British Chinese
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2008-07-15T21:15:05Z
Evahgren
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{{infobox ethnic group
|group=British Chinese
|image =
|caption =
|poptime = [[Circa|c.]] 500,000 (2008)<ref>[http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=14238 National Statistics England Estimates]</ref><br><small>0.8% of the UK's population</small>
{{Collapsible list
|title =Census figures
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|title_style =
|list_style = text-align:left;display:none;
|1 = 247,403 (2001 Census)<ref>[http://www.statistics.gov.uk/census/default.asp National Statistics 2001 Census]</ref> for UK
|2 = 255,300 (2002)<ref>[http://www.statistics.gov.uk/StatBase/Product.asp?vlnk=14238 National Statistics England Estimates]</ref> for England
|3 = 285,800 (2003) for England
|4 = 315,000 (2004) for England
|5 = 347,000 (2005) for England
|6 = 391,000 (2006) for England
|7 = 429,900 (2007) for England
|8 = 468,800 (2008) for England
}}
|popplace = [[London]], [[Manchester]], [[Birmingham]], [[Brighton]], [[Liverpool]], [[Glasgow]], [[Sheffield]]
|langs = [[British English language|British English]], [[Chinese language|Chinese]] (regional dialects including [[Standard Cantonese|Cantonese]], [[Hakka (linguistics)|Hakka]] and others; [[Standard Mandarin|Mandarin]])
|rels = [[Non-religious]], [[Buddhism]], [[Christianity]], others
|related = Other [[Han Chinese]], [[Overseas Chinese]]}}
{{Chinese|s=英国华侨|t=英國華僑|p=''yīng guó huá qiáo''|j=''ying1 gwok3 waa4 kiu4''|h=''---''|altname=Alternate name|s2=英国华裔|t2=英國華裔|p2=''yīng guó huá yì''|j2=''ying1 gwok3 waa4 yeoi6''|h2=''---''}}
'''British Chinese''', including '''British-born Chinese''' (often informally referred to as '''BBC'''), are people of [[Han Chinese|Chinese]] ancestry who were born in or have migrated to the [[United Kingdom]]. They are part of the [[Chinese diaspora]], or [[overseas Chinese]]. The British Chinese community is thought to be the oldest Chinese community in [[Western Europe]], if not the oldest in [[Europe]], with the first Chinese coming from the ports of [[Tianjin]] and [[Shanghai]] in the early 19th century.
Today, many Chinese families and communities have been in Britain for several generations. These communities have an active ethnic life with many activities and support networks for members, but have also integrated into the British community at large. Compared to most ethnic minorities in the UK, the Chinese tend to be more widespread and decentralised, with a record of high academic achievement, and have one of the highest inter-ethnic marriage rates in the country. Since the largest wave of immigration since the 1950 to 1960s, the Chinese community has made rapid [[socio-economic]] advancement in Britain over the course of [[generation|one generation]], although there still exists an occupational segregation of the Chinese in the [[labour market]], where there exists a valuable source of qualified Chinese labour currently engaged in the ethnic niche, particularly the [[Chinese cuisine|Chinese]] [[catering]] industry, which it has been suggested could be better utilized in the wider labour market.<ref>Pang M.; Lau A. "The Chinese in Britain: working towards success?" ''International Journal of Human Resource Management'', Volume 9, Number 5, 1 October 1998 , pp. 862-874(13)</ref> Immigrants have typically worked in the [[catering]], [[hotel]] and [[laundry]] industries.
Most of the British Chinese are people or are descended from people who were themselves overseas Chinese when they came to the United Kingdom. The majority are from former [[British colonies]], such as [[Hong Kong]], [[Malaysia]], [[Singapore]], [[Canada]], [[Australia]] and [[New Zealand]], and also other countries such as [[Vietnam]]. People from [[mainland China]] and [[Taiwan]] and their descendants constitute a relatively minor proportion of the British Chinese community. There are Chinese communities in many major cities including [[London]], [[Birmingham]], [[Manchester]], [[Liverpool]], [[Newcastle Upon Tyne|Newcastle]], [[Sheffield]], [[Belfast]] and [[Aberdeen]]. The Chinese community is the fastest growing non-European ethnic group in the UK, with 11.2% annual growth adding approximately 120,000 to the 2001 estimate of 230,000 by 2005. More than 90% of this growth was contributed by [[net migration]].<ref>[http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_population/PEEGCommentary.pdf Population Estimates by Ethnic Group: 2001 to 2005: Commentary]</ref> The majority of Chinese immigrants have not traditionally integrated into mainstream society, because they have not planned on staying in the country, and, of linguistic barriers. However, as the population has expanded, descendants of the original immigrants have begun to bridge the gap between Chinese and British culture.
==History==
The first recorded Chinese person in Britain was a [[Jesuit]] scholar called [[Shen Fu Tsong]] who was present in the court of King [[James II of England|James II]] in the 17th century. Shen was the first person to catalogue the Chinese collection in the [[Bodleian Library]]. The King was so taken with him he had his portrait painted and hung in his bed chamber. The portrait of Shen hangs in the Queen's collection.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/chinese_in_britain1.shtml BBC - Radio 4 - Chinese in Britain]</ref><ref>''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Shen Fuzong (c.1658–1691), Robert K. Batchelor.</ref>
In the 1750s to 1800s, the British [[aristocracy]] developed a passion for [[Chinoiserie]], which affected not only furniture and ornaments; upper-class gentlemen also enjoyed dressing up in dragon and mandarin robes on festive occasions and ladies endeavoured to procure Chinese boys as pages or pets.<ref>Clegg, J. SiYu magazine Feb/March 1988</ref>
The first settlement of [[China|Chinese]] people in the United Kingdom dates from the early 19th century. Settlements, in particular, were [[port]] cities of [[Liverpool]] and [[London]] - this was because many of the Chinese settlers were originally [[seamen]] and so naturally gravitated to the port areas; particularly the [[Limehouse]] area in [[East London, England|East London]], where the first [[Chinatown]] was established in [[United Kingdom|Britain]] and [[Europe]].
The East India Company, which was importing popular Chinese commodities such as tea, ceramics and silks and bringing Asian sailors too, needed trustworthy intermediaries to arrange the sailors' care and lodgings while they were in London.<ref>A South Asian History of Britain: Four Centuries of Peoples from the Indian Subcontinent, Michael Fisher, Shompa Lahiri and Shinder Thandi. London: Greenwood Press, May 2007. </ref>
A Chinese seaman known to historians only as John Anthony took on this lucrative role looking after Chinese sailors for the East India Shipping Company in the late 18th, early 19th century. By 1805, Anthony had amassed both the fortune and the influence to become the first Chinese man to be naturalised as a British citizen – something which was so rare it actually required an [[Act of Parliament]].<ref>The Gentleman’s Magazine, August 1805 - obituary of John Anthony</ref>
British shipping companies first started employing Chinese sailors during the [[Napoleonic Wars]] (1803-1815) to replace the British sailors who had been called up to the navy. They soon discovered that they were cheaper, did not get drunk and were easier to command. Conditions aboard ship appalled Lee Cheong, for instance, when he visited his father's quarters: "The smell ... I remember the smell and the incredibly cramped conditions. I remember going down below, rows and rows of bunks, knapsacks and all sorts of junk stuffed in every nook and cranny ... lots and lots of people milling around. I couldn’t think of anything worse than those sorts of conditions."
With the advent of steam in the 1860s, the recruitment of Chinese seamen increased on the trading routes from the [[Far East]].
In 1865, the first direct [[steamship]] service from Europe to China was established in [[Liverpool]] by Alfred and Philip Holt's [[Blue Funnel Line]], using cheap Chinese crews.
The first Chinese student to graduate from a British university was a young man called Wong Fun who received his [[Doctor of Medicine|MD]] in 1855 from [[Edinburgh University|Edinburgh]]. He marked the beginning of a steady flow of students from China, encouraged by educational reformer [[Zhang Zhidong]] who believed Western learning was needed to reverse China's fortunes and help it to catch up with the rest of the world. Many Chinese graduates did indeed return to make a significant contribution to their country, but some stayed. <ref>Western Learning for Practical Application Chinese Students in Scotland 1850- 1950, Dr Ian Wotherspoon in SINE (Journal of the Scotland-China Association), Issue 2/2004, Scotland-China Association, Edinburgh</ref>
In 1877, Kuo Sung-tao, the first Chinese minister to Britain, opened its [[legation]] in London, and in 1882, Wu Tin Fang became the first Chinese student to be admitted to the [[bar association|bar]] in London. In the mid-1880s Chinatowns started to grow up in London and Liverpool with grocery stores, eating houses, meeting places and, in the [[East End]], Chinese street names. In 1891, the Census recorded 582 Chinese-born residents in Britain, though this dropped to 387 Chinese-born residents in 1896. 80% were single males between 20 and 35, the majority being [[seamen]].
By 1890 there were two distinct, if small, Chinese communities living in [[East London]]. The Chinese from [[Shanghai]] were settled around Pennyfields, Amoy Place and Ming Street (in [[Poplar, London|Poplar]]) and those from [[Guangzhou|Canton]] and [[Southern China]] lived around Gill Street and [[Limehouse]] Causeway. There was much prejudice against the East End Chinese community largely due to exaggerated reports of [[gambling]] and [[opium den]]s. This may have been true of some, but for the majority of Chinese people, life consisted of hard work in the [[London Docklands]], struggling to save for a passage for the return voyage to the [[Far East]].<ref>[http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=46475 Pennyfields] British History Online</ref> Like much of the [[East End of London|East End]] it remained a focus for [[immigration]], but after the devastation of the [[Second World War]] many of the Chinese community relocated to [[Chinatown, London|Soho]].<ref>[http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.127/chapterId/2614/Chinese-in-the-Port-of-London.html Port Cities: London's First Chinatown] accessed 29 May 2007</ref><ref>[http://www.portcities.org.uk/london/server/show/ConNarrative.96/chapterId/2682/The-port-in-literature.html 'Chinatown' literature] accessed 10 May 2007</ref>
From the 1890s the Chinese community in the East End grew in size and spread eastwards, from the original settlement in Limehouse Causeway, into Pennyfields. The area provided for the [[Lascar]], Chinese and Japanese sailors working the [[Orient]]al routes into the [[Port of London]]. The main attractions for these men were the opium dens, hidden behind shops in [[Limehouse]] and [[Poplar]], and also the availability of prostitutes, Chinese grocers, restaurants and seamen's lodging-houses. Hostility from British sailors and the inability of many Chinese to speak English fostered a distinct [[racial segregation]] and concentrated more and more Chinese into Pennyfields. Gradually the drab shops of Pennyfields were transformed into Chinese [[Emporium|emporia]] and their colourful interiors became an exotic contrast to the grey streets of Poplar. Quote: "The Chinese shops are the quaintest places imaginable. Their walls decorated with red and orange papers, covered with Chinese writing indicating the "chop" or style of the firm, or some such announcement. There is also sure to be a map of China and a hanging [[Tung shing|Chinese Almanac]]."<ref>J. Platt, 'Chinese London and its Opium Dens', Gentleman's Magazine, vol.279, 1895, pp.274–82.</ref>
The heady smells of burning opium, joss-sticks and tobacco smoked through the hubble-bubble, produced an atmosphere much sought after by the literary and artistic [[coterie]] of [[fin-de-siècle]] London. Pennyfields became a 'sight' for [[West End]] society. From the 1890s until the 1920s, parties regularly went east at night, expecting to find the unusual and morally degenerate in Pennyfields. Instead they found a commonplace street. The Pennyfields of legend was always more exciting than that of reality. But it was different from the rest of Poplar: 'In the darkness of Pennyfields dark faced men are passing. Over the restaurants and shops are Chinese names.'<ref>E.S. Pankhurst, 'From Piccadilly to Poplar', Workers Dreadnaught, vol.XI no.8, 10 May 1924.</ref>
In 1901, the first Chinese [[laundry]] opened in [[Poplar]], and it was immediately stoned by a hostile xenophobic crowd. The [[Trades Union Congress]] (TUC), concerned about the importation of Chinese labour into the [[Mining in South Africa|South African gold mines]], suggested that the mine-owners and the [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative government]] were "preventing [[South Africa]] becoming a white man's country". Also during that time, the first report on the Chinese in Britain was produced by [[Liverpool City Council]] amidst concern over Chinese marrying English wives, gambling and opium taking. [[Merseyside Police|Liverpool]]'s [[Chief Constable]], however, expressed the view that the resident Chinese were 'quiet, inoffensive and industrious people'.
