According to Dorian Chan, the Vice-Chair of the Wing Wah and Ming Moon Restaurant Group in Birmingham, there were fewer than 1,000 Chinese people living in Birmingham when the 1961 Census was compiled.

By 2001, that figure had crept up to just over 5,000 and, a decade later, it had more than doubled to over 12,000.

Today, our bustling, international city has 25,000 Chinese students alone.

And, of course, the are thousands more people of Chinese ethnicity working and contributing to Birmingham’s future.

They are most visible in Birmingham’s vibrant and bustling China Town.

"It’s one of the most famous and recognisable parts of the city," said Dorian, "with packed restaurants, busy cafes and array of exotic shops and other businesses including lawyers, importers and exporters and hairdressers."

Across the city there are scores of Chinese-owned businesses and there has been a flood of Chinese investment over recent years.

Brum has had a Chinese population since at least 1911, with historical records showing Chinese laundries operating in Birmingham from the earliest years of the 20th century.

Kelly’s Trade Directory lists Lee Joe’s laundry at 189 Mary Street, Balsall Heath, and Sing Hing Lee’s laundry at 5 Stoney Lane, Sparkbrook, way back in 1908.

There were scores of others, but the number began to dwindle after the 1940s as more businesses and and domestic homes installed their own washing machines.

Dorian said that the Birmingham’s Chinese community was, at this time, remained small.

The 1950s saw a larger influx of Chinese newcomers - predominantly Hong Kong Cantonese and Hakka speakers.

Like most migrants, they left their homeland for Britain in search of work and better prospect for their families.

The UK was an obvious destination. Hong Kong was still a British Dependent Territory and potential migrants obtained work vouchers which entitled them to seek jobs in England.

During 1950s and 60s, Chinese migrants in Birmingham opened up restaurants as it as often difficult to find jobs in the same sectors in in which they had been employed back in Hong Kong.

"Obviously, these early restaurants were popular with the Chinese community itself," Dorian pointed out. 

But air travel, television and the gradual ending of post-war austerity created a taste among the native British population for exotic food.

Soon a spring roll became a British staple.

Hua Gu Lou was the trailblazer - opening in the city centre in 1952 and Birmingham’s first Chinese restaurant.

Other restaurants followed including Lieng Nam in Station Street (1958) and Tung Hing on Snow Hill (1959).

Tung Kong opened on Holloway Head, Yeung Shing on Bristol Street and Kam Ling on Livery Street.

Slow Boat opened in 1961 near the Bull Ring, followed by Heaven Bridge at Smallbrook Queensway and the Old Happy Gathering at Pershore Street.

It is clear that the opening of so many restaurants in or around what is now known as Southside sowed the seeds for the establishment of China Town.

This was boasted by the presence of so many Chinese trade suppliers in Digbeth and Deritend.

Competition led to some families moving out of the city centre to open takeaways and neighbourhood restaurants in the suburbs and in more rural areas, where they often lived directly above the shops to save on costs and keep property secure.

"It made sound business sense - the costs of running a takeaway were two-thirds less than running a restaurant", explained Dorian.

But China Town continued to thrive and, in 1983, the area was given a boost when a Chinese business partnership put forward a plan to regenerate the zone along Ladywell Walk.

As China Town’s grew, there was a significant wave of Hong Kong people in the run-up to 1997, when the 99-year Britain’s lease on the territory expired and China took control.

These new arrivals initially settled in Sparkbrook, traditionally the gateway to the city for many migrant communities in Birmingham.

A 1986 city council study found houses with as many as five Chinese families living in them.

Many were in Braithwaite Road which was nicknamed Chinese Street – Tang Yahn Gaai.

There were influx of Ethnic Chinese in the late 1970s - forced to leave war-torn Vietnam

These so-called Boat People found their way first to Hong Kong and eventually permanent resettlement in UK. 

Over more recent years, there has been an increasing numbers of mainland Chinese who have travelled to UK to study, work or do business and have subsequently settled in Birmingham. 

"This is reflected in the style of Chinese food now offered in China Town - ranging from traditional dim sum and familiar Cantonese staples to hot pots and lesser known cuisines such as Szechuan, with its fiery chilli heat", said Dorian.

Food remains central to the lives of Chinese people - both for personal pleasure and because it is how many of them earn a living.

The historian Sun Longji said: “Food is the people’s heaven. It is the centre of life, the reason for being.”

Visit China Town during daytime, before the bars and nightclubs are thronged with revellers, and you will find cafes and restaurants packed with Chinese people enjoying a cup of tea or an array of exquisite dim sum.

This is the place, too, in which Chinese and non-Chinese people gather to celebrate the important annual festivals.

Best known is Chinese New Year to mark the start of a lunar new year. It is a lively event featuring drums and the drag dance and tables groaning with special dishes, as described by Dorian.

There is also the Mid-Autumn Festival, also known as the Lantern or Mooncake festival. This is based on the story of Sheung Or and her self-sacrifice for her lover.

Tuen Ng Festival - the Dragon Boat Festival - commemorates the death of the Zhou Dynasty poet and minister Qu Yuan in the third century BC. Banished and accused of treason, Qu Yuan committed suicide by drowning in the river. His body remains unfound, so the local decided to make sticky rice balls to feed the fish in the river, in hope that his body would not be eaten by the fish.

"But let’s not concentrate solely on China Town - as exciting as the place is", said Dorian.

Throughout Birmingham you’ll see Chinese businesses, Chinese professionals and Chinese employees helping to make Birmingham the dynamic, diverse and thrilling city it is.

They are part of the fabric of 21st century Brum.