One of Chinatown's most noticeable landmarks is the archway on Faulkner Street. The paifang, underneath which road traffic passes, was specially built in China and shipped over in three containers.[13] Construction commenced over Christmas 1986 and was completed by Easter 1987,[13] a year after the city of Manchester was twinned with Wuhan.[14] The structure was a gift from Manchester City Council to the Chinese community,[15] and is adorned with dragons and phoenixes.

After many years exposed to the elements, the arch required restoration work to be undertaken; netting was wrapped around a part of the structure to prevent further tiles from dislodging.[15] The Manchester Chinatown Community Group undertook a series of charity events, including a dry land dragon boat race in June 2012.[15] In early 2013 the archway was repaired by Manchester and Cheshire Construction Company.[13]

Another Chinatown landmark is the Guardian telephone exchange. The building is now owned by BT and used for communications work, though it was constructed for an entirely different usage. The building lies atop an underground bunker, constructed between 1949 and 1954 and paid for by NATO. The bunker was a fallout shelter designed to protect officials in the event of an atomic bomb and features over four miles of tunnels. The media were banned from revealing the bunker's existence until 1967 and it was built by Polish workers who could not speak English.[16]

Chinatown has a number of listed buildings, including 55 Faulkner Street, Manchester.