ASIAN MAN CDV PHOTO CARTE DE VISITE BAKER ST LONDON ETHNIC VICTORIAN 1870s

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British Asian people (also referred to as British Asians or Asian Britons)[3] are a multi-ethnic group of British citizens who are of Asian descent. They constitute a significant and growing minority of the people living in the United Kingdom, with 6.9% of the population identifying as Asian in the 2011 United Kingdom census. This represented a national demographic increase from a 4.4% share of UK population in 2001. Represented predominantly by South Asian ethnic groups, census data regarding birthplace and ethnicity demonstrate around a million Asian British people derive their ancestry between East Asia, Southeast Asia, Central Asia and West Asia.[4] Since the 2001 census, British people of general Asian descent have been included in the "Asian/Asian British" grouping ("Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British" grouping in Scotland) of the UK census questionnaires.[5] Categories for British Indians, British Pakistanis, British Bangladeshis, British Chinese and Other Asians have existed under an Asian British heading since the 2011 census.[6] In British English usage, especially in less formal contexts, the term "Asian" usually refers to people who trace their ancestry to South Asia, contrary to the USA and Australia, where the term "Asian" usually refers to people with ancestry from the Far East. There is a long history of migration to the United Kingdom (and its predecessor states) from across the Asian continent. British colonies and protectorates throughout Asia brought lascar sailors and militiamen to port cities in Britain. Immigration of small numbers of South Asians to England began with the arrival of the East India Company to the Indian subcontinent, and the decline of the Mughal Empire, at the end of the 16th century. Between the 17th and mid-19th century, increasingly diverse lascar crews heading for Britain imported East Asians, such as Japanese and Chinese seamen, Southeast Asians, such as Malays, and post-Suez Canal; West Asian Armenians and Yemenis, who settled throughout the United Kingdom. In particular, Indians also came to Britain, for educational or economic reasons, during the British Raj, with most returning to India after a few months or years,[7] and in greater numbers as the Indian independence movement led to the partition of 1947, eventually creating the separate countries of India, Pakistan and Bangladesh. The most significant wave of Asian immigration to and settlement in the United Kingdom came following the Second World War, with the resumed control of Hong Kong, the breakup of the British Empire and the independence of Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and later Bangladesh, especially during the 1950s and 1960s. An influx of Asian immigrants also took place following the expulsion or flight of Indian communities (then holders of British passports) from the newly independent Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania in the early 1970s. Contents 1 Terminology 1.1 Census 1.2 Subgroups 1.3 Various terms 1.3.1 Asian Briton 1.3.2 British Asian 1.3.2.1 Development in the 2010s 2 Demographics 2.1 Birthplace 2.2 Employment 2.3 Ethnoregion 2.4 Language 2.5 Religion 3 History in Britain 3.1 Lascars 3.1.1 17th century 3.1.2 18th century 3.1.3 19th century 3.1.4 20th century 3.2 Post–World War II migration 3.2.1 Asian migration from East Africa 4 Notable contributions 4.1 Arts and entertainment 4.2 Art and design 4.3 Literature 4.4 Music 4.5 Charity and interfaith 4.6 Sports 4.7 Celebrities in popular culture 5 Cultural influence 5.1 Economic 5.2 Food 5.3 Performing arts 5.4 Media 5.5 Awards and achievements 6 Social and political issues 6.1 Discrimination and racism 6.2 LGBT communities 7 See also 8 References 9 External links Terminology In Britain, the word "Asian" most frequently refers to people of South Asian ancestry (Pakistanis, Indians, Bangladeshis and Sri Lankans). This usage contrasts to that in the United States, where it is used primarily to refer to people of East Asian origin.[8][9] In British English usage, the term Asian usually refers to people who trace their ancestry to South Asia, in particular the former British Raj and Ceylon (the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and the Maldives). The British Sociological Association's guidelines on equality and diversity suggest that "South Asian" is more precise than "Asian" and that the latter should not be used where there is a risk of it conflating South Asians with people from elsewhere in Asia.[9] Census The Office for National Statistics uses the term "Asian / Asian British" to categorise British Indians, British Pakistanis, British Bangladeshis, British Chinese people and people of any other Asian ancestry. Definitions and naming conventions for the category have evolved in the history of UK censuses. The 1991 United Kingdom census was the first to include a question on ethnicity (apart from in Northern Ireland, where the question was not asked until 2001). The question had tick-boxes for "Indian", "Pakistani" and "Bangladeshi". There was also a tick box, as well as a general "Any other ethnic group (please describe)" option for those not wishing to identify with any of the pre-set tick boxes. For the 2001 census, in England and Wales, "Indian", "Pakistani" and "Bangladeshi" and "Any other Asian background (please write in)" options were grouped under an "Asian or Asian British" heading, with appearing under a separate heading. In Scotland, all of these tick-boxes were grouped together under an "Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British" heading, and in Northern Ireland no broad headings were used, just tick-boxes for each of the Asian groups.[10] The 2011 census questionnaire was more consistent with regard to the grouping of Asian ethnicities, such that Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese and any other Asian background options appeared under a broad "Asian/Asian British" ("Asian, Asian Scottish or Asian British" in Scotland) heading in all parts of the UK. Shown in order, as listed on the 2011 Census form, the five categories of Asian British are:[6] Asian / Asian British: Indian, a reference to the South Asian nation of India and British Indians. Asian / Asian British: Pakistani, a reference to the South Asian nation of Pakistan and British Pakistanis. Asian / Asian British: Bangladeshi, a reference to the South Asian nation of Bangladesh and British Bangladeshis. Asian / Asian British: Chinese, a reference to the East Asian nation of China and British Chinese people. Asian / Asian British: Other Asian, a broad description suitable for specifying self-identified ethnic descent from South Asian nations without an exclusive category (e.g. Sri Lanka and British Sri Lankans), the same application for other East Asian nations (e.g. Japan and British Japanese) and British people of Central Asian and Southeast Asian heritage. Subgroups There are several regional subgroupings of Asian British people, and Asians living in the United Kingdom generally.[11] As approximately defined concepts, sometimes due to varying geographical regionalisation of the Asian continent, the subgroups are often utilized in broad ethnic or cultural classification.[12][13] Despite wider use, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) does not provide geographic distinctions within the census, meaning all people born in Asia (regardless of region), or with Asian ancestry, are provided designation as "Asian / Asian British". The ONS did, however, acknowledge East, South, Southeast and West Asian individuals in its final recommendations report for the 2011 United Kingdom census.[14] Census results show that Asian Britons with descent from across all of Asia are represented in the UK. For example, births in the Philippines and Thailand in Southeast Asia, or Iran and Iraq in West Asia, are among the highest in the Other Asian subcategory of "Asian / Asian British".[15] Outside of the census, organisation and bodies have made explicit use of such geographic classifications. These have included the British Heart Foundation,[16] the Greater London Authority,[17] and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.[18] In alphabetical order, some of these subgroups are: British Central Asian, including British Afghans, British Kazakhs, British Kyrgyz, British Tajiks, British Turkmens and British Uzbeks British East Asian, including British Chinese, British Hongkongers, British Japanese, British Koreans and British Mongolians British South Asian, including British Bangladeshis, British Bhutanese, British Indians, British Nepalese, British Pakistanis and British Sri Lankans British Southeast Asian, including British Burmese, British Filipinos, British Indonesians, British Malaysians, British Singaporeans, British Thais and British Vietnamese British West Asian, including British Armenians, British Azerbaijanis, British Iranians, British Iraqis, British Israelis, British Kurds, British Lebanese, British Syrians, British Turks and British Yemenis Various terms Terms to describe British people with Asian heritage are varied and are subject to gradual change created by study in academia, reporting in journalistic works, coverage in other media forms, as well as concepts of self-identity and personhood. Some of the terms used to describe residents and citizens of the United Kingdom with ancestry from Asia are, in alphabetical order, as follows: Asian Briton The term Asian Briton has been consistently used to refer to someone who is a British citizen or resident with ancestry from across the continent of Asia.[19][20] In 2005, social science researcher Praful Bidwai used Asian Briton as an example of a "mixed" identity.[21] In 2011, multiple scholars, such as Timothy Garton Ash and Sonja Licht, used the term as an example of a hyphenated or dual identity within Europe.[22] Use of "Asian Briton" has appeared as both an illustrative term in media and for purposes of self-identity. For example, in 2005, politician Shailesh Vara was described as an Ugandan Asian Briton.[23] Television presenter Sonia Deol and journalist Yasmin Alibhai-Brown have identified themselves as Asian Britons.[24][25] In 1999, Alibhai-Brown published an Institute for Public Policy Research report,[26] advising various departments of the Government of the United Kingdom to use the term Asian Briton.[27] Research project Minorities at Risk described this as an effort "to link ethnic groups to their heritage, and to make greater recognition of the sacrifices made by members of ethnic groups during World War II".[28] British Asian British Asian is a widely used term to describe British persons of Asian descent with either citizenship or residency in the UK. Although not following the UK's census formatting, there are numerous examples of the term gaining cultural traction in the country. Founded by Charles, Prince of Wales in 2007, the British Asian Trust follows the naming convention resultant from the popularity of the term, and projects an association to the category of British Asian people. After the appointment of Katy Perry as an ambassador of the Trust in 2020, The Guardian questioned the merit of whether the American singer was a person "who inhabits the values of the British Asian community", reporting that Perry was "neither British nor Asian".[29] The term has also received some criticism. BBC Asian Network commissioned an opinion poll that found that the majority of Asians in the UK disliked the term due to its inferred generalisation.[24] Academic Roxy harris has critiqued the term of "British Asian" as essentialising and hierarchising the values, or order of priority, of "British" and "Asian". The portmanteau Brasian has also been proposed as an alternative form of the term.[30] Development in the 2010s This section possibly contains original research. Please improve it by verifying the claims made and adding inline citations. Statements consisting only of original research should be removed. (April 2020) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) In the course of the 2010s, usage of British Asian broadened in British media usage and in self-identification by British citizens or residents, to increasingly also include British people of heritage other than South Asia, such as East Asia[31][32][33][34][35][36][37][38][39] and West Asia.[40][41][42] In the 2011 census, the two categories Chinese and Other Asian were listed explicitly under the broad heading and within the grouping of "Asian/Asian British".