In 1907, the first opening of a Chinese restaurant in London was recorded. By 1918 the number of Chinese living in Pennyfields, Poplar totalled 182; all were men, nine of them had English wives.<ref>29. THLHL, Pennyfields Application for Ration Books 1918.</ref> At its maximum size during the 1930s, Chinatown (which included Limehouse Causeway) consisted of 5,000 persons, many of whom were sailors. A few Chinese remained in Pennyfields until the demolition of the street after 1960.<ref>GLRO, LRB, Property Services Dept, Register of Property 3780/3, 4, 11, 45, 50, 51.</ref> As early as the 1920s, many of the houses occupied by the Chinese were described as 'very old and in many cases extremely dilapidated externally'. Internally most were clean, uncrowded, vermin-free and less susceptible to infectious disease than their English neighbours.<ref>PBC Mins, 1920, p.302.</ref>
In 1908, many crowds of angry British seamen, opposed to the cheap Chinese crews, prevented Chinese seamen from signing on ships; and the Chinese had to return to their boarding houses under police escort to avoid molestation. In response to the general increase in hostility, from around 1900–1910, Chinese [[Benefit society|Mutual aid (or Benevolent) associations]] were being set up in London and Liverpool. In contrast to the semi-mythical [[Hui (secret society)|Chinese (Masonic) secret societies]], these associations looked after the interests of their members, arranged burials and assisted in cases of exploitation. (See also [[Tiandihui]], [[Triad society]] and [[Triads in the United Kingdom]].)
In 1911, the Census recorded 1,319 Chinese-born residents in Britain and 4,595 seamen of Chinese origin serving in the [[British Merchant Navy]]. Also during this time China was going through domestic and international turmoil as the [[Republic of China]] was established with the overthrow of the [[Manchu]] [[Qing dynasty]].
As more Chinese seamen began to settle in the ports of London and Liverpool, a powerful set of myths began to develop about "Chinatown". The 1913 publication of the first [[Sax Rohmer]] novels about the evil genius Dr [[Fu Manchu]] kick-started a near-hysterical interest in London's [[Limehouse]], turning it from a few drab streets of shops and restaurants to the most infamous patch of land in Britain - which supposedly harboured cunning "Chinamen" who lured white women into their opium dens. This exotic netherworld was featured in countless novels, films and songs and put the stereotype of the Chinese as inscrutable criminals firmly at the heart of western popular culture.<ref>Limehouse Blues: Looking for Chinatown in the London Docks,1900-1940, Dr John Seed.History Workshop Journal, No. 62 (Autumn 2006), pp.58-85</ref>
During the Cardiff riots of 1911, every one of the city's 30 Chinese laundries was attacked.
In 1916, the [[British Government]] abandoned plans to introduce several hundred thousand Chinese labourers into Britain as [[trade union]] leaders protested that such a project would have had 'calamitous effects on the [[standard of life]]'.
In 1917, 1,083 Chinese left [[Shandong]] on a British ship bound for [[Le Havre]], as the first group of a total of nearly 100,000 recruited to unload munitions and supplies in [[France]] for the [[Allies of World War I|Allied effort]] in [[World War I]] (see the article on the [[Chinese French|Chinese in France]] for more details).
In 1919, after World War I ended, the [[Aliens Restriction Act]] was extended to peacetime, bringing about a decline in the Chinese population in Britain. The Zhong Shan Mutual Aid Workers Club was established, offering a meeting place free from ridicule and humiliation by the English. It aimed to unite the [[overseas Chinese]] in Britain, to improve their working conditions and to look after their [[welfare]].<ref>[http://www.20thcenturylondon.org.uk/server.php?show=conInformationRecord.35 Aliens Acts 1905 and 1919 - Exploring 20th Century London]</ref> Also in 1919, the [[Cheung]] [[Chinese clan|clansmen]] founded a [[limited liability company]] controlling a group of successful restaurants - which was the first step in a new trend. The 1921 census figures put the Chinese-born resident population at 2,419, including 547 laundrymen, 455 seamen and 26 restaurant workers.
In the early 1920s, many of the Crescent Moon literary group spent time in British universities, for example poet [[Xu Zhimo]] (1896-1931) the romantic Chinese poet who stayed at Cambridge, and essayist [[Chen Xiying]], who studied at the LSE.
In 1925, the [[Kuomintang|KMT]] sent a representative to London, who established a close relationship with the Zhong Shan Workers Club to gain their support. Also in 1925–1926 the Canton-Hong Kong strike occurred involving 250,000 people, including Chinese who were based in the UK, following the massacre of workers in [[Shanghai]] by the British. Effects of the immigration regulations were felt in Liverpool's Chinatown as the local press reported in 1927 that 'the whole Chinese quarter has a dying atmosphere'.
The 1931 Census showed a drop to 1,934 Chinese residents. There were over 500 Chinese laundries established in Britain; and there were two to three Chinese restaurants open in [[Soho]] catering for the British clientele of the [[West End theatre]] crowds. In 1935, the first Chinese school - the Zhonghua Middle School - was established in Middlefields, [[Ealing]] with thirty students. In 1937 at the beginning of [[World War II]], [[Second Sino-Japanese War|Japan attacked China]], which led to the China Campaign Committee to be set up in Britain with the support of Chinese students, Chinese intellectuals such as Professor GH Wang, researching at the [[London School of Economics]] (LSE), and by the Chinese communities in London, Liverpool and Manchester. In 1938, two attempts to load a cargo of iron for Japanese munitions were defeated by dockers in [[Teesside]] and London and Chinese seamen who refused to sign on the Japanese ship, despite [[bribery|bribes]]. Also in that year, 'China Week' and 'China Sunday', supported by the [[Archbishop of York]] and other Church leaders as well as the Chinese communities in Britain, raised funds for the International Peace Hospital in [[Yenan]].<ref>T. A. Raman and Anup Singh China's International Peace Hospitals. ''Far Eastern Survey'', Vol. 12, No. 8 (Apr. 19, 1943), pp. 79-81.</ref>
In 1939, with the outbreak of the Second World War in Europe, the Chinese Merchant Seamen's Pool of approximately 20,000 was established with its headquarters in Liverpool. These men manned the [[oil tanker|oil-tankers]] on the dangerous Atlantic run. In 1940, there was protest against the closure of the [[Burma Road]] by the British Government, with the China Campaign Committee and Chinese students, including especially K.C. Lim and Kenneth Lo, being active in organising a petition of 1.5 million signatures.
During both [[world wars]], hundreds of thousands of Chinese seamen and workers were recruited and many hundreds were killed and injured aboard British ships, including those torpedoed by German submarines. A Chinese seaman called Poon Lim set the world record of 133 days for survival on a wooden raft after his ship was sunk by a German [[U-boat]] in 1942. <ref>''Sole Survivor: A Story of Record Endurance at Sea'', Ruthanne Lum McCunn (Scholastic NY 1996) The fictionalised account of the Chinese seaman Poon Lim, whose British merchant ship was torpedoed by German submarines in 1942. His 133 days of survival on a wooden raft is still the longest recorded survival story in modern history. </ref>
Despite such risks, Chinese seamen were treated far worse, with less pay and rights than their British counterparts. A London meeting of Chinese seamen launched a campaign, eventually successful, to win a wartime danger bonus for Chinese seamen equal to that granted to British seamen.
But after the Second World War was over, the Government and the shipping companies colluded to forcibly repatriate thousands of Chinese seamen; with the [[Blue Funnel Line]] sacking all of its Chinese crews. Many of those left behind wives and children they would never see again. More than 50 years later in 2006, a memorial plaque in remembrance for those Chinese seamen was erected on Liverpool's [[Pier Head]].<ref>Yvonne Foley has set up [http://www.halfandhalf.org.uk/ Half and Half], a network for families of Chinese seamen who were repatriated after the Second World War.</ref><ref>Chinese Liverpudlians: A history of the Chinese Community in Liverpool, by Maria Lin Wong. Liver Press, 1989.</ref>
===Post-World War II===
The 1951 Census recorded a big increase in Britain's Chinese population, then standing at 12,523, of whom over 4,000 were from [[Malaysia]], and including 3,459 single males from Hong Kong. The influx of Chinese into Britain coincided with the increased pressure in Hong Kong due to the build-up of the huge numbers of refugees streaming in from the mainland following the end of the [[Chinese Civil War]]. At the time, nearly 100 Chinese restaurants were open, as former embassy staff and ex-seamen found a [[niche]] in this trade. Records showed [[remittances]] to Hong Kong of [[HK$]] 2.5 million.
The largest wave of Chinese immigration took place during the 1950s and 1960s and consisted predominantly of male agricultural labourers from [[Hong Kong]], particularly from the rural villages of the [[New Territories]]. This also included immigration, through Hong Kong, from the surrounding [[Guangdong]] province in [[mainland China]]. The majority of these Chinese men were employed in the then growing Chinese [[catering]] industry. Chinese-run [[laundry]] businesses were the other major source of employment for the Chinese, but it was a declining industry and Chinese-run laundries are today non-existent. By 2004 for comparison, according to official figures, just under half of Chinese men and 40% of Chinese women in employment worked in the distribution, hotel and restaurant industry.<ref> [http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_compendia/foe2004/Ethnicity.pdf National Statistics 2004]</ref>
In 1961, the Census recorded Britain's Chinese population at 38,750, with a fivefold increase in Hong Kong-born residents in London. The Association of Chinese Restaurateurs was formed to maintain the good reputation of the Chinese catering business and to organise recruitment from the [[New Territories]].
Since the [[Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962]], restrictions were placed on [[immigration]] from current and former [[British colonies]], and these were tightened by successive governments. The Immigration act included a voucher system and significant Chinese migration to Britain did still continue by relatives of already settled Chinese and by those qualified for skilled jobs, until the end of the 1970s. Today, a significant proportion of British Chinese are second or third generation descendants of these post-[[World War II]] immigrants. Approximately 30,000 workers from the New Territories were resident in Britain in 1962 and records showed remittances at HK$ 40 million. Ninety-six wives from Hong Kong joined their husbands in Britain in the beginning of that year, indicating a new phase from 'sojourning' to family reunion and a more settled life.
In 1963, Soho's Chinatown finally took over from the [[East End]] as the Zhongshan Workers' Club opened in the [[West End]], showing films and running classes. The first [[Chinese New Year]] celebrations were held in [[Gerrard Street]]. The Overseas Chinese Service opened the first specialised agency to assist the Chinese in dealing with the host society by offering a translation and interpreting service.
In 1971, the Census recorded Britain's Chinese population at 96,030, more than doubling in ten years.
By now, nearly every small town and suburb in the UK had its own Chinese restaurant. Out of the 4,000 Chinese owned businesses, about 1,400 were restaurants, indicating that as the market for restaurant trade reached saturation, the [[takeaway]] trade had already taken off.
In 1976, Britain's Chinese population included approximately 6,000 full-time students and 2,000 nurses. The <span class="plainlinks">[http://www.ccc.org.uk/ Chinese Community Centre]</span> opened in [[Gerrard Street]] with [[Urban Aid]] funding to deal with the problems experienced by the Chinese community.
