Chinese Women in the British Forces during WW2?

seahorse494 · Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 2 Location: Norwich

Hi,

I'm researching if there have been any chinese women in the british forces during WW2.

I have found evidence of American-Chinese and Canadian-Chinese in their respective Armed Forces, but so far no joy with British Forces.

I am a BBC female currently serving in the British Army and am interested in WW2 living history. I would like to be as authentic as possible whilst reenacting WW2 and would like to know if anyone has any evidence to assist me.

Thanks! Very Happy

Qin · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 42

A very interesting question. Firstly, I have not heard of any instances of British Chinese, or Chinese woemn serving int he British Armed Forces during WWII. This does not necessarily mean that they did not, but considering the mass expulsion of Chinese people from the UK following the First World War, the numbers of Chinese present in the UK would have been very small, leading up to WWII.

Having said that, many people would be surprised to find the names of Chinese men, killed fighting for Britain during the Falklands Conflict - they all served on ships, etc. And there is the last men to be shot at dawn by the British Army, for incidents that occured during WWI - I believe the last three were Chinese men who were shot in 1921.

There is a book about the fall of Hong Kong, entitled Not The Slightest Chance, by Tony Banham. Although I found the book incredibly Eurocentric, and the attitude of the author almost 'racist' in his complete disregard for the Chinese and Chinese Hakka resistance and suffering during the Japanese invasion of Hong Kong, nevertheless, whilst telling us that the Chinese subjects of the British Colony of Hong Kong were untrustworthy and therefore not issued with weapons, the author does include extensive casualty lists of those 'Killed in Action' - amongst whom are a number of names belonging to Chinese men, spread through various units, etc. Although, as usual Banham ignores the Chinese efforts themselves to defend their homeland, elsewhere the inspiring story of Admiral CMan can be found - at one point in the battle, he took-off his wooden leg and beat Japanese soldiers away with it. I believe he survived the war.

You raise such an interesting question, I shall go away and look into my sources and see what I can find.

Thank you

gblee · Joined: 11 Sep 2010 Posts: 2

My mother served in the WRNS during the war. She was/is half-Chinese.

I have a photograph of her in her WRNS uniform and she still remembers her service number by heart.

Gregory Lee

seahorse494 · Joined: 24 May 2010 Posts: 2 Location: Norwich

Thanks Qin, any information you can find will be greatly received.

Thanks Gregory. I would love to see the photograph and perhaps ask a few questions if possible.

I am really excited to hear that there is evidence of Chinese women serving in the British forces back then.

Best Regards,

Jo

Qin · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 42

Qin · Joined: 15 Jan 2009 Posts: 42

I have not found any Chinese women in the British army during WWII, but there is this person - Chee Soo:

Chee Soo
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chee_Soo

joybetluck · Joined: 25 Aug 2007 Posts: 206

The Lee family style of Tai Chi is still being taught in UK and Chee Soo has documented the movements. The advantage of the style is that it does not need much space to do it. What a very interesting biography. Nothing was mentioned about his own life in the book.

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