Here and Now: portraits of British-Chinese identity – in pictures
Yan Wang Preston’s portrait series Here and Now explores British Chinese identity through the British landscape. She is a British-Chinese artist interested in landscape, identity, migration and the environment. She tried to portray their ‘Britishness’ instead of their ‘Chineseness’ since the former embraces the latter, and the title of the series refers to the community’s firm footing here now in Britain. Aiming to capture a diverse range of perspectives, this series is a celebration of migration and identity and tells important and inspiring stories. The series is part of the Manchester Museum’s new Lee Kai Hung Chinese Culture Gallery
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Theresa Teng 滕学 and her family, Manchester, 2022
Theresa Teng came to study in the UK in the 1980s and settled in Manchester. She has two sons, Dennis and Ian, with her husband Chaomo Wang. Theresa is a research software engineer at the University of Manchester and runs the Huaxia Chinese supplementary school in her spare time. She wants to encourage young people to connect with their Chinese culture, heritage and identity. Her family portrait is inspired by the French artist Manet’s famous painting The Luncheon on the Grass, 1863 -
Prof Zhengtao Ding丁正桃(教授), West Yorkshire, 2022
Prof Zhengtao Ding was born in China. He moved to the UK to study at the University of Manchester in the 1980s, eventually settling in the city. Other than his work as a Professor of Control System at UoM, he is an accomplished Chinese calligraphy artist and an amateur Tai Chi player. He has kindly provided his own calligraphy for the new Lee Kai Hung Chinese Culture Gallery -
Yuet Ching Doris Lam 藍悦清, Preston
Doris’s parents, Gypsy and Ying, came to the UK from Hong Kong in the 1980s to open a takeaway business in Manchester. Despite her family’s initial concern, Doris became a professional tattoo artist and now has her own successful business. Asked whether she considers herself British or Chinese, Doris says she doesn’t even think to ask herself the question -
Kui Man Gerry Yeung OBE DL 楊鉅文 and his family, Manchester, 2022
Gerry Yeung is a successful restaurateur, property developer and a deputy lieutenant of Greater Manchester. Gerry’s family restaurant, Yang Sing, was the first ethnic restaurant to win the Good Food Guide restaurant of the year award in 1983. All four generations of Gerry’s multinational family posed for this photograph, including his Swedish son-in-law and his Scottish daughter-in-law. Gerry said: ‘I truly believe that we are all world citizens’ -
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Shan Lin 林杉, Manchester, 2022
Shan Lin came to study for an MA in International Education at the University of Manchester in 2021. Shan likes to wear a traditional Han Chinese style of clothing called Hanfu (汉服). In recent years wearing Hanfu has become very popular with young Chinese people. Shan likes wearing Hanfu clothing because, to her, it feels like dressing in a timeless and magnificent tradition of Chinese culture, which also makes her feel confident in her identity -
Olivia Chow 周奥莉花 and her family, Liverpool, 2022
Olivia is the granddaughter of Danny and Grace, pictured with the couple and her father Desmond. Olivia plays football. She hopes one day to play for the Lionesses. ‘Through some of life’s ups and downs, the Chow family feels that they have contributed to, and been part of, British society’ -
Kenny Chen Barraclough 陈康宇, Liverpool, 2022
Kenny, who came to the UK to study at the age of 12, lives in Liverpool. Now in his 20s, Kenny works in Manchester, where he has discovered a group of like-minded young Chinese professionals and formed the network Eastern Blossoms. In his spare time Kenny likes to play badminton and tennis, as well as enjoying hiking, karaoke, and chilling out with his friends -
Danny and Grace Chow 周讚 &周余立言, Liverpool, 2022
Danny and Grace came to the UK in the late 1950s. Danny worked in the laundry and then catering business, while Grace responded to the call across the Commonwealth to help the NHS. They are pictured by the seaside, a place Danny has not been to since arriving in the UK. It represents how much he loves this country, and how he has never looked back -
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Adam and Ann Branton 安毅豪 and her family, West Yorkshire, 2022
Adam and Ann are both teachers, and met in China before moving to Adam’s hometown, Wardle, in Lancashire, in 2020. They are pictured preparing a traditional Chinese meal, with the arrangement referencing European still life paintings. Lily, Yan Wang Preston’s daughter, also joined in for this image -
Dr Hanxin Yang 杨汉新 博士, Cheshire, 2022
Hanxin Yang came to the UK to carry out his PhD and postdoctoral research at the University of Manchester. He stayed afterwards, working in the power industries as a specialist in conventional, nuclear and renewableenergies. In his spare time, he loves gardening and growing as well as promoting Chinese culture. He is an active member of the fundraising committee for the Chinese Streamside Garden at RHS, and the currentchairman of the Xinhua Chinese Association
