Writer and performer Anna Chen presents a new BBC Radio 4 series exploring the early history of Chinese people in Britain

Writer and performer Anna Chen presents a new series exploring the early history of Chinese people in Britain. Join Anna on BBC Radio 4, 3.45pm on each weekday afternoon from Monday April 30th to Friday May 11th.

“For most people, the history of the Chinese in Britain begins with The Takeaway Generation: the thousands of people who came over from Hong Kong in the 1950s and 60s, opened a takeaway on every high street, and made chow mein a national British dish. But my Chinese father arrived as a sailor in the 1920s, worked as a firefighter, an activist in the labour movement, and ended up running a newspaper, so I’ve always been curious about those earlier unseen generations. Who were they? What did they do? And what sort of welcome did they get?

“In this series I’ll be exploring the lives of the Chinese who came to Britain before the sixties: as sailors, scholars, writers and artists, as well as laundrymen and cooks. And I’ll be discovering the many surprising ways in which Chinese people have made their mark on British life.”

The series content consists of the following:

1. The First Chinese VIPs
2. The Creation of Chinatown: the myth and the reality
3.  From Ship to Shore: experiences of Chinese seamen in Britain
4. Steam and Starch: life in a Chinese laundry
5.  Educated in Britain: the history of Chinese students
6. Feet unbound: pioneering Chinese women in Britain
7.  Mixed Blessings: growing up half Chinese
8.  Artistic Pursuits: stepping out on Britain’s cultural landscape
9.  Screen Beginnings: the first British Chinese screen actors
10. Peking Duck. and Chips: early Chinese restaurants

More information from AnnaChen.co.uk

All programmes will also be available to listen again for a week after broadcast at www.bbc.co.uk/radio4.

From David Parker.

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