Dr Sha Zhou publishes on British Chinese caterers and anti-Chinese racism during the COVID-19 pandemic
Dr Sha Zhou, Research Associate at the 51福利社 China Institute (MCI), has published a new open access article exploring the experiences of British Chinese caterers during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The article, published in The History of the Family, employs an oral history methodology to examine how the pandemic affected caterers鈥� businesses and personal lives.
Drawing from rich first-hand narratives, Dr Zhou argues that British Chinese caterers faced a dual crisis during the COVID-19 pandemic:
- Economic,
- Operational (shifting to takeaway and online services due to lockdown restrictions).
They also suffered emotional distress stemming from a surge in anti-Chinese racism. In response to COVID-19 restrictions and rising operational costs, Chinese caterers demonstrated resilience by utilising transnational ties and by raising food prices. The oral histories captured their frustration with the government鈥檚 handling of the pandemic, underscoring the broader inequalities experienced by ethnic minorities during the pandemic.
Dr Zhou's longstanding interest in British Chinese history underpins her research. She holds a PhD in Contemporary British History from King鈥檚 College London, with a dissertation focused on how Chinese migrant women shaped the British Chinese community through their migration, labour, caregiving and community engagement in post-war Britain. Her current research at MCI continues this trajectory, examining the interplay between state intervention, municipal politics and Chinese grassroots activism in 1980s Britain.
The COVID-19 pandemic broke out during Sha鈥檚 final doctoral year, triggering a global surge in anti-Chinese hostility. Witnessing this unfold in real time made Dr Zhou feel a strong sense of responsibility towards documenting Chinese voices and experiences. She went on to volunteer for the Life in the Time of Corona project initiated by the Ming Ai Institute in 2020-21. In 2022, drawing on interviews of this project, Sha presented a paper on the experiences of Chinese caterers in Britain at the International Society for the Study of Chinese Overseas conference, which inspired the current article. Dr Zhou鈥檚 overarching aim is to demonstrate that contemporary racial prejudices are not isolated phenomena but connected to long-standing narratives and stereotypes that have evolved over time.
The study employs a qualitative approach, combining oral history interviews with analysis of government reports and media coverage. This methodology enabled Dr Zhou to explore how Chinese caterers experienced the pandemic not only as a public health and economic crisis, but also as a racialised event. Integrating personal narratives with documentary sources offered a multidimensional understanding of how racialised assumptions shape responses to crisis in Britain. Ultimately, the article highlights the urgency of documenting everyday pandemic experiences and challenges the notion that anti-Chinese racism is an isolated incident.
Explore the oral history project: . Launched by the Ming-Ai Institute in London, it features 50 interviews with members of the British Chinese community across gender, region, generation, and occupation.