British Chinese Workforce Heritage I: Beginnings - Photography Exhibition

Despite the fact that thousands of Chinese workers have settled in Britain over the last century and a half, their history remains largely unknown. For the first time, the British Chinese Workforce Heritage project will present a photography exhibition, which will tell the story of some of the earliest Chinese workers professions and their lives in the UK.

British Chinese Workforce Heritage I: Beginnings is presented in collaboration with Charing Cross Library and will include photographs collected during the first year of the British Chinese Workforce Heritage Project. Since June 2011, Ming-Ai (London) Institute has conducted this ground-breaking three-year oral history project, aiming to record the rich heritage of British Chinese workers over hundreds of years.

Supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), the project has recruited volunteers and offered internships to research and document the stories of British Chinese workers. Ninety interviews will be conducted which include participants in both traditional and modern professions.

This exhibition will show pictures of project interviewees and research findings of the first stage of the project, including over thirty interviews. Five professions of British Chinese will be covered: seafaring, laundry, catering, hairdressing and armed forces. Their career paths and life stories will be expressed through images.

All these images were taken or collected by the project officers and volunteers from the British Chinese Workforce Heritage Project who themselves represent a diverse range of cultural and ethnic backgrounds. Their photographs show the British Chinese workforce from a diversity of cultural perspectives.

As a part of the British Chinese Workforce Heritage project, the exhibition provides an opportunity for the public to learn about the heritage of British Chinese workers. It will also enhance public accessibility and involvement in the British Chinese Workforce Heritage Project.