In [[Northern Ireland]], the first ethnic minority to arrive in significant numbers was the Chinese in the seventies. There are 4,200 speakers of the language (as of 2004)<ref>[http://www.publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm200304/cmhansrd/vo040120/text/40120w13.htm House of Commons Hansard Written Answers for 20 Jan 2004 (pt 13)]</ref> and although this is dwarfed by the numbers claiming to be able to speak [[Irish language|Irish]] and [[Ulster Scots language|Ulster Scots]], it was said for many years that [[Mandarin Chinese]] was the second most widely spoken "first language" in Northern Ireland after [[English language|English]]. Chinese people first arrived in Northern Ireland in the 1960s. Chinese is the largest non-native restaurant genre in Northern Ireland, as many of the initial immigrants set up food outlets in order to make a living.
In 1980, in what was considered a media breakthrough, [[David Yip]] starred as the main character in the popular [[TV series]], ''[[The Chinese Detective]]''.
The 1981 [[British Nationality Act 1981|British Nationality Act]] deprived Hong Kong British [[passport]] holders of the [[right of abode]] in the United Kingdom, an issue that caused some controversy in the years leading up to the [[Transfer of the sovereignty of Hong Kong|territory's handover]] to [[People's Republic of China|China]] in 1997. After the [[Tiananmen Square protests of 1989]], it was considered necessary to devise a [[British Nationality Selection Scheme]] to enable some of the population to obtain [[British citizen]]ship to maintain confidence in Hong Kong and to counteract the effects of the [[emigration]] of many of its most talented residents. The United Kingdom made provision to grant citizenship to 50,000 families, whose presence was important to the future of Hong Kong, under the British Nationality Act (Hong Kong) 1990. See also ''[[British nationality law]]'' and ''[[British nationality law and Hong Kong]]''.
In 1981, the Census recorded Britain's Chinese population as 154,363. Thirty-five Chinese-language newspapers and 362 periodicals were on sale from seven bookshops in [[Soho]]. ''[[Sing Tao]]'' itself had a circulation of 10,000 in Britain. The Chinese population now numbered the elderly, and 30,000 children in British schools. Of these, 75 percent were born in the country, representing a new phase of settlement.
In 1982, the Merseyside Chinese Community Services opened the 'Pagoda of Hundred Harmony', an advice centre built with the help of an Urban Aid grant. In 1983, the <span class="plainlinks">[http://www.ciac.co.uk/ Chinese Information and Advice Centre]</span> (CIAC), an amalgamation of the Chinese Workers Group (1975) and the Chinese Action Group (1980) received [[Greater London Council]] (GLC) funding for a centre. Sixty Chinese associations, including women's groups and old people's clubs, were affiliated to two national umbrella organisations. There were approximately 7,000 restaurants, takeaways and other Chinese owned businesses, indicating a slow-down in the rate of growth. There were 926 students attending the Chinese Chamber of Commerce Mother Tongue School, which ran classes up to [[O-level]] standard.
The most significant migration from [[People's Republic of China|mainland China]] commenced mainly from the mid-1980s onward. This coincided with the [[Government of the People's Republic of China|Chinese government]]'s relaxed restrictions on emigration, although most left for the [[United States]], [[Canada]] and [[Australia]].
{{seealso|Chinese immigration to the United States|History of Chinese immigration to Canada|Chinese Australian}}
In 1984-85, the British and Chinese governments signed the Draft Agreement on the [[return of Hong Kong]] to China in 1997. Construction was also begun of Manchester's Chinatown archway which has since been the largest in Europe, and was completed in 1987. The [[House of Commons of the United Kingdom|House of Commons]] [[Home Affairs Select Committee|Home Affairs Committee]] report identified five main problems faced by the Chinese in Britain. Recommendations included more language training, careers advice, community centres, and interpretation and advice services. Over 50 percent of the Chinese population was under 30; 50 percent lived outside the large metropolitan areas; only 2 percent were professionals, which included doctors, solicitors, architects, bankers, stockbrokers, business executives, teachers and university lecturers.
In 1986, ''<span class="plainlinks">[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091756/ Ping Pong]</span>'', the first Chinese film from the Chinese community in Britain, opened in London. Directed by the British-born director <span class="plainlinks">[http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0502987/ Po-Chi Leong]</span>, who had directed several features in Hong Kong, the film was a rich, lively tale set in London's Chinatown. It had a largely unknown cast and dealt with traditional Chinese themes of family responsibility and duty. In 1987, Manchester's Chinatown Archway, the largest in Europe, was completed, marking co-operation between the government of China, [[Manchester City Council]] and the local Chinese community.
As China became wealthier during the 1990s, Chinese parents increasingly sent their children to study in the UK and elsewhere. An estimated 80,000 Chinese students attended UK universities in the academic year of 2004-05.
Small numbers of unskilled migrants from China's regions sought employment in the UK from the early 1990s. In recent years, there has been an increase in illegal [[economic migrant|immigrants]] coming from [[mainland China]] and other countries into the United Kingdom, some of whom pay people traffickers (so-called "[[snakehead (gang)|snakeheads]]") to smuggle them into many Western countries. Due to historical and cultural reasons, a sizeable proportion originate from [[Fujian]] province in southeast China. Others are citizens from the Commonwealth countries (mostly former [[British colonies]]), who have been able to obtain tourist or student visas and remain in the UK after their visas have expired. Most work in the [[black economy]] or are employed as illegal cheap labour, usually in [[agriculture]] and [[catering]]. This activity became publicised nationwide in tragic consequences in the form of the [[2004 Morecambe Bay cockling disaster]], though most migrants have remained invisible.
In April 2001, in what was one of the largest demonstrations by the Chinese community with around 1,000 people protesting in [[London]] against media reports that [[Chinese restaurant]]s had started the [[2001 United Kingdom foot-and-mouth crisis]] by using diseased meat. Within weeks, a Chinese community monitoring group reported that trade at restaurants and takeaways had plummeted because an unsubstantiated rumour had become a scare story labelling an entire community as "dirty". Following the march, the then [[Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food|Agriculture Secretary]] [[Nick Brown]] publicly denied that the rumours had begun in his department and described the controversy as a "racist attack" on the Chinese community.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/uk/2002/race/chinese_britain.stm Chinese Britain] BBC News Online</ref> As of 2001, there were about 12,000 Chinese takeaways and 3,000 Chinese restaurants in the UK.<ref>[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/1279031.stm Chinese restaurant 'not disease source']</ref>
===Communities===
[[Image:ChinatownLiverpool20041231 CopyrightKaihsuTai.jpg|350px|right|thumb|Duke Street, Liverpool]]
From the beginning of Chinese settlement in the ports of London and Liverpool, there were no Chinatowns but communities of mixed families. Because few Chinese women were able to come to Britain, Chinese seamen set up home with local women. Many did not actually marry because that meant the woman could lose her British citizenship and would become an alien, with resulting restrictions on travel and benefits. The children of such unions often faced discrimination when it came to finding jobs. Many followed the example of Yorkshire-born Harry Cheong who had an exemplary army record during the Second World War, including fighting in Burma for which he was mentioned in dispatches. But on leaving the army he had to change his surname to get a job interview and has since lived as Harry Dewar. Such name changes have meant much Chinese history in Britain is now difficult to trace. Notable people who had Chinese fathers and English mothers include footballer [[Frank Soo|Hong Y "Frank" Soo]], who played for [[Stoke City]] (1933–1945) and [[Leslie Charteris]] who wrote ''[[The Saint]]'' books that were made into the successful 60's TV series.<ref>[http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/chinese_in_britain7.shtml]</ref>
====Liverpool====
The first presence of Chinese people in [[Liverpool]] dated back to the early 19th century, with the main influx arriving at the end of the 19th century. This was in part due to the [[Alfred Holt and Company]] establishing the first [[Commerce|commercial]] [[shipping line]] to focus on the then [[China trade]]. From the 1890s onwards, small numbers of Chinese began to set up businesses catering to the Chinese sailors working on Holt's lines and others. Some of these men married [[working class]] British women, resulting in a number of British-born [[Eurasian]] Chinese being born during [[World War II]] in Liverpool. At the beginning of the War, there were up to 20,000 Chinese mariners in the city. In 1942, there was a strike for [[human rights|rights]] and pay equal to that of [[White British|white]] mariners. The strike had lasted for 4 months. For the duration of the War these men were labelled as "troublemakers" by the shipowners and the [[British Government]]. At the end of the conflict, they were forbidden shore jobs, their pay was cut by two-thirds and they were offered only one-way voyages back to China. Hundreds of men were forced to leave their families, with many of their Eurasian children continuing to live in and around Liverpool's Chinatown to this day.<ref>[http://www.halfandhalf.org.uk Liverpool and its Chinese Seaman]</ref> See [http://www.halfandhalf.org.uk].
====Sheffield====
Sheffield has no official Chinatown although [[London Road]], [[Highfield]] is the centre of the Sheffield Chinese community. There are many Chinese restaurants, supermarkets and community stores and home of the Sheffield Chinese Community Centre. The Sheffield Chinese community is pressing for the street to be formally labelled Sheffield's Chinatown. The Chinese community in Sheffield is also spreading toward the [[Sheffield City Centre|city centre]], with a notable number of Chinese people, greatly influenced by the city's university, which has the largest number of Chinese in the country.
====London====
[[Image:Chinatown.london.700px.jpg|250px|thumb|[[London Chinatown]]]]
Britain began trading with China in the 17th century and a small community of Chinese sailors grew up around [[Limehouse]] over the next two centuries. From the early 20th century, restaurants and laundries dominated this dockside Chinatown. However, due to heavy bomb damage, the area was demolished after [[World War II]]. The Chinese established a new and larger Chinatown in [[Soho]]. Many immigrants found employment in its restaurants during the 1960s and it is now a flourishing Chinese community in the heart of London.
The history of Chinese migration to London can be traced to the early 15th century, when the [[Ming Dynasty|Ming Emperors of China]] sent out a series of fleets, many under the command of the Admiral [[Zheng He]]. These fleets consisted of the largest ships built anywhere in the world at the time. Their missions were to voyage throughout the [[Far East]], and across the [[Indian Ocean]] to [[India]], the [[Red Sea]] and the [[East Africa|East coast of Africa]].
The Chinese communities of [[Southeast Asia]], especially those of [[Thailand]], [[Indonesia]], [[Malaysia]] and the [[Philippines]], are thought to date from this period. The arrival of the first Chinese seamen in London was linked to the growth of British trade with China and Southeast Asia, especially during the 18th and 19th centuries. Chinese sailors had reached London on board East India Company ships by 1782. This small group lived around Pennyfields and Limehouse Causeway near the docks.
As the activities of the most important commercial association in the world at that time, the [[Honourable East India Company|East India Company]], expanded, China became a hugely important and profitable market. In the mid 18th century imported Chinese products became fashionable, particularly [[Chinese ceramics|porcelain]]. Tea dominated the Anglo-Chinese trade as it quickly became an English habit and its consumption grew in Britain, but there was nothing comparable that the Chinese wished to buy from the British.
The Company began to export [[opium]] from India to China, selling the drug to raise the money to buy shipments of tea. This was against the law and angered China's authorities. In 1839, [[Opium Wars|war]] broke out between Britain and China over the opium trade. Britain defeated China and under the terms of the [[Treaty of Nanking]] in 1842, [[Hong Kong]] became a British colony.
In 1857, the [[Second Opium War]] resulted in the [[unequal Treaties]] [[Treaties of Tianjin|of Tianjin]] which included a clause allowing Britain and France to recruit Chinese to the [[British Colonies]], North and South America and Australia as cheap labour ("[[Coolies]]") following the cessation of the [[slave trade]].
