Sarah Yeh
2nd February 2002

Far too often, when a meeting or conference about the minority ethnic communities is called, Chinese presence is under represented or overlooked. Therefore it is necessary to address the need to increase leverage and recognition of civil rights issues affecting our sector of society.

Since the Home Office report in 1985, there has been little research of the Chinese within the UK. We have remained a somewhat neglected minority: there has been a great effort to bring awareness about black or Asian issues, but little to highlight issues concerning Chinese rights.

This is not helped by the overwhelming stereotypical views held of Chinese in the UK that are prevalent throughout British society. We are viewed as being hard working, self reliant, and having very tight extended family support so that we do not mix with other communities or rely on the state; and if we do speak English, it is with a so-called Fu-Man-Chu accent.

Other stereotypes include the notion that we not affected by racism, being studious, hardworking and law abiding citizens; that are all well off, most owning a catering businesses; and that we are all kung fu fighters: from the age of six to sixty we all practice martial arts! We were told last year, that we also illegally import cheap meat to our restaurants causing the Foot and Mouth Disease!

It is a shame that these are the views that separate us from the rest of the British society. Our real concerns with the daily needs, aspirations, social and economic aspects of living in the UK, are issues that not only affect Chinese people, but are shared by everyone in this country, but in addition to this, we also suffer the racism endured by other minorities. More uniquely, there is little or no real understanding our specific community needs within wider British culture.

There has been increasing awareness about the Afro-Caribbean community, the Black, the Asian, the Muslim, the European, but for the third largest minority ethnic community in Britain - the Chinese, very little is known. This begs the question "Why"?

The only parliamentary research into the Chinese community in Britain was carried in the early 1980s, resulted in the Home Affairs Committee Report "Chinese in Britain" (the Report) published in 1985. This report was fundamental in its day in giving insight into the needs, aspiration, contribution to social and economic life, and discrimination suffered by the British Chinese community.

Cultural diversity within the Chinese community
In the 17 years since the publication of the report, however, the Chinese community has undergone major demographic change and we believe it is time to undertake a new needs audit of the community. The original report documented that the Chinese community in the UK arrived from very diverse origins, predominantly as seamen from the New Territories in Hong Kong and also Malaysia, the Caribbean and Singapore. It also took into account that there should be research into the specific needs of the newly arrived 20,000 Vietnam Œboat people', predominately ethnic Chinese, that arrived in the UK.

Since the publication of the report, however, the Chinese community in Britain has come from increasingly diverse origins. Thousands of Chinese from Mainland China were granted exceptional leave to remain in the UK following the Tiananmen massacre in 1989. 50,000 Chinese households (200,000 people) from Hong Kong were granted British citizenship prior to 1997 when Hong Kong was returned to China. And more recently, there have been thousands of arrivals from Mainland China seeking asylum. Some of whom having failed their asylum application, have become overstayers.

A recent report suggested that the composition of the Chinese community in Britain is: 26% UK born, 26 % from New Territories or Hong Kong, 10% from Malaysia, 12% from Vietnam, 4%from Singapore, 12% from Mainland China, 10% from other parts of the world. This illustrates the richness and diverse cultural background of the Chinese community in Britain.

Age diversity within the Chinese community
Another aspect that was not taken into consideration in the report of 1985 is diversity in age of the Chinese in Britain. At the time of the research of the report, few Chinese were in their retirement age. The 1991 census recorded 156,938 Chinese in UK. 3% Chinese were above retirement age, and 13% age over 50. On the other hand, few ethnic Chinese were born in UK, as stated earlier, it is now estimated 26% of ethnic Chinese are UK born. The 1991 census recorded 23% of ethnic Chinese were under 16 years of age. The average age of the Chinese community in the 1991 census was 28. This compared with national population as figures of 16% above retirement age, 32% age over 50, and 20% age under 16, and the national average age was 37.5.

According to the 1991 census, 90% of Chinese lived in England (36% in London and 5% in Manchester), 7% in Scotland and 3% in Wales.

The recent arrivals since the 1985 report are a mixed age group - those from Vietnam are predominantly young families; those from Mainland Chinese stayed or arrived after the 1989 Tiananmen massacre are predominantly young single adults; those from Hong Kong are families and retired people; and recent asylum seekers from mainland China are predominantly young single adults.

It is now widely acknowledged that the 1991 census undercounted the actual population across all communities because of the Community Charge policy at the time. Many households did not declare adult dependents in the census in order to avoid paying extra community charges. Many Chinese adult dependants live in tied accommodation and return to the parental home on their day off. They were not declared by their parents in their parental home, and they were not declared by their employers due to their parental accommodation. It is now estimated the Chinese population in UK is close to 400,000. We believe the 2001 census will give a more reliable count of the population.

Such changes in demographics have had a profound impact upon concerns of the Chinese community. It demands fresh research into the Chinese community's needs, both in terms of cultural diversity and in terms of age, particularly in quality of life issue and care provision for the vastly increased number of Chinese elderly.

There has been a history of lack in provision for Chinese immigrants throughout the twentieth century. This was particularly evident in 1971 when the Immigration Act enabled many to settle permanently by enabling them to bring their families over to join them in the UK. The government at the time was ill prepared for their arrival, and few services were equipped to provide services for the families, many of whom did not speak English.

