Outside an unremarkable Chinese takeaway in the Berkshire market town of Wokingham stood a woman with a placard in her hands. She looked indignant. She was here to protest against the takeaway owner who she said hadn’t paid her for the four hours she worked during her trial period – something that many Chinese catering workers across Britain would keep quiet about. “This is not about the money; employers just shouldn’t get away with cheating people,” she said.
Ms Chan – not her real name – is a relatively new face in town, having arrived as a British National Overseas (BNO) applicant in the spring of 2021 from Hong Kong with her husband Joseph and two teenage boys. Except for the 50 families from Hong Kong now living in Wokingham, few knew of her background – like most new arrivals from Hong Kong since last June, when Beijing installed the new National Security Law, she doesn’t want to reveal anything of her past.
“There is a big divide among the Chinese community in Britain, into the ‘blue’ and ‘yellow’ camps,” said her husband Joseph. “The blues are those who defend the status quo and loyally support the Chinese government, whereas the ‘yellow’ camp refers to their opponents, those who want change.” In July 2020, 200 British Chinese organisations from the “blue” camp made a public statement endorsing the National Security Law.
