A one year-long exhibition about Chinese community is opening at Museum of Science& Industry in Manchester, which is the first Chinese archive created in this city, even in the United Kingdom.
Jenny Wong, Director of Manchester Chinese Centre, quoted Mike Amesbury’s words, who is Manchester City Council’s Executive Member for Culture and Leisure, saying that everyone knows about China Town and the restaurants, but they probably don’t know that the Chinese Arch was the first in Europe and the New Year’s parade was the first in the UK.
However, that’s not the only thing people in Britain don’t know.
Behind those obvious Chinese heritages, Chinese immigrants, with their profound history, traditional culture and unique lifestyle can be considered as a treasure trove of stories that is a largely unknown world in Britain.
Three waves of immigration
The first settlement of Chinese people in the United Kingdom dates from the early 19th century. Most of them were Cantonese from South China. As the fact that many of those settlers were originally seamen, Liverpool, a port city, became the first settlements. Also, The city is claimed to have the oldest Chinatown in Europe.
The second wave occurred in the 1950s and 1960s. Because of the unstable politics in the region, combining with Post-war unemployment, large numbers of refuges made their way to Britain from HongKong, which led to a rapid expansion of Chinese immigration. Until the late 1960s, there were only two Chinatowns in the UK, in London and in Liverpool. From the 1970s, a new wave of immigration came to Great Manchester to join family and friends who had already settled in the city. Manchester’s China town now is known to probably have the largest archway in Europe.
The most significant migration from China commenced in mid-1980s. Following the end of the Cultural Revolution, professional people, students, university lecturers and doctors have come to the UK from the mainland of China.
Previous census indicates a dramatic increase in the number of Chinese immigrants in the UK. Latest figures from Office for National Statistics show that China has become the number ten foreign country that people living in the United Kingdom between October 2009 and September 2010, which is estimated to have a population resident about 102,000, following Italy 103,000 and South Africa 107,000. More Specifically, most Chinese residents are living in the North East, Yorkshire and The Humber, and East Midlands. Meanwhile, China is ranked among 20 most common foreign countries of birth in the UK, having been estimated to have a population about 111,000. In particular, it is recorded as one of the five most common countries of birth in North East of Britain, which has an estimated population resident about 7,000, behind India, Germany and Poland.
A silent community
Although China is regarded as one of the popular nationalities and common countries of birth in the UK, the group is silent in the sight of the British.
Heather Roberts, a volunteer who assisted to creative Manchester Chinese Archive, described Chinese community as a kind of world that is “under the radar” even there are thousands people of it. She said: “For example, if you want to find a Jewish community, you go to Salford; if you want an Arabic community, you go to Rusholme or somewhere else. If you want to find Chinese immigrants, you go to Chinatown, but that’s not the end of it. You get them everywhere. They are not very well-represented just because they are so spread out.”
Indeed, although the Chinese has probably been recognised as one of the largest visible ethnic groups who are contributing to the financial development of Britain, they are not fully making use of the social services to which they are entitled. Remarkably, the phenomenon has been concerned.
Duncan Broady, the curator of Great Manchester Police Museum & Archives, said, “A complaint of this country about people who come from other countries is that most of them want money and benefits from the government. The Chinese traditionally have always made sure that they support themselves and don’t need anymore for benefits, whereas other groups are seen as coming here and just sitting there, waiting for money. The Chinese never have that reputation. ” He concluded that people didn’t hear much about Chinese immigrants because they keep very quiet and look after themselves.
In terms of religions, Mr. Broady added: “The religion is very quiet as well. Nowadays, for Muslims, there are mosques being built around Manchester. It is a symbol of how important the Muslim community is in this area. In contrast, there are no big churches for Chinese people. They never do that similar thing.”
Additionally, according to a record of crime rate from Merseyside Police, in Liverpool and the whole Merseyside, most numbers of crime offenders, such as burglary and sexual, identified Chinese are small, which indicate “3 or less”. The most common crimes that Chinese committed are including drugs, theft and violence. As Mr. Broady said, there hasn’t been a history of the police perceiving the Chinese community to be a trouble community at all.
A self-sufficient group
Actually, Chinese people would rather stick in their own community than assimilate into the mainstream British society. It probably could be considered as the reason why the rest have nicknamed them “the silent minority”. As Mr. Broady explained: “Chinese community is always looking after itself. They have tended not to need help from the outside world.”
Therefore, community organisations and business associations are the lifeblood of the Chinese community, as well as Chinatown. These associations organise Chinese language classes for British born Chinese children and others who want to lean Chinese, providing facilities for children to learn traditional Chinese culture such as paper cutting and lantern making. They also take care of the elderly by meeting their social and leisure needs. There are now many such kind of Chinese community associations particularly in the large cities including Liverpool, Manchester, Birmingham and several London boroughs.
Rita Lee, the coordinator of Merseyside Chinese community development Association, believes that activities organised by associations will necessarily promote people’s well-being. She said: “As a charity organisation, we focus on the social care of the elderly, women and families, which can help people to recognise their values of life, making them feel that they are not isolated with the society.” As Rita explained, some other ethnic groups regarded Chinese a silent group because they are self-sufficient. Indeed, it is the history that Chinese immigrants in Britain have survived by doing laundries and catering business for more than half a century. Therefore, they neither need the support from the UK government, nor bother others.
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