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British Chinese

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British Chinese
Traditional Chinese英國華僑
Simplified Chinese英国华侨
Alternate name
Traditional Chinese英國華裔
Simplified Chinese英国华裔
British Chinese
Regions with significant populations
London, Manchester, Birmingham, Brighton, Liverpool, Glasgow
Languages
British English, Chinese (mainly regional dialects including Cantonese, Hakka and others; also Mandarin)
Religion
Non-religious, Buddhism, Christianity, others
Related ethnic groups
Mainland Chinese, Overseas Chinese

British Chinese, also Chinese British, Chinese Britons or British-born Chinese (often informally referred to as BBCs), are people of Chinese ancestry who were born in or have immigrated 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 Europe, if not the oldest in Western Europe, with the first Chinese coming from the ports of Tianjin and Shanghai in the early 19th century.

Today, 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.

History

19th century

The first settlement of Chinese people in the United Kingdom dates from the early 19th century. Settlements, in particular, were port cities of Liverpool and London; particularly the Limehouse area in East London, where the first Chinatown was established in Britain and Europe.

20th century

The largest wave of Chinese immigration took place during the 1950s and 1960s and consisted predominantly of male agricultural workers from the New Territories in Hong Kong. This also included immigration, through Hong Kong, from the surrounding Guangdong province in 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, 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.[2]

In several major cities there are Chinatowns, which have become tourist attractions and where Chinese restaurants and businesses predominate, although in some cases few Chinese people live there.[3]

Since the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962, restrictions were placed on immigration from current and former British colonies, and these have been tightened by successive governments. Significant Chinese migration to Britain did continue by relatives of 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.

The 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 territory's handover to 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 citizenship 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, British nationality law and Hong Kong.

The most significant migration from mainland China commenced mainly from the mid-1980s onward. This coincided with the Chinese government's relaxed restrictions on emigration, although most left for the United States, Canada and Australia.

Chinese sailors in Liverpool and their legacy

Duke Street, 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 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 rights and pay equal to that of 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.[4]

Illegal incidents

In recent years, there has been an increase in illegal immigrants coming from mainland China and other countries into the United Kingdom, some of whom pay people traffickers (so-called "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.

Demographics

Population

The population figure of 243,258 (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 the UK since 2001.

A recent publication from the ONS, "Focus on Ethnicity and Religion (October) 2006",[5] 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.

It should be noted, however, that in the United Kingdom, "Asian demographics" and "Chinese demographics" are separate. In 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, Hull, 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 Chinatowns. 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 centred around Gerrard Street, Soho, in the 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.

Education and employment

In terms of educational achievement, figures in 2002 showed that Chinese pupils were more likely to have gained five or more A*-C GCSE grades than any other ethnic group, with 77% of Chinese girls and 71% of Chinese boys respectively achieving that target. 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 degree, or hold a job in a professional 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%). 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 Chinese men were students.[6] The Chinese were more likely to be self-employed (16%) than any other ethnic group except for Pakistanis. In 2004, just under half of Chinese men in employment worked in the distribution, hotel and restaurant industry, compared with one sixth of their white British counterparts. 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.[7]

Smoking and drinking[8]

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 recommended daily alcohol guidelines on their heaviest drinking day.

Inter-ethnic marriage

The British Chinese have one of the highest inter-ethnic marriage rates in the country when compared to other ethnic minority groups, and including the white population. According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, 30% of Chinese women intermarried, a figure twice that for Chinese men (15%).[9]

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.[10][11]

Prominent British Chinese

See List of British Chinese people.

References

  1. ^ National Statistics 2001
  2. ^ National Statistics 2004
  3. ^ Chinatown Online - History
  4. ^ Liverpool and its Chinese Seaman
  5. ^ National Statistics 2006
  6. ^ National Statistics 2004
  7. ^ National Statistics 2001
  8. ^ National Statistics 2001
  9. ^ National Statistics 2001
  10. ^ Association of Electoral Administrators news article
  11. ^ chinesevote.org.uk

Footnotes

Further reading

  • Parker, D. "Britain" in L. Pan Ed. (2006) Encyclopaedia of the Chinese Overseas, Singapore: Chinese Heritage Centre (revised edition).
  • 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.

See also

External links

Reports
Research
Statistics
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Personal stories

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