91热爆

Freddie Chung was born and grew up in Hong Kong but moved to England over 20 years ago. As well as running his own restaurant in Wickham Market, Freddie is chairman of the Chinese Association in Suffolk.

He's one of approximately 5000 Chinese people living in the county in 2008 and was central to the community's efforts to support those affected by the earthquake which killed an estimated 87,000 people.

"The Chinese people like to club together," Freddie said when I spoke with him at the association's base in Ipswich.

"We received the information from the satellite and it provided a big sorrow and misery. I rang to my committee and brought them here for a meeting.

"We made the decision to make a collection and raised 拢4000 to send back to China."

Freddie was encouraged that the donations and messages of solidarity came from across the Suffolk demographics, and not just the Chinese community.

"A lot of people walking on the street donated money to us, not just Chinese people. We're only human and the love is coming."

Y'all gonna learn Chinese

This sense of helping those in the country they left behind is perhaps to be expected, but what about for the second, third and future generations of immigrating families? Do they have a sense of being connected to China, a country they may never have visited?

"The young people who are educated here are still Chinese, but have an English mind now. They have English friends and group together with them so maybe they forget some of the Chinese ways.

"But we can't keep things the same. We can't say what they need to follow. It's good for them to join this society.

"A lot of young people still like to learn the Chinese language and character but they are not educated in it every day so it's difficult. However I still hope they keep some Chinese characteristic and speak a little bit of the language."

In 2008 these youngsters have certainly had a wealth of media coverage in which they could learn more about the current state of their relatives' homeland.

The earthquake, Tibet and the Olympics have resulted in China becoming an almost daily fixture in the national news headlines.

But the focus of the reports on Tibet and the Olympics has largely been on human rights, which China vowed to improve when it was awarded the Games in 2001.

Amnesty International has been amongst those campaigning for China to keep this promise, but has reported several instances which suggest there's still some work to be done.

What's it like for Freddie to see China scrutinised and accused of breaching human rights laws, such as the right to adequate housing? Reports claim that 1.25 million Beijing residents faced forced eviction, some of which are directly linked to the construction projects for the Olympics¹.

"I don't think they've removed some people away to get more rich, they just ask everyone to try hard for the Olympics. 'Let's make the country more proud' - if the country is proud the citizens will be proud.

"There's a lot of new buildings in China - entertainment, shopping centres, and you see a lot of people going to China to enjoy the Games.

"Every Chinese person, including those overseas, are looking forward to the Olympics. I hope it will be very successful because when I watch on the internet, or satellite TV they're still talking about how to make it special for guests.

"They're cleaning the streets to make it a nice welcome to everyone.

"Everything's more free there now and there's private trading in China now, everything no longer belongs to the government. What you like to do, you can do, but not including the illegal things."

Right to work

Freddie's knowledge of the law has been heightened during his time as chairman. He has been called upon to help immigrants make their move to the UK legal.

He proactively encourages people to adhere to British law but is baffled by rulings which harness immigrants seeking employment.

"Nowadays the 91热爆 Office is serious about Chinese refugees or illegal workers.

"A lot of people are refugees nowadays. They go to restaurants but are not permitted to work. There needs to be more kindness.

"I'm not a political man but these people are losing their human rights. If you accept them to stay but not accept them to work they're losing their human rights. Where is their money coming from?

"If they've nothing to do, they're not working, they may try and do some illegal things because they want to fill up their belly. If they're doing illegal things then this is an attack on the English law.

"If you accept them to stay here, you need to give them a space to work. They can pay tax and everything and that will help the country become stronger.

"With tax and national insurance, it will help the country. But if you force them to have no work, nothing to do, they don't know what they can eat, they have no home, then they will try some illegal things such as stealing the money.

"This brings more trouble to the country and more criminals. It will make more trouble for society."

The changing face of Chinese immigrants

The employment prospects for people moving from China to the UK has changed in the 20 years since Freddie moved to Suffolk. Back then it was almost entirely to work in the restaurant industry, but the new generations are looking to get out of the kitchen.

This freedom is good news for the youngsters, but poses a challenge for the older generation.

"Ninety five per cent of us are in the food trade here - restaurants and takeaways. After 10 or 20 years I'll want to pass to my son and daughter, but they don't want to do this job because they have the English idea.

"They want their own job - in computers or whatever - so there's no one to help me here now. Some people now work on the farm or in a chicken factory, some people have moved to hairdressing, import/exporting or selling Chinese arts and craft.

"When we moved to this country we began in restaurants because that's easy for us, especially for people who aren't very good with English so it's difficult to get another job.

"Suffolk is a good area and we hope more people will come here to run their trade or business. Normally the business is running a restaurant but I hope there will be more businesses started."
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¹Amnesty International's report on the imprisonment of Housing rights activist Ye Guozhu, 1 April 2008