Chinese immigrants in Scotland/UK in the 1960's onwards.

Submitted by Hannah.lee on Wed, 11/09/2022 - 02:09

I am the granddaughter of a first-generation Chinese immigrant who moved from Hong Kong (Tai Po) to the UK in the mid-60s. I am currently writing a novel about the life of Chinese immigrants in Glasgow from the 1960s onwards. I would love to hear any relevant details/ anecdotes that people have or have knowledge of life during this time period and location. I am trying to get a more rounded picture of Chinese-immigrant life in Scotland in the 60s/70s. Please feel free to contact me on hannah.cait.lee@gmail.com if you would like to talk or even participate in this forum if you feel comfortable. Thank you in advance.

If you are in Scotland, find out which Chinese restaurants in your area have been long established and get in touch with the proprietors who may put you in touch with the original owners who came over from HK back in the 60s. Best to hear it direct from the very people for this kind of thing if you want to capture the authenticity of life back then.

Me and my Dad fancied some Chinese cuisine and ended up in a Chinese restaurant in Aberdeen off the main artery of Union Street (mind you this was about 10 years ago). We (more accurately him as they were more of the same age bracket!) chatted with the proprietor who came from HK and settled in Aberdeen in the 1960s having opened his restaurant back then. Tongues started loosening once we established we were all from HK and chin-wagging in Cantonese. Conversing freely in Cantonese idioms can be funny and somehow the nuances can't really be accurately translated into English. The food was great too.

I also notice the 'newer tier' of staff in Chinese restaurants are from Mainland China so will not understand Cantonese. And then some of the very youngest tier of working staff will be BBC who will only be able to speak English and next to nil Cantonese. 

Thanks for your help. This is definitely a good idea. So much Chinese-immigrant history from that time is not recorded so I think you are right in saying that I will need to search for some oral history instead - and going to old and well-established Chinese restaurants is a good was to do this. This would also be helpful because the majority of my story is centred around food and a Chinese takeaway in Scotland. Thanks for taking the time to reply to this. 

This notice is from 2018, but would be worth contacting to see if you can still see the finished exhibition, and hopefully access their recordings:

New Oral History Project — ‘Get a Chinese’
Uncategorizedby 2cucp
CCDP has secured funding for a new oral history project — ‘Get a Chinese’. The aim of the project is to record the experience of the older generation Chinese who migrated to the UK after 1950 and how they survived in an environment totally new and strange to them.

If you would like to participate in this project as an interviewee or a volunteer researcher or if you require further information, please contact Project Coordinator Suzanne Chong. Thank you very much.

Tel : 0141 341 0026
Email : schong.ccdp@gmail.com

‘Get a Chinese’ project is funded by Heritage Lottery Fund.

Source: https://ccdpglasgow.org.uk/en/new-oral-history-project-get-a-chinese/

Thanks for this source! I will email them and ask about the possibility of me to access this. That's very helpful and just the type of stuff I was hoping to find. 

Thanks again.