[6] Demographics Members of the Asian community with the then prime minister David Cameron in 2014 Asian British people are significant and growing minority of the United Kingdom's population. The 2011 United Kingdom census recorded 1,451,862 residents of Indian, 1,174,983 of Pakistani, 451,529 of Bangladeshi, 433,150 of Chinese, and 861,815 of "Other Asian" ethnicity, making a total Asian British population of 4,373,339 (6.9 per cent of the total population), excluding people of mixed ethnicity.[1] The 2011 population represented a 1,794,513 increase on the 2001 United Kingdom census figures. All five of the subcategories (Indian, Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Chinese, and Other Asian) rose in their own right, representing both outright population growth, as well as increased demographic share of the UK's total population from 4.4% to 6.9%. Due to a growing sense of affiliation with Britain, many third generation South Asians chose to not mark "Asian or British Asian" and instead marked "British Asian" in the "Other Asian" write in section.[43] Census category Population (2001) Percentage (2001) Population (2011) Percentage (2011) Indian 1,053,411 1.8% 1,451,862 Increase2.3% Pakistani 747,285 1.3% 1,174,983 Increase1.9% Bangladeshi 283,063 0.5% 451,529 Increase0.7% Chinese 247,403 0.4% 433,150 Increase0.7% Other Asian 247,664 0.4% 861,815 Increase1.4% Flag of United Kingdom.svg Total: Asian British 2,578,826 4.4% 4,373,339 Increase6.9% Birthplace In terms of birthplace, the first four categories of "Asian / Asian British" people are vastly represented by births in the United Kingdom and the corresponding national-based category (E.g. China and "Asian / Asian British: Chinese"). The following birthplace figures cover the region of England and Wales, which constitute 94.7 percent of the UK's Asian British statistics:[15] For the British Indian category, 606,298 (42.9 percent) were born in the United Kingdom, and 579,521 (41 percent) were born in India, accounting for 83.9 percent of the group. In the British Pakistani category, 631,171 (56.1 percent) were born in the UK, and 443,414 (39.4 percent) were born in Pakistan, accounting for 95.5 percent of the group. For the British Bangladeshi category, 232,089 (51.9 percent) were born in the UK, and 202,626 (45.3 percent) were born in Bangladesh, accounting for 97.1 percent of the group. In the British Chinese category, 93,164 (23.7 percent) were born in the UK, and 209,104 (53.2 percent) were born in China and its special administrative regions, accounting for 76.9 percent of the group. The break down of which was 139,723 in China (35.5 percent), 67,761 in Hong Kong (17.2 percent) and 1,620 in Macao (0.4 percent). In the Other Asian category, 207,319 (24.8 percent) were born in the UK, and then with significant births in many diverse nations, mainly in Asia. For example, in the 2011 census, countries of birth with significant representation (over 10,000 births) were recorded across different regions of Asia. In alphabetical order, these included two nations in East Asia (Japan and South Korea), four in South Asia (India, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka), four in Southeast Asia (Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam), and two nations in West Asia (Iran and Iraq). In 2001, the ONS designated the "Main countries of birth of Other Asian group" (the 10 places of birth with highest recorded figures), which, in descending order of population, were: United Kingdom, Sri Lanka, Iran, India, Iraq, Mauritius, Pakistan, Kenya, Nepal and Yemen.[43] As updated a decade later by the Office for National Statistics, the 2011 United Kingdom census recorded the following population figures for the "Asian / Asian British: Other" group by birthplace:[15] "Asian / Asian British: Other" population by birth in England and Wales (2011)[15] Region ONS Country Population Percentage Northwest Europe 926 United Kingdom 207,319 24.8% South Asia 144 Sri Lanka 112,511 13.5% Southeast Asia 608 Philippines 104,075 12.5% Central Asia 004 Afghanistan 48,776 5.8% South Asia 524 Nepal 44,243 5.3% Southeast Asia 764 Thailand 31,135 3.7% East Asia 392 Japan 28,137 3.4% West Asia 364 Iran 27,460 3.3% South Asia 356 India 27,061 3.2% East Africa 480 Mauritius 17,069 2% Flag of United Kingdom.svg Asian British: Other Not applicable Not applicable 861,815 1.5% ONS = Office for National Statistics, coding index. Employment British Asian professionals at a networking event in the City of London The unemployment rate among Indian men was only slightly higher than that for White British or White Irish men, 7 per cent compared with 5 per cent for the other two groups. On the other hand, Pakistanis have higher unemployment rates of 13–14%, and Bangladeshis have one of the highest rates, around 23%.[44] Some surveys also revealed the Indian unemployment rate to be 6–7%[45] Persons of Indian or mixed Indian origin are more likely than White British to have university degrees, whereas Pakistanis and Bangladeshis are less likely.[46] With the exception of Bangladeshi women, every other group of South Asians, have higher attendance at university than the national average.[47] GCSE pass rates have been rising for all South Asians.[48] In the UK South Asian population has higher rates of unemployment compared to the White-British population, and number of 16 to 64 year old's who were employed, by ethnicity showed Indians overall had the same ratio in employment as White-British at 76%. However those from Pakistani, Bangladeshi backgrounds have far lower rates in employment at 57%. The gap between men and women was biggest in the combined Pakistani and Bangladeshi ethnic group, where 75% of men and 39% of women were employed compared to 80% of men and 73% of women amongst White-British.[49] As of 2020, citizens of India and the Philippines are the largest foreign-national groups of National Health Service workers.[50] Ethnoregion South Asian ethnic groups mostly originate from a few select places in South Asia, these are known as place of origins. East Asian ethnic groups are particularly represented by the Han Chinese in the United Kingdom. British Indians tend to originate mainly from the two Indian States, Punjab and Gujarat.[51] Evidence from Bradford and Birmingham have shown, Pakistanis originate largely from the Mirpur District in Azad Kashmir. The second largest ethnic group of British Pakistanis are the Punjabi people, largely from Attock District of Punjab followed by Pashtuns and other ethnic groups from the districts of Nowshera, Peshawar and Ghazi in province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. In the London Borough of Waltham Forest there are substantial numbers of Pakistani people originating from Jhelum, Punjab.[52] Studies have shown 95 per cent of British Bangladeshis originate from the Sylhet Division, located in the Northeastern part of Bangladesh. British Chinese people originate primarily from former British colonies, such as Hong Kong, but also from areas of Southeast Asia, where they were already diasporic populations.[53][54] There have been three waves of migration of Hindus in the United Kingdom. The first wave was before India's independence in 1947. In the early 1950s the Conservative Health Minister, Enoch Powell recruited a large number of doctors from the Indian subcontinent. The second wave occurred in the 1970s mainly from East Africa. The later communities included those from Guyana, Trinidad and Tobago, Mauritius and Fiji. The last wave of migration began in the 1990s and included Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka and professionals including doctors and software engineers from India. Language Chinese Britons speak the Mandarin, Cantonese, Min, and Hakka languages. The language spoken by Indians are Punjabi, Gujarati, Kutchi, Hindustani, Bengali, Tamil, Telugu and Malayalam. People from Pakistan speak Urdu, Punjabi, Mirpuri, Hindko (dialects of Punjabi), Sindhi, Kashmiri, Pashto and Saraiki. Gujaratis who emigrated from India and East Africa speak Gujarati, Hindi, and Kutchi (a dialect of Sindhi), while a sizeable number of Gujarati Muslims speak Urdu for religious and cultural reasons.[55] Bangladeshis speak Sylheti and Bengali. People from Sri Lanka speak Tamil and Sinhala. Those who speak dialects mainly refer their language to the main language, for example Sylheti speakers say they speak Bengali or Mirpuri speakers say they speak Punjabi. The reason for this is because they do not expect outsiders to be well informed about dialects.[56] Religion The East London Mosque, is one of the largest mosques in Europe, and the biggest in the UK[57] Asian Britons have significant numbers of adherents to various major religions. Based on 2011 census figures for England and Wales (94.7 percent of UK statistics), Muslims account for 43% of the group, while Hindus make up over 18%, and Christians almost 11%. Sikhs constitute nearly 9% of British Asians, and 3.5% are Buddhists.[2] British Chinese are mainly irreligious, with 55% of the population subscribing to no religion, 19% Christians and 12% Buddhists. British Pakistanis and Bangladeshis tend to be religiously homogeneous, with Muslims accounting for 92% of each group while their counterparts of Indian and Sri Lankan origin are more religiously diverse, with 55% Hindus, 29% Sikhs, and 15% Muslims. British Gujaratis are predominantly Hindu, belonging to various caste organizations, with large minorities of Muslims, Jains, and smaller numbers of Christians and Zoroastrians. Notable religious buildings are the East London Mosque, London Central Mosque, Birmingham Central Mosque, Baitul Futuh Mosque, BAPS Shri Swaminarayan Mandir London, Bradford Lakshmi Narayan Hindu Temple, Shikharbandi Jain Derasar in Potters Bar,[58] Gurdwara Sri Guru Singh Sabha in Southall and Guru Nanak Darbar Gurdwara in Gravesend. The publication of Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses in 1988 caused major controversy. Muslims condemned the book for blasphemy. On 2 December 1988 the book was publicly burned at a demonstration in Bolton attended by 7,000 Muslims, followed by a similar demonstration and book-burning in Bradford on 14 January 1989.[59] In 1989 Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie.[60] Britain is also home of notable Asian religious leaders and scholars. Some of them are Mirza Masroor Ahmad (Caliph of the Ahmadiyya Community), Sheikh Abdul Qayum (one of the best known scholars in Europe and Chief Imam of East London Mosque), Abu Yusuf Riyadh ul Haq (Khateeb of Birmingham Central Mosque), Dr. Mahmudul Hasan (Khateeb of Essex Mosque), Abdur Rahman Madani (Chairman of Global Eid Trust and Chief Imam of Darul Ummah Mosque), Faiz-ul-Aqtab Siddiqi (principal of Hijaz College), Ajmal Masroor (Imam and Liberal Democrats politician) and Pramukh Swami Maharaj (fifth spiritual successor of Hindu Swaminarayan). History in Britain Munshi I'tisam-ud-Din was the first South Asian to travel and live in Europe, and write about his experiences Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi who studied in England played a pivotal role in leading the Indian independence movement The earliest date at which South Asians settled in Great Britain is unclear. If the Romany (Gypsies) are included, then the earliest arrivals were in the Middle Ages. DNA surveys have linked Romanies to present-day South Asian populations and the Romani language is a member of the Indo-Aryan language family. Romanies are believed to have begun travelling westward around 1000 CE, and have mixed with Middle Eastren and European populations over many centuries. Romani began arriving in sizeable numbers in parts of Western Europe in the 16th century. The Romani who settled in Britain are known as Romanichal.[citation needed] The first educated South Asian to travel to Europe and live in Britain was I'tisam-ud-Din, a Bengali Muslim cleric, munshi and diplomat to the Mughal Empire who arrived in 1765 with his servant Muhammad Muqim during the reign of King George III.[61] He wrote of his experiences and travels in his Persian book, Shigurf-nama-i-Wilayat ('Wonderous Chronicle of Europe').[62] This is also the earliest record of literature by a British Asian. Also during the reign of George III, the hookah-bardar (hookah servant/preparer) of James Achilles Kirkpatrick was said to have robbed and cheated Kirkpatrick, making his way to England and stylising himself as the Prince of Sylhet. The man, presumably of Sylheti origin, was waited upon by the British Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, and then dined with the Duke of York before presenting himself in front of the King.