“You Are From Canton, Why Should I Give You Money?” – What Old Bailey Records Tell Us About Britain’s Early Chinese Communities
London's Chinatown, April 1911: Topical Press Agency/Getty Images ( https://flashbak.com/wonderful-pictures-londons-old-chinatown-limehouse-59348/ ) When eight men arrived at the lodgings of Wang Noo and her husband Tuck Quy, one Sunday in 1855, the mood was tense. Quy claimed one of the men, Apoi, asked him for £200 to return to China. Quy said he could offer them £10 or £20, and no more. Wang Noo, according to her own testimony, was less equivocal. “You are natives of Canton, and I am of Nankin”, she said, “why should I give you any money?” The men produced knives and set upon Quy and Noo, severely wounding both. In August 1855, the case came to trial. Four assailants were found guilty, and each sentenced to four years of penal servitude. When cross examined, Noo said she knew the men, but had not “been eating or drinking with them” because “they were persons of an inferior province”. A Perceived “Transnational Community” The case both supports and refutes some of the long-stand...