Dear Nat Wei: British Chinese Dream or Nightmare?

In November last year, British Born Chinese parliamentary member, Lord Nat Wei made a speech about the 'Role of the Overseas Chinese,'  published in NeeHao magazine covering topics such as the creation of leaders amongst British Born Chinese, with aims to create better connections between British Chinese community and China. 

Here's an excerpt:

"That such a Chinese Dream could be about harnessing, as China develops, her wealth and influence as a force for good, through more sustainable business, philanthropy and social entrepreneurship, to help address the many social and economic problems we will face in the coming decades both as Chinese and non-Chinese.

 

A Dream that might enable Chinese people over time to peacefully win further trust and respect around the world. I also said that if we do not articulate such a Dream, that it would sadly not always be defined positively, especially in the West.

Indeed, with concerns that rising unfettered materialism is harming traditional family and civic values, with continued questions both in the West and in China on the internet being asked about how those in authority should best treat fellow citizens and engage them in decision making, respecting differences of opinion whilst maintaining peace, and in which the government itself is concerned to increase its cultural soft power globally – this is a time for deep soul searching about how Chinese people want to act morally as China’s economy and society matures and about how we want to be seen externally."

Lord Nat , with respect, shouldn't we sort out own British Chinese problems first before thinking about China's?

Despite being a BBC himself,  it's questionable as to how 'in contact' Lord Nat Wei is with British Chinese people. Indeed with some casual research, we are not sure what we know about him. We know he lives on a council estate. We know he is interested in social entrepreneurism, we know he is an advocate of the 'big society' which in his words means:

"One, building the capacity of citizens. Two, encouraging national collective activity. Three, a constant negotiation between the boundaries of civil society, citizen and government."

 So far, so political.

Does Lord Nat Wei even care about the role of British Chinese community or is he just another rule-abiding parliamentarian?

Lord Nat Wei seems uncontactable - we have tried facebooking him, any comments left on his blog have to be approved, the only email address available is one for publicity.

If our British Chinese leader is uncontactable, no-one knows who our Chinatown leader is - who presumably only cares about FOB businesses, until proved otherwise-  and BBCS are dispersed throughout the UK adopting to white culture in their daily lives, is practicality, adoption of white culture, the only reason for British Chinese to exist in the UK?

To answer that question maybe we need to delve deeper into the reason why our ethnic diaspora first choose to migrate here.

According to wiki:

 The first settlement of Chinese people in the United Kingdom dates from the early 19th century. Because many of the Chinese settlers were originally seamen, the first settlements started in the port cities of Liverpool and London. In London, the Limehouse area became the site of the first Chinatown established in Britain and Europe.

As each generation gets regenerated, from the first major wave of immigrants comprised of Commonwealth Chinese, to the new wave of  Mainland Chinese, and other diaspora from other East Asian countries, there was only one thing in common: practicality and 'a better life'. 

With our Chinese attitude  being largely tribalist by nature, need to conform in order to fit in as much as possible with the local area, and little gravitational pull towards developing a singular British Chinese cultural identity, a BBC from London tends to have little in common with a BBC from Manchester, and as a result we can view other Chinese from 'opposing' areas with indifference, and sometimes, distain.

The one thing we do have in common however is a Chinatown, which, like the actual people are devoid of any definable British social identity, and can only be characteristically be described as a hub of orientalist consumerist outlets, catering exclusively to FOBs and non-Chinese visitors.

And with our restaurants, supermarkets,  herbal shops and that the benefactors of our own community give little back , can any of this justify a 'Chinese dream', except maybe some discounted groceries and a sponsored dragon dance now and again?

Do British Chinese even have a community or are we just a bunch of individuals who happen to be 'yellow,' speak Chinese language at varying degrees and if that's the case, what is the solution? Can there ever be a solution for the future of Chinese in Britain, except renewal of fresh blood, en masse?

In reference to the recent death of a Chinese student , there was an interesting observation made here by BBCzeitgeist about the state of our UK Chinese community.

"Chinese is just an umbrella wrapper, we are factional in reality. Even the FOBs are not a whole. The student was a mainland FOB, therefore mainland newspapers covered this story. FOB students will also feel a little empathy, but FOBs do not post nor read BBC blogs. However, if he was not a mainland FOB Chinese, the mainland press would not even bother to cover the story because he would be considered one of 'ours.' It is also true of the HK vs China FOBs, they dont really mix. BBC's have taken a complete apathetic silent view on this subject as the victim is not a BBC."

There is little British Chinese history worth remembering, with most families having the usual unexciting immigration story , no real sense of communual bonding and with such factionalisation, it can be assumed that for a largely apolitical diaspora, there is little need to voice political opinions as those that are expressed are arguably bland and conformist by nature, anyway.

 

And if all that is to be considered a dream, by all reckoning it's every Chinese dream to escape China and relocate to the west in order to dissolve their ethnic and cultural identity. In other words, the Chinese dream has become a nightmare we still haven't quite awakened from. 

