Chinese Ethnic Settlements in Britain: Spatial Meanings of an Orderly Distribution, 1981–2001

Abstract

This paper focuses on Chinese immigration and its spatial manifestations in Britain in the past two decades. The 1980s can be recorded as a turning-point in the history of Chinese immigration to Britain, marking a substantial increase in the number and diversity of Chinese immigrants. The same decade should also be considered a landmark in contemporary British urban history, as it featured a major transformation in the Chinese urban landscape. Systematic analyses of census data reveal that, since the 1980s, Chinese immigration to Britain has undergone a process of dramatic structural transformation that has facilitated the decentralisation of the Chinatown enclave economy and the spatial diffusion of Chinese residents. The spatial configuration of 'newwave' immigration has been a regular rank-size relationship of residential distributions. This urban system contains many small and diffused clusters, a lesser number of medium-size Chinatowns, but a few large Chinatowns. The systematic distribution of different Chinese settlements signifies the Chinese representation in different industrial sectors, as well as the equilibrium outcome of the organisational forces of these sectors.

All look the same? Diversity of labour market outcomes of Chinese ethnic group populations in the UK

“…Our analysis offers only limited support for the argument that the Chinese ethnic economy functions as the site of a trade-off between low unemployment and low wage jobs (Luk 2009;Clark and Drinkwater 2002). The Mainland Chinese face high unemployment when they first arrive, which seems to feed into high 'enclave' industry participation, a large 'enclave' industry wage penalty, and abiding status as employees not employers.…”

“…Despite much discussion of Chinese enclave economics, physical Chinese enclaves are not the typical residence of the majority of the UK's Chinese population. The UK Chinese have the widest geographical dispersion of any of the ethnic minorities in the country, theorized by Luk (2009) as an outcome of their historical strategy of chasing the 'white market' beyond the enclave, to escape co-ethnic competition. Thus, although similar in size to the Bangladeshi community, the Chinese lack that community's geographical concentration, community solidarity, or political visibility.…”

Understanding the Spatial Trajectories of Minority Groups: An Approach that Examines their Demographic, Cultural and Socio-economic Characteristics

“…Initially, the arrivals were lowly qualifi ed residents of rural Hong Kong; more recent immigrants came from a much wider section of south-east Asia. The most recent arrivals have been highly qualifi ed (Luk 2008(Luk , 2009. There is thus a large inherent heterogeneity in the Chinese group.…”

“…The majority of students are likely to be transient visitors to the UK, located in key university towns. The overall impact on spatial distribution of such a material proportion of the group having arrived since 2001 depends on whether they have settled in areas where the Chinese group is already present (Luk 2008(Luk , 2009Lymperopoulou 2013). Source: see text for commentary on sources and derivation of data for this graph…”

“…Group accumulations and population (2011 fringe of the inner areas with extensions into the outer suburbs. See Luk (2009) for a more extensive discourse on the distribution of Chinese. There is a much greater scattering of small pockets of Chinese than seen for other groups; Luk (2008) makes reference to Chinese immigrants working in the catering trade deliberately choosing to move away from traditional "Chinatown" areas in order to expand the market and avoid creating an over-supply of Chinese cuisine in a concentrated area.…”