Situation in Post-war Britain

1.2Caribbean and Chinese Migration to Britain

Similarly, as far as Chinese and Hong Kong Cantonese migration to the mother country are concerned, Akilli suggests that these were instigated by shortage of labour caused by declining birth rate in post-war Britain and unemployment of rice farmers in Hong Kong. After the 1949 Chinese revolution, many mainland Chinese migrated to Hong Kong, and then throughout the 1950s migration from Hong Kong to Britain occurred. Problems in farming, which were brought about by production of cheap rice in Southeast Asia, and uncertain political situation in Asia forced many Chinese to leave Hong Kong for better security (Fung). Demographic and economic factors such as the increased labour force participation of women, the growing number of single households and suburban sprawl affected the changing pattern of consumer demand in Britain. The new post-war lifestyle created a market for ready prepared foods and take away businesses cropped up. The only people to meet this demand were the unemployed Chinese farmers in Hong Kong. They leased their farmland to newcomers, left the country and engaged in the Chinese restaurant business in the UK. The 1948 British Nationality Act and a post-war demand for ready-made Chinese food laid the basis for migratory movement from Hong Kong to Britain throughout the 1950s and 1960s (Akilli, “Chinese”). The initial aim of male Chinese farmers migrating to the UK “was either to start their own business or to work as employees in the existing restaurants, make enough money to create better living conditions in their native land, and finally return to their country of origin” (“Chinese”).

In contrast to Caribbean immigrants, who tried to find jobs after they had immigrated to the UK, “the Chinese had their employment waiting for them when they arrived. The restaurant business [...] provided almost the only type of job for Chinese immigrants until the mid-1980s” (“Chinese”). They were in need of chefs and waiters, and thus the contact of immigrants with the members of the host society was predetermined by their positions and limited by their poor knowledge of English. Chinese immigrants were “spending long hours working at the restaurants so that they could not find any opportunity to go out and mix with the host society” (“Chinese”). Thus, they struggled with integration into the society and often led lonely and frustrated lives in their above the shop type of housing.

Considering that migration from the West Indies was initially small, it was on average under 1,000 a year until 1951, the Conservative government encouraged free personal movement and migration for all Commonwealth citizens. But as the numbers of immigrants were increasing, it changed its policy to that of immigration control (Dabydeen 219). Between the years 1948 and 1958, 125,000 people came from the Caribbean to Britain. Approximately another 125,000 arrived between 1959 and 1962, making a grand total of about 250,000 (Phillips, New World 268). According to Fung, census returns for England and Wales show that Chinese population reached 19,396 in 1951 and 38,750 in 1961.

By the early 1960s, pressure for control over immigration increased. The 1962 Commonwealth Immigrants Act introduced a voucher system that enabled those coloured migrants who were already in Britain to arrange jobs for friends and relatives wanting to join them, which led to a chain migration (Dabydeen 219). The Act divided migrants into three groups, “those with jobs to come, those with skills or experience deemed advantageous to the United Kingdom, and unskilled labourers in search of work. Only the last category was to be subject to numerical control” (Akilli, “Chinese”). The Act appeared to be politically successful because it was not discriminatory in theory, but effective in operating on coloured immigrants. Ironically, it was counter-effective, the Act did not stop coloured immigrants from coming to Britain, it caused a stronger wind of immigration, as they wanted to use the last-chance opportunity and establish a right to come to the mother country (“Chinese”). The dependants of those, who migrated to Britain, were allowed to come without vouchers. This resulted in shifting the balance between black workers and black dependants entering Britain. Whereas the numbers of black immigrants coming to Britain as workers drastically declined, the numbers of dependants increased. The 1962 Act changed a movement of workers, economically active persons, who were probably interested in staying temporarily, into a relatively permanent immigration of families (Dabydeen 219). The Act affected Chinese migration as well; it made migrants change their minds about temporary settlement and minority families and communities were being formed in Britain. After July 1962, substantial numbers of Asian women and children entered and settled in Britain. The period between the 1962 Act and the 1968 Commonwealth Immigrants Act witnessed the increase of black and Asian immigration to Britain (Akilli, “Chinese”).

“Due to the co-operation of their wives and sometimes of their children, the owners of the restaurants were able to save substantial amounts of money” and transform the business into a family enterprise (“Chinese”). Consequently, the above the shop accommodation of the pre-1962 period changed, families started renting houses. Their children were sent to English schools and the Hong Kong immigrants were thus forced to mix with the white community, “the isolated and introverted character of the Chinese in Britain began to change gradually” (“Chinese”). Each take away food shop required its own individual catchment area and Chinese immigrants thus scattered around the country. In the 1960s, there were only two Chinatowns in the UK, in London and in Liverpool, and in the 1970s Manchester’s Chinatown began to grow (Fung). Likewise, the majority of Blacks also lived in rented accommodation in the 1960s. From the 1940s onwards, black immigrants settled mainly in those areas where labour shortages were acute such as London, Birmingham, and Manchester. This pattern of settlement was still continuing even after 40 years (Dabydeen 220). However, black people could only hold inferior jobs, lower than the socio-economic scale, and were over-represented in the less-skilled manual occupations (Abercrombie 254-55).

As the 1962 Act controlled and decreased the entry of immigrant workers, but brought about the increased immigration of dependants, in 1971 Britain changed its mind and “declared that it was no longer willing to become the centre of an empire; that it was no longer an imperial economy; and that it would rather become a nation state like the other modern European countries” (Akilli, “Chinese”). Thus, the Immigration Act of 1971 was about to stop permanent primary migration to the UK. New categories of patrial and non-patrial were introduced. “Patrials were free from restrictions; non-patrials were liable to controls” (“Chinese”). Although Acts of 1962, 1968 and 1971 restricted immigration from Commonwealth countries, the total numbers of migrants continued to grow throughout the 1960s (Abercromie 247). The 1966 census estimated that 454,100 West Indians lived in Britain in that time. The controls were supposed to prevent or slow down the entry of non-white people. The decrease in immigration figures since 1971 implies that large-scale immigration of Blacks was finished, the motive for small-scale immigration was the unification of divided families (Dabydeen 219). Similarly, “the rate of Chinese immigration gradually slowed down after the late 1970s when the majority of the dependants had already arrived and the process of family unification had been almost completed.” The three-decade-long mass immigration period came to an end with the 1981 British Nationality Act, which actually officially and legally rejected the 1948 British Nationality Act (Akilli, “Chinese”).

According to the 1981 census, 890,000 black people lived in Britain, which was 30 per cent of the 3 million ethnic-minority population, and the 2001 census showed that the number had increased to 1.14 million (Dabydeen 219). Fung asserts that during the 1980s, “the Chinese had been recognised as the third largest visible ethnic group who were contributing to the wealth of Britain by working hard and paying taxes.” Their population reached 154,363 in 1981, 247,403 in 2001 and was thought to be as high as 500,000 in 2008 (Fung).