Chinese and British: The Conversation. Part II
Channel: British Library
Date: 2023-03-23

This event took place on 13 March 2023. The information below is correct as of the publication date.

Following on from the very successful conversation held last year, Georgie Ma returns to host an evening of deeply personal reflections exploring life as a member of the British Chinese community. 

Based on her podcast Chinese Chippy Girl, Georgie’s special guests this evening join her to talk about belonging and identity and to explore areas of conflict and tension.

Jamie Lau is a British photographer of Chinese heritage. He is interested in exploring the cultural differences between his Chinese and English identity. In his current exhibition at the British Library he takes inspiration from his rural upbringing, isolated from a wider Chinese community, and the effect this has had on his own sense of cultural belonging. The series 8 Stories offers differing perspectives of each of his subjects forging their own identity within the countryside.

Lijia Zhang is a writer and columnist. She was born into a working-class family in Nanjing, on the banks of the Yangtze River. At 16, she was taken out of school and worked for 10 years at a military factory that produced intercontinental missiles, before teaching herself English and moving to London in 1990. Her book of oral history China Remembers (1999) was followed by ”Socialism Is Great!" A Worker's Memoir of the New China (2011), published in eight countries, and Lotus: A Novel (2017). She appears regularly on TV, radio and in the international media, such as The South China Morning Post, The Guardian and The New York Times.

Alan Lau is the founder and chair of The Frank Soo Foundation. Frank Soo (1914 – 1991) was the first person of Chinese heritage to play in the English Football League and also the first person of colour to play for England (Wartime International). He was born in Derbyshire, and later raised in Liverpool, to a Chinese father and an English mother. Alan Lau has been involved in grassroots football for over 10 years, organising events in the Chinese and East Asian communities. He has a role at the English FA as a Community Champion as well as running the Chinese Community Centre Football team, having been a volunteer and Trustee at the LCCC.

Georgie Ma is a BBC (British born Chinese).  Her parents owned a Chinese takeaway in Macclesfield which she worked at since the age of 10 and also lived above the shop with her family.  Georgie created the podcast, Chinese Chippy Girl, where she brings guests on the show to bring better representation to the ESEA (East and Southeast Asian) community and to amplify ESEA voices.

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