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Introduction
IntroductionThe focus of this book is on Chinese immigration in the past 2 decades and its spatial manifestations in Britain. A major argument I make in this study is that if the 1980s can be recorded as a turning point in the history of Chinese immigration to Britain because the decade marked a substantial increase in and a diversity of Chinese immigrants, it should also be considered a landmark in contemporary British urban history as it featured a major transformation in the Chinese urban landscape. I am interested in how changes in the contexts of exit and reception have stimulated quantitative and qualitative changes in Chinese immigration, and how these changes in immigration facilitate the development of Chinatowns and Chinese settlements.
Towards a Study of Chinese Social Geographies
Chinatowns as Spatial Products
The study used the cut-off point of 1981 analytically. It is not that Chinese immigration before 1981 was insignificant; it is rather that only after 1981 was the change sufficiently radical to alter the face of Chinese landscapes in Britain.