[63] Lascars When the Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama arrived in Calicut, India in 1498, he established the first European-Asian sea route (commonly called the Cape Route), opening up direct maritime passage between South Asia and Europe. An extension of this route, devised by the Dutch explorer Hendrik Brouwer in 1611 and known as the Brouwer Route, subsequently found a new waterway to Southeast Asia. In the following centuries, the United Kingdom, and its predecessor states, utilised these sea routes to form the British Empire. Capitilising on their growing naval dominance among the other European powers, the British colonised the coastal areas in the West, South, Southeast and East of the continent, creating dozens of British colonies and protectorates in Asia. The administrators of the British Empire termed Asian labourers working for them coolies, of which lascars were considered the maritime equivalent.[64] Lascars were sailors or seamen from many different ethnic backgrounds. The term was sometimes used to specifically refer to a sailor of any Asian ancestry, however there were also African lascars recorded in Britain.[65] Of the Asian lascars, Austronesian Malay people, from Southeast Asia, formed a significant part of the lascar population settling in, and sailing to and from Britain.[66] From East Asia, Japanese and Chinese seamen were often operating as lascars for British ships and trading companies.[65] From South Asia, Indians made up a huge proportion of these sea crews, particularly in the East India Company's earliest decades of operation.[67] Parsees (who originate from Persia, West Asia) and Luso-Asians of mixed Portuguese and Indian heritage, also came from South Asia to work as lascars.[68] From West Asia, Armenians formed part of diverse lascar crews,[68] and Yemenis increasingly served as lascar sailors and militiamen after the completion of the Suez Canal in 1869, going on to open businesses, like boarding houses, in port cities such as Cardiff and South Shields.[69][70] 17th century Many South Asians arrived in Europe by sea as lascars or servants. English commerce on the Indian subcontinent brought some of these people to England and four South Asian men in London answered the call for sailors for the first English East India Company fleet to Asia. Their Portuguese names identifies them as mixed-race Portuguese Luso-Asians.[71] Since the 17th century, the East India Company employed thousands of South Asian lascars, scholars and workers (who were mostly Bengali or Muslim) mainly to work on British ships and ports around the world. 18th century The first group of South Asians to migrate in notable numbers, in the 18th century, were lascars (sailors) recruited from the Indian subcontinent (largely from the Bengal region) to work for the British East India Company, with some choosing to settle down in Britain after either being abandoned by their captains or choosing to desert from their positions of employment. Many were unable to find jobs and were described in letters as "miserable objects", who were often "shivering and starving in the streets".[72][73] Letters to newspapers in 1785 talked of "the number of miserable objects, Lascars, … shivering and starving in the streets".[74] Some lascars took British wives, and some converted to Anglican Christianity (at least nominally) in order to marry,[75] possibly due to a lack of South Asian women in Britain at the time.[68] Most Indians during this period would visit or reside in Britain temporarily, returning to India after months or several years, bringing back knowledge about Britain in the process.[76] 38 lascars were reported arriving in British ports in 1760.[77][78] 19th century Between 1803 and 1813, there were more than 10,000 lascars from the Indian subcontinent visiting British port cities and towns.[79]: 140, 154–6, 160–8, 172  By 1842, 3,000 lascars visited the UK annually, and by 1855, 12,000 lascars were arriving annually in British ports. In 1873, 3,271 lascars arrived in Britain.[80]: 35  Throughout the early 19th century lascars visited Britain at a rate of 1,000 every year,[79]: 140, 54–6, 60–8, 72  which increased to a rate of 10,000 to 12,000 every year throughout the late 19th century.[81][82] Due to the majority being lascars, the earliest Muslim communities were found in port towns, found living in barracks, Christian charity homes and hostels.[73] The first and most frequent South Asian travelers to Britain were Christian Indians and those of European-Asian mixed-race descent. For Muslim Indians considerations about how their dietary and religious practices would alienate them from society at large were brought into question but these considerations were often outweighed by economic opportunities. Those that stayed often adopted British names, dress and diet.[83] Naval cooks also came, many of them from the Sylhet Division of what is now Bangladesh. One of the most famous early Bengali Muslim immigrants to England was Sake Dean Mahomed, a captain of the British East India Company who in 1810 founded London's first Indian restaurant, the Hindoostane Coffee House. He is also reputed for introducing shampoo and therapeutic massage to the United Kingdom.[84] In 1784 he migrated to Ireland where he fell in love with a woman called Jane Daly. He converted to Anglicanism in order to marry her, as it was illegal at the time for non-Protestants to marry Protestants. They later moved to Brighton.[85] After reports of lascars suffering from poverty made their way to the ear of the general public, the East India Company responded by making lodgings available for them, but no checks were kept on the boarding houses and barracks they provided to the lascars. Many lascars found that their new living accommodations were often of a poor quality, and reports of Lascars being mistreated were submitted to the Society for the Protection of Asiatic Sailors, which was founded in 1814.[74] In 1842, the Church Missionary Society reported on the dire ″state of the Lascars in London″[86] it was reported in the winter of 1850, 40 Asian men, also known as 'sons of India', were found dead of cold and hunger on the streets of London. Shortly after these reports evangelical Christians proposed the construction of a charity house and gathered £15,000 pounds in assistance of the Lascars . In 1856 the Strangers' Home for Asiatics, Africans and South Sea Islanders was opened in Commercial Road, Limehouse under the manager Lieutenant-Colonel R. Marsh Hughes.[87] The Navigation Act of 1660 restricted the employment of non-English sailors to a quarter of the crew on returning East India Company ships. Baptism records in East Greenwich suggest that young Indians from the Malabar Coast were being recruited as servants at the end of the 17th century, and records of the EIC also suggest that Indo-Portuguese cooks from Goa were retained by captains from voyage to voyage.[72] In 1797, 13 were buried in the parish of St Nicholas at Deptford. 20th century It is estimated 8,000 Indians (a large proportion being lascar sailors) lived in Britain permanently prior to the 1950s. Although, the comparatively few lascars that gained work often opened shops and helped initiate social and political community associations.[88] Indians were less likely to settle permanently because of wage differentials.[89][90] Due to the majority of early South Asian immigrants being lascars, the earliest South Asian communities were found in port towns. The small, often transitory presence of Lascars continued into the 1930s, with the Port of London Authority mentioning Lascars in a February 1931 article writing that "Although appearing so out of place in the East End, they are well able to look after themselves, being regular seamen who came to the Docks time after time and have learnt a little English and know how to buy what they want."[91] In 1932, the Indian National Congress survey of 'all Indians outside India' estimated that there were 7,128 Indians in the United Kingdom.[92] It is estimated that from 1800 to 1945, 20,000 South Asians emigrated to Britain.[93] Post–World War II migration Following the Second World War and the breakup of the British Empire, South Asian migration to the UK increased through the 1950s and 1960s from Pakistan (including present-day Bangladesh), India and Sri Lanka (who are all members of the Commonwealth). Additionally immigrants from former Caribbean colonies (including Indo-Caribbeans) were also moving to Britain. Although this immigration was continuous, several distinct phases can be identified: Manual workers, mainly from Pakistan, were recruited to fulfill the labour shortage that resulted from World War II. These included Anglo-Indians who were recruited to work on the railways as they had done in India. Workers mainly from the Punjab region of India and Pakistan arrived in the late 1950s and 1960s. Many worked in the foundries of the English Midlands and a large number worked at Heathrow Airport in west London. This created an environment to where the next generation of families did not lose their identity as easily. An example would be Southall which is populated by many Sikhs. During the same time, medical staff from the Indian subcontinent were recruited for the newly formed National Health Service. These people were targeted as the British had established medical schools in the Indian subcontinent which conformed to the British standards of medical training. Bengali social reformer and founder of the All-India Seamen's Federation, Aftab Ali's work is recognised to have helped thousands of Asian lascars to migrate, settle and find employment in Britain.[94] He organised rallies and meetings with the likes of the Trades Union Congress. He encouraged lascars and seamen to remain and settle in the United Kingdom. In the 1950s, he founded the Overseas Seamen's Welfare Association which campaigned distressed seamen and their families to be granted British passports. Ali also played an instrumental role in the opening of a passport office in his own home in Sylhet.[95] Asian migration from East Africa Beginning around 1964 Africanization policies in East Africa prompted the arrival of Asians with British passports from Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania. At first these were the people employed in government and administrative roles, but this was expanded to include those Asians engaged in commerce. The movement was called the "Exodus".[96] In 1972, all South Asians were expelled from Uganda by the controversial figure Idi Amin, then president of Uganda. Those holding British passports came to Britain. Many such displaced people who were predominantly of Gujarati origins had left behind successful businesses and vast commercial empires in Uganda, but built up their lives all over again in Britain, starting from scratch. Some of these "twice-over" migrants became retailers, while others found suitable employment in white-collar professions. The Commonwealth Immigrants Act 1962 and Immigration Act 1971 largely restricted any further primary immigration, although family members of already-settled migrants were still allowed. In addition, much of the subsequent growth in the South Asian community has come from the births of second and third-generation South Asian Britons. Notable contributions Arts and entertainment Several Asian Britons have broken into the UK film industry, as well as Hollywood, and the U.S. film industry at large; starring in high-grossing box office films, including major film series, and receiving subsequent international recognition and media attention. In television, prominent roles in American sitcoms, series, and long-running British soap operas, such as Coronation Street, EastEnders, Emmerdale and Hollyoaks, have all had a number of Asian characters portrayed by British actors of Asian heritage. Tsai Chin, the first Asian British actress to play a Bond girl, appeared in 1967's You Only Live Twice and the 2006 re-make of Casino Royale.[97] Burt Kwouk, who appeared in over fifty films, including three of the James Bond film series, received an OBE for services to drama in 2010.[98] Art Malik had notable roles in The Jewel in the Crown and The Living Daylights, and Sir Ben Kingsley (born Krishna Pandit Bhanji) is one of Britain's most acclaimed and well-known performers. Kingsley is one of few actors to have won all four major motion picture acting awards, receiving Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards throughout his career, including the Academy Award for Best Actor for his performance in Gandhi (1982).