Forced to pay for defeat in these and other colonial wars, impoverished Chinese people were driven abroad where they were often treated with suspicion, hostility and even violence. Cheap labour was often used as a pretext by British employers against demands for higher wages, and Chinese people became targets for frustrated British seamen. For example, the Ebbw Vale Company threatened to import cheap Chinese labour from [[Nevada]] to break a strike of their workers in [[Wales]]. Yet frequently the community did organise itself to better its conditions. The record of British people is not all negative either - but for the most part it was only a minority who did speak out and join with Chinese people to fight these injustices.<ref>[http://www.sacu.org/britishchinese.html The Chinese in Britain] This is a historical article from an early issue of China Now magazine. Jenny Clegg tells the story of Britain's Chinese community and their hosts' ambivalent reaction. Abridged from SiYu magazine Feb/March 1988.</ref>
Chinese sailers were employed as [[Lascar]]s on [[Honourable East India Company|East India Company]] ships. Most Chinese seamen were engaged in the 'country trade' between China and the main Indian ports. Some did make it to London on East Indiamen. Later in the 19th century as more ships - especially the fast tea [[clipper]]s - sailed directly from China to Britain, the number of Chinese sailors in the port increased. There was even a visit to London by a [[Chinese junk]]. The ''Keying'' reached [[Gravesend]] on [[28 March]] [[1848]], after sailing from [[Guangzhou|Canton]] to [[New York City|New York]]. This was the first Chinese vessel to enter the [[Port of London]]. [[Queen Victoria]] boarded it while moored in the River [[Thames]].
For those Chinese who were left destitute in [[East London]] there was some hope that they would be accepted into the Strangers' Home for Asiatics, Africans and South Sea Islanders. This place of safety was opened in 1857 in [[West India Docks|West India Dock Road]]. Research into local inquests has highlighted some maltreatment of Chinese crew. In one case, a Chinese Lascar called Chan arrived in London from [[Calcutta]] on the ship ''Norma''. Chan, who was in a very weak condition, was found by two other Lascars who carried him to the Dreadnought hospital ship at [[Greenwich]]. Almost as soon as he boarded the ship he collapsed and died. A coroners' examination showed that he had died from starvation. In 1860, a total of 47 Chinese were admitted to the Seamen's Hospital. In 1863, two Chinese inmates who had been at the Strangers' Home for a year retired to spend the rest of their days in London.
Between 1854 and 1856 many Chinese seamen were housed at the 'Oriental Quarters' by the riverside at [[Shadwell]]. They were off the High Street, near the present day [[Wapping Underground Station]]. These Oriental Quarters were lodging houses frequently run by English women who often spoke Oriental languages, and went by names such as Chinese Emma or Canton Kitty. Their premises were often used as gambling houses and opium dens. Some ran Chinese gambling houses, where card games were held downstairs and the upstairs served as an opium room. About 20 Chinese men lived in each. The 1851 census found 78 Chinese-born residents all living in London and a parliamentary enquiry expressed doubt as to whether there was sufficient space for living conditions.
The China tea trade via Canton was resumed despite increased competition from [[India]], which quickly surpassed China as the primary source of tea. In December 1877 the Louden Castle discharged 40,000 packages of China tea at the [[London Docks]]. Chinese seamen stranded in London were allowed to work in the docks and many were involved in unloading China tea. One of the best-known Chinese [[Lascar]]s was James Robson. Robson had been found as a castaway baby and taken on board a British ship by the wife of the captain. James was brought to London and grew up at [[Poplar]]. He became a seaman and cook on the [[Cutty Sark]] between 1885 and 1895. Another Chinese man who served on the Cutty Sark was Ah Sing Lee, a [[steward]] from [[Singapore]]. He was taken on at [[Shanghai]] in 1879 and discharged at London in 1880.
The [[Census in the United Kingdom|1881 British census]] included British vessels at sea that had a number of Chinese aboard [[Royal Navy]] vessels, such as the HMS ''Encounter'', HMS ''Comus'' and HMS ''Sheldrake''. There were also Chinese cooks, stewards and servants on board the HMS ''Mosquito'' and HMS ''Iron Duke''. The [[British India Steam Navigation Company]] (BISNC), with ships such as the SS Almora and the Blue Funnel Line brought more Chinese seamen to London, especially after 1890.
By the 1850s there were occasional records of Chinese women arriving in Britain as the nurses or '[[Amah]]s' to British missionaries who had served in China. One example is Sing Seng, who arrived in London in 1858 from [[Ningpo]]. After some time in London she returned to China in the service of a bishop to [[Hong Kong]]. Though local sources suggest that by 1860 there were some Chinese men married to English women. Many lived at riverside settlements such as [[Deptford]] and [[Woolwich]]. Most Chinese seamen lived to the north of the river. By 1880 the Chinese community was based in [[Limehouse]] and consisted mainly of [[Shanghainese]] and [[Cantonese]] seamen who catered for the Chinese and Indians that arrived at the docks. In 1881, there were several Chinese seamen living in the boarding house of Mr M. Lamar at 14 Limehouse Court.
By 1890 there were two distinct communities:
* The Chinese from Shanghai were settled around Pennyfields, Amoy Place and Ming Street (presently the area between [[Westferry DLR station|Westferry]] and [[Poplar DLR station|Poplar]] [[Docklands Light Railway|DLR]] stations).
* The Chinese from Canton and Southern China were settled around Gill Street and Limehouse Causeway.
The historian Sir [[Walter Besant]] put the Limehouse Chinese community at less then 100 people in 1891.
By the end of the 19th century, the transient Chinese dock community in London numbered over 500. Virtually all were single men, and some married English women.
In 1901 there were more than 40 Chinese sailors aboard the ''Bulysses'' at the [[Royal Albert Dock]]s:
* 21 from [[Guangzhou|Canton]]
* 12 from [[Soochow]]
* at least three from [[Hainan Island]]
* one from [[Hong Kong]].
By 1911 the area of Limehouse and Pennyfields was known as Chinatown. At Pennyfields there was a Christian Mission for the Chinese and a [[Temple of Confucius|Confucian temple]]. At Limehouse Causeway there was the famous Ah Tack's [[lodging house]].
There was much prejudice against the [[East End]] Chinese community, with much of it initiated by the writings of [[Thomas Burke]] and [[Arthur Henry Ward]]. Both of these men wrote about the Chinese community. Burke and Ward exaggerated the Chinese community's true size and made much mention of gambling, opium dens and 'unholy things' in the shadows. Though there were some individuals involved in gambling and opium smoking, for the majority of Chinese people life was hard work in the docks. It was a struggle to find passage for the return voyage to the Far East. The novelist [[Arnold Bennett]], who visited the Limehouse Chinatown in April 1925, correctly remarked: "On the whole a rather flat night. Still we saw the facts. We saw no [[vice]] whatever. Inspector [of Police] gave the Chinese an exceedingly good character."
Changes to labour laws during the early 20th century meant that Chinese sailors found it increasingly difficult to find employment on ships. They turned instead to running restaurants and laundries.
The rector at St Anne's, Limehouse, estimated that at its peak after the [[First World War]] the local Chinese community never numbered more than 300 people. At that time the community was still based around Limehouse Causeway and Pennyfields. The area was marked with lodgings for seamen and restaurants. These streets were heavily bombed during [[The Blitz]].
During [[World War II]], around 10,000 Chinese men enrolled in the [[Merchant Navy]] while others defended Hong Kong and undermined Japanese forces in the Far East. The [[London docks]] were badly damaged by bombing, and the remains demolished by the council. Now only their names remain to evoke the past community. There are names such as Canton Street, Mandarin Street, Pekin Street, Ming Street and Nankin Street. Today, mostly elderly Chinese people live in the Limehouse area.
Despite the decline of the London [[shipping industry]], the Chinese population grew steadily after the [[Second World War]]. After the war the Chinese began to move into [[Soho]] and bought up cheap property. Entire families were also entering the [[laundry]] trade. Chinese hand laundries were made obsolete in the 1950s by the introduction of [[laundrette]]s and eventually much later the widespread use of domestic [[washing machine]]s.
Yet the Chinese community continued to grow in the 1960s. This expansion was in part due to the [[labour shortage]] in Britain and the demand for Chinese labourers. During the same period there was a collapse of traditional agriculture in the [[New Territories]] (the mainland area of Hong Kong), as farmers became disillusioned with [[land reform]] in Hong Kong and also faced tough competition from rice farmers in Thailand and Burma. This led to the chain migration of single men seeking employment in Chinese restaurants in London, especially in the [[Soho]] and [[Bayswater]] areas. Most spoke Cantonese or Hakka, though written Chinese was a means of communication for the whole community. These restaurant workers sent part of their wages home to support their families.
The increase in immigration was initially composed of single men coming to Britain on [[work permit]]s. Sometimes the men would register their age as 10 years younger than they really were. This was especially true of those seeking employment in the [[Merchant Navy]]. After saving enough money they would bring their families over and establish their own [[catering]] businesses.
During the 1960s, the number of Chinese people in London rose fivefold. The Chinese established various organisations such as language schools, gambling houses mainly for socialising and a Chinese Church in the West End. One notorious club was the [[Chi Kung Tong]] (Achieve Justice Society), the first Triad Society in Britain.<ref>Robertson, Frank. ''Triangle of Death. The Inside Story of the Triads - the Chinese Mafia.'' Routledge 1977. p. 14.</ref>
[[Image:Lon-min`05.PNG|300px|thumb|The city's largest ethnic minorities. See also ''[[The Guardian]]'' newspaper's January 2005 survey and maps of ethnic and religious diversity in London<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/britain/london/0,,1394802,00.html January 2005 survey and maps of ethnic and religious diversity in London] Guardian Online</ref> ]]
By the late 1960s the Chinese restaurants and shops around Gerrard Street, Lisle Street and Little Newport Street had evolved into "Tong Yan Kai", otherwise known as Chinatown. The general public developed a taste for Chinese food during the postwar restaurant boom.
In the 1970s and 1980s many [[Hoa|ethnic Chinese]] who had settled in [[Vietnam]] for generations were forced to leave as '[[boat people]]' following the [[Vietnam War]]. Many settled in [[Lewisham]], [[Lambeth]] and [[Hackney]], as well as elsewhere in the UK.
The 1980s and 1990s saw a migration of academics and professionals from Chinatown to the suburbs of [[Croydon]] and [[Colindale]].
Since the 1980s, London's [[London Chinatown|Chinatown]] has been transformed by [[Westminster City Council]], to become a major tourist attraction and a cultural focal point of the Chinese community in London.
Today over 100,000 Chinese people live in London, and are more evenly dispersed throughout the city and its boroughs. Roughly half of the Chinese population of the United Kingdom now live in London, mainly in the boroughs of [[London Borough of Barnet|Barnet]], [[London Borough of Haringey|Haringey]], [[London Borough of Waltham Forest|Waltham Forest]], [[London Borough of Hackney|Hackney]], [[London Borough of Southwark|Southwark]] and [[City of Westminster|Westminster]]. Mare Street in Hackney is the hub of a small Vietnamese ChinaTown. The principal languages of the London Chinese community are Cantonese and Hakka (from the New Territories, Hong Kong and Vietnam). There are also some speakers of Hokien, Teow Cheow and Hainannese. The Chinese from the People's Republic of China, Taiwan and Singapore tend to speak Mandarin (or Putonghua). A large network of Chinese schools and community centres offers support and a means of passing on cultural identity from one generation to the next.
==Chinese New Year==
The [[Chinese New Year]] or [[Spring Festival]] is the most important celebration for Chinese and other East Asian communities. It's also part of the story of immigration; a bond linking overseas Chinese and their descendants to their heritage, even though they live thousands of miles away from their ancestral homelands. Celebrations for Chinese people are of great traditional significance and include a ritual cleaning of their houses and visit to the temple, but also involve feasting with the family, celebration, fireworks, and gift-giving. This festival follows the [[lunar calendar]] so it can fall any time from late January to mid-February and begins on the first day of a new moon and ends with the full moon on the day of the [[Lantern Festival]].
