Last Updated : 31 Jul 2009

Liverpool has one of the oldest, if not, the oldest China Town in Europe. The Chinese have been in Liverpool since at least the early 19th century, having arrived in the city by sea. The first vessel to arrive in Liverpool directly from China was in 1834.

After the East India Company lost it's monopoly and China trade became open to private enterprise, shipping links were established between the ports of Shanghai and Liverpool. This was the basis for the original Chinese community in Liverpool.

The first wave of Chinese immigrants arrived in 1866 with the establishment of the Blue Funnel Shipping Line, a branch of the Holt Ocean Steamship Company, which ran a line of steamers directly from Liverpool to China. Chinese sailors who decided to stay in Liverpool and work from here settled in an area of the city that was close to the docks in Cleveland Square.

Boarding houses were first opened by the Holt Shipping Company to accommodate their workers. According to Mr. So of the Wah Sing Chinese Community Centre, by 1871 there were 202 Chinese who had settled in Liverpool.

It was here and in the surrounding streets that the first Chinese settlers started their own businesses supplying services to the Chinese who found themselves in a strange city, where the language and customs were alien. This included boarding-houses where the men could talk in their own language and be understood, cafes so that they could buy cooked food and shops where they could buy the necessary groceries to prepare their own meals. One of the first Chinese shops to open was in Pitt Street.

Marriages between Chinese men and local women were quite common in this period. The seamen were seen as being more responsible than their British counterparts in that they did not drink alcohol often or beat up their wives and they would support their families. The women were willing to help in their husbands' businesses in the shops and the laundries.

Lok Ah Tam was born in Canton in 1872 and came to England in 1895. He became a shipping agent and the superintendent to Chinese labour for three shipping companies. Additionally, he was also President of the Liverpool branch of the Koch Mai Tong organisation and founder of the Chinese Republic Progress Club. In February 1915 Lok Ah Tam was hit over the head by a group of drunken Russian sailors resulting in a big change in his personality. His life deteriorated rapidly and on the 2nd of December 1925 he shot dead his wife and two daughters. Despite a defense based on insanity due to the injury and sympathy of the judge, the jury returned a guilty verdict and he was executed on the 23rd of March 1926.

The University of Liverpool was the first in the UK to open a new university in China in 2006. Chinese students visit the UK for part of their degrees, while Liverpool students travel to China to complete part of their studies at the Chinese university.

Liverpool is the only UK city other than London that will exhibit at the world’s biggest business fair – the World Expo 2010 in the city’s twin of Shanghai in China.