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There are currently 71 Profiles and growing.
Most recent update: 21 July, 2008.
Visible Chinese is a guide to individuals at the forefront of the UK's Chinese Culture.
Profiled individuals are included simply because they have contributed to the UK's Chinese Culture.
Visible Chinese aims to become an Authoritative Independent Listing of Achievers within the UK's Chinese Culture.
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Profiled individuals are included simply because they have contributed to the UK's Chinese Culture.
Visible Chinese aims to become an Authoritative Independent Listing of Achievers within the UK's Chinese Culture.
Read more...
Benjamin Chan MSc MBCS FRSA
Keyboardist, Information Library Professional
Information Technology. Music.
Benjamin Chan, MSc MBCS FRSA, is a versatile keyboardist and high profile Information Library Professional.
His Bigyellowband has been featured on the BBC website and released a single in 2006 on Apple i-Tunes and Top Hat Band, one of Bride magazine's best wedding bands in the UK in 2007. Ben showed early promise in music at his jesuit St. Ignatius preparatory school in San Francisco performing for Nobel Prize winners for the California Academy of Sciences earning the school's music award and the prestigious Bank of America Music Achievement Award in 1992 and subsequently also gained lifetime membership of the California Scholarship Federation.
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Mee Ling Ng OBE
Non-executive chair of Southwark Primary Care TrustCommunity. Politics.
Mee Ling Ng was appointed as the non-executive chair of Southwark Primary Care Trust in April 2002. Before that, she was a non-executive director of two other NHS trust boards in South London.
Mee Ling was also the first Chinese woman councillor to be elected in Britain, to the London Borough of Lewisham. She was a Labour councillor for 16 years, deputy leader for four years and chaired a number of key committees such as Economic Development, Regeneration Partnership Boards, Social Services and Social Inclusion.
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Dr. Johnny Sei-Hoe Hon
Honorary Consul of Grenada in Hong Kong and Chairman of the Global Group of CompaniesBusiness. Community. Education. Entertainment. Film, TV & Radio. Information Technology. Media.
B.Sc (Hons), M.A., Ph.D. (Cantab), D.Litt., F.A.B.I., F.A.O.E., ASI
In just nine years, Dr. Johnny Hon has built up an international conglomerate, with diverse interests ranging over banking, property development, financial services, education, media, entertainment and leisure, sports, gaming, telecoms, mining and biotechnology.
Yet, whilst building the Global Group of companies from scratch, Johnny has also managed to pursue a wide range of charitable, diplomatic and political interests.
He is the Ambassador-at-Large and Honorary Consul of Grenada in Hong Kong and holds official positions with four governments. Besides, Johnny is often consulted by Presidents, Prime Ministers and other state leaders who value his advice and insights.
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Photo by Tomas De Matteis
Wu Yanmei (MeiMei)
Actress, dancer & musicianDance. Music. Theatre.
Trained in dance and music from an early age, MeiMei (WU Yanmei) is an actress, dancer, singer and Chinese zither player who has since gone on to perform to international acclaim. Originally from Jiangsu province, China, MeiMei’s dance performances have been broadcast both on China Central Television (CCTV) and the BBC. In 2006 she gained her MMus in (East Asian) Music Performance from SOAS, University of London and was also selected by Theatre-Rites, to receive a bursary for black and minority ethnic artists.
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Tom Wu
Actor, Movement DirectorArts. Entertainment. Film, TV & Radio. Theatre.
Tom's forthcoming film roles include Fong in The Scorpion King: Rise of the Akkadian, Juba in Mutant Chronicles and Tatsumi in The Tournament. He has recently appeared as Lord John in film Revolver and on television as Lee Jiyong in Whistleblower, Jimmy Wu in Diamond Geezer, Perak in The Ruby in the Smoke, Lao Ai in The First Emperor, Huang Lok in Casualty, Lin Liang Ren in Death on the Beach, The Omid Djalili show amongst others.