Celebrations in London are famous for colourful parades, fireworks and dancing through streets. The route starts in the [[Strand]] and goes along [[Charing Cross Road]] and [[Shaftesbury Avenue]]. Other activities include a family show in [[Trafalgar Square]] with dragon and lion dances and traditional and contemporary [[Chinese art]]s by performers from both London and China. There are fireworks displays in [[Leicester Square]], as well as cultural stalls, food, decorations and lion dance displays throughout the day in [[London Chinatown]].
==Chinatowns==
In several major cities there are [[Chinatown]]s, which have become [[tourist]] attractions and where Chinese restaurants and businesses predominate, although in some cases relatively few Chinese people may live there.<ref>[http://www.chinatown-online.co.uk/pages/guide/index.html Chinatown Online - History]</ref>
*[[Chinatown, London]]
*[[Chinese Quarter|Chinatown, Birmingham]]
*[[Chinatown, Manchester]]
*[[Chinatown, Liverpool]]
*[[Chinatowns in Europe#England|Chinatown, Newcastle]]
*[[Chinatowns in Europe#England|Chinatown, Sheffield]]
*[[Chinatowns in Europe#Northern Ireland|Chinatown, Belfast]]
*[[Chinatowns in Europe#Scotland|Chinatown, Aberdeen]]
==Community==
[[Image:Manchester Chinatown.jpg|250px|thumb|Manchester Chinatown]]
There are Chinatowns and Chinese community centres in almost every place where there is a substantial Chinese community, and new immigrants and long term citizens can find help and support there.
There are also many activities of interest to new generations and the community at large, such as women's groups, health talks, day trips, cookery sessions, swimming classes, [[English language learning and teaching|English as a Second Language]] classes, and [[information technology|IT]] training courses. There are celebrations of Chinese and British festivals, volunteer groups to help members of the community, as well as a work experience scheme for local school students to spend placements working within businesses in the community.
Since 2000 the emergence of [[Internet forum|Internet discussion]] sites produced by British Chinese young people has provided an important forum for many of them to grapple with questions concerning their identities, experiences and status in Britain.<ref>Parker, David and Song, Miri (2007) Inclusion, Participation and the Emergence of British Chinese Websites. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, 33 (7). pp. 1043-1061.</ref>
[[Dimsum (non-profit)|Dimsum]] (www.dimsum.co.uk) is the British Chinese Community Website and has articles and links on all aspects of [[Chinese culture]] and issues relating to Chinese living in Britain. There is news about cultural events such as art shows, concerts and festivals, articles about issues such as [[gambling]] and [[social cohesion]], and news about community issues such as changing [[immigration]] regulations. There is a section to help immigrants keep in touch with life in China, and to find the latest authentic [[Chinese restaurant]]s and recipes, the food section is a fantastic resource. There is even a forum to discuss these issues online.
The introduction of the [http://www.thepearlfoundation.org.uk/ Pearl Awards] in 2004, which aim to recognise and commend achievements of the Chinese Community, the founding of 'Chinatown - the Magazine' and growth of websites like Dimsum.co.uk have also raised the community's profile.
===London===
There are Chinese community centres in [[London Chinatown|Chinatown]], [[Barnet]], [[Camden]], [[Islington]], [[Lambeth]], [[Haringey]] and [[Tower Hamlets]]. Major organisations include:
* [http://www.ccc.org.uk/ London Chinese Community Centre]
* [http://chinatownchinese.co.uk London Chinatown Chinese Association]
* [http://www.chineseculturalcentre.org.uk/ London Chinese Cultural Centre]
[http://www3.westminster.gov.uk/libraries/chinese/ Westminster Chinese Library], based at [[Charing Cross Library]], holds one of the largest collections of Chinese materials in UK public libraries. It has a collection of over 50,000 Chinese books available for loan and reference to local readers of Chinese languages; Music cassettes, CDs, video films for loan; Community information and general enquiries; A national subscription service of Chinese books; and Chinese events organised from time to time.
The [http://www.lclc.co.uk/dragonboat/abolon.htm London Dragon Boat Festival] is held annually in June at the [[London Regatta Centre]], [[Royal Albert Dock]]s. It is organised by the London Chinatown Lions Club.
==Contemporary issues==
Language poses a serious problem for the older generation and for women working at home. [[Solitude|Isolation]] and [[Major depressive disorder|depression]] are common and, increasingly, Chinese community groups are providing advocacy and counselling to alleviate these problems. For men in the catering trade, unsociable hours and the lack of after-hours venues has led to the problem of late-night [[gambling]] clubs.
Accommodation tied to work is still common practice for those working in restaurants. As a result, [[homelessness]] is a serious issue faced by many elderly retirees. Limited access to Chinese-speaking [[housing association]]s makes it harder for them to obtain advice on housing and rights.
For older Chinese Londoners, tri-lingual community centres are an invaluable resource providing essential advice and services. For the younger generation of British-born Chinese, these centres provide a meaningful way to participate in their community and keep in touch with their language and cultural identity.
The connection between China and London has developed recently, with China hosting the 2008 Olympic Games, before handing the baton on to London. A series of cultural and business exchanges and exhibitions have increased awareness about Chinese culture for many Londoners. The Trafalgar Square celebration of Chinese New Year is now a firm fixture on London's Festival Calendar.
===Min Quan===
[http://www.monitoring-group.co.uk/minquan/ Min Quan] is a branch of The Monitoring Group that provides casework, advocacy and support services to victims of [[Hate crime|racial]] and [[domestic violence]] from the Chinese community. This work includes actions against the police for misconduct, representation and advocacy, training, information dissemination, a helpline and open surgeries.
In 1999, the New Diamond Restaurant in London Chinatown was attacked. Volunteers formed a group to support and represent the victims of the attack. The volunteers mounted a campaign highlighting the plight of the waiters, set up an emergency Helpline for the victims, and an advice surgery in Chinatown. The need for these services was so great at the time that this embryonic Min Quan group was soon overwhelmed with calls for assistance from across the country during the winter months of 1999. Throughout this time, the volunteers carried out their activities with the assistance of The Monitoring Group (TMG), a long-established [[anti-racist]] organisation. In 2000, Min Quan formalised its status and became a branch of TMG.
===London Chinese Community Network===
The [http://www.chinese-network.net/english/index.htm London Chinese Community Network] aims to promote the interests of the London Chinese voluntary and community sector (VCS). The work of the Network includes community research, publishing, brokering partnerships, organisational capacity building and holding consultation conferences and community activities. It aims to build a network among its stakeholders and help Chinese community organizations forge partnerships in London. The LCCN undertook a research report study on the Chinese community in London in 2004-2005, called "[http://www.chinese-network.net/english/publications/Final_Version_of_Report_2005.pdf The Changing Chinese Community in London, Meeting the Challenges in Service Provision in 2010]". Other publications, including [http://www.chinese-network.net/english/publications/research_reports.htm Research reports] and [http://www.chinese-network.net/english/publications/net_review.htm Reviews].
==Mental health==
See [[Chinese Mental Health Association]]
==Health centre==
The [http://www.cnhlc.org.uk/english.html Chinese National Healthy Living Centre] was founded in 1987 to promote healthy living, and provide [[National Health Service|access to health services]], for the Chinese community in the UK. The community is widely dispersed across the country and currently makes the lowest use of health services of all minority ethnic groups. The Centre aims to reduce the [[Health disparities|health inequality]] between the Chinese community and the general population. Language difficulties and long working hours in the catering trade present major obstacles to many Chinese people in accessing mainstream health provision. Language and cultural barriers can result in their being given inappropriate health solutions. Isolation is a common problem amongst this widely dispersed community and can lead to a range of [[mental illness]]es. The Centre, based close to London's Chinatown, provides a range of services designed to tackle both the physical and psychological aspects of health.
== CNHLC Project ==
The Chinese National Healthy Living Centre is creating an archive - "[http://www.cnhlc.org.uk/english/project.asp?Tag=footprints Footprints of the Dragon]" - recording the occupational engagement of Chinese settlers in London from the 1880s to the present day. The project will include an educational programme for school children in London and culminate in an exhibition for Londoners. The focus of the archive will be the laundry and catering trades. This project is in partnership with [[London Metropolitan Archives]] (LMA) and London Chinese Community Network (LCCN).
== Arts ==
[http://www.chinese-arts-centre.org/ Chinese Arts Centre] is the international agency for the development and promotion of contemporary Chinese artists. Established in 1986, it is based in [[Manchester]], the city with the second largest Chinese community in the UK, and the organisation is part of the region's rich Chinese heritage. The Chinese Arts Centre also hosts the [http://www.vitalfestival.org/about.html International Chinese Live Art Festival] which showcases work being made by Chinese artists from across the world.
[http://www.chinahereandthere.com/ China Here And There] (CHAT), also based in Manchester, is a non-profit arts development organisation creating and producing new work with a China or Chinese focus, in theatre, film, literature and music. The organisation was founded in the year 2000, by Dr Amy Lai, and has received funding and support from the [[Arts Council of England]], the National Foundation for Youth Music, North West Playwrights, and the Manchester Community Chest. In music, literature, film and theatre, China Here And There is now developing an exchange programme with China, mixing two new Chinese cultures: "here, in England, and there, in China".
Established in December 2004, [http://www.ricefield.co.uk/about.html Ricefield Arts] was founded by Lin Chau and Julia Hung, two prominent figures in graphic designing and printing in the [[Glasgow]] Chinese community, and is supported by members from diverse backgrounds in art, music and education who share the passions for Chinese arts. Located in the [[Garnethill]] area of Glasgow city centre, Ricefield Arts' proximity to the Chinatown and Chinese quarter, and the Glasgow School of Art, McLellan Gallery and the Centre of Contemporary Art reflects its status as the hub for Chinese arts and culture in Glasgow and Scotland as a whole. It is the meeting point for artists, musicians and designers.
The [http://www.yellowearth.org/ Yellow Earth Theatre Company] is a London-based international touring company formed by five British East Asian performers in 1995. It aims to promotes the writing and performing talents of East Asians in Britain.
[http://www.chinatownartsspace.com/ Chinatown Arts Space] (CAS) was initiated in 2003 by a group of [[British East Asian]] (BEA) artists who foresaw the need to champion the development of East Asian performing and [[visual arts]] in London. Led by Yellow Earth Theatre (YET), the UK's flagship BEA company, a consortium was formed with support from [[Westminster City Council]] (WCC), Shaftesbury PLC, and London Chinese Chinatown Association (LCCA).
==Film==
British Chinese film productions include:
*''[[The Chinese Detective]]'', 1981-1982 television series
*''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0091756/ Ping Pong]'' (1986) directed by Po-Chih Leong
*''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0096146/ Soursweet]'' (1988) directed by [[Mike Newell (director)|Mike Newell]]
*''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0119876/ Peggy Su!]'' (1997) directed by [[Frances-Anne Solomon]]
*''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0361511/ Dim Sum (A Little Bit of Heart)]'' (2002) directed by Jane Wong
==Demographics==
Britain has been receiving ethnic Chinese migrants more or less uninterruptedly on varying scale since the nineteenth century. While new immigrant arrivals numerically have replenished the Chinese community, they have also added to its complexity and the already existing cleavages within the community. Meanwhile, new generations of British-born Chinese have emerged. The educational success of the younger, British-born Chinese has brought professional and economic prosperity to the Chinese community.
