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Chinese History in Birmingham

Pedrocut

Pedrocut

Master Barmmie
There doesn’t seem to much concerning the Chinese influence in Birmingham. The Birmingham Libraries Iron Room have produced an article...

theironroom.wordpress.com

Chinese History in Birmingham

In this week’s blog post, in celebration of the Chinese New Year which falls on Friday 12th February, we’re going to delve into our collections to learn about the establishment and grow…
theironroom.wordpress.com theironroom.wordpress.com
 
It's interesting isn't it, the Chinese (probably mainly from Hong Kong) were the first nationality from abroad to open restaurants in the UK, even in small towns. However, their communities seem to keep a fairly low profile in general.

I was surprised once to read how many Chinese there were in Birmingham some years ago as, apart from the Chinese quarter, they are not so visible. Same goes for where I am now in London, Chinatown being the main area.

People from China have been great travellers to other places round the world for many, many years.
 
We had a Chinese evening at our Guild a couple of years ago and were surprised (although we shouldn't have been) at the amount of racism aimed at these people. We had Chinese food and drink and looked at the history of Chinese people in Birmingham. One of our members has a Chinese son-in-law, a doctor at one of the big London hospitals and the highlight of the evening was listening to her read one of her grandchildren's books about the origin of the Chinese signs of the Zodiac.

Just for the record - I was born under the sign of the pig - he was last because he stopped to eat and then fell asleep. Sounds about right for me!
 
It was a very interesting item how the Chinese came to Birmingham in the early 1900's . What was an eye opener more than anything else was that the derogatory term the yellow peril was actually started by the author Sax Rohmer (pen name) who was born in Rann St Ladywood and he brought us Fu Manchu . We don't realise the history and the famous people that came from Birmingham .
 
Williamstreeter said:
It was a very interesting item how the Chinese came to Birmingham in the early 1900's . What was an eye opener more than anything else was that the derogatory term the yellow peril was actually started by the author Sax Rohmer (pen name) who was born in Rann St Ladywood and he brought us Fu Manchu . We don't realise the history and the famous people that came from Birmingham .
Click to expand...
There's a thread for famous Birmingham people on the forum Williamstreeter but I don't know if Sax Rohmer is included. Wonder where he got his name from?
 
I had put a bit of info about Sax on the Notable Brummies Thread...

Notable Brummies

I didn't realise that the 1950's singer David Hughes came from Bournbrook, i always thought he was welsh. When the door bell at his home was pressed, it chimed Cara Mia Mine. Eddie
birminghamhistory.co.uk birminghamhistory.co.uk
 
The article states that “Birmingham did not see large scale Chinese migration until the 1960s. However, there were small numbers of Chinese people in the Birmingham area from at least the 1900s....Chinese workers were starting to arrive in Birmingham by 1917. John Beard, one of the activists in the Workers’ Union, wrote an article in the Workers’ Union Record in December 1917 noting how Chinese people had come to Birmingham during the First World War. Most of these men were sailors on ships from Asia, which had been sunk by German U-boats.”

Looking in the Birmingham Newspaper Archive online I came across a few mentions. In September 1917 there are reports that hundreds of Chinamen have recently come to Birmingham.

A further report for the same month tells of a raid on Opium Dens in Birmingham, when 12 Chinamen brought to Court.

215, Newhall Street,
41, Newtown Row, (where 43 Chinamen were registered).
67, Summer Row.

Also in the Gazette it reports the presence of 400 Chinamen in Birmingham. For the most part they were engaged in the munition factories, and lived in lodging houses in Broad St, Granville St, Summer Row and other districts. Some Chinamen were marrying English girls, and the danger arising from this particular phase of the alien problem was appreciated. If parents did not interfere no one else had the right to do so, and it was difficult to find a solution.

The Birmingham Mail reports “Trouble in Chinatown” in September 1918, and May be the first reference to a Chinatown in Birmingham.

62427165-FFC3-4712-A251-A59A031EAB79.jpeg
 
Pedrocut said:
The article states that “Birmingham did not see large scale Chinese migration until the 1960s. However, there were small numbers of Chinese people in the Birmingham area from at least the 1900s....Chinese workers were starting to arrive in Birmingham by 1917. John Beard, one of the activists in the Workers’ Union, wrote an article in the Workers’ Union Record in December 1917 noting how Chinese people had come to Birmingham during the First World War. Most of these men were sailors on ships from Asia, which had been sunk by German U-boats.”

Looking in the Birmingham Newspaper Archive online I came across a few mentions. In September 1917 there are reports that hundreds of Chinamen have recently come to Birmingham.

A further report for the same month tells of a raid on Opium Dens in Birmingham, when 12 Chinamen brought to Court.

215, Newhall Street,
41, Newtown Row, (where 43 Chinamen were registered).
67, Summer Row.

Also in the Gazette it reports the presence of 400 Chinamen in Birmingham. For the most part they were engaged in the munition factories, and lived in lodging houses in Broad St, Granville St, Summer Row and other districts. Some Chinamen were marrying English girls, and the danger arising from this particular phase of the alien problem was appreciated. If parents did not interfere no one else had the right to do so, and it was difficult to find a solution.

The Birmingham Mail reports “Trouble in Chinatown” in September 1918, and May be the first reference to a Chinatown in Birmingham.

View attachment 152945
Click to expand...
Pedrocut , Very interesting indeed , obviously the censors nowadays would not be so lenient to let some of the words through as they have in this passage .
 
Looking at Google Maps, if you search for Chinese quarter it shows the supposed boundaries, but does not mark it unless you ask for it, However the Gay village , which is partly the same area, is marked on the map. This might indicate that Google thinks the latte is more a tourist draw than Chinatown/quarter
 
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