Liverpool's Chinatown, centred on Nelson Street and Berry Street just south of the city centre, is the oldest established Chinese community in Europe — dating back to the 1860s when Alfred Holt's Blue Funnel Line ran regular steamers to Hong Kong and Shanghai. Today it is a small but lively district of restaurants, supermarkets, traditional medicine shops and community organisations.
The ornamental paifang arch at the entrance to Nelson Street, erected in 2000, is the largest of its kind outside China — 15 metres tall, made in Shanghai and gifted by Liverpool's twin city. The district has eaten in noodle shops and dim sum restaurants worth seeking out, and is a 10-minute walk south from Liverpool ONE.