Description
Discrimination and anti-Asian hate targeting Chinese immigrants has grown since 2020, reflecting both Covid-19-related prejudice and geopolitical tensions between China and the West. In the same period, many feminist and queer activists escaped from China to the UK, seeking refuge from an increasingly illiberal, patriarchal, and queer-hostile culture in China, only to find themselves still targeted by a powerful Leninist state that has grown its far-reaching global presence. Consequently, we observe that Chinese female and queer-identifying immigrants in the UK experience a particular kind of “double terrorism”. On the one hand, they are described by the Chinese Communist Party as “foreign hostile forces” that provoke “gender antagonism” and that need to be surveilled and controlled; and on the other hand, they face suspicion within the British public discourse, sometimes portraying them as Chinese spies. This “double terrorism” affects the entire UK Chinese diaspora, from students to activists.
No academic work to date explores this “double terrorism”, or the strategies that can be deployed to resist such pressures. This gap in understanding can be attributed, in part, to the insularity of the Chinese overseas community and a lack of active engagement with these immigrants in research. Therefore, we adopt a knowledge co-production approach, collaborating with a group of London-based Chinese feminist stand-up comedy artists and Chinese students. Through this collaboration, we provide training to interested King's Chinese students on storytelling and comedy performance, inviting them to share their lived experiences as “double terrorists” in the UK through stand-up comedy. These events will serve as a safe place for Chinese immigrants to voice their experiences, while also generating knowledge on the “double terrorism” experienced by the community, and offering recommendations for better engagement from British higher education institutions and the public.