[99] The actor Dev Patel, who played the role of Anwar Kharral in the teen drama series Skins, portrayed the leading role in Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire, for which he received several awards and was nominated for the 2009 BAFTA Award for Best Leading Actor.[100] Parminder Nagra, who played a prominent role in the US TV series ER, starred in successful British film Bend It Like Beckham (2002). The actor Naveen Andrews plays the role of Sayid Jarrah in the popular US TV series Lost, and also had a prominent role in the award-winning film The English Patient (1996). Kunal Nayyar plays the character of Raj Koothrappali in the popular US sitcom, The Big Bang Theory. Gemma Chan and Benedict Wong have featured in the Marvel Cinematic Universe franchise. Chan has had two starring roles in both 2019's Captain Marvel and The Eternals (2021), making her the first actress to portray separate characters within the cinematic universe.[101] Wong, who has also appeared in two Ridley Scott films (Prometheus and The Martian), first appeared for a Marvel production in 2016's Doctor Strange, twice reprising the role for Avengers: Infinity War (2018) and Endgame (2019), the latter of which is the highest grossing release in film history.[102] Riz Ahmed has starred in both the Bourne film series and Star Wars saga, appearing in anthology film Rogue One.[103] Star Wars, Marvel's The Avengers, the Bourne and James Bond film series are some of the highest-grossing film franchises of all time.[104] Art and design Shahidul Alam was one of the persons of the year selected by Time magazine in 2018 ArcelorMittal Orbit, London Olympic Park, designated by the Indian Anish Kapoor Anish Kapoor is an Indian-born British sculptor. Born in Mumbai, Kapoor has lived and worked in London since the early 1970s when he moved to study art, first at the Hornsey College of Art and later at the Chelsea College of Art and Design. Kapoor received the Turner Prize in 1991. Poulomi Desai, born in Hackney, London is a photographer and sound artist working with noise and electricity since the 1980s. She is an Oram Awards winner and curator of Usurp Art.[105] Born in London and of Asian origin, Shezad Dawood became known for this work in various media in the early 2000s. Also born in London and of Pakistani origin, Haroon Mirza emerged as an artist in the late 2000s. Best known for his sculptural installations that generate sound, Mirza was awarded the Silver Lion for the Most Promising Artist at the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011. Shahidul Alam is a Bangladeshi photojournalist, teacher and social activist. He has been a photographer for more than forty years and "his photographs have been published in almost every major western media outlet".[106] Saiman Miah is an architectural designer and graphic designer who designed one of the two £5 commemorative coins for the 2012 London Summer Olympics.[107] Theatre company RIFCO Arts has been producing and touring productions based on the British Asian experience since 1999.[108] Literature Well-known South Asian writers include Muhammad Mojlum Khan, Abdur Rouf Choudhury, Aminul Hoque, Shahida Rahman, H.S. Bhabra, Salman Rushdie, Ghulam Murshid, Tahir Shah, Gurinder Chadha, Nazrin Choudhury, Rekha Waheed, Hanif Kureishi, Monica Ali, Meera Syal, Gautam Malkani, Bali Rai and Raman Mundair. Music Since the 1970s, South Asian performers and writers have achieved significant mainstream cultural success. The first South Asian musician to gain wide popularity in the UK and worldwide fame was Queen lead singer Freddie Mercury, born Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar, East Africa, to parents of Parsi descent from Bombay (now Mumbai). In 2006, Time Asia magazine voted him as one of the most influential South Asians in the past 60 years.[109] At around the same time, music producer, composer and songwriter Biddu gained worldwide fame for a number of hit songs, including "Kung Fu Fighting" by Carl Douglas and "I Love to Love (But My Baby Loves to Dance)" for Tina Charles. In the 1990s the South Asian artists who gained mainstream success included Apache Indian, whose 1993 single "Boom Shack-A-Lak" was used in many Hollywood movies, and Jas Mann, who headed Babylon Zoo and whose 1996 single "Spaceman" set a UK chart record when it sold 418,000 copies in its first week of release. The most successful South Asian musician in 2008 was the British Tamil artist M.I.A., who was nominated for two Grammy Awards for her single "Paper Planes", and has been nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Score for "O... Saya", from the Slumdog Millionaire soundtrack. In 2009, R&B and hip-hop artist, Mumzy Stranger, became the first British Bangladeshi to release a music single; titled "One More Dance".[110] In October 2009, Jay Sean's single "Down" reached the #1 on the Billboard Hot 100[111] and sold four million copies in the United States,[112][113] making him the first South Asian-origin solo artist and "the first UK Urban act to top Billboard's Hot 100,"[114] "the most successful male UK urban artist in US chart history,"[115] and the most successful British male artist in the US charts since Elton John in 1997. A new generation of British Asian musicians have followed such as Raxstar, Bilal and Nish. In the early 2010s, Asian boy band members, Siva Kaneswaran of the Wanted and Zayn Malik of One Direction, have gained considerable mainstream popularity worldwide; the Wanted reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 with "Glad You Came" while One Direction topped the Billboard 200 with Up All Night. British Bangladeshi youtuber-turned-rapper Koomz is best known for his breakthrough single "Mariah" which has hit over 10 million streams and views across many platforms and also Number 1 in the Official Asian Music Chart of 2018.[116][117] Charity and interfaith There is a growing number of young British Asians who are making a mark in the charity and interfaith sectors. A recent example is Onkardeep Singh who became the youngest person of South Asian heritage in 2018 to be awarded an MBE for his interfaith and voluntary works.[118] Saif Uddin Ahmad is a humanitarian and chief executive officer of Al-Khair Foundation. He was formerly the chief executive officer of the UK charities Muslim Aid and Islamic Help, and he also founded the charities Faith Regen foundation, MADE in Europe and Global One 2015.[119] Responsible investment consultant and writer, Niaz Alam was a trustee of the charity War on Want from 2000 to 2007.[120] Sports See also: British Asians in association football Amir Khan (left), with American boxer Paulie Malignaggi (right) Jawaid Khaliq, the first world champion boxer of Pakistani origin, was born in Nottingham.[citation needed] Amir Khan, born in Bolton, won a silver medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and went on to become a world light-welterweight boxing champion.[citation needed] Michael Chopra played for the England national under-21 football team and became the first footballer of Indian descent to play and score in the Premier League. In 2006 he scored one of the fastest goals in Premier League history, as Chopra had only been on the pitch for fifteen seconds after coming on as a substitute.[121] Aston Villa defender, Neil Taylor is also of Indian descent. Currently in the Premier League, Hamza Choudhury, a footballer of Bangladeshi descent, plays for Leicester City F.C., making him the first player of Bangladeshi descent to play in the Premier League, and has also made appearances for the England under-21 team. Just as in South Asia, the most popular sport among the British Asian community is cricket; as much as third of the players of the sport at recreational level are of South Asian descent.[122] This has not translated into equal levels of success professionally however, with only 4.2% of cricketers being of British South Asian descent in first-class cricket across the UK.[122] Regardless, many British South Asians have gone on to represent England in cricket internationally. Nasser Hussain, who was the captain of the England cricket team, was born in Madras, India.[123] Other success stories of the past have included Mark Ramprakash, of Indo-Caribbean descent, Isa Guha, of Bengali descent, and Monty Panesar, of Indian Sikh descent. Currently, Moeen Ali and Adil Rashid are the only players in the England men's squad, both of Pakistani (Mipuri) descent. Ali, affectionately known by fans as 'the beard's that's feared', is currently ranked the 7th best all-rounder in ODI cricket and 8th-best in test cricket worldwide.[124] Other British Asian sport personalities: Akaash Bhatia Haroon Khan Vikram Solanki Qasim Nisar Imran Khan Tanveer Ahmed Sajid Mahmood Saqlain Mushtaq Adam Khan Dimitri Mascarenhas Ravi Bopara Kabir Ali Owais Shah Kadeer Ali Hamza Riazuddin Min Patel Samit Patel Riaz Amin Adil Rashid Zesh Rehman Bilal Shafayat Harpal Singh Anwar Uddin Usman Afzaal Adnan Ahmed Hammad Miah Nayan Doshi Majid Haq Ronnie Irani Omer Hussain Tosh Masson Kash Gill Netan Sansara Mandip Sehmi Rikki Bains Rajiv Ouseph Ali Jacko Bulbul Hussain Ruqsana Begum Zubair Hoque Celebrities in popular culture Shazia Mirza is a popular British comedian The comedians Sanjeev Bhaskar, Meera Syal, Papa CJ and Shazia Mirza are all well-recognised figures in British popular culture. The presenter and match maker of the BBC marriage arranging show Arrange Me a Marriage is a South Asian-Scot Aneela Rahman. Hardeep Singh Kohli is a presenter, reporter and comedian on British television and radio. British Bangladeshi, Pakistani and Indian contestants have appeared on The Apprentice including Syed Ahmed, Tre Azam, Lohit Kalburgi, Ghazal Asif, Shazia Wahab, Sara Dhada, and most notably Saira Khan, who is now a British TV presenter. The broadcasters Daljit Dhaliwal, Krishnan Guru-Murthy and Samira Ahmed are known for working on Channel 4 News. The award-winning dance act Signature involved a British Pakistani and a British Indian In 2008, in the second series of reality television Britain's Got Talent, one of the country's most successful reality television shows, the South Asian dance duo Signature, consisting of Suleman Mirza (a British Pakistani) and Madhu Singh (a British Indian) performing a fusion of Michael Jackson and Bhangra music and dance styles, came second on the show. Humza Arshad and Ali Shahalom are well known British Asian comedians for their YouTube careers which normally consists of stereotyping Pakistani, Bangladeshi and Muslim culture. In 2011, one of Humza Arshad's video was the seventh most viewed on YouTube in Europe.[125][126] British Bangladeshi comedian Ali Shahalom, along with British Pakistani comedian Aatif Nawaz, starred on BBC's first ever British Muslim sketch show, Muzlamic. Cultural influence An Asian business leader showcasing his awards at the Grange Hotel in London Economic In 2001, the Centre for Social Markets estimated that British Asian businesses contributed more than £5 billion to GDP.[127] Many British Asians are regarded as affluent middle-class people.[128][129] As business owners and entrepreneurs,[130] Asian Britons are celebrated for revolutionising the corner shop, expanding the take-away food trade,[131] including the revitalisation of the UK's fish and chips industry by British Chinese,[132] and energising the British economy to a degree which changed Britain's antiquated retail laws forever.[133][134][135] In 2004, it was reported that Sikhs had the highest percentage of home ownership in the country, at 82%, out of all UK religious communities. Hindus ranked third highest at 74%, Buddhists were 54%, and Muslims households were listed at 52%.[136] Many Asian British people have made important contributions to the country's economy by leading and innovating in major UK and international industries. Due to their commercial success, there are a number of British citizens or UK-resident billionaires of Asian ancestry in the United Kingdom. From a Baniya family, Lakshmi Mittal is one of Britain's richest men. In 2017, Forbes ranked him as the 56th-richest person in the world with a net worth of US$20.4 billion. He is also the "57th-most powerful person" of the 72 individuals named in Forbes' "Most Powerful People" list for 2015.[137] The Sunday Times Rich List has included Mittal in its listings since the mid-2000s. For several years, the publication has had an Asian Rich List section, featuring the wealthiest Asian Britons and UK-residents of Asian descent. In 2019, eight of the top ten, including Mittal, were of a South Asian ethnic background, including Indian-born Briton S. P. Hinduja, of Sindhi heritage, who topped the rankings via the Hinduja Group, with an estimated fortune of £22 billion.