Chinese History: Pre-War Emigrants The earliest Chinese
emigrants to Britain were recruited from the villages of the New
Territories to serve as sailors aboard European freighters.
Several hundred Chinese seamen jumped ship and established
communities in the East End of London and the docklands of
Liverpool and Cardiff. Numbers increased during the Second World
War but many were subsequently repatriated. Those remaining
formed the nucleus of, and the catalyst for, the much larger
second-phase emigration from the New Territories. Post-war male
emigrants The second-phase emigration began with the 1948
British Nationality Act which accorded New Commonwealth citizens
the right to live and work in Great Britain. People who were
born in Hong Kong, especially those indigenous citizens of the
New Territories, were given a British passport. They could come
to work and live in this country freely until more restrictive
immigration legislation in 1962 required employment vouchers or
work permits. The main reason for the