Chinatown, London

Chinatown, London
Gerrard Street in 2011
Traditional Chinese	倫敦唐人街
Simplified Chinese	伦敦唐人街
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Lúndūn Tángrénjiē - Wade–Giles Lun2tun1 T'ang2jen2 chieh1 - IPA [lwə̌ntʰwə́n tʰɑ̌ŋtɕə̌ntɕɨɤ́] Cantonese (Yue) - Jyutping Lwundwun Tangrenjye - IPA lɛːn˨˩dɛːn.tɔː̭ŋyɐ̭ngaːi˥ - Yale Romanization Leun4deun1 Tong4yan4gaai1
Alternative Chinese name
Traditional Chinese	倫敦华埠
Simplified Chinese	伦敦華埠
Transcriptions Mandarin - Hanyu Pinyin Lúndūn Huábù - Wade–Giles Lun2tun1 Hua2pu4 Cantonese (Yue) - Jyutping Lwundwun Hwabu - IPA lɛːn˨˩dɛːn.waː̭bòu - Yale Romanization Leun4deun1 Waa4bou6

Bilingual street sign

The name Chinatown has been used at different times to describe different places in London. The present Chinatown is part of the Soho area of the City of Westminster, occupying the area in and around Gerrard Street. It contains a number of Chinese restaurants, bakeries, supermarkets, souvenir shops, and other Chinese-run businesses.

History

The first area in London known as Chinatown was located in the Limehouse area of the East End of London.^[1] At the start of the 20th century, the Chinese population of London was concentrated in that area, setting up businesses which catered to the Chinese sailors who frequented in Docklands. The area began to become known through exaggerated reports and tales of (legal) opium dens and slum housing, rather than the Chinese restaurants and supermarkets in the current Chinatown. However, much of the area was damaged by aerial bombing during the Blitz in the Second World War, although a number of elderly Chinese still choose to live in this area.

The celebrations for the Chinese New Year, in February 2007.

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.

The present Chinatown, which is off Shaftesbury Avenue 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, Harrison Marks' Glamour Studio, an Indian restaurant and various brothels. 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 proposed a plan to redevelop the eastern part of Chinatown. The plan was opposed by many of the existing retailers in Chinatown, as they believe that the redevelopment will drive out the traditional Chinese retail stores from the area and change the ethnic characteristic of Chinatown.

Residents

China Town, New Year 2009

Chinatown pagoda, London

There is a large residential block called Vale Royal House which houses a number of families, professionals and single men and women. This block was built in the 1980s and is made famous by housing the China Town car park underneath it.

There are repeated claims that there are many illegal workers in London's Chinatown earning less than minimum wage^{[citation needed]}. This illegal trade has association with the Triads, highlighted by a shooting in broad daylight in June 2003 in the Bar Room Bar (brb) on Gerrard Street.^[2] In 2007, immigration staff looking for illegal workers raided several restaurants in Chinatown,^[3] arresting 49 people. Businesses in the area held a strike in protest.^[4]

Gerrard Street

A stone lion on Gerrard Street. Note the bilingual English/Chinese street sign in the background

John Dryden (1631-1700) lived for a while at 43 Gerrard Street, which is commemorated by a blue plaque.^[5] Another plaque, on number 9, marks the meeting of Samuel Johnson and Joshua Reynolds the Turk's Head Tavern to found The Club, a dining club, in 1764.^[6] In fiction, Charles Dickens sets the home of Mr Jaggers, the lawyer in Great Expectations, in "a house on the south side of that street. Rather a stately house of its kind, but dolefully in want of painting, and with dirty windows [and with ...] a stone hall... a dark brown staircase ... dark brown rooms... panelled walls"^[7].

Centuries later, in the Roaring Twenties, the 43 Club was set up at number 43, as a jazz club notorious for outrageous parties frequented by the rich and powerful.^[8] It was eventually closed down by direct order of the Home Office and the proprietor, Kate Meyrick, was imprisoned. Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club started in Gerrard Street in the basement of No. 39.^[9]

In 1953, No. 4 Gerrard Street was a small studio where the theatrical photographer George Harrison Marks and his partner Pamela Green, lived and worked. By the late 1950s, with the success of Kamera Publications, they had taken over No. 5 next door and had a much larger studio on the top floor. In the early 1960s the ground floor at No. 4 became a gallery. The director Michael Powell copied their sets for the classic film Peeping Tom, in which Green also starred.

A basement in Gerrard Street was the location of the first rehearsal of Led Zeppelin in 1968, where they played "Train Kept a Rollin". The exact location of the basement is unknown, and it is believed to have been converted into business premises many years ago.

Every year on the 2nd of September, all the restaurants shut in the evening to commemorate the death of Liao Dynasty emperor Yēlǜ Xián, who is believed to have died on the same date.^{[citation needed]}

Education

For education in Chinatown, London see the main City of Westminster article.

The City of Westminster operates the Charing Cross Library with the Westminster Chinese Library.^[10][11]

See also

London portal

• Chinatown - for more information about how and why Chinatowns developed
• British Chinese
• Wong Kei
• Brick Lane

The nearest London Underground stations are Leicester Square and Piccadilly Circus.

References

1. ^ Sales, Rosemary; d'Angelo, Alessio; Liang, Xiujing; Montagna, Nicola. "London's Chinatown" in Donald, Stephanie; Kohman, Eleonore; Kevin, Catherine. (eds) (2009). Branding Cities: Cosmopolitanism, Parochialism, and Social Change. Routledge. pp. 45–58.
2. ^ "Chinatown shooting link to Norfolk". BBC News. 6 June 2003. Accessed 11 April 2011.
3. ^ "Diners stunned by Chinatown raids". BBC News. 11 October 2007. Accessed 11 April 2011.
4. ^ "Chinatown protest at police raid". 18 October 2007. Accessed 11 April 2011.
5. ^ Flikr image of blue plaque
6. ^ "Johnson & Reynolds - The Club". londonremembers.com. http://www.londonremembers.com/memorial/?id=577. 
7. ^ ch 26
8. ^ Chinatown London, Through the ages
9. ^ LondonTown.com | Gerrard Street Guide | Gerrard Street London, W1D, England, UK | London Streets by Street
10. ^ "Charing Cross Library." City of Westminster. Retrieved on 21 January 2009.
11. ^ "Westminster Chinese Library." City of Westminster. Retrieved on 21 January 2009.

Further reading

"London's first Chinatown". portcities.org.uk. Accessed 11 April 2011.

External links

• The official London Chinatown Chinese Association website
• The official Chinatown London website
• Reassessing what we collect website - Chinese London History of Chinese London with objects and images
• Chinatown Chinese Lion Dance

Coordinates: 51°30′40″N 0°07′53″W / 51.51111°N 0.13139°W / 51.51111; -0.13139