British Chinese

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

British Chinese, or, alternatively, Chinese British, Chinese Briton, British Born Chinese (abbreviated as BBCs) are overseas Chinese born or naturalized in the United Kingdom^[1]. Most of these Chinese are people or are descended from people who were themselves overseas Chinese when they entered the UK. The majority are from former British territories, 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 descendents make up a relatively small proportion of the British Chinese.

1 History
2 Eurasians in Liverpool
3 Demographics
4 British Chinese organizations
5 See also
6 Footnotes
7 References
8 External links

[edit] History

The first settlement of Chinese people dates from the early 19th century, in port towns such as London (particularly the Limehouse area) and Liverpool.

The biggest wave of Chinese immigration took place in the 1950s and 1960s, mainly of male agricultural workers from the New Territories in Hong Kong and indirectly via Hong Kong the surrounding Guangdong province, most took jobs in the then growing Chinese catering industry. The majority of the British Chinese continue to work in catering, mainly in restaurants and takeaways but also in related business such as kitchen equipment manufacturing. In a few major British cities "Chinatown" areas becamed established, where these Chinese restaurants and businesses became the focal points of the larger settled communities.

Since the Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962, restrictions have been placed on immigration from British colonies and ex-colonies, and these have been tightened by successive governments. Nevertheless, there was still significant Chinese migration to Britain, for relatives of settled Chinese, and those qualified for skilled jobs, until the end of the 1970s. Today, a significant proportion of British Chinese people are second- and third-generation descendants of these post-war immigrants.

The 1981 British Nationality Act deprived Hong Kong British passport holders of the right of abode in the UK, an issue that caused 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.

More recently, there has been an increase in illegal economic migrants from mainland China entering the UK, who pay "snakeheads" to smuggle them into Western countries. Most work in the black economy. Due to historical and social reasons, a sizeable proportion originate from Fujian province. Many are employed as illegal cheap labour (usually in agriculture) by criminal gangs. Inevitably, this had highly publicised and tragic consequences; in June 2000, 58 Chinese immigrants were found suffocated to death in a lorry in Dover, and, in February 2004, 23 Chinese cockle-pickers drowned in Morecambe Bay after being caught in a high tide.

See: 2004 Morecambe Bay cockling disaster.

[edit] Eurasians in Liverpool

The first presence of Chinese people in Liverpool dates from the early 19th century. However, the main influx did not come until the end of the nineteenth century. This was, in part, due to Alfred Holt and Company setting up the first commercial shipping line to focus on the China trade. From the 1890s onwards small numbers of Chinese began to come ashore and set up businesses catering to the Chinese seamen working on Holt's lines and others. Some of these men settled down with local working class women and started families. The largest number of Eurasian BBC's were born during the years of the Second World War in Liverpool. At the beginning of the War there were up to 20,000 Chinese seamen in the city. Inevitably hundreds of these Chinese mariners took British partners and there were approximately 1000 children from these unions.

In 1942 the seamen went on strike for equality of treatment with white seamen. The strike lasted 4 months and the men were for the duration of the War 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. The shipowners acted to ensure that those they saw as a problem would not be hired again. For the Shanghai men who had been union activists this meant they would never see their families in England again. Many of their Eurasian children continued to live in and around Liverpool's Chinatown. [2]

[edit] Demographics

A recent publication from the UK's Office for National Statistics, "Focus on Ethnicity and Religion 2006" gives some detailed figures on the composition of Britain's Chinese population, specifically those who identified as Chinese in the 2001 Census.

Total population: 243,258.

Geographical distribution: 33% of the Chinese in Britain live in London, 13.6% in the South East, 11.1% in the North West.

Birthplace: 29% in Hong Kong, 25% England, 19% China, 8% Malaysia, 4% Vietnam, 3% Singapore, 2.4% Scotland, 2% Taiwan, 0.9% Wales, 0.1% Northern Ireland

Religion: 53% of Chinese reported 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%).

^[1].

It should be noted, however, that in the United Kingdom, Asian demographics and Chinese demographics are separate. In UK usage, "Asian" usually refers to those from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

Unlike 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, Edinburgh, Liverpool, London, Manchester, Milton Keynes, Sheffield and Swansea. In Northern Ireland Chinese people make up the largest non-white minority, although the population of roughly 10,000 is relatively small.

Many locations with a high British Chinese presence are 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 the WWII, the original Chinatown was situated around Pitt Street. In London – there is a Chinatown centred around Gerrard Street, Soho, in the West End in central London which has many Chinese restaurants and businesses; however it is a commercial area, most Chinese live in other parts of London, especially north London and Colindale in particular. Sheffield's unofficial Chinatown is London Road.

In terms of educational achievement, in 2002 Chinese pupils were more likely to gain five or more GCSE grades A*-C than any other ethnic group. A British Chinese person is also more likely to possess a university degree, or hold a job in the top managerial/professional class, than the average Briton. Conversely, British Chinese have the third highest proportion with no qualifications (20%), and Chinese men have the highest rate of economic inactivity of all males at 35% (the majority of whom are students) ^[2].

According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, Chinese women outmarried with a different ethnic group twice as much as British Chinese men.[3]

Unlike British people of Afro-Caribbean or Asian (south) origin, there are exceedingly few well-known British Chinese politicians, actors or sportspersons. Vanessa Mae, however, is one example of a musician.

See also: List of British Chinese people.

[edit] British Chinese organizations

See: List of British Chinese organizations.

[edit] See also

[edit] 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 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 obtained British Citizenship in Hong Kong prior to handover and do not normally live in the UK are not the main concern of this article.