This problem has exasperated the manner with which the Chinese community interacts within the wider British community, and now affects the elderly Chinese community who are particularly vulnerable.

Lack of provision in social services
The Chinese elderly are just one area within the statutory services such as social services, housing, health, schools and police that is often neglected. The 1985 report showed that these services were found to be ill equipped to serve the Chinese community. Apart from the obvious language barriers, the lack of cultural understanding and inappropriate service provision were identified as causes of failure in statutory service provision for Chinese people.

At the time of the 1985 Report, there were a handful of publicly funded Chinese community organisations. Today, there are over 30 publicly funded organisations around the country. These organisations provide many supporting services, including translation and interpretation, for statutory bodies serving Chinese people, they also provide valuable social, cultural and recreation facilities for the community. Many of these organisations are now facing financial difficulties through reductions in funding.

Provisions are still lacking for many of the most disadvantaged groups in the community. These range from domestic violence victims, asylum seekers and new arrivals, to mental illness victims, victims of racial attack, problems with police injustice, employment issues, homelessness, drug and alcohol misuse and abuse and compulsive gambling.

An audit of the needs and research on service provisions meeting the gaps in services is urgently needed.

Racism
Racism is a significant aspect that affects all areas of Chinese life in the UK that has been little explored. One of the reasons for this is because the Chinese community experienced that their reports to the police of racial harassment and attacks are often met with attitudes of indifference or carelessness.

Most concerning of all, is the tendency for the police to arrest the Chinese victims instead of the perpetrators, leading to secondary victimisation. All this has resulted in a loss of faith in the Police and the justice system and thereby an under-reporting of race crimes by the Chinese community.

This in turn, led to the interpretation in the 1985 report, that there is no statistical evidence to indicate that the Chinese in UK are subject to racism. However, research by the Monitoring Group showed that amongst Chinese catering establishments, 31% experienced physical attacks, 56% experienced racial abuse, and 58% experienced refusal to pay at the workplace. It is, therefore, particularly important to racism experience by Chinese, and to find ways to improve police service in responding to complaints from our community. As shown in events concerning the Black and Asian communities, failure to address confidence deficiency in the police and the criminal justice system can become a flash point for social unrest, even rioting.

Racism in the job market
Chinese also suffered racism throughout the job market, but, through sheer hard work and entrepreneurial spirit, the Chinese community established a strong position in the British economy and community.

Ironically, despite racist stereotypes that Chinese were both dirty and immoral, we became famed for the best laundry services in Britain, a tradition which continued until introduction of the domestic washing machine in the 1950's. Faced with an economic collapse, the Chinese successfully underwent a paradigm shift into the catering industry to become one of Britain's most popular ethnic cuisine. Today catering remains the largest employer within the Chinese community.

Racism in the wider employment market has been a significant factor in pushing the Chinese to use their own resources to create employment opportunities for themselves. Thus catering is currently the economic backbone of Chinese community in UK. It has become successful and inseparable part of the British catering and tourist industries. Today, it is estimated that there are over eleven thousand Chinese catering establishments in UK - 9,500 Chinese take away and 1,500 Chinese restaurants.

Moreover, since the 1985 report, many younger Chinese have completed their UK based education and entered into the wider workforce. A recent survey reported that 30% of economically active female Chinese are working in hospitals, 6% is in public administration, 19% in hotel catering; the same comparison to economically active male Chinese shows 10%, 5% and 23% respectively. The emergence of Chinese alternative medicine clinics in recent years demonstrates both the continued adaptation of the Chinese business community to the business climate as well as a shift towards higher skilled jobs.

There are numerously well documented success stories of Chinese children in education: from secondary education through to undergraduate and post graduate level. But there remain genuine concerns that the success story of Chinese in education is not reflected in the proportion of top level management in industries or public administration. Research into the needs and aspiration of the Chinese in the UK is necessary to ensure that the frustrations experienced by other minority communities are not repeated with the Chinese community.

Conclusion
The Chinese community in the UK significantly contributes to the economic success and rich cultural diversity of British society. Yet I have highlighted that their needs are often ignored or misconstrued, resulting in gaps in services, or inappropriate services that often add insult to hardship.

New arrivals and changes in population demography pose new challenges as well as opportunities. The disadvantaged and vulnerable groups of the community experience real barriers to accessing service provision. And the Chinese community has many negative experience of the police and criminal justice system causing major concerns. UK born Chinese are being discriminated against in employment and career development.

Groups such as CCRAG have and continue to advocate the necessity for a new audit by the government, to look into the needs, aspirations, contributions to social and economic life and the discrimination suffered by the Chinese community in UK. In order to resolve such issues it is vital that we have an understanding of the problems that are being encountered. CCRAG are supported by the Chair of CRE Mr Gurbux Singh and wrote to propose this to the Home Office Race Equality Unit in September last year. Unfortunately, they did not have the pleasure in receiving a reply.

I would like to urge our readers to take up this request of a new audit on behalf the Chinese in Britain. Unless the contribution, aspiration and needs of the Chinese community is recognised and catered for, the Chinese community will continue to suffer from segregation from the wider British community.