[138] Exceptions included British nationals David and Simon Reuben, who were both born in India, and were listed in joint-second place. The Reuben brothers, of West Asian Baghdadi Jewish heritage, are worth over £18 billion. Part of the top ten since 2018, property magnate, and London-resident, Samuel Tak Lee is of East Asian descent and born in British Hong Kong.[139] Other 2019 Asian Rich List UK billionaires included British-Iraqi Nadhmi Auchi and British-Iranian Farhad Moshiri.[138] Food The biggest influence of South Asians on popular British culture has probably been the spread of Indian cuisine, though of the 9,000 Indian restaurants in the UK, most are run by Sylhetis; their ancestral home was part of British India until partition in 1947. An early record of a Sylheti migrant, by the name of Saeed Ullah, can be found in colonial officer Robert Lindsay's autobiography. Saeed Ullah was said to have migrated not only for work but also to attack Lindsay and avenge his Sylheti elders for the Muharram Rebellion of 1782.[140] They eventually made peace with each other and Saeed was invited to Lindsay's home as a chef. Saeed Ullah's curry is often considered as the first Indian curry cooked in Britain.[141][142] Shah Abdul Majid Qureshi is said to be the first Sylheti to open a restaurant in the country. It was called Dilkush Delight and located in Soho.[143] Another one of his restaurants, known as India Centre, alongside early Sylheti migrant Ayub Ali Master's Shah Jalal cafe, became hub for the British Asian community and was sites where the India League would hold meetings attracting influential figures such as Subhas Chandra Bose, Krishna Menon and Mulk Raj Anand. Ali was an influential figure who supported working-class lascars, providing them food and shelter. In 1943, Qureshi and Ali founded the Indian Seamen's Welfare League which ensured social welfare for British Asians. Ayub Ali was also the president of the United Kingdom Muslim League having links with Liaquat Ali Khan and Muhammad Ali Jinnah.[144] The Indian International Chef of the Year Competition founded in 1991 by celebrity chef and restaurateur Mohammad Ajman "Tommy" Miah MBE.[145] The British Curry Awards was founded by restaurateur Enam Ali MBE in 2005.[146] Performing arts Like India, Bhangra music has become popular among many in Britain[147] not only from the works of British South Asian musicians such as Panjabi MC, Swami and Rishi Rich but also incorporated into the works of a number of non-South Asian musicians not only British but including North American artists such as Canadian Shania Twain, who created a whole alternate version of her multi-platinum album Up! with full Indian instrumentation, produced by South Asian producers Simon & Diamond. Diamond, better known as DJ Swami has also collaborated with rapper Pras, of the Fugees, and his band Swami have become one of the most renowned acts in South Asian music history, having had songs in major Hollywood movies and best-selling video games. One of the first artists of South Asian Indian origin to achieve mainstream success was Apache Indian who infused reggae and hip hop with Indian popular music to create a sound that transcended genre and found a multicultural audience. He is the only Indian artist to have achieved 7 top forty hits in the National UK charts. A subsequent wave of "Asian Underground" artists went on to blend elements of western underground dance music and the traditional music of their home countries, such as Nitin Sawhney, Talvin Singh, Asian Dub Foundation, Panjabi MC, Raghav, and the Rishi Rich Project (featuring Rishi Rich, Jay Sean and Juggy D). British Asian musicians combining Eastern and Western musical traditions The influence of South Asian music has not only been from South Asians living in the UK, but also from some UK artists that were starting using South Asian instruments creating a new sound that was a mixture of sitars and tablas with more rock-based western instruments like drums and guitar.[148][149] Media The films East Is East, Chicken Tikka Masala and Bend It Like Beckham and the TV shows Goodness Gracious Me and The Kumars at No. 42 have managed to attract large, multi-ethnic audiences. The success and popularity of British Pakistani boxer Amir Khan influenced the revival of boxing on ITV Sport. The Asian web series Corner Shop Show was launched by actor and director Islah Abdur-Rahman aired from 2014 to 2019.[150] In 2020, BBC Four released an episode of A Very British History focusing on the history of British Bangladeshis and emigration from Bangladesh from the 1960s onwards, hosted by Dr Aminul Hoque.[151] Although there are roughly double the number of South Asians in the UK today compared to people of African descent, South Asians are less represented in global and British media than any other major group; in the UK there is less than half the amount of South Asians represented in the media than those of African and Caribbean descent. Awards and achievements The Asian Professional Awards from left to right: Onkardeep Singh MBE; Jasvir Singh OBE; Sunny & Shay Grewal; Harry Virdee; Param Singh MBE With the increasing number of high achievers and trail blazers within the Asian community across a variety of professions, the British Asian community has over the years set up a variety of high-profile Award ceremonies to recognise Asian achievements across the full spectrum of professions and industries. These organisations and ceremonies include: Asian Achievers Awards organised by Asian Voice since 2000 with women dominating the nominee list for the first time in 2017 [152] Asian Women of Achievement Awards organised by Pinky Lilani CBE DL since 1999 [153] Asian Legal Awards organised by the Society for Asian Lawyers since 1994 making it one of the oldest Asian awards ceremonies [154] Asian Curry Awards celebrating the best of Asian restaurants since 2010 The Asian Awards organised by the Lemon Group since 2010 and usually attended by a host of leading celebrities [155] The Asian Professional Awards organised by Jasvir Singh OBE and Param Singh since 2014 aimed at celebrating success within the City professions [156] The British Curry Awards founded by restaurateur Enam Ali MBE in 2005.[146] Indian International Chef of the Year Competition founded in 1991 by celebrity chef and restaurateur Mohammad Ajman "Tommy" Miah MBE.[145] Social and political issues Discrimination and racism A Shaheed Minar in Altab Ali Park, Whitechapel renamed in honour of the Bangladeshi racial victim Altab Ali British Asians from a wide range of backgrounds have faced discrimination and racism since the second half of the twentieth century. There have been examples of abuse faced by British Asians and their communities, dating from the 1960s up until the 2020s. Following Enoch Powell's Rivers of Blood speech, and the establishment of the National Front in the late 1960s, the South Asian community in particular faced racial discrimination. This included overt racism in the form of Paki bashing, predominantly from white power skinheads, the National Front, and the National Party, throughout the 1970s and 1980s.[157] British Asians have been historically subjected to forms of discrimination and racism since significant immigration into the UK during the 20th century.[158] Drawing inspiration from the civil rights movement, the Black Power movement, and the South African anit-Apartheid Movement, young British Asian activists began a number of anti-racist Asian youth movements in the 1970s and 1980s, including the Bradford Youth Movement in 1977, the Battle of Brick Lane following the murder of Altab Ali in 1978, and the Newham Youth Movement following the murder of Akhtar Ali Baig in 1980.[159] A 2020 YouGov survey found that 61 percent of Asians (under the label "Other Asian") had experienced being called a racial slur, with British Chinese in particular, self-reporting being racially abused at 76 percent.[162][163] LGBT communities There have been reports and examples of cultural difficulties with tolerance for LGBT people within some Asian British communities. ITV News has reported: "For many in the Asian Community the fear of stigma or rejection from family leads them to hide their true self and in extreme cases turn to alcoholism, drugs and even suicide".[164] In 1987, pioneers, Shivanandan Khan and Poulomi Desai co-founded Shakt, the first South Asian LGBTQ campaigning group in Europe. In 2014, Nazim Mahmood, a British Asian medical doctor working in Harley Street, committed suicide after being advised to "seek a cure" for his sexuality by his parents. As a result of Mahmood's suicide, the Naz and Matt Foundation was created, as a charity to challenge homophobia caused by religious and cultural beliefs.[165] In 2017, it was reported how gay Asian Britons were "forced into heterosexual marriages" by cultural and religious pressure.[166] As a result, some were actively finding other gay members of the opposite sex for, what the BBC described as, "marriages of convenience".[167] In 2018, the BBC reported how British comedy-drama series Ackley Bridge had challenged "the taboo and divisive subject of homosexuality" in British Asian society.[168] The broadcaster also reported how a ComRes survey showed that Asian British people, of all ages, appeared to hold "more socially conservative views on gay relationships".[169] According to a survey by the charity Stonewall, more than 50 percent of Asian Britons who identified as LGBT had faced discrimination.[170] In 2019, the BBC documented the struggle for gay men to find acceptance in the UK's Punjabi Sikh community.[171] ITV News has reported on similar difficulties for gay Sikhs living in Rochdale.[172] In 2020, British actress Jameela Jamil, describing herself as "queer", stated that "it's not easy within the south Asian community to be accepted".[173] See also British Bangladeshi British Indians British Pakistanis List of British Sikhs British Sri Lankans British Tamils List of British Asian people Scottish Asian Anglo-Indian BBC Asian Network British Asians in politics of the United Kingdom British Cypriots British Indo-Caribbean people Foreign-born population of the United Kingdom Mauritian diaspora in the United Kingdom Nepalese in the United Kingdom Non-resident Indian and Person of Indian Origin South Asian Canadians Sunrise Radio Chinese immigrants to the United Kingdom currently has more than 400,000, around 0.7% of the United Kingdom population. The first Chinese to visit Britain was Michael Alphonsius Shen Fu-tsung in 1687, who travelled to Europe with a Belgian Jesuit Father Philippe Couplet. Shen helped to translate Chinese works at the Bodleian Library, University of Oxford. He and Couplet left in 1688.[1] Contents 1 18th Century 2 1800s to World War II[2] 3 Post-World War II 4 Communities 4.1 Liverpool 4.2 London 4.3 Sheffield 4.4 Wales 5 See also 6 References 18th Century The first Chinese to immigrate to Britain, settling in Scotland, was William Macao who lived in Edinburgh from 1779. He was the first Chinese to marry a British woman and have children. He worked for The Board of Excise in Scotland for over 40 years. He was involved in a significant court case in 1818 related to naturalization and for a period gained Scottish nationality. He is buried in St Cuthbert's Graveyard in Edinburgh.[2] 1800s to World War II[2] See also: Triads in the United Kingdom In the early 19th century, Chinese seamen began to establish small communities in the port cities of Liverpool and London. In London, the Limehouse area became the site of the first European Chinatown. The East India Company, which imported popular Chinese commodities such as tea, ceramics and silks, also brought Asian sailors and needed trustworthy intermediaries to arrange their care and lodgings while they were in London.