Belgium The only "official" Chinatown (recognized by the Belgian government as Chinatown on the tourist guide maps and books of Belgium) is
Van Wesenbekestraat in
Antwerp,
Flanders. It consists of many shops, supermarkets, restaurants, and a bakery as well as a little Chinese temple.
France The Chinese community in France was estimated to count persons in 2004 and persons in 2007. The Chinatown in Paris located in the
13th arrondissement is the largest in Europe.
Paris Paris has several Asian neighborhoods (), the largest being located in the
13th arrondissement (13th district).
Chinatown Paris is bounded roughly by Avenue de Choisy, Avenue d'Ivry and Boulevard Masséna, and includes the
Les Olympiades complex. The area was originally an
ethnic Vietnamese district, when Vietnamese refugees arrived in the area in the 1970s following the
Vietnam War. Later waves of immigrants included ethnic Chinese from Indochina, Laotians and Cambodians, who also fled their countries following their communist takeovers. Although a large number of the earlier Vietnamese immigrants integrated into French society shortly after their arrival and moved to other areas of Paris and the surrounding
Île-de-France region, they still maintain a strong commercial and cultural presence in the area. Within this neighborhood, commercial activity is dominated by Chinese and Vietnamese businesses, with a smaller number of Laotian and Cambodian establishments. Roughly 50,000 people live in the district, with a majority being Chinese, and significant Vietnamese and Laotian populations. The flagships of the
Tang Frères and
Paristore Asian specialty supermarkets are located close to each other in Chinatown. Before WWII, Parisian Chinatown was based in a real Asian community, located in marginal and poor areas, formed through successive waves of migration, the first of them during the 1900s in the
Arts et Métiers quarter around rue au Maire, then in the now disappeared Chinatown of
Gare de Lyon. Since the 1920s, luxury goods shops and restaurants settled as well in the La Madeleine-Opera district, where the Japanese quarter of Paris is now located around rue Sainte-Anne, and in the
Quartier Latin near place Maubert, where some Vietnamese restaurants can still be found. Another Chinatown area has settled in
Belleville, Paris, which was recently named one of the most unique neighborhoods in the world as a result of the heavy Asian influence in the district. There is a large number of Far East restaurants, especially on Rue de Belleville and on Rue Civiale.
Marne-la-Vallée The second largest community in France, essentially Chinese and residential, is located in the new town of
Marne-la-Vallée eastward of Paris, notably in the communes of
Lognes,
Torcy and
Noisy-le-Grand.
Lyon , Lyon city mayor.
Lyon, with a Chinese community of persons, also has a Chinatown, located in the
Guillotière neighbourhood of the 7th
arrondissement, on rue Passet, rue d'Aguesseau and rue Pasteur and the nearby streets in the area formed by rue Basse Combalot, rue de Marseille and rue Montesquieu. Thanks to its important
silk industry and notably with the
sericulture crisis of 1856, Lyon has early created a relationship with China. A Franco-Chinese institute existed as well from 1920 to 1946 at
Fourvière for Chinese students.
Lille The important Chinese community of Lille is disseminated in the city, but some Asiatic shops are gathered on rue Jules Guesde, in the cosmopolitan district of
Wazemmes.
Toulouse A small Chinatown is as well located in the Belfort district in Toulouse, mainly around rue Denfert Rochereau.
Montpellier A new growing Asian community has settled in the Port Marianne District.
Germany -
St. Pauli:
Hong-Kong Bar & Hotel in the city's re-established Chinatown
Berlin, the capital of
Germany, has no established Chinatowns, but many Chinese restaurants can be found in the area around Kantstrasse of
Charlottenburg in the West (dubbed
Kantonstrasse).
Hamburg, Germany's second largest city and its major port, has very close ties to China and Asia in general. Until the 1930s, it had the
Chinesenviertel Chinatown within its
St. Pauli district, that is being re-established since the 2010s. The city hosts the biennial high-level conference
Hamburg Summit: China meets Europe and also has a major Chinese consulate at
Elbchaussee 268 in
Othmarschen since 1921.
Shanghai is a sister city of Hamburg.
Greece A small Chinatown exists in the port city of
Thessaloniki, in the area around Aisopou Street, near the
Thessaloniki railway station. The around 2,200 Chinese nationals that live in the city work and live in and around this area, which is characterised by an abundance of Chinese-owned commercial stores and restaurants.
Ireland In
Dublin,
Parnell Street between O'Connell and Cumberland Streets hosts a row of Chinese businesses. Many are arrivals from
Fuzhou.
Italy ,
Milan's Chinatown The country has had a very small Chinese population since
World War II, but most of the current population has arrived since the 1980s. Over 310,000 Chinese are thought to be living in Italy according to 2016 statistics. During the Second World War the silk products were replaced by leather belts more useful for the soldiers involved in the war. In the 1980s the community diversified its activities opening market stores, food stores and other shops. Today, chinatowns can be found in
Prato and
Milan. The Italian term for Chinatown is
quartiere cinese but Chinatown is also used.
