Comments on: Mike Tsang’s Chinese East Enders

By: Rachel H

Rachel H — Fri, 02 Nov 2012 10:29:29 +0000

Really interesting, love hearing about people’s migration experiences, thanks Mike. It’s nice too what one person said about Britain seeming like a place that could offer a better life. Britain forgets to do its own PR sometimes, in the sense of it’s really generally not too shabby a place to live in global terms, and remembering the things that are good that we have here. 🙂

By: Boveney

Boveney — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 12:57:51 +0000

Thank you so much for this. Fascinating glimpse into the Chinese in London – a group which is most often overlooked.

By: Jeannette Smyth

Jeannette Smyth — Sun, 28 Oct 2012 21:45:44 +0000

this is fascinating thank you.
my understanding is that the first chinese arrived in america in the nineteenth century, with the next big wave arriving in 1849 for the california gold rush.
there’s a long and interesting history, including chinatowns of bachelors only, which is touched upon in the wiki.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_American

this live journal community frequently publishes reviews of books, mostly fiction, by asian americans, and is a good sampler of the ranges of issues now being explored — including pan-asian-american solidarity — in contemporary asian-american literature.
http://asianamlitfans.livejournal.com/profile

once again, thanks so much.

By: Eileen

Eileen — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 19:42:48 +0000

My Grandmother, born in the mid 1890s, was born and lived in Stepney until she married in St. Dunstan’s in the mid 1920s. She remembered Chinatown in Limehouse and told stories of playing mahjong there. She was quite a wild child, spoilt and adored by her father, so got away with quite a lot. All her life she considered Limehouse to be the true London Chinatown.

By: The Curator

The Curator — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 09:20:12 +0000

A wonderfully rich portrayal of Chinese life in Britain. I wonder if you are aware of some of the early 20th Century depictions in what was a very xenophobic press? Having waged war on China twice in the 19thC over the Empire’s refusal to trade with Britain for opium, Britain then set about blaming the Chinese for its supply and use. A number of interesting moral panics ensued when ‘vulnerable’ white women used drugs and had inter race relations. Rather than embrace multiculturalism, paternalistic Edwardian society took a very negative view and whipped up xenophobic rhetoric in the newspapers. Many of these storie can be found on the Museum of Drugs website, which aims to expose myth and moral panic, much of which continues to echo in today’s attitudes, sadly.

By: Kavey

Kavey — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 08:46:18 +0000

A really great read. As a British-born Indian, I find this particularly interesting. Thank you!

By: Greg Tingey

Greg Tingey — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 08:12:52 +0000

The first photograph is fascinating …
I walk past that every time I go from home to my allotment …
It is, of course Walthamstow (Now Waltham Forest’s) Town Hall .. a massive, specatcular piece of late Art Deco, now inhabited by pygmies & crooks.

By: mlleparadis

mlleparadis — Sat, 27 Oct 2012 02:02:14 +0000

that was lovely thanks! from a half-chinese girl who spent alot of her life also working in the family take-away.