A short history of Chinese settlements in the UK

According to the official census of 2011, Chinese now make up the largest group of immigrants in the UK that occupies 0.7% of the total UK population. This is a significant change compared to the number in the 19th century which there were only a little more than 100 Chinese in Britain and more than doubled from the 0.3% according to the 1991 census. As an NGO that cares about building connections between Chinese entrepreneurs and people all round the world, we would like to present a short history about how Chinese immigrants settled in the UK and changes in their occupations.

The earliest Chinese immigrants were seamen in the 19th century who were employed by British shipping company. As a result, their settlements mainly concentrated in port cities such as London and Liverpool. Although most of them stayed on ships and boats, there were gradual openings of grocery and laundry stores to fulfil needs of seamen. This major occupation even led to some Chinese participation in WWI and WWII that Chinese seamen were known for working under harsh conditions.

Only after WWII, there was a growth in the number of Chinese immigrants. This could be seen as a reaction to the increasing demand of labor for the economic boom and the relaxation of immigration laws. The major change was that the majority worked in the catering industry instead of working on ships and it. By 1985, the Home Affairs Committee noted that 90% of the new arrivals worked in this industry. Many of these restaurants were family-run takeaways and the Chinese self-employment rate was much higher than other minority groups. Nevertheless, there were some more educated and wealthier Singaporean or Malaysian Chinese who took up professional jobs or started their own business.

There was one prominent feature in the history of immigration that was education. Education was core in Chinese value throughout the time. For instance, parents who were immigrants from the 1950s paid much attention to their children’s education. Furthermore, after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China, there was a consistent desire to learn more and desire to develop. Consequently, there were students who came to Britain for education in the second half of the 20th century. Some students went back to China but some stayed. The emphasis on education also contributes to the change in occupations. Most children of the 1950s immigrants decided not to follow their parents into self-employment business. Between 1991 and 2006, the proportion of British Chinese with higher qualification grew from 27% to 43% and accompanied by the falling self-employment rate declined from more than 30% in the early 1990s to less than 16% in 2004.

Eventually, as China was more developed the aim of studying in Britain shifted from purely for learning to knowledge to the aspect of cultural exchange. Instead of mastering stereotypical British Chinese subjects such as math and sciences, the new arrivals studied in more diverse disciplines. More open to different thoughts and creating various future opportunities. This transformation is significant, and one example would be organisations such as us, the OKE Club, standing here and providing a platform for international communications.