[3] A Chinese seaman known as John Anthony took on the lucrative role of looking after Chinese sailors for the East India Company in the late 18th and early 19th century. Anthony married his British partner's daughter. Wishing to buy property, but unable to so while an alien, in 1805 he used part of the fortune he had amassed to pay for an Act of Parliament[4] naturalising him as a British subject; thus being the first Chinese to gain British citizenship. However, he died a few months after the Act was passed. In 1839, John Hochee became the first Chinese to be naturalised by Denization and inherited the property of John Elphinstone for whom he had worked. The first Chinese student to study and graduate in Britain was Huang Kuan who attended Edinburgh University Medical School from 1850 to 1855, but like other Chinese who studied in Britain returned to live in China. Before 1900, only a few Chinese who came to Britain as seamen, servants, jugglers, etc. decided to stay, and some married British women. By the mid-1880s, small Chinatowns started to form in London and Liverpool with grocery stores, eating houses and meeting places and, in the East End, Chinese street names. By 1890, there were two distinct, if small, Chinese communities living in east London. Chinese from Shanghai settled around Pennyfields, Amoy Place, and Ming Street and those from Guangzhou Canton and Northern and Southern China lived around Gill Street and Limehouse Causeway. Liverpool also saw the beginning of a Chinese community, although this remained small until later in the 20th century. In 1877, Kuo Sung-tao, the first Chinese minister to Britain, opened the country's legation in London. There was growing prejudice against the Chinese community, particularly among British seamen who misperceived the Chinese seamen as a threat to their jobs. This prejudice was fed by media misrepresentations of the Chinese in Limehouse and Liverpool as being heavily involved in gambling and opium use, and objections to Chinese marrying British women. From the early 1900s, due to being blocked from any other employment, many Chinese established small laundries. As few Chinese women lived in Britain, a number married British women and the laundries were operated as family concerns with all the family assisting. A few opened restaurants in their communities and the first recorded Chinese restaurant opened in London's Soho area in 1907. A small number of others also opened there, although it was not until the 1970s that London Soho Chinatown began to grow. There was resistance to Chinese settling in Britain. After World War I ended, the Aliens Restriction Act was extended in 1919 to include peacetime, bringing about a decline in the Chinese population in Britain. In spite of requests from some of the 100,000 Chinese brought from China to serve in the Chinese Labour Corp in France and Belgium during the war to live in Britain, not one was given permission to enter the country. By 1918, the number of Chinese living in Pennyfields, Poplar totalled less that 200; all were men and nine of them had English wives. Although the numbers of Chinese residing in Limehouse, Liverpool and other ports fluctuated, the number of settled Chinese immigrants before the 1950s remained relatively small. In World War II as more men were required to crew British merchant ships, the Chinese Merchant Seamen's Pool of approximately 20,000 was established with its headquarters in Liverpool. However, at the end of the war few Chinese who had worked as merchant seamen were allowed to remain in Britain. The British Government and the shipping companies colluded to forcibly repatriate thousands of Chinese seamen.[5] Many of the seamen left behind wives and mixed-race children that they would never see again.[5] More than 50 years later in 2006, a memorial plaque in remembrance for those Chinese seamen was erected on Liverpool's Pier Head.[6][7] Post-World War II See also: Hong Kong people in the United Kingdom, Chinese immigration to the United States, History of Chinese immigration to Canada, and Chinese Australian 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 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 China 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 Guangdong province of China. The majority of these Chinese men were employed in the then growing Chinese catering industry. 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.[8] Since the 1962 Commonwealth Immigrants Act, 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 1976, Britain's Chinese population included approximately 6,000 full-time students and 2,000 nurses. The 1981 British Nationality Act deprived Hong Kong British Overseas Territories citizens 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 a 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 Chinese Information and Advice Centre (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 consolidated into 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 China commenced in mid-1980s. This coincided with the Chinese government's relaxed restrictions on emigration, although most left for the United States, Canada, and Australia. In 1984–85, the British and Chinese governments signed the Draft Agreement on the transfer of sovereignty over Hong Kong to China in 1997. Construction was also begun of Manchester's Chinatown archway (now the largest in Europe), and was completed in 1987. The House of Commons 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 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. Currently, the largest Chinese arch in the UK is located in Chinatown, Liverpool. It was constructed in 2000 and is also the largest such archway in the world outside of China.[9] As Hong Kong and China became wealthier during the 1990s, Hong Kong and Chinese parents increasingly sent their children to study in the UK and elsewhere. An estimated 80,000 Hong Kong and Chinese students attended UK universities in the academic year of 2004–05. Small numbers of unskilled migrants from China sought employment in the UK in the early 1990s. In recent years, there has been an increase in illegal immigrants coming from China and other countries into the United Kingdom, some of whom pay 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, though most migrants have remained invisible. In April 2001, one of the largest demonstrations by the Chinese community, with around 1,000 people protesting, was held in London against media reports that Chinese restaurants 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 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.[10] As of 2001, there were about 12,000 Chinese takeaways and 3,000 Chinese restaurants in the UK.[11] Communities The Chinese Arch in Liverpool's Chinatown is the largest such arch outside of China 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 established homes with local women. Many did not actually marry because that meant the woman could lose her British citizenship and would become an alien, resulting in 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 Hong Y "Frank" Soo, who played for Stoke City (1933–1945) and Leslie Charteris who wrote The Saint novels that were made into the successful 1960s TV series.[12] Liverpool The first presence of Chinese people in Liverpool dates 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 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.[13] London London's Chinatown, located in the Soho area of the West End of London. 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. Due to heavy bomb damage, however, the number of Chinese in the area rapidly decreased. 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 to laundries and restaurants. From the 1960s on, the number of Chinese immigrating to London grew significantly with the main influx being from the New Territories (the mainland area of Hong Kong) coming to Britain to work in Chinese restaurants and take-aways. In London, Chinese restaurants expanded, especially in the Soho and Bayswater areas. Most who came spoke Cantonese or Hakka, though written Chinese was a means of communication for the whole community. The Chinese established various organisations such as language schools, gambling houses 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.[14] The city's largest ethnic minorities. See also The Guardian newspaper's January 2005 survey and maps of ethnic and religious diversity in London[15] 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 1963, 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 the 1970s and 1980s, many 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 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 a quarter of the Chinese population of the United Kingdom now live in London, mainly in the boroughs of Barnet, Haringey, Waltham Forest, Hackney, Southwark and Westminster. Mare Street in Hackney is the hub of a small Vietnamese community. 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 Hokkien, Teochew and Hainanese. 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. 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 as well as 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 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. Wales The largest two communities of Chinese people in Wales are in Swansea (approx 2,000+),[16] and Cardiff (approx 1,750+), both of which were major port towns. A number of the former seamen from the port of Liverpool have retired, with a resultant aged community in Gwynedd.[17] There are noted Chinatowns in both cities, as well as dedicated Chinese cemeteries.[18] British Chinese (also known as Chinese British, Chinese Britons or British-born Chinese (BBC)) are people of Chinese – particularly Han Chinese – ancestry who reside in the United Kingdom, constituting the second or third-largest group of overseas Chinese in Europe apart from the Chinese diaspora in France and the overseas Chinese community in Russia[citation needed]. The British Chinese community is thought to be the oldest Chinese community in Western Europe, with the first Chinese immigrants having come from the ports of Tianjin and Shanghai (both ports were once held concessions) in the early-nineteenth century to settle in port cities such as Liverpool, other early Chinese migrants also came from Guangdong and Hong Kong. Some of the early British Chinese were also Eurasians. A estimated 900 Chinese-Eurasian born as result of marriages from Chinese fathers and White mothers of various ethnic backgrounds; the most common being British and Irish. Most British-Chinese of Eurasian origin were concentrated in around the Liverpool area of Chinatown, where there was a growing Chinese-Eurasian community. Many of them had assimilated with other ethnic Chinese, while others assimilated with mainstream British population.[1][2][3] Most British Chinese are descended from people who were themselves overseas Chinese when they first arrived in the UK. Most are from former British colonies, such as: Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and Mauritius. Others come from new waves of Chinese migrants. People from mainland China and Taiwan and their descendants constitute a relatively minor, albeit growing, proportion of the British Chinese community[citation needed]. Chinese communities are found in many major cities including: London, Birmingham, Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Sheffield, Nottingham, Belfast, and Aberdeen. Compared with most ethnic minorities in the UK, the Chinese are socioeconomically more widespread and decentralised, have a record of high academic achievement, and have the second highest household income among demographic groups in the UK, after British Indians.[4] Contents 1 History 1.1 First visitor, first immigrant and first to be naturalised 2 Chinese New Year 3 Community 3.1 Chinatowns 3.2 London 4 Contemporary issues 5 Arts 5.1 Music 5.2 Film and television 5.3 Books and publishing 6 Demographics 6.1 Main migration waves 6.2 Population 6.3 Geographic distribution 6.4 Languages 6.5 Largest urban Chinese communities 6.6 London demography 7 Socioeconomics 7.1 Education 7.2 Employment 7.3 Economics 7.4 Health and welfare 7.5 Voter registration 8 Notable individuals 9 Society and commerce 10 See also 11 Footnotes 12 References 13 Further reading 13.1 Books 13.2 Papers 13.3 Articles 14 External links History Main article: History of Chinese immigration to the United Kingdom First visitor, first immigrant and first to be naturalised Shen Fu-Tsung was the first ever recorded ethnic Chinese person to set foot in what is now the United Kingdom, having visited over 300 years ago in 1685 The first recorded Chinese person in Britain was Shen Fu Tsong, a Jesuit scholar who was present in the court of King James II in the 17th century. Shen was the first person to catalogue the Chinese books in the Bodleian Library. The King was so taken with him he had his portrait painted by Sir Godfrey Kneller and hung it in his bed chamber. The portrait of Shen is in the Royal Collection; it currently hangs in Windsor Castle.[5] William Macao was the earliest recorded Chinese person to settle in Britain. He lived in Edinburgh, Scotland from 1779. Macao married a British woman and had children, and was the first Chinese person to be baptised into the Church of Scotland. He worked for The Board of Excise at Dundas House, St Andrew Square, Edinburgh for 40 years, beginning as a servant to the clerks and retiring as Senior Accountant. He was involved in a significant naturalisation law case and for two years, until the first decision was overturned on appeal, was legally deemed a naturalised Scotsman.