5 minutes with Colin Ling, CEO Chinese Wellbeing

Meet Colin Ling, CEO of Liverpool based charity Chinese Wellbeing, a charity that delivers adult social care and help for the Chinese community.

Colin has also worked at the likes of the Liverpool Chinese Business Association, Liverpool Chinese Business Network and the Merseyside Chinese Community Development Association. As a leading Chinese business figure, we caught up with Colin ahead of the Chinese New Year celebrations.

Where are you from?

I was born in Liverpool in 1954. My father was from Shanghai and came to the UK as a seaman on the Blue Funnel Line, and my mum was part Chinese.

How important is the Chinese community to the Liverpool economy?

Our Chinese community is the oldest in Europe and I think it has integrated into the city life. The principal industries are catering, retail and cultural heritage, but I believe Liverpool has used its links with the Chinese community and China well, especially over the last 10 years.

We are told that there is a lot of investment from Chinese companies in Merseyside now, and I just hope the council can do the best job they can to continue Chinese investment in the city. I think the Chinese will go wherever they are made to feel welcome.

How has Liverpool’s relationship with China changed over the years?

What interests me the most is how the population has changed here. My father was from Shanghai, and at the time many Chinese sea men jumped ship and ended up in Liverpool building businesses and making a living here for other Chinese people who were coming here, who wanted to eat just like they would be at home. However, when you get to the late 50s and 60s, more people from the likes of Hong Kong started coming over and these people spoke a different language and dialect.

Nowadays, we have more than 8,000 Chinese students in the city and they tend to speak Mandarin and they are more likely to come to the city for a few years, and then either return to China or go elsewhere. So, the Chinese population who have been here for 40 or 50 years, tend to be Cantonese speakers, whereas the younger population tend to be Mandarin speakers.

Do you think the Chinese population has enough opportunities in the city?

The Chinese tend to make their own opportunities. They are incredibly hard-working and diligent, so students that we see come here tend to be studying the likes of law, medicine, accountancy and professional qualifications.

However, the older generation have already established themselves in the community. We see that with the older generation, they have difficulty accessing mainstream support service and it is more difficult for them to learn English, but the younger generation generally have a reasonable level of English, especially with those born in Liverpool like myself.

What do you like most about Chinese New Year in Liverpool?

I love how Chinese New Year is a celebration of my heritage. All of the community comes together and there is a big sense of togetherness even within the Chinese community as all the different languages come together. I love the integration the most. I find that it is one of the most exciting celebrations in the city and possibly one of the oldest in the city thanks to our Chinatown.