Chinese Coronation Street

ITV's Coronation Street has a new Chinese character - Xin Chiang played by British Chinese actress Elizabeth Tan, she is the third Chinese character to appear on the soap after 'kae lae fae' fish n chip's shop owner Mr Wong played by Daryl Kwan in 2005 and Jasmine Choong played by Lucille Soong in 1969 http://coronationstreet.wikia.com/wiki/Lucille_Soong
http://coronationstreet.wikia.com/wiki/Mr_Wong

In consideration of the programme's efforts to promote Manchester's under represented  Chinese community, Weatherfield's newest Chinese character could not have been portrayed in a more negative light.  Xin is a Chinese restaurant worker on the verge of becoming an illegal immigrant courtesy of a expiring student visa, she plots a sham marriage to her friend's White boyfriend in an attempt to stay in the UK. Only a non-Chinese could have drummed up such a  cornball  storyline that reads like a press statement released by the UK Border Agency. If  Mr.Collinson's agenda is stigmatic racial stereotyping of the British Chinese community, at least interject some counterfeit DVD's.

The problems with her character are profuse, where exactly  did she get off the boat from? Mainland Chinese account for most Chinese sham marriages in the UK, but she bears little resemblance to a mainlander, her persona is strikingly South East Asian. Indeed, her name Xin Chiang, 'Chiang' is not a mainland name, hedge your bets on Singapore, Malaysia or Taiwan. Regardless of her origin, her character is supposed to be a FOB, but  listen to her accent. (Watch segment  10:19 - 11:40) .

At the start, her 'un-fobby' accent is unmistakably British middle class, it sounds remarkably like Myleene Klass, but towards the end - "we must get it right or we'll all suffer the consequences," it breaks out into Fu Man Chu.

Xin is aged 24, but how many sham marriages in the UK involve 24 year olds on expiring student visa's? From past experience of working in catering, students who overstayed their Visa did work in Chinese catering establishments, but this was over a decade ago, it is doubtful students from Hong Kong, Singapore and Taiwan are still following their predecessors, although one cannot be certain about Malaysia. Today, overseas Students from the Far East tend to be very middle class, many are so wealthy they don't need to work to support their studies, sham marriages are certainly not required, those who are desperate can simply depart for countries with less restrictive immigration laws.

As attractive as Xin is, a Wendy Deng she most certainly isn't, if She was uber-smart, she would marry  legitimately without the need for a sham marriage and then petition for divorce, not only would she avoid paying the sham marriage fee but take half his assets too. Or alternatively, she could find herself a nice British Chinese male instead, but this is verboten in the western media, attractive Chinese women are portrayed as either prostitutes, wives or girlfriends for White men, surprise surprise...Elizabeth Tan previously played a prostitute in Hotel Babylon. Xin's character has been introduced in Corrie purely for the benefit of a White audience.

The storyline reflects some of the more contentious topical immigration issues that have been avidly covered by the British press of late - detected sham marriages in the UK have reportedly risen from 282 to 934 in the last 4 years.

http://www.globalvisas.com/news/uk_immigration_law_changes_lead_to_spike_in_sham_marriages3001.html

The most memorable story is that of  an Englishman who tried to marry off his mentally ill sister to a Mainland Chinese national, he himself was already married to the Chinese man's sister in a previous sham marriage. http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8426289.stml

Not to mention the continuing demonisation of the British Chinese catering industry through the UK Border Agency's publicised raids on Chinese catering establishments. http://bbczeitgeist.blogspot.com/2011/03/british-chinese-takeaway-racism-uk.html

Whilst the aforementioned immigration issues provide fodder for soap opera scripts, the current Chinese storyline in Coronation Street is racist, misleading and irresponsible in suggesting Chinese students are widely abusing the student visa system, rather students from the Indian sub-continent are the main culprits, the UK government suspended student visa applications from Pakistan last year and Northern India, Bangladesh and Nepal earlier this year.

To write a complaint to ITV: http://www.itv.com/contactus/itvcomfeedback/default.html

Written by BBCZeitgeist (British Born Chinese blogger)  http://www.bbczeitgeist.blogspot.com/

Death of the British Chinese Takeaway?

Death of The Chinese Takeaway?

Normally forgotten, lonesome and unreported, the British Chinese Takeaway couldn't keep out of Britain's news columns during the month of March.

At the start of the month, it was reported that the UK will have its first British Chinese musical, set in a Chinese Takeaway.

http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/31320/stratford-east-to-stage-british-chinese

Then followed the long awaited news of the government's plan to clamp down on Chinese chef migrants as part of their comprehensive policy to reduce economic migration, this could force Britain's Chinese takeaways to close.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2011/mar/13/immigration-damian-green-new-restrictions

Throughout the month, there was an avalanche of (UKBA) UK Border Agency raids on Chinese takeaways and restaurants up and down the country, most likely acting on tip-off's, with fines of up to £10,000 for each illegal worker, one business is set to face a total fine of £50,000.