[6][7] A Chinese man known as John Anthony (d. 1805) was brought to London in 1799 by the East India Company to provide accommodation for the Lascar and Chinese sailors in Angel Gardens, Shadwell in London's East End. Antony had left China around 11 years of age in the 1770s making several journeys between London and China. He converted to the Church of England and anglicised his name, settled in London, and married Ester Gole in 1799.[8] Wishing to buy property, but unable to so while an alien, in 1805 he used part of the fortune he had amassed from his London work to pay for an Act of Parliament to naturalise him as a British subject; thus being the first Chinese person to gain British citizenship.[9] However, he died a few months after the Act was passed.[10] The British East India Company which controlled the importation of popular Chinese commodities such as tea, ceramics and silks began employing Chinese seamen from the early 1880s. Those who crewed ships to Britain had to spend time in London's dock area while waiting for a ship to return to China and so the Limehouse area became the site of the first Chinatown in Britain.[citation needed] Chinese New Year The Chinese New Year, or Spring Festival, is the most important celebration for Chinese and other East Asian communities. It links 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 street dancing. 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 arts 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. Community Chinatown in Birmingham 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, English-language classes, and 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. There exist several organisations in the UK that support the Chinese community. The Chinese community is a non-profit organisation that runs social events for the Chinese community. Dimsum is a media organisation which also aims to raise awareness of the cultural issues that the Chinese community face.[11] The Chinese Information and Advice Centre supports disadvantaged people of Chinese ethnic origin in the UK. Since 2000, the emergence of 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.[12] Within these online fora and in larger community efforts, the groups may self identify as 'British-born Chinese' or 'BBCs'.[13] Chinatowns In several major cities there are Chinatowns, which have become tourist attractions where Chinese restaurants and businesses predominate, although in some cases relatively few Chinese people may live there. There are Chinatowns in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Newcastle, Sheffield and Aberdeen. London Main article: Chinese community in London Denver House Bounds Green Charing Cross Library There are Chinese community centres in Chinatown, Barnet, Camden, Hackney, Islington, Lambeth, Haringey and Tower Hamlets. Major organisations include the London Chinese Community Centre, London Chinatown Chinese Association, the London Chinese Cultural Centre.[citation needed] The Westminster Chinese Library, based at the Charing Cross Library (simplified Chinese: 查宁阁图书馆; traditional Chinese: 查寧閣圖書館; pinyin: Chánínggé Túshūguǎn), 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; music cassettes, CDs, and 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 library also hosted a photography exhibition in 2013 as part of the British Chinese Heritage project, with photographs and stories of Chinese workers.[14] Based in Denver House, Bounds Green the Ming-Ai (London) Institute has undertaken a number of heritage and community projects to record and archive the contributions made by British Chinese people to the local communities in the United Kingdom. The London Dragon Boat Festival is held annually in June at the London Regatta Centre, Royal Albert Docks. It is organised by the London Chinatown Lions Club.[15] Also held annually in London is the widely acclaimed, British Chinese Food Awards that promotes entrepreneurship, talent and Chinese food across the UK. Contemporary issues Language poses a serious problem for the older generation and for women working at home. Isolation and 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 associations 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 Beijing 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. Arts The Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art (CFCCA)[16] 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 Centre for Chinese Contemporary Art also hosts the International Chinese Live Art Festival[17] which showcases work by Chinese artists from across the world. The Yellow Earth Theatre company is a London-based international touring company formed by five British East Asian performers in 1995. It aims to promote the writing and performing talents of East Asians in Britain.[18] The China Arts Space is an organisation that promotes East Asian visual and performing arts.[19] British lecturers Dr Felicia Chan and Dr Andy Willis, of the University of Manchester and University of Salford respectively, have proposed that artists of Chinese heritage in the UK were accepted inclusively under the label British Asian in the 1980s.[20] Music KT Tunstall is a well-known Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist whose maternal grandmother was Chinese.[21] Film and television British Chinese film and television productions include: The Chinese Detective, (1981–1982) television series Ping Pong (1986) directed by Po-Chih Leong[22] Soursweet (1988) directed by Mike Newell[23] Peggy Su! (1997) directed by Frances-Anne Solomon[24] Dim Sum (A Little Bit of Heart) (2002) directed by Jane Wong[25] The Missing Chink (2004) directed by Kate Solomon[26] Sweet & Sour Comedy (2004) directed by Neil A. McLennan[27] Spirit Warriors (2010) television series created by Jo Ho starring Jessica Henwick, Benedict Wong, Tom Wu and Burt Kwouk[28] Books and publishing Huang Yongjun, the founder and General Manager of New Classic Press (UK) has acted as a major advocator of the "China Dream" in the United Kingdom. The New Classic Press that he founded is an effort to "explain China to the world".[29] Demographics Britain has been receiving ethnic Chinese migrants more or less uninterruptedly on varying scales since the 19th 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 A woman holds a child in Limehouse, East London, 1920s. Chinese migration to Britain has a history of at least 150 years. Between 1800 and 1945 it is estimated 20,000 had emigrated to Britain.[30] In 1901 there were 387 Chinese people living in Britain, in 1911, 1,219.[31] Until the Second World War, Chinese communities lived around Britain's main ports, the oldest and largest in Liverpool and London. These communities consisted of a transnational and highly mobile population of Cantonese seamen and small numbers of more permanent residents who ran shops, restaurants, and boarding houses that catered for them.[32] The number of Chinese seamen (who mainly worked as stokers) dwindled sharply during the Depression and the subsequent decline of 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.[33] In the 1960s and 1970s, they were joined by increasing numbers of Chinese students and economic migrants from Malaysia and Singapore. A Chinese language poster calling for a meeting with a visiting Ph.D Dr. Pan who was there to build an ancestral hall and reconnect with Shanghai.Limehouse, London, 1924. 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 Malaysia gradually reduced the volume of migration from the former British Colonies. At the same time in the 1980s, 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 of China have arrived in the UK as well.[34] Migrants now tend to come from an increasing number of regions of origin in China. Some Chinese unskilled migrants enter illegally to work in the black economy, in dangerous jobs with no employment rights, as the Morecambe Bay tragedy of February 2004 showed. Some claim asylum in-country, avoiding deportation after exhausting their appeals. Population A temple of the True Awakening Tradition of Buddhism in the London Borough of Brent. Chinese Gospel Church in Liverpool. Headquarters of Yiguandao in the United Kingdom, the Old Town Hall of Walthamstow. 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, some had not specified 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",[35] 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: Over 400,000 (2006), not including those of partial Chinese descent[36] 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% Mainland China, 8% Malaysia, 4% Vietnam, 3% Singapore, 2.4% Scotland, 2% Taiwan, 0.9% Wales, 0.1% Northern Ireland. Occupation: Of all ethnic groups, Chinese had the highest proportion as students (about a third) and the lowest in "routine/manual" occupations (17%). Religious affiliation Population % 2001 Population % 2011[37] Not religious 52% 55.6% Christianity 25.1% 19.6% Buddhism 15.1% 12.6% Other 7.8% 12.2% 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 with 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, Nottingham, Oxford, 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 and are dispersed, although concentrated communities are found in Colindale, Limehouse and Millwall,[38] and throughout Southwark.[39] Sheffield's unofficial Chinatown is located at London Road. Languages According to the website www.Ethnologue.com, Yue Chinese (Cantonese) is spoken by 300,000 Britons as a primary language, whilst 12,000 Britons speak Mandarin Chinese and 10,000 speak Hakka Chinese. The proportion of British Chinese people who speak English as a first or second language is unknown.[40] but note that 'Mandarin' is an English term for a version of Chinese (known as Putonghua in Chinese, a term that translates as anything but a marker of a language spoken by an educated elite). However, this is the least of numerous sources of confusion. Largest urban Chinese communities (2005 estimates)[41] Cambridge – 3,600 (3.1%) Oxford – 4,200 (2.9%) Manchester – 10,800 (2.3%) Nottingham – 5,998 (1.9%)[42] Liverpool – 6,800 (1.5%) London – 107,100 (1.4%) Birmingham – 10,700 (1.1%) Newcastle upon Tyne – 3,100 (1.1%) Sheffield – 5,100 (1.0%) Glasgow – 10,689 (1.8%)[43] Edinburgh – 8,076 (1.7%)[44] London demography See also: Demography of London According to the Census statistics, there was only one ward in London with a more than 5% Chinese population, which was Millwall in Tower Hamlets at 5.4%.[45] The Chinese population is extremely dispersed, according to Rob Lewis, a senior demographer at the Greater London Authority: "The reason for their thin spread all over London, is because of the idea that you want to set up a Chinese restaurant that's a little way away from the next one."[46] Chinese population spread (%) in London Borough Total population Chinese population Chinese percentage City of London* 7,700 100 1.3 Barking and Dagenham 165,500 1,500 0.9 Barnet 326,100 7,600 2.3 Bexley 221,000 1,800 0.8 Brent 270,300 3,500 1.3 Bromley 297,900 2,200 0.7 Camden 222,800 6,000 2.7 Croydon 335,800 2,700 0.8 Ealing 305,700 4,400 1.4 Enfield 283,400 3,000 1.1 Greenwich 221,600 3,400 1.5 Hackney 207,100 2,800 1.4 Hammersmith and Fulham 171,000 1,800 1.1 Haringey 224,100 3,400 1.5 Harrow 214,000 2,900 1.4 Havering 226,300 1,100 0.5 Hillingdon 247,900 2,700 1.1 Hounslow 216,600 2,000 0.9 Islington 184,200 4,300 2.3 Kensington and Chelsea 175,800 4,700 2.7 Kingston upon Thames 153,900 2,500 1.6 Lambeth 270,300 3,500 1.3 Lewisham 253,200 3,500 1.4 Merton 195,300 2,900 1.5 Newham 249,700 3,400 1.4 Redbridge 249,000 2,600 1.0 Richmond upon Thames 178,000 1,600 0.9 Southwark 264,000 6,800 2.6 Sutton 183,100 1,500 0.8 Tower Hamlets 209,400 4,900 2.3 Waltham Forest 220,300 2,000 0.9 Wandsworth 276,400 2,700 1.0 Westminster 228,600 7,300 3.2 London 7,456,000 107,100 1.4 *not a London Borough Socioeconomics Since the relatively elevated immigration of the 1960s, the Chinese community has made rapid socioeconomic advancements in the UK over the course of a generation. There still exists a segregation of the Chinese in the labour market, however, with a large proportion of the Chinese employed in the Chinese catering industry.[47] Overall, as a demographic group, the British Chinese are well-educated and earn higher incomes when compared to other demographic groups in the UK. The British Chinese also fare well on many socioeconomic indicators, including low incarceration rates and high rates of health.