History of Chinese immigration to the United Kingdom

The first notable Chinese known to visit Britain was Michael Alphonsius Shen Fu-tsung in 1687, who travelled to Europe with a Belgian Jesuit Father Philippe Couplet.

[2] In the early 19th century, Chinese seamen began to establish small communities in the port not cities of Liverpool and London.

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.

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.

[11] 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 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.

Today, a significant proportion of British Chinese are second or third generation descendants of these post-World War II immigrants.

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 1982, the Merseyside Chinese Community Services opened the 'Pagoda of Hundred Harmony', an advice centre built with the help of an Urban Aid grant.

Sixty Chinese associations, including women's groups and old people's clubs, were consolidated into two national umbrella organisations.

There were 926 students attending the Chinese Chamber of Commerce Mother Tongue School, which ran classes up to O-level standard.

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.

The House of Commons Home Affairs Committee report identified five main problems faced by the Chinese in Britain.

Due to historical and cultural reasons, a sizeable proportion originate from Fujian province in southeast China.

This activity became publicised nationwide in tragic consequences in the form of the 2004 Morecambe Bay cockling disaster, though most migrants have remained invisible.

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.

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.

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.

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.

This was in part due to the Alfred Holt and Company establishing the first commercial shipping line to focus on the China trade.

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 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.

Changes to labour laws during the early 20th century meant that Chinese sailors found it increasingly difficult to find employment on ships.

Most who came spoke Hokkien, Cantonese, Fuzhounese, Teochew, Hainanese, and Hakka, though written Chinese was a means of communication for the whole community.

Roughly a quarter of the Chinese population of the United Kingdom now live in London, mainly in the boroughs of Greenwich, Lewisham, Tower Hamlets, Camden, Southwark and Westminster.

The principal languages of the London Chinese community are Hokkien, Cantonese, Foochow, Teochew, Hainanese and Hakka (from the New Territories, Hong Kong, and Vietnam).

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.