24th March Norwich
http://www.eveningnews24.co.uk/news/five_arrested_in_norwich_takeaway_raid_1_840108

22nd March Dorset
http://www.dorsetecho.co.uk/news/8923743.Illegal_immigrant_swoop__Recent_border_agency_busts/
http://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/8891321.Five_illegal_workers_discovered_after_raids_in_Dorset/


16th March Lincolnshire
http://www.thisislincolnshire.co.uk/crime/Takeaway-employed-illegal-staff/article-3333695-detail/article.html

7th March Dartford Kent
http://www.kentonline.co.uk/dartford_messenger/news/2011/march/7/illegal_workers_at_takeaway.aspx

There are wider implications of this witch hunt. Given the cliquesque race orientated nature of the Chinese catering industry, it is improbable Chinese would 'tip-off' other Chinese, rather it is the local white community who tipped them off.  At the bottom of the newspaper articles, there is a hot line number to call anonymously to tip-off illegal workers, this mob mentality is a propagation of a general vendetta against persons 'the big society' deems not worthy of being British nor worthy of entitlement. These publicised raids will be used to justify a continuing demonisation of the Chinese community and its catering businesses, anti-Chinese press sentiment reached a fervourous peak during the Foot and Mouth Crisis in 2001.

(http://bbczeitgeist.blogspot.com/2010/08/self-hating-chinese.html)

On google,  there are pages upon pages of news articles detailing crimes committed against Chinese catering workers and their businesses. Min Quan published a report in 2009 examining the extent of racism against the Chinese community, it stated that '61 per cent of their respondents had been targeted for incidents or crimes simply because they were Chinese.'

The following are extracts from the report...

"Most of my friends in the takeaway business have encountered racist incidents. One of my ex-employers had been harassed for several decades; it was not until he retired that racial harassment stopped."

"Customers do not pay bills, complain about food hygiene, pay bounced cheques, snatch food being delivered, smash shop windows, cause troubles in the shop, and more and more."

"Owners and staff of takeaways and restaurants were often targets of verbal
abuse. For example, after refusing to reduce the price of a set meal from £5 to £3, a Chinese takeaway proprietor was shouted and spat at by a 20-year-old white man."

Police were generally ineffective dealing with incidents or crimes against the Chinese, there are examples of Chinese takeaway owners being arrested for protecting their own premises whilst the perpetrators were 'let off.' The latest development in encouraging people to 'tip off' Chinese businesses is just another chapter in the long history of victimisation.

Often perceived as an pariah in a white community, what does the future hold for the Chinese takeaway? Will the Chinese takeaway gradually disappear or will they be staffed and run by non-Chinese similar to many Chinese restaurants on the continent?

UK And London Is Segregated By Race And Politics

We often hear the phrases multi-culturalism when describing the UK. But how true is it? The map above shows the political landscape of the UK following the 2010 general election. But rather than merely illustrating political support, the map reveals something else - racial segregation.  

With the exception of a small splattering of yellow on the map in the south west, the vast blue areas are populated by White English who vote Conservative, whereas the other coloured areas are populated by all other ethnic groups (Red represents the high immigrant areas and traditional Labour working class heartlands. Other regional coloured areas are Welsh, Irish, Scottish etc).

In the Southern/eastern region of England, the only significant patch of red is London where the non-Caucasian British ethnic minorities and migrants all huddle together in confined spaces. Why don't they move out of London to the countryside where prices are lower, a higher standard of living, more space, less pollution, less crime, better quality of life...

...because this is the standard reaction from white folks in blue Conservative areas

Non-Caucasian ethnic minorities wishing to avoid racial harrassment only have a few areas to live in the UK, i.e the red areas. Non-White's living in predominantly White areas find it harder to sell their house or get a market price for their house, many White people do not want to buy a house to live in if the existing owner occupier is non-White, nor do they want to live next door to non-white persons...given the choice. This is absolutely true, most people know this, but no White person is going to publically admit it nor will such issues be reported in the press.

Look at the map of London below.

Dark Areas which are highly populated by White British are in the suburbs on the outskirts of London away from the high immigrant inner boroughs. Those 'White' boroughs are also Conservative Party constituencies. Immigrants have avoided living in those Tory constituencies so they have remained overwhelmingly white. Other whites have moved out of the immigrant populated inner boroughs into the whiter suburbs as part of the 'white flight' effect. Contrast that with high Black populated areas which are almost entirely in Inner London.

 

Now contrast the above maps with a map below of the Indian population in the London. The Indian's congregate together in the same areas towards the West and North-West, except the lighter patch to the far West which is populated by...you've guessed it Whites.

You can call it whatever you like, ie. multiculturalism, multiethnicism, multiracialism etc, but you cannot hide reality, racial segregation is alive and well in the UK.