Netherlands The term "Chinatown" or "Chinese buurt" is used in the
Dutch language. The largest Chinatown of the
Netherlands is located in
Rotterdam, around the West-Kruiskade in the
Oude Westen district. The first Chinese people settled in the Katendrecht district around 1911. A decade later the Chinese community at Katendrecht consisted of around 1500 people, which made it the largest Chinese community in the Netherlands. After a large decline of people of Chinese origin in the Katendrecht area, more and more Chinese people moved to the West-Kruiskade area near the city center. Since the '80s this became the primary Chinatown of Rotterdam and started to attract Chinese people from smaller Dutch cities, like
Eindhoven and
Deventer. The 2nd largest Chinatown is located near
De Wallen, the famed
red light district of
Amsterdam. This Chinatown, located on the
Zeedijk and the
Geldersekade, was formed in the early 20th century and revitalised in the 1980s. The street signs in this neighbourhood are in Dutch and Chinese. Amsterdam's Chinatown also has the first and biggest Chinese-style Buddhist temple in the Netherlands. It is named "
Fo Guang Shan He Hua Temple" after the Buddhist organization
Fo Guang Shan. The 3rd largest Chinatown is in the city of
The Hague.
Poland Poland's main Chinatown is located in
Wólka Kosowska, where Chinese immigrants are mainly engaged in trade and gastronomy. Along with Chinese, there is also notable population of
Vietnamese. Some of them represent third generation of people of Vietnamese origin being raised in Poland.
Portugal Portugal's main Chinatown is Varziela Chinatown (
Chinatown da Varziela), also known as Vila do Conde Chinatown in the outskirts of
Vila do Conde, in Coastal
Northern Portugal. The core of the community hosts 200 Chinese stores and has a population of 1500 ethnic Chinese (2015). Varziela Chinatown was established in 2001 in a decaying industrial area and it became a Chinese hub for Portugal and Spain, recently it started to attract Indians and other minorities. It bounced back from the 2008 crisis, when it was declining, the early community was said to have 160 stores and 600 ethnic Chinese inhabitants at its peak. Varziela Chinatown is known for the illegal casinos, in an area where there is the legal
Casino da Póvoa, one of the communities main entertainment venues, where the Chinese new year is traditionally celebrated.
Portugal's other Chinatowns are located in
Lisbon, around Martim Moniz, mostly in the form of shopping centres and
Porto Alto also has a Chinatown. Some early Chinese immigrants to Portugal came from the former Portuguese territory of
Macau, when it was returned to mainland Chinese control in 1999, while others came from
Cambodia,
Laos, and
Vietnam. Many Chinese also came from
Brazil to Portugal. Besides speaking Portuguese, the Chinese population in Portugal also speaks
Mandarin,
Cantonese, and some of them even speak a mixed Cantonese-
Portuguese creole called
Macanese (or
Patuá).
Spain There are about 220,000 Chinese in
Spain. Most Chinese-Spanish residents are people whose ancestors were
coolies from mainland China. Others are immigrants or refugees from other places in mainland
China,
Hong Kong,
Macau,
Taiwan,
Malaysia,
Korea, the
Philippines,
Vietnam,
Indonesia, and especially
Cuba and
Puerto Rico. In Spain, Chinese immigrants tend not to form separate neighborhoods (the quintessential image of a Chinatown) but live in areas mixed with other immigrants and Spaniards. However, in some places, Chinese immigration is enough to give a Chinese color to some streets. Some examples of Spanish Chinatowns in
Madrid: Dolores Barranco St in the
Usera district,
Lavapiés neighborhood or General Margallo St. in the district of
Tetuán, and in the
Madrid metropolitan area "Cobo Calleja" industrial park is the biggest Chinese industrial area in
Europe; it is located in the southern city of
Fuenlabrada.
Barcelona, however, has had an area named
Barrio Chino since the 1920s, in the old city between the
Ramblas and the
Paral·lel. The residents have been poor Spaniards and the area is marked by its
prostitution, to the extent that any prostitution district of any Spanish city may be known as
barrio chino, regardless of any Chinese presence, though the term does not imply a population of Chinese residents. The term came from an article whose author compared the state of the area with the popular image of foreign Chinatowns. In fact, the area with the largest Chinese presence in Barcelona is around
Arc de Triomf and
Plaça de Tetuan. Other Spanish cities such as
Valencia,
Bilbao and
Alicante have Chinese neighborhoods. After the
Spanish Miracle, Spain started receiving more Chinese immigrants, some of whom may have settled in the cheap
Barrio Chino. As a result of the
gentrification policy exemplified by the
1992 Summer Olympics, the area is being rebuilt as a chic neighborhood, and the more neutral name of
El Raval has come to predominate. Recent Chinese immigrants have established
wholesale clothes business at La Ribera, Ronda San Pedro and Trafalgar street.
