London's Chinatown is a commercial area predominantly by the Chinese community. It is in the Soho area within the City of Westminster. The closest Tube station (about 200 meters away from Chinatown) is Leicester Square. Gerrard Street is the center and the main street of London's Chinatown. Two ornamental Chinese arch gates, or Paifang, are located at the entrance and the end of the Gerrard Street. Even the famous English phone booths here incorporate some combinations of British and Chinese cultures- with the Chinese Pagoda-style sloping roofs.

The main reasons to see in London's Chinatown are the expressions of Chinese culture and the Eastern ambient, and of course for a delicious Chinese meal. In the Chinatown one can find many Chinese shops and some of the city's best Chinese restaurants (such as Wong Kei located on Wardour Street), although the quality and value vary enormously between individual restaurants. There are a couple of souvenir shops for tourists. The shops, including Chinese food markets and Chinese bookstores, of Chinatown primarily exist to serve the city's Chinese community.

The Chinese New Year festival in London is worth seeing, though Gerrard Street can get unbelievably crowded, as the dragon dancers pass along the street to collect goodies hung from windows above the shops. In recent years, the festival has expanded south into Leicester Square and Trafalgar Square to try to alleviate the congestion.

>>Click here or here to view the London Chinatown Maps
>>Click here to view the London Tube Map.
>>Click here to view the Map in Chinese.