===Main migration waves===
Chinese migration to Britain has a history of at least 150 years. Until the [[Second World War]], Chinese communities lived around [[:Category:Port cities and towns in the United Kingdom|Britain's main ports]], the oldest and largest in [[Liverpool]] and [[London]]. These communities consisted of a transnational and highly mobile population of [[Cantonese people|Cantonese]] seamen and small numbers of more permanent residents who ran shops, restaurants and boarding houses that catered for them.<ref>Parker, David. 1998. Chinese People in Britain: Histories, Futures and Identities. In The Chinese in Europe (eds) G. Benton & F.N. Pieke. Basingstoke: Macmillan.</ref> The number of Chinese seamen (who mainly worked as [[stoker]]s) dwindled sharply during the [[Great Depression|Depression]] and the subsequent decline of [[Steamboat|coal-fired intercontinental shipping]] after the Second World War. In the 1950s they were replaced by a rapidly growing population of Chinese from the rural areas in Hong Kong's [[New Territories]]. Opening restaurants across Britain, they established firm migration chains and soon dominated the Chinese presence in Britain.<ref>Watson, James L. 1974. Restaurants and Remittances: Chinese Emigrant Workers in London. In Anthropologists in Cities (eds) G.M. Foster & R.V. Kemper. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.</ref> In the 1960s and 1970s, they were joined by increasing numbers of Chinese students and economic migrants from [[Malaysia]] and [[Singapore]].
Chinese migration to Britain continued to be dominated by these groups until the 1980s, when rising living standards and urbanization in Hong Kong, Singapore and somewhat later Malaysia gradually reduced the volume of chain migration from the New Territories. At the same time in the 80s the number of students and skilled emigrants from the [[People's Republic of China]] began to rise. Since the early 1990s the UK has also witnessed a rising inflow of economic migrants from areas in China without any previous migratory link to the UK, or even elsewhere in Europe. A relatively small number of Chinese enter Britain legally as skilled migrants. However, most migrants arrive to work in unskilled jobs, originally exclusively in the Chinese ethnic sector (catering, Chinese stores and wholesale firms), but increasingly also in employment outside this sector (for instance in agriculture and construction). Migrants who enter Britain for unskilled employment are from both rural and urban backgrounds. Originally, [[Fujianese]] migrants were the dominant flow, but more recently increasing numbers of migrants from the [[Northeast China|Northeast of China]] have arrived in the UK as well.<ref>Pieke, Frank N., Pál Nyíri, Mette Thunø & Antonella Ceccagno. 2004. Transnational Chinese: Fujianese Migrants in Europe. Stanford: Stanford University Press.</ref> Migrants now tend to come from an increasing number of [[Regions of China|regions of origin in China]]. Almost all Chinese unskilled migrants enter the country illegally and work in the nether economy, as the Morecombe Bay tragedy of February 2004 showed. Many claim asylum in-country, avoiding deportation after exhausting their appeals. In the [[United Kingdom Census 2001]], the population enumerated as Chinese totalled approximately 247,000.
===Population===
The population figure of 247,403 (approximately 0.5% of the UK population and around 5% of the total non-white population in the UK), cited from figures produced by the UK's [[Office for National Statistics]] (ONS), is based on the 2001 national census. However, it may not be an entirely accurate figure of the ''current'' population of people of Chinese origin in the UK. Reasons for this include: some had not participated in the 2001 national census during that time, some had not specifed their ethnic group in the census, either intentionally or unintentionally, and successive Chinese migration to or from the UK since 2001. A recent publication from the ONS, "Focus on Ethnicity and Religion (October) 2006",<ref>[http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_compendia/foer2006/FoER_Main.pdf National Statistics 2006]</ref> gave some detailed figures on the makeup of the UK's Chinese population that were based on the information by those who had identified themselves as 'Chinese' in the [[United Kingdom Census 2001]].
*'''Total population:''' ~500,000+
*'''Geographical distribution:''' 33% of the Chinese in Britain live in [[London]], 13.6% in the [[South East England|South East]], 11.1% in the [[North West England|North West]].
*'''Birthplace:''' 29% in [[Hong Kong]], 25% [[England]], 19% [[Mainland China]], 8% [[Malaysia]], 4% [[Vietnam]], 3% [[Singapore]], 2.4% [[Scotland]], 2% [[Taiwan]], 0.9% [[Wales]], 0.1% [[Northern Ireland]].
*'''Religion:''' 53% of Chinese reported [[Irreligion|no religious affiliation]], 21.1% [[Christian]], 15.1% [[Buddhist]].
*'''Occupation:''' Of all ethnic groups, Chinese had the highest proportion as [[students]] (about a third) and the lowest in "routine/manual" occupations (17%).
It should be noted, however, that in the United Kingdom, "Asian demographics" and "Chinese demographics" are separate. In [[British English|British]] usage, the word "Asian" or "[[British Asian]]" when describing people usually refers to those from [[South Asia]] ([[India]], [[Pakistan]], [[Bangladesh]], [[Sri Lanka]], [[Nepal]], [[Maldives]], etc.).
===Geographic distribution===
Compared to most ethnic minorities in the UK, the Chinese tend to be more widespread and decentralised. However, significant numbers of British Chinese people can be found in [[Birmingham]], [[Brighton]], [[Cambridge]], [[Glasgow]], [[Edinburgh]], [[Liverpool]], [[London]], [[Manchester]], [[Milton Keynes]], [[Kingston upon Hull|Hull]], [[Highfield, Sheffield|Sheffield]] and [[Swansea]]. In [[Northern Ireland]], Chinese make up the largest non-white minority, although the population of roughly 4,000 is relatively small.
Many locations with a high visible Chinese cultural presence are called [[Chinatown]]s. [[Liverpool]]'s Chinatown is situated around the Berry Street and Duke Street area in the city centre. The Ceremonial Archway, which was built in [[Shanghai]], China, is located at the heart of Liverpool's Chinatown. Before [[World War II]], the original Chinatown was situated around Pitt Street. In [[London]], there is a [[Chinatown, London|Chinatown]] centred around Gerrard Street, [[Soho]], in the [[West End of London|West End]] of central London which has many Chinese restaurants and businesses; it is mostly a commercial area, most Chinese live in other parts of London, especially [[north London]] and [[Colindale]] in particular. Sheffield's unofficial Chinatown is located at [[London Road (Sheffield)|London Road]].
=== Largest urban Chinese communities ===
(2005 estimates)<ref>[http://www.neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk/dissemination/LeadHome.do;jsessionid=ac1f930dce69ca6f5485cc14f74aebec73722581139.e38OaNuRbNuSbi0Ma3aNaxiQbNiLe6fznA5Pp7ftolbGmkTy?bhcp=1 neighbourhood.statistics.gov.uk]</ref>
*[[London]] - 107,100 (1.4%)
*[[Manchester]] - 10,800 (2.3%)
*[[Birmingham]] - 10,700 (1.1%)
*[[Liverpool]] - 6,800 (1.5%)
*[[Sheffield]] - 5,100 (1.0%)
*[[Oxford]] - 4,200 (2.9%)
*[[Cambridge]] - 3,600 (3.1%)
*[[Newcastle upon Tyne]] - 3,100 (1.1%)
===London demography===
{{seealso|Demography of London}}
Figures are for mid-2005. (From [http://www.london.gov.uk/gla/publications/factsandfigures/dmag-update-20-2007-ons-ethnic-group-estimates.pdf DMAG Demography Update October 2007])
According the Census statistics, there was only one [[Wards of the United Kingdom|ward]] in London with a more than 5% Chinese population, which was [[Millwall]] in [[London Borough of Tower Hamlets|Tower Hamlets]] at 5.4%.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/jan/21/britishidentity12 What the maps don't show] January 21, 2005</ref> The Chinese population is extremely dispersed, with the possible reason being that people want to set up a Chinese restaurant or takeaway that is a certain distance from the next one.<ref>[http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2005/jan/21/britishidentity3 London by ethnicity: Analysis]</ref>
[[Image:Chinese in London.gif|right|Chinese population spread (%) in London]]
{| class="sortable wikitable"
! Borough !! Total population !! Chinese population !! Chinese percentage
|-
| [[City of London]]* ||7,700|| 100 ||1.3
|-
| [[London Borough of Barking and Dagenham|Barking and Dagenham]] ||165,500 ||1,500 ||0.9
|-
| [[London Borough of Barnet|Barnet]] ||326,100 ||7,600 ||2.3
|-
| [[London Borough of Bexley|Bexley]] ||221,000 ||1,800 ||0.8
|-
| [[London Borough of Brent|Brent]] ||270,300 ||3,500 ||1.3
|-
| [[London Borough of Bromley|Bromley]] ||297,900 ||2,200 ||0.7
|-
| [[London Borough of Camden|Camden]] ||222,800 ||6,000 ||2.7
|-
| [[London Borough of Croydon|Croydon]] ||335,800 ||2,700 ||0.8
|-
| [[London Borough of Ealing|Ealing]] ||305,700 ||4,400 ||1.4
|-
| [[London Borough of Enfield|Enfield]] ||283,400 ||3,000 ||1.1
|-
| [[London Borough of Greenwich|Greenwich]] ||221,600 ||3,400 ||1.5
|-
| [[London Borough of Hackney|Hackney]] ||207,100 ||2,800 ||1.4
|-
| [[London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham|Hammersmith and Fulham]] ||171,000 ||1,800 ||1.1
|-
| [[London Borough of Haringey|Haringey]] ||224,100 ||3,400 ||1.5
|-
| [[London Borough of Harrow|Harrow]] ||214,000 ||2,900 ||1.4
|-
| [[London Borough of Havering|Havering]] ||226,300 ||1,100 ||0.5
|-
| [[London Borough of Hillingdon|Hillingdon]] ||247,900 ||2,700 ||1.1
|-
| [[London Borough of Hounslow|Hounslow]] ||216,600 ||2,000 ||0.9
|-
| [[London Borough of Islington|Islington]] ||184,200 ||4,300 ||2.3
|-
| [[Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea|Kensington and Chelsea]] ||175,800 ||4,700 ||2.7
|-
| [[Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames|Kingston upon Thames]] ||153,900 ||2,500 ||1.6
|-
| [[London Borough of Lambeth|Lambeth]] ||270,300 ||3,500 ||1.3
|-
| [[London Borough of Lewisham|Lewisham]] ||253,200 ||3,500 ||1.4
|-
| [[London Borough of Merton|Merton]] ||195,300 ||2,900 ||1.5
|-
| [[London Borough of Newham|Newham]] ||249,700 ||3,400 ||1.4
|-
| [[London Borough of Redbridge|Redbridge]] ||249,000 ||2,600 ||1.0
|-
| [[London Borough of Richmond upon Thames|Richmond upon Thames]] ||178,000 ||1,600 ||0.9
|-
| [[London Borough of Southwark|Southwark]] ||264,000 ||6,800 ||2.6
|-
| [[London Borough of Sutton|Sutton]] ||183,100 ||1,500 ||0.8
|-
| [[London Borough of Tower Hamlets|Tower Hamlets]] ||209,400 ||4,900 ||2.3
|-
| [[London Borough of Waltham Forest|Waltham Forest]] ||220,300 ||2,000 ||0.9
|-
| [[London Borough of Wandsworth|Wandsworth]] ||276,400 ||2,700 ||1.0
|-
| [[City of Westminster|Westminster]] ||228,600 ||7,300 ||3.2
|-
| '''[[London]]''' ||'''7,456,000''' ||'''107,100''' ||'''1.4'''
|}
* *not a [[London Borough]]
===Education and employment===
In terms of [[education]]al achievement, figures in 2002 showed that British Chinese pupils were more likely to have gained five or more A*-C [[General Certificate of Secondary Education|GCSE]] grades than any other ethnic group, with 77% of British Chinese girls and 71% of British Chinese boys respectively achieving that target. British Chinese school pupils had the lowest exclusion rate at 2 per 10,000. A British Chinese person was also more likely to possess a [[university]] [[academic degree|degree]], or hold a job in a [[profession]]al class, than the average Briton, but conversely, British Chinese people had the highest proportion with no qualifications (20%), and twice the [[unemployment rate]] (10%) compared to white Britons (5%). British Chinese men also had the highest rate of working-age economic inactivity (defined as those of working-age not available for work and/or not actively seeking work) of all males at 37%, twice the rate for white British men. The vast majority of economically inactive British Chinese men were students.<ref>[http://www.statistics.gov.uk/downloads/theme_compendia/foe2004/Ethnicity.pdf National Statistics 2004]</ref> The British Chinese were more likely to be self-employed (16%) than any other ethnic group except for Pakistanis. In 2004, just under half of British Chinese men in employment worked in the distribution, hotel and restaurant industry, compared with one sixth of their white British counterparts. British Chinese women are also concentrated in the distribution, hotel and restaurant industry, as two fifths worked in this industry in 2004. The British Chinese were most likely to have been employed in managerial and professional occupations (38 percent), compared with 27% for white Britons.