Barrios Chinos are also pan-Asian areas. Many Japanese, Koreans, Vietnamese, and Thais have settled in
Barrios Chinos.
United Kingdom Chinese people in the UK are relatively dispersed, and do not form ethnic enclaves as in many other countries, although most are to be found in large cities, several of which have Chinatowns, and the South-East. The largest Chinatown is in central
London in the
Soho area, established in the 1950s and 1960s. Other UK Chinatowns are found in the English cities of
Liverpool,
Birmingham,
Manchester and
Newcastle, the Scottish city of
Glasgow and a growing population of Chinese immigrants are present in
Edinburgh, the Welsh capital
Cardiff and
Belfast, Northern Ireland.
London Soho is the main Chinatown currently but not the original Chinatown, which was located near the docks along the
Thames as the Chinese arrived from
Canton, which was the major international port of China in the early 18th century. Opium could not be legally traded in China proper initially and opium was inspected and traded in London by the Keswicks and the Taipans.
Silk and
porcelain, as well as
tea were loaded here, where a Chinese community thrived near Canton Street in the
Docklands. London's current Chinatown in Soho is mainly commercially planned in the
1950s with many Chinese restaurants and businesses to detract from the sex trade in Soho. A new Chinese gate over
Wardour Street marking the entrance to Leicester Square is planned as well. London's Chinatown is undergoing gentrification, with a £50 million planned regeneration. There are plans to re-enact London's original Chinese district in
Canary Wharf and the
Docklands in
Limehouse as part of the wider regeneration of East London to attract Chinese tourists. This area was bombed out, as with much of London, during the Blitz in the Second World War causing a relocation of the few ethnic Chinese who had lived there to other areas. The
Hakkas could not afford the rents from the
Cantonese landlords, and moved out to
Croydon where rents were very much cheaper to start businesses. As a result, other Chinese-run businesses can be found far away from central London, such as suburban
Croydon. The Government of
Singapore owns the entire stretch of hotels around
Cromwell Road.
Manchester Manchester's Chinatown on Faulkner Street is the second largest in Britain after London's. The Chinese British population, many of whom are immigrants from former British-ruled Hong Kong, especially settled in the
Greater Manchester area. However, Hong Kong immigration to the United Kingdom has leveled off over the years and there has been a rise in mainland Chinese immigration to the country.
Birmingham Birmingham Chinatown is an area of Birmingham, United Kingdom. First emerging as an informal cluster of Chinese community organizations, social clubs, and businesses in the 1960s centred on
Hurst Street, as a result of post-World War II migration from Hong Kong, the Chinese Quarter was officially recognized in the 1980s. It is well known for its Chinese restaurants, such as the China Court Restaurant, for the parade which is held there each year to celebrate the Chinese New Year, for the Birmingham Hippodrome and for being the location of the headquarters of
Wing Yip. To the rear of the area is the
Irish Quarter which is located directly next to a large supermarket selling typical Chinese produce.
Glasgow The
Chinatown in Glasgow, Scotland is a Chinese shopping complex that opened in 1992 in Cowcaddens.
Newcastle The
Chinatown in Newcastle was primarily based on Stowell Street, but has expanded in recent years with many Chinese businesses in the surrounding area. The Chinatown incorporates the area from Stowell Street to Westgate Road. According to the BBC, Newcastle's Chinatown is also undergoing regeneration. A gateway costing £160,000 has recently been constructed by mainland Chinese engineers as part of the plans.
Liverpool The Chinatown in Liverpool in the Merseyside area is on Duke Street and is home to the oldest Chinese community in Europe. It has been under regeneration. The arch located at the gateway is the largest of its kind outside of China.
Sheffield Sheffield has no official Chinatown although
London Road,
Highfield is the centre of the Sheffield Chinese community. There are many Chinese restaurants, supermarkets and community stores, and the home of the Sheffield Chinese Community Centre. The Sheffield Chinese community is pressing for the street to be formally labelled Sheffield's Chinatown. Planning permission was granted in 2015 for
New Era Square, a mixed-use development located between St Mary's Gate, Bramall Lane and Sheldon Street (near to London Road) that media outlets dubbed "Sheffield's Chinatown". The £70 million development opened fully in May 2021 and consists of several residential and office buildings with ground floor retail centred around a pedestrianised square.
Leeds Leeds has no official Chinatown, but the northeast area of the city centre is commonly referred to as Chinatown due to the presence of many longstanding Chinese restaurants, supermarkets and other commercial stores. The small "Chinatown" is centred on one of the city centre's major outdoor car parks, and the majority of Chinese establishments can be found either on the west side of the car park on
Vicar Lane, or on the east side on Templar Lane and Templar Place. Plans to develop the area into an official Chinatown, complete with Chinese gates, have been met with setbacks, mainly due to the wide dispersal of the city's Chinese community throughout the city and outlying suburbs. Furthermore, just as many if not more Chinese and other East Asian restaurants are to be found throughout the city centre, defeating the need for an official Chinatown. ==References==