The Chinese Community in Britain
“They have no doubt their vices, but they compare favourably with any similar group in any
part of the world." (MTZ Tyau London through Chinese eyes, 1920)
The Chinese restaurant has for the last 30 years provided a very clear sign of the existence of the Chinese community in Britain. This community has its origins in the 19th century "coolie traffic" to America and in the spread of British commerce in East Asia.
The 1851 Census showed 78 Chinese living in London; it is now hard to tell where they came from. Numbers grew in succeeding years, especially with the influx of seamen after the opening up of steamship routes to China in the late 1860s. By the 1880s, small communities were established in the dock areas of London's Limehouse and Liverpool. In the 1911 Census, there were 688 Chinese in London, 500 in Liverpool, and a small number in Cardiff. They came from Hong Kong, Malaya and Guangdong Province in China. In addition some 1100 Chinese seamen (out of 30,000 foreign seamen) were employed on British ships. From the 1870s onwards, there were always a number of Chinese students in Britain; the first government-sponsored students came in 1876.
The 1920s and 1930s saw the Chinese moving into new occupations, especially the laundry business. By 1931 there were 800 Chinese laundries in Britain. The exact reasons for this are not known, but it was possible to set up laundries cheaply, and there was no need for much English.
There were many casualties among Chinese sailors working on oil tankers and other vessels, mainly operating out of Liverpool, during World War II.
Since the Second World War, the Chinese community in Britain has changed. The old centres in London and Liverpool were much affected, first by the bombing, and later by slum clearance. They were replaced by new immigrants from Hong Kong. By 1981, the Census showed 154,000 Chinese in Britain, drawn from South East Asia as well as China. The number includes some 20,000 students and nurses. Half live in London. Though restaurants, ranging from the very grand to small local snack bars, still are the most visible sign of the Chinese community in Britain, many second and third generation Chinese have, like other immigrants, moved into all sorts of occupations, including medicine, shopkeeping and the police. London, with its Chinese supermarkets, newspapers and other amenities, is an important centre for all West European Chinese.
The Bund, Shanghai
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