===Health and welfare===
Chinese men and women were the least likely to report their [[health]] as ‘not good’ of all ethnic groups. Chinese men and women had the lowest rates of long-term [[illness]] or [[disability]] which restricts daily activities. The British Chinese population (5.8%) were least likely to be providing informal care (unpaid care to relatives, friends or neighbours). Around 0.25% of the British Chinese population were residents in hospital and other care establishments.<ref>[http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1090 National Statistics 2001]</ref>
;Smoking and drinking<ref>[http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1090 National Statistics 2001]</ref>
Chinese men (17%) were the least likely to smoke of all ethnic groups. Fewer than 10% of Chinese women smoked. Fewer than 10% of the Chinese adult population drank above the [[Alcoholic beverages — recommended maximum intake|recommended daily alcohol guidelines]] on their heaviest drinking day.
===Inter-ethnic marriage===
The British Chinese have one of the highest [[intermarriage|inter-ethnic marriage]] rates in the country when compared to the white and other ethnic minority groups. According to the [[United Kingdom Census 2001]], 30% of Chinese women intermarried, a figure twice that for Chinese men (15%).<ref>[http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=1090 National Statistics 2001]</ref>
===Voter registration===
A survey conducted in 2006, estimated that around 30 percent of British Chinese were not on the electoral register, and therefore not able to vote.<ref>[http://www.aea-elections.co.uk/news/article.jsp?id=523 Association of Electoral Administrators news article]</ref><ref>[http://www.chinesevote.org.uk/aboutus_eng.aspx chinesevote.org.uk]</ref> This compares to 6% of whites and 17% for all ethnic minorities. The figure for Black Africans is 37%.
In a bid to increase voter registration and turnout, and reverse voter apathy within the community, campaigns have been organized such as the ''British Chinese Register to Vote'' organised by [http://www.getactive.uk.com/ Get Active UK], a working title that encompasses all the activities run by the [http://www.bcproject.org.uk/ Integration of British Chinese into Politics] (the BC Project) and its various partners. The campaign wishes to highlight the low awareness of politics among the British Chinese community; to encourage those eligible to vote but not on the electoral register to get registered; to help people make a difference on issues affecting themselves and their communities on a daily basis by getting their voices heard through voting.<ref>[http://www.ethnicnow.com/channels/government-politics/press-release/14/2026/uk-chinese-getting-ready-to-vote.html UK Chinese - Getting ready to vote]</ref>
===People===
{{main|List of British Chinese people}}
==Society and business==
At the turn of the twentieth century, the number of Chinese in Britain was small. Most were sailors who had deserted or been abandoned by their employers after landing in British ports. In the 1880s, some Chinese migrants had fled the US during the [[Chinese immigration to the United States|anti-Chinese campaign]] and settled in Britain, where they started up businesses based on their experience in America. There is little evidence to suggest that these 'double migrants' had established close ties with Britain's other, longer-standing Chinese community. By the middle of the twentieth century, the community was on the point of extinction, and would probably have lost its cultural distinctiveness if not for the arrival of tens of thousands of Hong Kong Chinese beginning from the 1950s.
Starting a small business was the main way the Chinese coped with their limited ability to find employment in a generally alien and hostile, English-speaking environment. They forged inter-ethnic partnerships to overcome the twin problem of raising funds and finding employees. In the first half of the twentieth century, most Chinese were involved in the [[laundry]] business, while migrants who arrived after the Second World War worked primarily in the [[catering]] industry. As these businesses grew, so too did the demand for labour, which entrepreneurs met by exploiting [[Chinese kinship|kinship ties]] to bring family members into Britain. Business partnerships broke up and evolved into family firms, starting and gradually reinforcing the move away from community-based enterprise. With this, competition escalated, since most migrants were involved in the same sector of industry.
This competition necessitated the community's geographical dispersal which further hindered its attempts to struggle collectively for greater protection from the authorities against [[racist discrimination]]. In urban areas, the experience of racism forced the Chinese into 'ethnic niches', comprising primarily of restaurants and takeaways, thus heightening competition and placing further limits on communal cooperation. The more entrepreneurial of these migrants would strive to leave these enclaves and were usually the ones who achieved [[social mobility]]. Later arrivals – the seafarers (in the first half of the twentieth century) and immigrants from Hong Kong (from the 1960s) – were unable to cooperate to challenge the policies of the [[British government]] which were designed to prevent them from entering other economic sectors, even as part of the [[labour force]]. In addition to the generalized racism that they encountered, these Chinese migrants were trapped by policies to remain in economic spheres where their links with the majority population were curtailed and competition with the latter was minimized.
Government policies also had an important bearing on the issues of [[Social integration|integration]] and [[enterprise development]]. The [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative]] government under [[Margaret Thatcher]] in the late 1970s and early 1980s actively promoted the setting up of [[Small business|small enterprises]], essentially as a mechanism to deal with the problem of racism.<ref>Atkinson, John and David Storey, eds. 1993. Employment, the Small Firm and the Labour Market. London: International Thomson Business Press.</ref> The government was then of the view that since immigrants preferred to concentrate on small businesses due to the hardships and difficulties, in the form of language barriers and racist discrimination, they experienced in the UK they would opt for opportunities for business ownership rather than employment with or by non co-ethnics.
While small enterprises have helped migrants to cope with the problem of their isolation and alienation in the new environment, a good segment of their children, on the other hand, have done well in [[Education in the United Kingdom|education]], notably at [[tertiary education|tertiary level]], and have made a prominent presence as professionals and in the high-tech sector.<ref>Berthoud, Richard. 1998. The Incomes of Ethnic Minorities (ISER Report 98-1). Colchester: University of Essex, Institute for Social and Economic Research.</ref> Given the knowledge that their parents worked long hours and under difficult conditions to alleviate themselves from poverty, most children of migrants scorn the notion of taking over their parents' businesses, specifically those that function as small enterprises. The dreariness of the nature of work and life in a takeaway also have a bearing on why they generally shun the businesses run by their parents.
By the turn of this century, the Chinese in the UK could be broadly categorized into four main categories: [[Hong Kong Chinese]] from the rural [[New Territories]] who started arriving in large numbers in the 1950s and 1960s. Many of them moved into catering and food wholesaling and retailing; <span class="plainlinks">[http://www.huayinet.org/culture/culture_chinese_diaspora.htm Southeast Asian Chinese]</span>, who also started arriving in the 1960s. Primarily from middle-class, professional backgrounds, some of them have also gone into business, including catering; the newest arrivals from [[mainland China]] and urban [[Hong Kong]] in the 1980s, who have gone into business related to technology and manufacturing; the fourth group comprises British-born Chinese, whose members are mostly well-qualified and work in hi-tech industries.<ref name="Benton and Gomez 2001">Benton, Gregor and Edmund Terence Gomez. 2001. Transnationalism and Chinatown: Ethnic Chinese in Europe and Southeast Asia. Canberra: Centre for the Study of the Chinese Southern Diaspora, Australian National University.</ref>
Given their diverse national and class backgrounds, even though a small community, the Chinese never aspired for social cohesion. The absence of this goal of social congruence is reflected in the creation by them of numerous social and economic institutions to represent their interests. Most of these associations, fraught with divisions, have now ceased to operate.<ref name="Benton and Gomez 2001"/> Moreover, a large number of poor Chinese migrants in the UK were forced to work for other Chinese who exploited them so badly that they could not wait to leave to set up their own enterprise. The diversity that exists within this society is what informs the character of the Chinese community in Britain.
The largest Chinese enterprises are involved in [[wholesaling]] and [[retailing]] and are mainly controlled by migrants born in Hong Kong. There is no evidence that they have invested in launderettes. Unlike the situation in the US, the Chinese community in the UK has not built on its long presence in this sector. Although a small number of Chinese launderettes still operate in a number of cities, they do not seem to operate as companies.
The lists of directors and shareholders of Chinese-owned companies provide no evidence of interlocking stock ownership or of interlocking directorships. A number of them were created and ran as partnerships before coming under the control of one individual or family. Most of the [[start-up]] funds for these businesses have come from [[personal savings]] or put together by family members. There is little evidence that they have had access to ethnic-based funding, and there are very few instances to suggest that financial aid has been provided on intra-ethnic grounds; rather, such assistance was for the mutual benefit of both borrower and lender.<ref>Gomez, Edmund Terence and Gregor Benton. 2004. “Transnationalism and the Essentializing of Capitalism: Chinese Enterprise, the State, and Identity in Britain, Australia, and Southeast Asia”. East Asia: An International Quarterly, 21 (3).</ref> An example of an ethnic Chinese who capitalised on his ethnicity to create a Chinese-based business center in the UK is W.W(ing). Yip. An immigrant from Hong Kong who started out as a waiter, Yip became a restaurateur and later built his reputation as a leading wholesaler and retailer of Chinese food products. He is the owner of Britain's largest Chinese enterprise in terms of sales volume (see: [[Wing Yip]]).<ref>Inter-Ethnic Relations, Business and Identity: The Chinese in Britain and Malaysia. Edmund Terence Gomez. September 2005. UNRISD programme on Identities, Conflict and Cohesion</ref>
==See also==
*[[East Asian people in Britain]] (see template below)
*[[British-Chinese relations]]
*[[British nationality law and Hong Kong]]
*[[History of British nationality law]]
*[[Chinese emigration]]
*[[Overseas Chinese]] (see template below)
*[[Chinatown]]
*[[Chinatowns in Europe]]
*[[Model minority]]
*[[Sinophobia]]
*[[Racism in the United Kingdom]]
*[[Historical immigration to Great Britain]]
*[[Immigration to the United Kingdom (1922-present day)]]
==References==
{{reflist|2}}
*[http://www.museumoflondon.org.uk/English/Collections/OnlineResources/RWWC/themes/1084/1106 Chinese London] - Museum of London
===Footnotes===
*In [[British nationality law]], a person can be ''naturalised'' or ''registered'' as a [[British citizen]]. This difference in the law is not important in this article.
*Normally, [[Han Chinese|ethnic Chinese]] people holding a [[British National (Overseas)]] passport are not considered to be "British Chinese", as they do not normally hold the [[right of abode]] in the UK. Ethnic Chinese people who had [[British nationality law and Hong Kong|obtained British Citizenship in Hong Kong]] prior to handover and do not normally reside in the UK are not a main concern of this article.
===Further reading===
There have been very few books written on the history of the Chinese in Britain, with what exists are mainly surveys, dissertations, census figures, and newspaper reports.
====Books====
*Graham Chan (1997) ''[http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/0946745560?ie=UTF8&tag=oninpu-21&linkCode=as2&camp=1634&creative=6738&creativeASIN=0946745560 Dim Sum: Little Pieces of Heart, British Chinese Short Stories]'', contains a collection of 16 short stories that serve up slices of British Chinese experiences and culture. (Crocus Books.)
*Hsiao-Hung Pai (2008) ''Chinese Whispers: The True Story Behind Britain's Hidden Army of Labour''. Penguin.
*Wai-ki E. Luk (2008) ''Chinatown in Britain: Diffusions and Concentrations of the British New Wave Chinese Immigration.'' Cambria Press.
*''The Chinese in Britain, 1800-Present: Economy, Transnationalism, and Identity'' by Gregor Benton and E. T. Gomez, Palgrave, 2007.