[48] Education The British Chinese community place an exceptionally high value on post-secondary educational attainment; emphasize effort over innate ability; give their children supplementary tutoring irrespective of financial barriers; and restrict their children's exposure to counter-productive influences that might hinder educational attainment via the Confucian paradigm and the sole belief of greater social mobility. The proportion of British Chinese achieving 5 or more good GCSEs stood at a relatively high 70%.[49] According to the 2001 census, 30% of the British Chinese post-16 population are full-time students compared to a UK average of 8%. When it comes to the distinguished category of being recognized as the "paragon immigrants", British Chinese are also more likely to take math and science-intensive courses such as physics and calculus. A study done by the Royal Society of Chemistry and Institute of Physics revealed that British Chinese students were four times more likely than White or Black students in the United Kingdom to achieve three or more science A-levels.[50] In spite of language barriers, among recent Chinese immigrants to the UK (who do not have English as a first language) 86% of pre-teens reached the required standard of English on the national curriculum exam. The overall result of 86% was one percentage point above the British Indians and remained the highest rate among all ethnic groups in the United Kingdom.[51] The British Chinese community has been hailed as a socioeconomic "success story" by British sociologists, who have for years glossed over socioeconomic difficulties and inequalities among the major ethnic groups in Britain. The degree educational advantages varies widely however: minorities of European descent fare best, together with the British Chinese. The group has more well-educated members, with a much higher proportion of university graduates than British-born whites. These latter have not been negligible: research has shown that the Chinese as a group face both discrimination and problems accessing public and social services. Many have activated ill-conceived stereotypes of the Chinese as a collectivist, conformist, entrepreneurial, ethnic group, and conforming to Confucian values, which is a divergence of British-Chinese culture and construction of ethnic identity. Educational attainment is greatly espoused by parental reasoning as the British Chinese community cites higher education as a route to ensure a higher ranking job.[52] According to a study done by the London School of Economics in 2010, the British Chinese tend to be better educated and earn more than the general British population as a whole. British Chinese are also more likely to go to more prestigious universities or to get higher class degrees than any other ethnic minority in the United Kingdom. Nearly 45% of British Chinese men and more than a third of British Chinese women achieved a first or higher degree. Between 1995 and 1997, 29% of British Chinese have higher educational qualifications. This was the highest rate for any ethnic group during those two years. Between 2006 and 2008, the figure had risen to 45%, where it again remained the highest for any ethnic group. In terms of educational achievement at the secondary level, Chinese males and females perform well above the national median. A tenth of Chinese boys are ranked in the top 3% overall, and a tenth of Chinese girls in the top 1%.[53] Due to the rigorous primary and secondary school system in East Asian countries such as China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, Britons of Chinese, Hong Kong, and Taiwanese descent rank within the top 5 in British as well as international scholastic mathematical and scientific aptitude tests and tend to score better in these subjects than the general population average. British Chinese remain rare among most Special Educational Needs types at the primary and secondary school level, except for Speech, Language and Communication needs, where first-generation Chinese pupils are greatly over-represented with the influx of first-generation immigrants coming from Mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong.[53] Employment First generation British citizens of Chinese backgrounds remain over-represented in self-employment, however, rates of self-employment fell between 1991 and 2001 as second generation British Chinese chose not to follow their parents into business and instead choose to find employment in the paid labor market. First and second-generation British Chinese men have one of the lowest unemployment rates in the nation, with an unemployment rate of 4.08% and 4.32% compared with slightly higher figures of 5% for White Irish (first and second generation).[53] Vertical segregation is also apparent for men and women in the British Chinese community. British Chinese men are twice as likely to be working than White British men to be in professional jobs (27%, and 14% respectively). Chinese men have the third highest rate of employment in managerial jobs at 31%. This compares to 45% for Indian men, 35% for white men and 23% for Black caribbeans. A colossal rate of diversity in British self-employment and entrepreneurship in the British Chinese Community has been considerably high. East Asian British groups (Chinese, Japanese, South Korean) and British South Asian groups (Indian, Bangladeshi, and Pakistani) typically have higher rates of self-employment than Whites, while Black groups (Black African and Black Caribbean) have lower rates. Self-employment rates in the British Chinese community is generally higher than the national average. For instance, White British had self-employment rates of 17% in 2001, but the British Chinese self-employment rate was 28%, the higher than the British Indian rate of 21%, British Pakistanis of 27%, and the highest overall among Britain's main ethnic groups. However, overall aggregate self-employment fell between the decade of 1991 to 2001 as the proportion of British Chinese with higher qualifications grew from 27% to 43% between the years of 1991 to 2006. 75% of male British Chinese entrepreneurs worked in the distribution, hotel, and catering industries.[54] In 1991, 34.1% of British Chinese men and 20.3% of British Chinese women were self-employed and the rate was the highest among all Britain's major ethnic groups during that year.[55] In 2001, self-employment rates for British Chinese men dropped to 27.8% and 18.3% for British Chinese women, yet overall rates still remained the highest among all of Britain's major ethnic groups. The overall self-employment rate in 2001 was 23%.[56] Common business industries for the British Chinese include restaurants, business services, medical and vet services, recreational and cultural services, wholesale distribution, catering, hotel management, retail, and construction.[57] By 2004, overall British Chinese self-employment was just under 16%, as one in five (21%) of British Pakistanis were self-employed and more British Chinese choose to acquire higher qualifications via education. By 2006, 29% of all Chinese men were classed as self-employed compared to 17% of white British men and 18% of Chinese women compared to 7% of White British women.[58][59] Economics British Chinese men and women also rank very highly in terms of receiving wages well above the national median but are less likely to receive a higher net weekly income than any other ethnic group. British Chinese men earn the highest median wage for any ethnic group with £12.70 earned per hour, followed by the medians for White British men at £11.40, and Multiracial Britons at £11.30 and British Indian men at £11.20. British Chinese women also earn a high median wage, third only to Black Caribbean women and Multiracial Briton women with a median wage of £10.21 earned per hour. However British Chinese women are also more likely to experience more pay penalties than other ethnic group in the United Kingdom despite possessing higher qualifications.[53] Women of all ethnic groups have lower mean individual incomes than men in the same ethnic group in the UK[relevant? – discuss]. Pakistani and Bangladeshi women have the highest gender income gap while British Chinese have one of the lowest income gender gaps. British Chinese women also have the individual incomes among all ethnic groups in the UK followed by White British and Indian women. Difference in men's incomes and number of children across ethnic groups. British Chinese women have the highest average equivalent incomes among various ethnic groups in the UK. Though British Chinese women have both high individual and equivalent incomes, but they also have very dispersed incomes.[60][61] In 2001, Overall economic activity in the British Chinese community tends to be lower than the general population average.[56] A study by the Joseph Rowntree Foundation in 2011 found out that British Chinese have the lowest poverty rates among different ethnic groups in Britain.[62] The British Chinese adult poverty rate was 20% and the child poverty rate stood at 30%. Of the different ethnic groups studied, Bangladeshis, Pakistanis, and Black British had the highest rates of child and adult poverty overall. In contrast, British Chinese, Black Caribbeans, British Indians and White British had the lowest rates.[62] 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.[63] 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.[63] The Chinese National Healthy Living Centre was founded in 1987 to promote healthy living, and provide 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 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 illnesses. The Centre, based close to London's Chinatown, provides a range of services designed to tackle both the physical and psychological aspects of health. Voter registration A survey conducted in 2006, estimated that around 30% of British Chinese were not on the electoral register, and therefore not able to vote.[64][65] This compares to 6% of whites and 17% for all ethnic minorities. 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 Get Active UK, a working title that encompasses all the activities run by the Integration of British Chinese into Politics (the British Chinese Project[66]) 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; and to help people make a difference on issues affecting themselves and their communities on a daily basis by getting their voices heard through voting.[67] The largest political organisation in the British Chinese community is the Conservative Friends of the Chinese. Notable individuals Main article: List of British Chinese people Society and commerce At the turn of the 20th 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 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 20th 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 in 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 20th 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 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 racial discrimination. In urban areas, the experience of racism forced the Chinese into "ethnic niches", consisting 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 20th 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 generalised 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 integration and enterprise development. The Conservative government under Margaret Thatcher in the late 1970s and early 1980s actively promoted the setting up of small enterprises, essentially as a mechanism to deal with the problem of racism.[68] 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 racial 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, notably at the tertiary level, and have made a prominent presence as professionals and in the high-tech sector.[69] 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. Southeast Asian Chinese, who also started arriving in the 1960s. Primarily from middle-class, professional backgrounds, some of them have also gone into business, including catering. Arrivals from mainland China and urban Hong Kong in the 1980s, who have gone into business related to technology and manufacturing. British-born Chinese, whose members are mostly well-qualified and work in hi-tech industries.[70] 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.[71] An example of an ethnic Chinese who capitalised on his ethnicity to create a Chinese-based business in the UK is Woon Wing 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.[72]
  • Condition: Used
  • Type: Photograph
  • Format: Carte de Visite (CDV)
  • Year of Production: 1870
  • Subject: Men, London

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