I'm always on the look-out for books on social justice and sociology topics set in the UK so was glad to request this. In fact, the author of this book has lived in Canada, America and the UK, and in this wide-ranging book, which takes a historical viewpoint as well as looking at modern issues, she is thus able to compare the three countries, which is very interesting. Echoing my difficulty in finding books from the much smaller British Chinese community, one thing that really struck her when she moved here was the lack of that actual community, with people scattered around the country and certainly very few visible leader and politicians available, in contrast to both Canada and the US (one was a Birmingham City councillor, though, for some nice local content!).

As a result perhaps of this lack of visible community, the book starts off with her experience of being assumed to be a tourist at a museum in her new home of Oxford. Personal experiences are woven through the book, but also historical records and the experiences of people she meets and interviews: she looks at the history of Chinese-British relations and the history of Chinese people in Britain, food and the inevitable takeaways, meaning families were often isolated as the only Chinese people in their town, the Covid-19 pandemic and the awful racism that blew up, aided, she demonstrates, by biased and racist images used by government and media, success and the model minority (and what that means when you're NOT good at maths), and she has a very interesting chapter on pushback and activism within the Chinese community, something I've certainly not read about before.

She muses on citizenship at the end, as she and her husband confirm their own British citizenship, and on how fleeting and unstable it can be, and she ends with a call to extend activism and community outside the purely Chinese groups to fight against intersectional marginalisation.

A book of more substance than it might appear, which would definitely be a useful read for anyone interested in social justice and race in the UK and wider contexts.

Blog review coming 19 March: https://librofulltime.wordpress.com/2025/03/19/book-review-daisy-j-hung-i-am-not-a-tourist/

I found this book so interesting and I learned so much about it. Daisy J. Hung was born in Canada, then moved to the US and finally to the UK, and writes about her experience being a person of Chinese descent in these countries, in particular in the UK. The first few chapters are focused on the history of the Chinese community in the UK - who were the first visitors, what did they do (they were merchants and scholars, mostly), where does Chinatown come from - I was surprised to read that the columns in London are not all Chinese-made, and that the original location of London's Chinatown was in Limehouse. There's a lot about what the diversity of China - in terms of culture and language - means for the Chinese diaspora, which was interesting because this was something else I knew theoretically but had never considered practically for what it means for a community in Europe. There's also a lot about the exploitation of Chinese workers in England after the two world wars, something that I have actually never heard about or knew anything about at all; my memories of learning at school about foreign workers sent to "rebuild" after the wars in Europe were focused on African workers sent to France (and treated just as horribly and unfairly) or the Windrush generation.

Another chapter focuses on Chinese restaurants and takeaways and discusses one of the debates on TikTok and Twitter a few years ago: how come a British Chinese takeaway is so different from an American one, and is it offensive to say you want to "eat a Chinese"? There's a lot about class and about the types of occupations that Chinese immigrants do and why; and then the last few chapters focus on different themes - politics, entrepreneurship, cultural representations on TV and in cinema... She covers the "model minority myth" and how the stereotype of Chinese people being "self-reliant and resilient" actually harms them and means they are less likely to receive help when they need it. She also reflects and illustrates the fact that this "model minority" myth is often used to denigrate Black people, something I have indeed seen online. She goes through a lot of the awful racist attacks Asian people were victims of, before, during and after Covid - some I knew about, and some I was surprised not to have heard about at all despite reading the news regularly.

I was most interested in something I actually knew about already: Chinese students and how reliant British universities are on them and the income they bring, while doing very little to protect them from their peers' racism. And the last few chapters focusing on activism - and how the Chinese and wider Asian communities work together to advocate for themselves - were really great, really interesting, and something I rarely get to read about in the media or even in EDI texts and seminars.

At times the many quotes and interviews with different people felt a bit repetitive as a format, and it took me a while to finish the book despite it being very short; but I found it really informative and well-written overall. I learned a lot from it, and I also enjoy following the author on Twitter where she posts a lot of interesting recommendations for other books and authors.

This book is a hard one to rate and review. The author has clearly done lots of research, visited key places and spoken to a large number of people within the British Chinese community. And yet, this book fell flat forme and I'm trying to understand why.

Part of the problem is the structure - each chapter has a heading but there are no subtitles. The argument being presented could do with being made far more explicit through more headings and subheadings. I kept getting lost in the details and acroynyms as to what the key point being made was. And getting lost means skimming.

Another thing I noticed was that the author seems to be grappling with 2 problems. One is mourning the loss of the large Asian American community she had in the US. The second is the fact that British Chinese communities are minorities within minorities and so struggles even more than larger minorities for recognition and representation. As these two problems get intertwined in the text, it lessens the overall argument about the racism experienced by British Chinese communities.

But perhaps my biggest concern was the lack of hope in this book. There's no real sense that the author believes that the litany of racism and problems faced could be overcome. Clearly the action for Brits from non-Chinese backgrounds is to support, befriend and champion those from British Chinese communities. But what else? The book lacked a vision for what thriving British Chinese communities could look like and therefore what we should be aiming for (beyond don't be racist, don't attack/vandalise British Chinese businesses, don't assault/beat up/murder British Chinese people).

Sadly, this feels like a missed opportunity for me. I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.

I Am Not a Tourist by Daisy J. Hung explores identity and racism and the experience of being British Chinese.

In this intriguing title, Daisy J. Hung, who has made Britain her home, walks us through what it means to be a British Chinese - Chinese British.
Starting with a personal anecdote, she talks about conscious, unconscious biases and perceptions based on stereotypes and media representation of this minority group.
Hung’s prose is clear and her argument is sound. She supports it with many resources too.
I learnt plenty from this book about a community and their problems and experiences. I recommend this book to everyone who wish to be more inclusive and promote diversity.
I hope the author expands her research and practice with collaborations and more research with others who have lived experience or are experts/scientists.