British Chinese Studies Network

The British Chinese Studies Network (BCSN) is a UK-based international network supporting academic research, creative work and public engagement relating to the history and culture of British Chinese communities and individuals. Our compound title term ‘British Chinese’ relates to British-born and migrant UK residents of ethnic Chinese origin, including individuals from Southeast and East Asia and from global diasporic Chinese communities.

The BCSN recognises that British Chinese communities have been under-represented in the UK, and that British-Chinese history, literature, culture are still marginalised in the public narrative of British multi-ethnicity. The BCSN seeks to celebrate, study, and disseminate work that recognises the manifold contribution that British Chinese people have made to British national life and British society more widely. Network members also work in solidarity with groups involved in antiracism activism, and public awareness-raising of hate crime in the wake of Covid-19. More broadly, the network seeks to decolonise the curriculum by promoting the study of British Chinese history and literature and generating greater public awareness of Chinese minority ethnicity.

The network also seeks to support creative writing by British Chinese authors and British Chinese creative practitioners, and we include readings and promotional events in our regular schedule.

The aims of the BCSN

• Become an international hub for scholars to collaborate and research, shaping the field of British Chinese Studies.
• Expand the conceptual and theoretical boundaries of this new discipline, drawing on relevant and cognate (cross-disciplinary) fields and discourses. These include but are by no means limited to: postcolonialism, gender studies, area studies, Black British studies, Asian American studies and cultural studies.
• Interrogate and decolonise present HE and school curricula in relation to the shared concerns of the network.
• Design, curate and manage databases and research materials on British Chinese history and literature.
• Provide a platform for new and emerging British Chinese creative practitioners.
• Hold events (including research seminars, practitioner workshops, community outreach days and conferences) relating to British Chinese culture.
• Foster collaborative projects with key national and international cultural institutions and stakeholders, for example, British Councils.