*Parker, D. "Britain" in L. Pan Ed. (2006) ''Encyclopaedia of the Chinese Overseas'', Singapore: Chinese Heritage Centre (revised edition).
*Tam, Suk-Tak. "Representations of 'the Chinese' and 'ethnicity' in British racial discourse". In: Sinn, Elizabeth, ed. The last half century of Chinese overseas. Aberdeen, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1998. 81-90.
*Maria Lin Wong, ''Chinese Liverpudlians: A history of the Chinese community in Liverpool'' (Birkenhead, 1989).
*Shang, Anthony (1984) ''The Chinese in Britain'', London: Batsford.
*Summerskill, Michael. "China on the Western Front. Britain's Chinese work force in the First World War". London: [The author] 1982 236p.
*The Anglo-Chinese author [[Timothy Mo]] wrote the [[Man Booker Prize|Booker prize]]-winning novel ''Sour Sweet'' about a Chinese family running a restaurant in late sixties and seventies London who fall foul of a group of Triads.
*Choo, Ng Kwee, The Chinese in London (London, 1968).
*May, John, "The Chinese in Britain, 1869-1914" in Colin Holmes (ed.), Immigrants and Minorities in British Society (London, 1978), pp. 111-124.
Chapters:
*Parker, David. ''Chinese people in Britain: histories, futures and identities''. In: Benton, Gregor; Pieke, Frank N., eds. The Chinese in Europe. Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire: Macmillan; New York: St. Martin's Press, 1998. 390p. 1998 67-95
*Parker, David. ''Emerging British Chinese identities: issues and problems''. In: Sinn, Elizabeth, ed. The last half century of Chinese overseas. Aberdeen, Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press, 1998. 508p. 1998 91-114
*Parker, David. ''Rethinking British Chinese identities''. In: Skelton, Tracey; Valentine, Gill, eds. Cool places: geographies of youth cultures. London; New York: Routledge, 1998. 66-82
*Baker, Hugh D.R. ''Nor good red herring: the Chinese in Britain''. In: Shaw, Yu-ming, ed. China and Europe in the twentieth century. Taipei: Institute of International Relations, National Chengchi University, 1986. 318p. 1986 306-315
====Papers====
*Graham Chan. "[http://www.britishchineseonline.com/pages/art15.html The Chinese in Britain]". Adapted from an article originally published in ''Brushstrokes'', issue 12, June 1999.
*John Seed. ‘"Limehouse Blues": Looking for Chinatown in the London Docks,1900-1940’, History Workshop Journal, No. 62 (Autumn 2006), pp.58-85. [http://www.untoldlondon.org.uk/archives/TRA43336.html The Chinese In Limehouse 1900 - 1940]. By John Seed 31/01/2007 - A talk at the Museum in Docklands.
*Akilli, Sinan, M.A. [http://www.postcolonialweb.org/uk/mo/sakilli10.html "Chinese Immigration to Britain in the Post-WWII Period"], Hacettepe University, Turkey. ''Postimperial and Postcolonial Literature in English'', 15 May 2003
*Archer, L. and Francis, B. (December 2005) "Constructions of racism by British Chinese pupils and parents", ''Race, Ethnicity and Education'', Volume 8, Number 4, pp. 387-407(21).
*Archer, L. and Francis, B. (August 2005) "Negotiating the dichotomy of Boffin and Triad: British-Chinese pupils' constructions of 'laddism'", ''The Sociological Review'', Volume 53, Issue 3, Page 495.
*Parker, D and Song M (2007) Inclusion, Participation and the Emergence of British Chinese Websites. ''Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies'' Vol 33 (7) : 1043-1061.
*[http://www.chass.utoronto.ca/~salaff/conference/papers/belonging-Song.pdf ‘Belonging in Britain: The second generation Chinese in Britain’] Miri Song, University of Kent, England (pdf, 13 pages)
*[http://eprints.nottingham.ac.uk/741/2/EthnicitiesSocCap5-1.pdf Ethnicity, Social Capital and the Internet: British Chinese Web Sites] (pdf, 57 pages)
*Gregory B. Lee, Chinas unlimited: Making the imaginaries of China and Chineseness (London, 2003). An academic study of culture and representation, including testimony from the author’s experience growing up in Liverpool.
*Diana Yeh. ‘Ethnicities on the Move: ‘British-Chinese’ art - identity, subjectivity, politics and beyond’, Critical Quarterly, Summer 2000, vol. 4, no. 2, pp. 65-91.
*Ng, Alex. "The library needs of the Chinese community in the United Kingdom." London: British Library Research and Development Dept. 1989 102p (British Library research paper, 56.)
*Liu, William H. "Chinese children in Great Britain, their needs and problems". Chinese Culture (Taipei) 16, no.4 (Dec 1975 133-136)
*Watson, James L. 1974. Restaurants and Remittances: Chinese Emigrant Workers in London. In Anthropologists in Cities (eds) G.M. Foster & R.V. Kemper. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.
* —. 1976. Emigration and the Chinese Lineage: The Mans in Hong Kong and London. Berkeley: University of California Press.
* —. 1977a. Chinese Emigrant Ties to the Home Community. New Community 5, 343-352.
* —. 1977b. The Chinese: Hong Kong Villagers in the British Catering Trade. In Between Two Cultures: Migrants and Minorities in Britain (ed.) J.L. Watson. Oxford: Basil Blackwell.
===Articles===
*''BBC History Magazine'', May 2007. Features an article about Chinese in Britain by Mukti Jain Campion.
*''Chinatown - The Magazine'', May/June 2007. Features an article about Chinese in Britain by Anna Chen.
*Venetia Newell, "[http://www.jstor.org/pss/1499983 A Note on the Chinese New Year Celebration in London and Its Socio-Economic Background]" ''Western Folklore'', Vol. 48, No. 1 (Jan., 1989), pp. 61-66.
==Media coverage==
;Festivals
*[http://www.chinanow.org.uk/ China Now 2008], the largest festival of Chinese culture ever to take place in the UK
;Online
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/videonation/feature/silkscreens/ Silk Screens] 19 July 2008 - [[BBC]] [[Video Nation]], a series of simultaneous outdoor film screenings and live events in Birmingham, Glasgow, London and Manchester celebrating the lives of the British Chinese in the run-up to the [[Beijing Summer Olympics]]. Part of ''China Now'' (above).
;Television
*[http://www.mu-lan.org/missingchink.html The Missing Chink] - an ironic take mixing comedy and vox-pop on the general low visibility of Chinese people in British society and media, the four 5-minute episodes was broadcast on [[Channel 4]] after the [[Channel 4 News|7 O'Clock News]] from January 19-22, 2004. It was written by and featured Paul Courtenay-Hyu, and starred Paul Chan, David Yip, Burt Kwouk, Rory Underwood MBE, Matt Wilkinson, Scott Corben and Simone Tully-Kedge. (All four episodes can be seen on Youtube)
*[http://www.filmsofrecord.com/productions/productions_chinatown.htm Chinatown] - A three part series broadcast on [[BBC Two]] on 24th, 31st January and 7th February 2006, explored in depth the changes taking place in Britain's growing Chinese community.
;Radio
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/chinese_in_britain.shtml BBC - Radio 4 - Chinese in Britain] - A groundbreaking ten-part series, "Chinese in Britain", broadcast by [[BBC Radio 4]] in April/May 2007, where presenter and co-writer Anna Chen told the story of the Chinese in Britain from the first known Chinese, Shen Fu Tsong in the 17th century, to the arrival of the migrant wave in the 1950s and 60s. The series was repeated in May 2008. See also: [http://www.annachen.co.uk Anna Chen - Writer and performer]; Producers: [http://www.culturewise.org/ Culture Wise].
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/factual/beyondthetakeaway.shtml BBC - Radio 4 - Beyond the Takeaway] Monday - Friday 10-14 March 2003, 3.45pm - five part series, actor and director David K.S. Tse, of the [http://www.yellowearth.org/ Yellow Earth Theatre Company], talks to the BBC, British-born Chinese, about their experiences of growing up and living in Britain.
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio3/sundayfeature/pip/vi4vx/ Liver Birds and Laundrymen. Europe's Earliest Chinatown] ''Sunday Feature'' (45 min.) on [[BBC Radio 3]] broadcast on 13 March 2005 21:30-22:15 - [[Gregory Lee|Gregory B. Lee]], Professor of Chinese at the [[University of Lyon]], returns to his native Liverpool, where his grandfather arrived from China in 1911, to tell a personal history of the earliest Chinese settlement in Europe.
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/manchester/chinatown/eh.shtml Eastern Horizon] (BBC Manchester), Manchester's first Chinese language radio programme and began broadcasting on [[15 December]] [[1983]].
;Publications
*''[[Time Out]]'''s [http://www.timeout.com/features/chinainlondon/chinainlondon.pdf China in London] - celebrating Chinese history, communities, cuisine, and lifestyle in London
*[http://www.chinatownthemagazine.com/ Chinatown - The Magazine] - Britain's only Chinese business and lifestyle magazine
*[http://batgwa.com/squat/ Squat, batgwa.com] British-Chinese fashion, life and culture webzine
==External links==
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/static/in_depth/uk/2002/race/chinese_britain.stm Chinese Britain: How a second generation wants the voice of its community heard] (BBC News)
*[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/4304845.stm Chinese diaspora: Britain] (BBC News)
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/southwest/sites/local_history/pages/chinese.shtml How the Chinese Came to Wales: Find out how Swansea became home to a thriving Chinese community], BBC Wales South West, written by [[Swansea Museum]] and the Chinese Co-Operative Community Centre
*[http://www.number10.gov.uk/output/page8967.asp "PM wishes the Chinese community a Happy New Year"], [[10 Downing Street]], 27 January 2006
*[http://web.ukonline.co.uk/lcba/ba/history.html History of Liverpool's Chinatown] - Liverpool Chinatown Business Association
;Communities
*[http://www.linkchinese.net/aboutus.php LinkChinese Network UK]
*[http://www.bcyf.org.uk/ British Chinese Youth Federation]
*[http://www.britishchinese.org.uk/ British Chinese Society]
*[http://www.britishchineseonline.com/ British Born Chinese]
*[http://www.dimsum.co.uk/ DimSum]
*[http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio1/onelife/personal/race/audio_chinese.shtml BBC One Life: Sarah Yeh]
*[http://www.visiblechinese.com Visible Chinese] - Guide to Achievers in UK Chinese Culture
*[http://www.eighthundredlives.org.uk/lives/yvonnefoley.aspx Eight Hundred Lives: Yvonne Foley], story of a Eurasian, daughter of a Chinese father and an English mother
;Old Bailey
*[http://www.oldbaileyonline.org/static/Chinese.jsp Chinese Communities] - [[Old Bailey]] Proceedings Online, 1674 to 1913
;Organisations
*[http://dragonpagemedia.com/index.php?option=com_mtree&task=listfeatured&Itemid=19 Comprehensive directory of Chinese organisations] including schools, associations and companies
*[http://www.sacu.org/about.html Society for Anglo-Chinese Understanding]
;Radio
*[http://www.spectrumradio.net/programmes/25 Chinese Spectrum Radio] (www.558.net) - only programme in the UK broadcasting daily in Cantonese.
;Statistics
*[http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=273 UK Census 2001: Ethnic minority statistics] (Office for National Statistics, ONS)
*[http://www.statistics.gov.uk/statbase/product.asp?vLnk=14629 Focus on Ethnicity and Religion Source], ONS
{{Overseas Chinese2}}
{{UKethnicgroups}}
[[Category:Overseas Chinese groups|British]]
[[Category:Ethnic groups in the United Kingdom|Chinese]]
[[Category:British people of Chinese descent|*]]
[[ms:Orang Cina di United Kingdom]]
[[simple:British Chinese]]
[[fi:Britanniankiinalaiset]]
[[zh:英籍华人]]