# Event Details - **Event Name**: Longing and Belonging: the Chinese in Jamaica and the Wider Caribbean - **Event Start and End Date**: Thu, 05 Mar, 2026 at 12:30 pm – Thu, 05 Mar, 2026 at 02:00 pm - **Event Description**: Yichi Zhang examines the evolving search for belonging among mixed-race descendants of Chinese indentured labourers in Jamaica.About this EventThis talk explores the longings and belongings of Chinese Jamaicans, as in, the mixed-race descendants of the Chinese indentured labourers who first arrived on the island in the late nineteenth century. Drawing on conversations, communal events, and my interlocutors’ own literary creations collected during ethnographic fieldwork between February 2023 and 2024, I examine how their in-between identity provides both a sense of comfort and a persistent ambiguity in their ongoing search for belonging.As generations pass and ethnic-racial mixtures deepen, ‘China’ becomes increasingly symbolic: a resource for crafting a cosmopolitan self-identity rather than a straightforward marker of origin. This shift expands the meanings attached to ‘Chineseness’, even as it risks loosening a grounded sense of ethnic community. To understand this community’s everyday life, I argue, is to attend to these layered negotiations of identity and feelings, and to situate the Chinese Jamaican experience within broader inquiries into wider Caribbean and overseas Chinese worlds and diasporic intimacies.ABOUT THE SPEAKERYichi Zhang is a PhD candidate in Social Anthropology at the University of St Andrews, UK. Her research investigates the emotional lives of the Chinese community in Kingston, Jamaica, with a particular focus on the intersections of transnational migration, racial dynamics, and urban space. Yichi has recently published a paper on the Chinese shopkeepers’ boredom in the peer-reviewed Urban Studies Journal, City https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events2/banners/f1d89ec0-0d7b-11f1-a6c4-7bf9653ded7b-rimg-w679-h740-dcf1f0f1-gmir.jpg ABOUT THE PGR WORKSHOPSMCI’s PGR workshops are lunchtime seminars held in person at the Manchester China Institute. They seek to bring together students, faculty and staff who can best provide feedback as postgraduate researchers develop their ideas. Free lunch will be provided.AccessibilityThe MCI is a listed building and therefore does not have any lifts. Please note that you must use the stairs in order to access the venue and the toilets.PhotographyThe organisers will be taking photos during this event. If you prefer not to be included in any photos, kindly inform the organisers before the event starts. - **Event URL**: https://allevents.in/manchester/longing-and-belonging-the-chinese-in-jamaica-and-the-wider-caribbean/100001977204383536 - **Event Categories**: workshops, art, sports, fine-arts, literary-art - **Interested Audience**: - total_interested_count: 0 ## Ticket Details - **Ticket Price Range**: min: 0, max: 0, currency: GBP ## Event venue details - **city**: Manchester - **state**: EN - **country**: United Kingdom - **location**: Manchester China Institute - **lat**: 53.4668498 - **long**: -2.2338836999999785 - **full address**: Manchester China Institute, 178 Waterloo Place, Manchester, United Kingdom ## Event gallery - **Alt text**: Longing and Belonging: the Chinese in Jamaica and the Wider Caribbean - **Image URL**: https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events4/banners/8d3f9490d0821e70a2dcd9bb7b26b64737dfae3181f46f8dcb059004f0054b03-rimg-w1200-h675-dc920902-gmir.jpg?v=1771535114 ## FAQs - **Q**: When and where is Longing and Belonging: the Chinese in Jamaica and the Wider Caribbean being held? - **A:** Longing and Belonging: the Chinese in Jamaica and the Wider Caribbean takes place on Thu, 05 Mar, 2026 at 12:30 pm to Thu, 05 Mar, 2026 at 02:00 pm at Manchester China Institute, 178 Waterloo Place, Manchester, United Kingdom. - **Q**: Who is organizing Longing and Belonging: the Chinese in Jamaica and the Wider Caribbean? - **A:** Longing and Belonging: the Chinese in Jamaica and the Wider Caribbean is organized by The Manchester China Institute. ## Structured Data (JSON-LD) ```json [ { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Event", "name": "Longing and Belonging: the Chinese in Jamaica and the Wider Caribbean", "image": "https://cdn-az.allevents.in/events4/banners/8d3f9490d0821e70a2dcd9bb7b26b64737dfae3181f46f8dcb059004f0054b03-rimg-w1200-h675-dc920902-gmir.jpg?v=1771535114", "startDate": "2026-03-05", "endDate": "2026-03-05", "url": "https://allevents.in/manchester/longing-and-belonging-the-chinese-in-jamaica-and-the-wider-caribbean/100001977204383536", "location": { "@type": "Place", "name": "Manchester China Institute", "address": { "@type": "PostalAddress", "streetAddress": "178 Waterloo Place", "postalCode": "M13 9PL", "addressLocality": "Manchester", "addressRegion": "EN", "addressCountry": "GB" }, "geo": { "@type": "GeoCoordinates", "latitude": "53.4668498", "longitude": "-2.2338836999999785" } }, "eventAttendanceMode": "https://schema.org/OfflineEventAttendanceMode", "description": "Yichi Zhang examines the evolving search for belonging among mixed-race descendants of Chinese indentured labourers in Jamaica.", "offers": [ { "@type": "AggregateOffer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "GBP", "availabilityStarts": "2026-04-08", "availabilityEnds": "2026-03-05", "validFrom": "2026-04-08", "lowPrice": "0.00", "highPrice": "0.00", "price": "0.00", "url": "https://allevents.in/manchester/longing-and-belonging-the-chinese-in-jamaica-and-the-wider-caribbean/100001977204383536" }, { "@type": "Offer", "availability": "https://schema.org/InStock", "priceCurrency": "GBP", "availabilityStarts": "2026-04-08", "availabilityEnds": "", "validFrom": "2026-04-08", "url": "https://allevents.in/manchester/longing-and-belonging-the-chinese-in-jamaica-and-the-wider-caribbean/100001977204383536", "price": 0, "name": "General Admission" } ], "organizer": [ { "@type": "Organization", "name": "The Manchester China Institute", "url": "https://allevents.in/org/the-manchester-china-institute/17681302", "description": "Manchester China Institute (MCI) promotes greater understanding of China and globalisation in the modern world. \r\nMCI acts as a focal point at the University of Manchester for people interested in UK-China relations and China in general. We provide a venue where ideas and projects can be shared and developed.\r\nMCI brings together experts from across the University of Manchester, enabling multidisciplinary collaborations spanning the arts, humanities, sciences, and health.\r\nOur vision is to create a truly multidisciplinary institute studying China today, with a focus on globalisation and international affairs. The Institute's mission will be to better understand China's expanding role in a rapidly globalising world, and to promote mutual understanding between the UK and China. We're able to embark on this thanks to the foresight and generosity of Dr Lee.\r\nProf Peter Gries /\r\nThe Manchester China Institute Director" } ] } ] ```