CHINESE COMMUNITY

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The Chinese in the UK are not a homogenous community although they share the same common culture. There are differences in class, occupations and education. Research on ethnic communities often underestimates the variety which exists within these groups. The community can be divided into three groups.

The older age group includes people aged 60 and above. Most of these now elderly Chinese people arrived here some 30 or 40 years ago. They were generally poorly-educated men, usually farmers and factory workers. They speak or write little or no English. They established themselves in the catering trade. The older age group also includes the parents of subsequent Chinese immigrants who called upon their elders to join them in Britain.

The elders are brought here to look after their grandchildren. The elderly Chinese people are the most traditional. They have been socialised in Chinese cultures. They find it very difficult to integrate into the western lifestyle, mainly due to language problems.

“I was born here and grew up in this community. I have seen this pattern everywhere. The father works long hours and the children are left with the grandparents who have come from Hong Kong or China. After a few years the grandchildren grow up and they do not need caring for anymore, so the grandparents just sit there.”

Community member, female, 31 years old

The middle generation includes people aged between 30 and 60. Some of them are still involved in the catering business but many have pursued higher education and are now working in a wide range of professions.

This group also includes professionals and wealthy immigrants from Hong Kong; scholars and intellectuals from mainland China after the 1989 Tiananmen Square massacre. Many of these recent migrants are highly educated. The expansion of this group will impact on the socio-economic make-up of the Chinese community in Britain in due course.

Finally, the younger generation is aged below 30. It can be divided into three groups. First, the foreign students especially from Hong Kong, Malaysia and Singapore. They come here to further their studies but generally intend to return to their respective countries.

Then there are the children and young adults who were born abroad and recently emigrated to England to join their families. They are struggling with the language and the culture.

And last, there are the British-born Chinese. They are brought up in British society whilst holding onto a Chinese culture which they only know through their family.

“The youngsters who are born here, have more problems than we have. They do not have access to the culture like we did. They have to be brought up by a family with expectations which they have no understanding of. They find it very difficult to speak Cantonese or whatever dialect they speak at home. They speak English, but they look totally different from their white counterparts. They are British but they still suffer form discrimination. And yet they cannot fall back on another culture and be proud of that because they do not know what it is.”

Community member, male, 50 years old

This group is referred to as “bananas”—yellow on the outside and white on the inside. They are torn between the expectations and aspirations of two cultures.

“I was born here. After I had finished my degree, I went to work in Hong Kong. It was more my parents’ idea because they said there were more opportunities in Hong Kong. I felt freer there because I was part of a society who looked like me. However, when I encountered conversation and reading because I cannot speak and write Chinese, they saw me as an English. When I did not have to communicate with anyone, I felt I was part of the community. I am called a banana. And that is a perfect description of me and that is what they saw.”

Community member, 25 years old

The most determining feature of the Chinese people’s attitude to the world around them is their total commitment to life as it is --- if necessary, with an extra commitment to make it better than it is.

They will hope to create conditions in which their children or descendants can have the good things they did not have. Starting with birth, a Chinese life is aimed at several indispensable purposes. The aim of having children was traditionally seen as ensuring the continuation of one’s own identity.

Children are trained from infancy to restrain their tantrums. They are acting the role which parents and society prescribe for them - to be obedient and cute. From kindergarten onwards, schoolbooks and blackboards take the place of games. Every effort is made to fill a child’s day with work and educational activities. Every child in China is supposed to receive five years or more of primary schooling. The great majority of teachers have an excellent reputation for dedication. Disciplinary problems are far less than in schools in the West. Rules of classroom discipline are simple – ‘Respect teachers’, ‘Be polite’ and ‘do not spit’. Chinese schoolchildren appear, on the whole, to be more docile than their counterparts in Western countries.

The primary school curriculum varies from place to place, but it is recommended that Chinese language, arithmetic, natural science, one foreign language (in urban schools), politics, physical culture, music and drawing are taught in schools. The recommended curriculum for the secondary schools is a five year course enrolling pupils at the age of twelve and giving three years of junior secondary schooling and, for those who elect to stay on, two years of senior secondary education. The subjects taught are politics, Chinese language, mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology, a foreign language (usually English), history, geography, basic agricultural knowledge, physical education, hygiene, music and drawing.

Emerging into adulthood, the Chinese are expected to study hard and get a good qualification, respect one’s superiors, marry at the right age, have a suitable number of children.