DIFFERENT VOICES/CHINESE: It is now almost impossible to walk down the main street of an Irish city without seeing a Chinese face, writes Miriam Donohoe
The death of a 29-year-old Chinese student following a racist attack in Dublin earlier this year came as a profound shock to Ireland's rapidly-growing Chinese community.
Zhao Liu Tao, who came from the industrial northeastern city of Shenyang, died after being hit in the head with an iron bar by a gang of youths on his way home from a party.
His crime was to have the wrong colour skin.
The murder received huge coverage in the Chinese media. Concerned relatives of students living here sought reassurance that Ireland was indeed the safe, secure and welcoming country they believed it to be.
But months after Zhao Liu Tao's tragic death, there is no evidence that the flow of young Chinese people into Ireland is on the wane.
In fact the opposite is the case.
Five years ago there were only a few thousand Chinese in Ireland, mainly Hong Kong Chinese who arrived here in the late 1970s and '80s to open restaurants and take-away businesses. But the Chinese community in Ireland has since mushroomed with an estimated 30,000 now living in the Republic.
It is almost impossible to walk down any street in Dublin or other major Irish city without bumping into a Chinese person. Go into a late night shop or fast food outlet, and the chances are a young Chinese will serve you.
Most don't claim asylum status, or seek social housing or welfare handouts. They come here on student visas to learn English or to do third-level courses.
They have a reputation for putting their heads down, studying hard, and working at night to earn some money.
But their arrival here has brought stories of extortion of Chinese students by their own people. Gardaí have received reports of students being forced to pay money to Chinese gangs.
Last year several Chinese nationals were convicted in Dublin court of kidnapping Chinese students and demanding money.
Three weeks ago, a Chinese man was killed when his throat was slit in a bloody street battle in Dublin involving up to 50 Chinese men in their late teens and early 20s. Knives, cleavers and machetes were used.
The Irish Times was told of one student who last month moved from Dublin, where he was studying English, to another Irish city because members of his own community were intimidating him
English language training is big business in Ireland, with the non-EU business worth an estimated €250 million this year. China is regarded as the largest and most lucrative market with its vast population of 1.2 billion people.
The Irish Embassy in Beijing predicts that it will receive a record number of visa applications from Chinese students wanting to come to Ireland this year.
From a trickle of a few hundred applications in 1997, the embassy received a record 13,000 visa applications last year, granting approximately 9,000.
One of the established members of the Chinese community in Dublin is businessman, Howard Pau, who runs the successful Asia Market on Drury Street. From Hong Kong, he came to Ireland 20 years ago and established his food business, which is booming thanks to the increase in the numbers of Chinese coming to Ireland.
"The Chinese community in Ireland can be divided into two," he says. "The older, settled immigrants like me, and the younger Chinese who are coming here to study.
"Before, the community was small and all of the Chinese knew each other and supported and looked out for each other. Now it is all different. There are hundreds and hundreds of new Chinese coming here every week. We don't know each other. The scene has changed totally." Other Chinese business people settled in Dublin for several years have told The Irish Times that there is some resentment at the new wave of Chinese flooding the country. "They are not as well received by Irish people. There have been problems, and there has been an increase in Chinese protection rackets. They are giving all of us more established people a bad name and we don't mix very well," one said. Following the death of Zhao Liu Tao, a group of Chinese and Irish got together to establish the Irish-Chinese Information Centre, which opened an office in the Migrant Information Centre in Beresford Place in May.
The centre operates a telephone helpline three afternoons a week and also has an out-of-hours mobile telephone number for Chinese who need help. One of the directors, businessman Tony Rhatigan, said there was a clear need for a support system for the thousands of young Chinese coming here every year.
"There has always been a traditional small core Chinese community in Dublin who have managed well. But with the huge increase in younger Chinese coming here to learn English there was a huge need for an organisation such as ours which is the first real effort to help them."
Chinese woman Ping Cao works on the telephone helpline, which has received 160 calls, with 30 visits to the office since it was established three months ago.
"The Chinese are experiencing a wide variety of problems but the biggest concerns are over accommodation and worry over securing work permits and extending visas." she says.
Recently the office helped a Chinese lady who was ill in hospital and who had no family in Ireland.
Most students who come to Ireland to study hail from the northeast of China, which is suffering from huge unemployment with thousands of workers being laid off from state enterprises every week.
While some students come from wealthy backgrounds, many have to borrow and scrape to come here and end up working long hours to support themselves.
It costs an average of €4,000 for six months language training, and students have to have enough money in their bank accounts to keep themselves for their time in Ireland before being granted a visa to come here.
According to Rosemary Quinn, chairwoman of the Centre of English Studies in Dame Street, Chinese people want to come to Ireland because of its reputation for being a warm and friendly country with a high standard of English.
One-third of students at the Centre of English Studies are now Chinese.
"It is a huge market and we are only now getting to really know the needs of Chinese students.
"The Chinese community tend to stay together and they seem to have a strong support network.
"Most students who come here stay in their first month with a host families but after that short time they are able to line up their own accommodation with their friends." "Sean" Hu (21), arrived in Dublin from Shenyang eight weeks ago.
He chose Ireland because of its reputation for good English and for being a "beautiful country with friendly people".
"Irish people have been very good to me but I mix mostly with Chinese friends. But I have had no problems and have not been treated badly in any way," he says
"John" Zhang (24), is a computer graduate from Shenyang University and he came to Dublin to improve his English.
He is hoping to do a postgraduate course here in the autumn.
He says he has experienced no problems since he arrived. "It is a very easy country and Chinese people can live happily alongside Irish people," he said.
Since last year Chinese students on study visas are allowed work 20 hours a week, and extra hours during holiday time.
Linda Gao, from Jilin province in north China is taking full advantage of this to earn extra money and is working in the UCI cinema in Blanchardstown.
"Being able to work here also helps me improve my English," she said.
The owner of Uncle B's Chinese takeaway in Dorset Street, Morris Wong, has been in Dublin since 1985, and has always found Irish people most welcoming.
He has given work to many of the new wave of Chinese students coming to the country.
"There has been huge change with the increase in Chinese coming here but I thinkChinese people have a lot to offer Ireland. This is a great country to be in."
The Irish-Chinese Information Centre is based at 3 Beresford Place, Dublin 1. The helpline and office is open every Monday, Wednesday and Friday from 1 to 4 p.m. The phone number is 8881086