Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1901-2005 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
0.5 linear metres.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Samuel Chinque (Chen Tian Sheng) was born in 1908 in Kingston, Jamaica. On the death of his mother Samuel and his father moved to China and at the age of 18 he became a merchant seaman and discovered socialism as a result of his struggle to improve his fellow sailors' pay and working conditions.
Samuel eventually settled in Liverpool as the British-based representative of the Chinese Seamen's Union. He joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1935. After setting up the Anti-Japan Salvation Front during the Second World War he found himself in conflict with the Chinese Government and this convinced him to join China's Communist revolutionaries.
With Britain's entry into the war he joined the Liverpool Fire Brigade and served as an auxiliary firefighter and union activist. After the war he became an informal rallying-point for seamen, revolutionaries and students from the Chinese diaspora. Among his visitors were prominent Chinese revolutionaries who suggested that he move to London to establish the Kung Ho Chinese Mutual Aid Association. They also invited him, in 1947, to head the first overseas branch of China's Hsinhua News Agency.
Hsinhua was at that time the only British-based organisation to represent, and speak for, the People's Republic of China and its Communist Party. As such it became a model for successive branches opened around the world. Hsinhua remained active in its Chancery Lane home until Chinque's retirement in the 1980s when it moved to Swiss Cottage, North London.
Chinque was a member of the negotiating team that lobbied the postwar UK government to re-establish trade between Britain and China. In 1963 he was expelled from the Communist Party of Great Britain after refusing to endorse the anti-Chinese position adopted by former Sovier premier Nikita Khruschev; he consequently joined the Chinese Communist Party.
Samuel Chinque continued to run the Hsinhua agency until he was 74 and he remained a formidable and charismatic figure in London's Chinese community well into his old age. He died in 2004.
Repository
Archival history
GB 0074 LMA/4520 1901-2005 Collection 0.5 linear metres. Chinque , Samuel , 1908-2004 , political activist x Sheng , Chen Tian
Samuel Chinque (Chen Tian Sheng) was born in 1908 in Kingston, Jamaica. On the death of his mother Samuel and his father moved to China and at the age of 18 he became a merchant seaman and discovered socialism as a result of his struggle to improve his fellow sailors' pay and working conditions.
Samuel eventually settled in Liverpool as the British-based representative of the Chinese Seamen's Union. He joined the Communist Party of Great Britain in 1935. After setting up the Anti-Japan Salvation Front during the Second World War he found himself in conflict with the Chinese Government and this convinced him to join China's Communist revolutionaries.
With Britain's entry into the war he joined the Liverpool Fire Brigade and served as an auxiliary firefighter and union activist. After the war he became an informal rallying-point for seamen, revolutionaries and students from the Chinese diaspora. Among his visitors were prominent Chinese revolutionaries who suggested that he move to London to establish the Kung Ho Chinese Mutual Aid Association. They also invited him, in 1947, to head the first overseas branch of China's Hsinhua News Agency.
Hsinhua was at that time the only British-based organisation to represent, and speak for, the People's Republic of China and its Communist Party. As such it became a model for successive branches opened around the world. Hsinhua remained active in its Chancery Lane home until Chinque's retirement in the 1980s when it moved to Swiss Cottage, North London.
Chinque was a member of the negotiating team that lobbied the postwar UK government to re-establish trade between Britain and China. In 1963 he was expelled from the Communist Party of Great Britain after refusing to endorse the anti-Chinese position adopted by former Sovier premier Nikita Khruschev; he consequently joined the Chinese Communist Party.
Samuel Chinque continued to run the Hsinhua agency until he was 74 and he remained a formidable and charismatic figure in London's Chinese community well into his old age. He died in 2004.
This collection was acquired in 2008 as part of 'Footprints of the Dragon' Heritage Lottery Fund project led by the Chinese National Healthy Living Centre.
Personal papers of Samuel Chinque, political activist, including issues of the Hsinhua weekly news sheet; photographs; official or business correspondence; administrative documents for the Chinese Mutual Aid Association; publications; official personal papers; original writings and poems; and private correspondence.
LMA/4520/01: Hsinhua News Agency; LMA/4520/02: Campaigning Records; LMA/4520/03: Personal Records.
Available for general access.
Copyright to this collection rests with the depositor.
English and Chinese.
Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm
The following Chinese community collections were acquired as part of 'Footprints of the Dragon' Heritage Lottery Fund project led by Chinese National Healthy Living Centre: LMA/4497-4515, 4518, 4520.
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.
Records prepared May to September 2011. Mutual aid Chinque , Samuel , 1908-2004 , political activist x Sheng , Chen Tian Political press Press Communist press Community participation Information sources Documents Primary documents Personal papers Development aid Cultural nationalism National identity Chinese (cultural identity) Community development Community leaders Archives Personal archives Cultural identity Political doctrines Collectivism Communism Chinese Mutual Aid Association Hsinhua News Agency China East Asia
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
This collection was acquired in 2008 as part of 'Footprints of the Dragon' Heritage Lottery Fund project led by the Chinese National Healthy Living Centre.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Personal papers of Samuel Chinque, political activist, including issues of the Hsinhua weekly news sheet; photographs; official or business correspondence; administrative documents for the Chinese Mutual Aid Association; publications; official personal papers; original writings and poems; and private correspondence.
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
LMA/4520/01: Hsinhua News Agency; LMA/4520/02: Campaigning Records; LMA/4520/03: Personal Records.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Available for general access.
Conditions governing reproduction
Copyright to this collection rests with the depositor.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
- Latin
Language and script notes
English and Chinese.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
The following Chinese community collections were acquired as part of 'Footprints of the Dragon' Heritage Lottery Fund project led by Chinese National Healthy Living Centre: LMA/4497-4515, 4518, 4520.
Finding aids
Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Alternative identifier(s)
Access points
Subject access points
- Press
- Community development » Community participation
- Information sources
- Documents
- Documents » Primary documents
- Development aid
- Cultural identity » Cultural nationalism
- Cultural identity » Cultural nationalism » National identity
- Community development
- Community development » Community leaders
- Archives
- Cultural identity
- Political doctrines
- Political doctrines » Collectivism
- Political doctrines » Collectivism » Communism
Place access points
Name access points
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Compiled in compliance with General International Standard Archival Description, ISAD(G), second edition, 2000; National Council on Archives Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997.
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
Language(s)
- English