Beyond Kung Fu and Takeaways? Negotiation of British Chinese Identities in Schools

Abstract

British Chinese pupils have been seen as a `successful' group in the British education system in the last decade. A significant portion of Chinese heritage pupils are UK-born and some have parents and/or grandparents that have been settled in the UK since the post-war era. Increasingly, many families have moved away from the catering trade that has been strongly associated with the UK Chinese population. Many of these young people are well integrated socially and academically at school. The emergence of new forms of identity among the younger generation has created greater diversity within the ever-evolving British Chinese `community'. This chapter explores the emergent British Chinese identity in which young people recognise their flexible, relational and complex hybridised British Chinese identities, including the possibility of being both British and Chinese.