Inclusion, Participation and the Emergence of British Chinese Websites

Previous work has drawn attention to the relative absence of British Chinese voices inpublic culture. No one is more aware of this invisibility than British-born Chinese peoplethemselves. Since 2000 the emergence of Internet discussion sites produced by BritishChinese young people has provided an important forum for many of them to grapplewith questions concerning their identities, experiences and status in Britain. In this paperwe explore the ways in which Internet usage by British-born Chinese people hasfacilitated forms of self-expression, collective identity production and social and politicalaction. This examination of British Chinese websites raises important questions aboutinclusion and exclusion, citizenship, participation and the development of a sense ofbelonging in Britain, issues which are usually overlooked in relation to a group whichappears to be well integrated and successful in higher education