Manchester Chinese Community: Lin Ma Hang Yip Clan
During the 1950s a large group of Yip's clan immigrated to Manchester, Oxford and London, working for the Taishan clan who owned laundries shops all over the UK. The Yip clan came from the Lin ma Hang village of New Territories, Hong Kong. The British government especially granted working visas for villagers from Hong Kong, with the surnames: Yip, Chan, Lee, Wong etc. to work in UK. As soon as the visa door was open to the families, the biggest wave of Chinese immigration in Manchester was created. Many of them were employed in Chinese restaurants and laundries.
In the early 50s there was a lot of prejudice against the Chinese community due to the politics in China. Most Chinese people had no status in the mainstream society. Racism was very strong from British community as our interview with the Chinese elderly illustrated, "The English people throw stone at me." and "called me Ching! Cheung!” The Chinese community was totally isolated from the British community and their homeland. To them they only wanted to earn enough money to support their family and themselves, then return home. For the majority of Chinese people, life consisted of hard work at the Liverpool docks, laundries and restaurants.
Despite restrictions in immigration of current and former British colonies in 1962, significant Chinese migration to Britain continued, they were constantly experiencing an unsettled lifestyle. With no skills, no qualifications and low education level, they were highly insecure; when a family bought a shop they always borrowed money from their family and friends, never from banking services- they believed in helping each other along without outside help. They started family Chip shops and restaurants with the help from their children, who were new immigrants learning English from their local school. The Chinese children became translators and had the responsibility of running the family business. This was especially popular in Oldham, Ashton and Rochdale near the industry factories.
In the early 1970s, children grew up in takeaway shops, they were expected to take over their parent's business as the norm, however during the 80's, the children's minds grew and they intended to achieve high academic grades and then leave this catering business so that they could join the mainstream social system. These young Chinese children tried very hard to get out of the catering image; but British people became more stereotype about the Chinese community.
In the 1980s Chinese politics changed and grew more open minded and Britain relaxed its immigration polices which are continuing presently. Nowadays, a significant proportion of British Chinese are second or third generation descendants of these immigrants.
According to official figures, dated 6 years ago, just under half of Chinese immigrants in employment worked in the delivery, hotel and restaurant industries. The Chinese communities have an active ethnic life with many activities and support networks for members, but they have also integrated into the local Manchester community. Compared to most ethnic minorities in the UK, the Chinese tend to be more: widespread and decentralized, with a record of high academic achievement, open mind with religion and have one of the highest inter-ethnic marriage rates in the country. Yip Clan in Manchester
Information about the Chinese in the archives is extremely limited. Most of the media never noticed the values of a Chinese surname. From their surname we can define which village a person came from, if they speak Hakka (a traditional dialect); also from their name we can recognize their generation. In N.T. Hong Kong each village has its own surname and individual Ancestor House. In the ancestor's house, there is a book keeping record of the village's archive.The roots of the Manchester Chinese Community are much stronger then what people think. The most outstanding families in Manchester are Chan, Lee, Wong and Yip. The Yip clan, Lin Ma Hang village group has great influenced to the Greater Manchester and it has been play a very important part in Manchester China Town. It includes the owner of Chi Yip, Wing Yip and Kwok Man restaurant. They started their business from China Town in the 1970s and expanding to Greater Manchester.
On 26th Dec 2008, the first Christmas Party was organized by the Yip's clan at the Chi Yip restaurant, Middleton.
400 members of their clan gathered together to become the biggest Chinese Community party in Manchester's history.
Some of the clan had never met up ever since they had left their hometown during the 1950s and 60s.
It has created huge publicity in Manchester city and has been most excitement created for us in our Community.
References from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Yip family came from Lin Ma Hang Village. Lin Ma Hang (
) is a village located in Sha Tau Kok (
) area of Hong Kong and is situated north of the New Territories, next to the Shenzhen river.
It is situated in the Frontier Closed Area is therefore inaccessible to non-permit holders.People originated in the village are the Yip (
) (or Ip, Yap, Yapp), Lau (
), Sin (
) and Koon (
) (or Kwun).
It is named after a fruit called Lin Ma (
) that can be found in the mid-level streams.
A lead mine was in operation till early 1960.
The village is in the basin of the Robin's Nest (
) (meaning red flower ridge) which is famous of its abundance in "Hanging Bell flowers" (
), which flowers can only been found around the Chinese New Year.