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Brief history
There have been Chinese living in the city since 1851.
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What's available
The Manchester Chinese Community Archive was a Heritage Lottery Fund-supported project led by the Manchester Chinese Centre. The collection includes the personal archives the community's members as well as lots of publications which document the life of the community as a whole (ref GB127.CHI).
Pupils from Manchester Grammar School have used trade directories and census returns to trace the history of Chinese businesses in the Manchester area. The earliest listed Chinese business we have discovered is in a 1907 Manchester directory. The results of this project is on Google Maps.
We hold the following printed material:
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Wah, Yung Yung, 'British Soil Chinese Roots: Chinese Life in Britain' (1996) is based on a photographic study of the Chinese community in Greater Manchester. It contains information on the Chinese community living and working in Manchester.
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Woon Cheng, 'Needs of Young Chinese Women in Greater Manchester' (1996).
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Helen Tse 'Sweet Mandarin' (2007) tells the story of her grandmother Lily Kwok, who came to the UK from Hong Kong in the 1950s, and opened one of Manchester's earliest Chinese restaurants. It gives a personal account of some of the experiences of the Chinese community in Manchester from the late 1950s to the present day.
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Y. Liao 'The Geography of the Chinese Catering Trade in Greater Manchester' (Manchester Geographer, vol. 14, 1993, pp 54-82, 910.6 M1).
Reference to the Chinese is also made in the Manchester Evening Chronicle 1958 series 'Strangers in our Midst'.
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How to access
Resources marked with GB are available in the search room, please make an appointment.
Library members can find and reserve the other resources mentioned by following the links to our library catalogue.
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Photographs
See photos and more of our albums on Flickr.