Activity: Illustrated readings
Series: Samaan Tree Series
Title: Chinese migration to British Guiana
Date: Tuesday 28th January 2025
Time: NOON Guyana, 11AM NY, 4PM UK
YouTube: https://youtu.be/C80Wv_wj3DE
SERIES: Samaan Tree Series
TITLE: Chinese Migration to British Guiana: the early years
DATE: Tuesday 28th January 2025
TIME: Midday (Guyana), 11.00 AM NY, 4.00 PM UK
YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/C80Wv_wj3DE
This short film was first screened in a Zoom session, held on the eve of the Chinese New Year. It features illustrated readings about the first Chinese emigrants to British Guiana (as it then was). The readings draw mainly, but not exclusively, on the work of Cecil Clementi, a Colonial official and author of The Chinese in British Guiana. They balance Clementi’s account with an outline of the upheaval caused by the Opium Wars and conclude with a pen-portrait of a Chinese immigrant who prospered in the colony.
FURTHER READING
These books were suggested by members of the audience:
Smoke and Ashes: a journey through hidden histories by Amitav Ghosh, 2024
Cane Reapers: Chinese Indentured Immigrants in Guyana by Trevor Sue-A-Quan, 2003
Cane Rovers: Stories of the Chinese-Guyanese Diaspora by Trevor Sue-A-Quan, 2012
West Meets East: the life of Eugene Chen by Walton Look Lai, 2021
The Chinese in the West Indies 1806-1995: A Documentary History by Walton Look Lai, 2000