stone or bricks; the walls may be painted, or decorated with coloured tiles; the top of the archways is decorated like their wooden counterparts. Yet another form of paifang, built mainly on religious and burial grounds, consists of plain white stone pillars and beams, with neither roof tiles nor any coloured decoration, but feature elaborate carvings created by master masons. Another form is in the Han dynasty style, and is two matching towers, such as in Beihai. Outside of China, the paifang has long been the symbol of Chinatowns. The largest outside of China is in the United States: Friendship Archway at tall and wide, completed in 1986 at H and 7th in Washington D.C.'s Chinatown. In Europe, the largest paifang spans Nelson Street in Liverpool, completed in 2000 and standing tall. The first paifang in the United States was raised in 1915 as a temporary installation for the Chinese pavilion of the Panama–Pacific International Exposition in San Francisco, and the oldest still standing was erected in 1938 for Los Angeles, Chinatown West Gate on Hill Street; it was listed as a city Historic-Cultural Monument (#825) along with its counterpart, Chinatown East Gate (1939, #826) in November 2005. The paifang at the entrance to Ottawa's Chinatown was decorated by Chinese artists using Chinese materials and techniques. In the past, "Chastity Paifang" were given to widows who remained unmarried till death, praising what was seen as loyalty to their deceased husbands. Gallery Chinese paifang See also Chinatown gate Shanmen, gate of Chinese Buddhist temple Hongsalmun, in Korean architecture with both religious and other usage Iljumun, portal in Korean Buddhist temple architecture Tam quan, a Vietnamese style of traditional gateway Torana, a Hindu-Buddhist ceremonial arched gateway Torii, in Japanese Shinto shrine architecture References External links Types of gates Chinese words and phrases Architecture in China