A celebration of those often overlooked
People and places
Divided into three chapters — "people and places", "work" and "culture" — the exhibition displays around 50 items that highlight various aspects of the Chinese community in Britain, with each one carefully chosen and curated.
In a photo of a painting from the 1770s, Chinese sculptor Tan Che Qua is featured by an artist from the Royal Academy, showing his standing in London's creative elite at the time after he set up a business producing highly accurate clay portraits on commission, which resulted in him meeting King George III.
A bracelet, bearing the contract number and departure port of Tsingtao (now Qingdao, Shandong province) for a worker who was part of the Chinese Labour Corps that toiled during World War I, offers an insight into the largely forgotten story of the 140,000 Chinese workers who served the allies near the front lines, performing noncombat yet important tasks, including trench digging and road repairs. The corps and its contribution were not commemorated for decades following the allies' victory.
