limehouse is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. ... (19th century - 20th century - 21st century - more centuries) Decades: 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s 1970s 1980s 1990s As a means of recording the passage of time, the 20th century was that century which lasted from 1901–2000 in the sense of the Gregorian calendar (1900–1999 in the... The Millennium Dome and Canary Wharf from the Royal Victoria Dock. ... Opium is a narcotic analgesic drug which is obtained from the unripe seed pods of the opium poppy (Papaver somniferum L. or the synonym paeoniflorum). ... A slum is an overcrowded and squalid district of a city or town usually inhabited by the very poor. ...

After the Second World War, however, the growing popularity of Chinese cuisine and an influx of immigrants from Hong Kong led to an increasing number of Chinese restaurants being opened elsewhere. Mushroom cloud from the nuclear explosion over Nagasaki rising 18 km into the air. ... Wikibooks Cookbook has more about this subject: Chinese cuisine Chinese cuisine is widely regarded as representing one of the richest and most diverse culinary heritages in the world. ...

The present Chinatown, off Shaftesbury Avenue in London, did not start to be established until the 1970s. Up until then, it was a regular Soho area, run-down, with Gerrard Street the main thoroughfare. It was dominated by the Post Office, facing Macclesfield Street, and other major establishments were The Tailor & Cutter House, at 43/44, now a Chinese supermarket and restaurant, the Boulougne Restaurant, near the Wardour Street end, and by Peter Mario's Restaurant at the other end. Other businesses included a master baker's, the Sari Centre, Lesgrain French Coffee House, an Indian restaurant and lots of doorways offering French Lessons and such like. Probably the first Chinese restaurants opened in Lisle Street, parallel to Gerrard St, and then spread gradually. The Tailor & Cutter did not close down until around 1974.

In 2005, the property developer Rosewheel has proposed a plan to redevelop the eastern part of Chinatown. The plan is opposed by many of the existing retailers in Chinatown, on the basis that they believe that the redevelopment will drive out the traditional Chinese retail stores from the area and change the ethnic characteristic of Chinatown.

Residents

London's Chinatown is a commercial area, very few people actually live there.

There are many illegal workers in London's Chinatown who get less than minimum wage. Also it is known that the Triads are operating there, highlighted by a man being shot dead in broad daylight in June 2003 in the "brb bar" on Gerrard Street. Triad (Simplified Chinese: 三合会; Traditional Chinese: 三合會; Hanyu Pinyin: ; literally Triad Society) is a collective term that describes many branches of an underground society and organizations based in Hong Kong and also operating in Mainland China, Macao, and Chinatowns in Europe, North America, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. ...

The present Chinatown, off Shaftesbury Avenue in London, did not start to be established until the 1970s. Up until then, it was a regular Soho area, run-down, with Gerrard Street the main thoroughfare. It was dominated by the Post Office, facing Macclesfield Street, and other major establishments were The Tailor & Cutter House, at 43/44, now a Chinese supermarket and restaurant, the Boulougne Restaurant, near the Wardour Street end, and by Peter Mario's Restaurant at the other end. Other businesses included a master baker's, the Sari Centre, Lesgrain French Coffee House, an Indian restaurant and lots of doorways offering French Lessons and such like. Probably the first Chinese restaurants opened in Lisle Street, parallel to Gerrard St, and then spread gradually. The Tailor & Cutter did not close down until around 1974.

See also

• Chinatown - for more information about how and why chinatowns developed

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External links

• Rosewheel's 2005 development plan for part of London Chinatown
• Chinatown New Year 2004
• An on the ground account of New Year 2004*
• London's original Chinatown