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All these myths draw attention to the white perception that the Chinese are seen as a silent minority because they are concentrated in Chinatowns, and therefore, they are separated from the host society. Culturally and socioeconomically, the Chinese prefer self-help and do not need the intervention of social services, nor do they compete for jobs with members of the host society. Associated with this is their strong representation in the restaurant sector, where waiters, cooks, and kitchen helpers have to work the long and unsocial hours that the trade requires (Holmes, 1988; Parker, 1994). This voluntary self-isolation, at residence and/or workplace, created a stereotype of an inability to assimilate, that in turn reinforced the community’s irrelevance to the larger society.
Such thinking is entirely credible, but it appears to deny much of the reality that the Chinese in Britain are heterogeneous; that different Chinese populations have different premigratory experiences, demographic profiles, and educational qualifications; that place of origin affects socioeconomic attainment and spatial integration. Underlying this strong subethnic difference is the fact that the Chinese are pursuing different modes of integration in the British social geography. In view of this, Chinatown not only functions as a primary reception area for newcomers, it also distributes old-timers and replicates its port of entry function across the British space. What we have seen in recent decades is that the Chinese have been rapidly changing the face of the British urban landscapes. We have seen the continued existence of traditional Chinatowns; we have also seen the development of suburban Chinatowns and new forms of Chinese settlement (Li, 1998; Li, Dymski, Zhou, Chee, & Aldana, 2002).