Actor Tom Wu was born in the New Territories, Hong Kong, and grew up in London’s Chinatown. At the age of 10 he began practising Martial Arts such as Hung Gar, Karate and Wing Chun and later took up acrobatics. In 1988 he competed for Britain at China’s International Wu-Shu (Martial Arts) Tournament and was awarded 2 Bronze Medals, and a Gold Medal.
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Photo courtesy of Dr. Kimho Ip
Dr. Kimho Ip
Composer, creative producer, conductorCommunity. Culture. Music.
Kimho Ip works in the UK as composer, director, producer and Yangchin performer. He studied in Germany and Scotland and received his PhD in 2004 at the University of Edinburgh with the support of the Composers & Authors Society of Hong Kong, Sir Edward Youde Memorial Fund and Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst.
His orchestral and chamber music works have been performed at the Gaudeamus International Music Week, Amsterdam (2006) and ISCM World New Music Days (2002/ 2007), by ensembles such as the Paragon ensemble, BBC Scottish Symphony Orchestra, Hong Kong Sinfonietta and Hong Kong Chinese Orchestra.
Commissioned by Cinema China 2007, he composed a soundtrack plus live music performance for the historical Chinese silent film, “The Goddess”. In April 2008 he will compose and perform “Song of the Fishermen” in the Five Circles series at ROH2, London.
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Photo courtesy of Merlene Emerson
Merlene Emerson
Solicitor and co-founder of Chinese Liberal DemocratsLaw. Politics.
Merlene was born in Singapore and came to London in 1979 as a law student. Both her parents are Chinese, but on her mother's side, she can trace her ancestry back 6 generations in South East Asia and she therefore inherits a strong sense of colonial history and identity. To that extent she feels a kindred bond with immigrants from other ex-colonies now in the Commonwealth.
One of her favourite laments is that her sons (along with a whole generation or two of students) have grown up in the UK not taught enough about the role played by Great Britain in shaping the world around us today.
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Photo by Kate Shortt
Dato’ Professor Jimmy Choo OBE
Luxury Fashion DesignerDesign.
Professor Jimmy Choo OBE, born Jimmy Choo Yeang Keat, is a London-based luxury fashion designer best known for his hand-made women's shoes.
Choo is a Malaysian of Hakka Chinese descent who was born in Penang in 1961 into a family of shoemakers. He made his first shoe when he was 11 years old, but managed only to complete six years of formal education at Shih Chung Primary School in Penang. He is perhaps the most famous of alumni of Cordwainers' Technical College in London, from which he graduated in 1983. The college is now part of the London College of Fashion. Choo has divulged that he worked part-time at restaurants and as a cleaner at a shoe factory to help fund his college education.
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Dr Helen Lee
Scientist and InventorScience.
Dr Lee is an outstanding scientist and inventor who left her very successful career in industry to dedicate her working life to improve the health of those living in developing countries. She formed the Diagnostics Development Unit and over the past decade has developed rapid tests for the detection of chlamydia and trachoma, a disease rife in the poorest countries causing three million cases of blindness each year.
In order to develop the technology for large-scale production, Helen set up the Diagnostics for the Real World in 2002. This company produces these life-saving tests for resource- limited countries.
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Thomas Tak Leung Chan FRSA
CouncillorBusiness. Community. Politics.
Councillor Thomas Chan is the current Cabinet Member for Housing and Health In the London Borough of Redbridge. He is also a member of HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Race Equality Advisory Panel. Previously he was a member of the Home Secretary’s Race Relations Forum and Race Equality Advisory Panel (1998 – 2005), Metropolitan Police Committee (1995-2000) and Consumer Committee, Food Standards Agency (2002 – 2004). He was a Councillor in Redbridge between 1990 and 1994.
He is a founding member of the Chinese in Britain Forum and is its current Vice-Chair. He has been the Chairman of the Chinese Takeaway Association (UK) since 2001.
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