When you think the global peoples of London, do Chinese communities to mind? In fact, London is home to over 125,000 Chinese residents. Chinatown in Central London hosts cafes and shops by Londoners from China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong as well as Korea, Indonesia, and Vietnam. As the Chinese government exercises authority in Hong Kong, many thousands of Cantonese have moved from one island nation to another, leaving behind their Asian homeland to live in the European island of England. Migration from Hong Kong to the British isle has been taking place for decades, but today Chinese and other migrants have arrived in London from Mainland China and East Asia.
While Central London’s Chinese district is a symbolic immigrant community and bustling center of commerce, many Chinese migrants are clustered in the boroughs of Barnet, Tower Hamlets, and Southwark as well as several smaller clusters throughout the city’s boroughs. In addition, more than one in three international students in the UK — not coming from European Union nations — are from China.
London is one of the Europe’s dynamic global cities and an Asian hub. For disciple makers serving in Europe with a burden for unreached peoples, Chinese communities in London represent an opportunity to serve at the world’s crossroads and impact the nations.
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