''Chinatown is located on Van Wesenbekestraat a street in Antwerp,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

. Historically supporting the Chinese community that settled in Antwerp post-

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

, today Chinatown is well known for its pan-

Asia Asia (, ) is one of the world's most notable geographical regions, which is either considered a continent in its own right or a subcontinent of Eurasia, which shares the continental landmass of Afro-Eurasia with Africa. Asia covers an are ...

n atmosphere. The district houses an abundance of restaurants offering a variety of Asian cuisines such as Chinese, Japanese, Indian, Pakistani, Thai and Nepali. Pan-Asian organisations and businesses supporting the Chinese, Nepali, Indonesian and Filipino communities for example are found throughout the district and the biggest

Asian supermarket In the West or non-Asian countries, an Asian supermarket largely describes a category of grocery stores that focuses and stocks items and products imported from countries located in the Far East (e.g. East, Southeast and South Asia). These st ...

in the country (named ''Sun Wah'' which stocks items from China, Thailand, Japan, Korea, Philippines, Malaysia, Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia and India) is also found in Chinatown. A Buddhist temple and a

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes comp ...

for mastering

kungfu Chinese martial arts, often called by the umbrella terms kung fu (; ), kuoshu () or wushu (), are multiple fighting styles that have developed over the centuries in Greater China. These fighting styles are often classified according to common ...

are other commodities also found in the district. Chinese presence is still dominant. However, traders from Thailand, Nepal and other Asian countries have also settled in the district resulting in some dubbing it as Asiatown to reflect the changing demographics. Both at the entrance and the end of the street, two Chinese lions guard the street. A

paifang A ''paifang'', also known as a ''pailou'', is a traditional style of Chinese architectural arch or gateway structure. Evolved from the Indian subcontinent's ''torana'' through the introduction of Buddhism to China, it has developed many styles ...

known as the "Pagodepoort" (Pagoda Gate) was erected at the southern entrance to the street in 2010 after four years of planning.

Gallery

Antwerpen chinatown hanzi.JPG, Text "安市唐人街" in the corner of a Chinese lion Van Wesenbekestraat-zuid.JPG, The south side of the Van Wesenbekestraat before 2010 Van Wesenbekestraat-noord.JPG, The north side of the Van Wesenbekestraat wwwchinatown-antwerpenbe.jpg, Chinatown, Antwerp

References

Chinatowns in Europe Restaurant districts and streets Streets in Antwerp {{Antwerp-geo-stub