I teach Mandarin and English at a north London Chinese community centre, the Islington Chinese Association. It’s not just a place for (mainly old) people to get together and socialise, join in the activities (qigong, taiji, ping pong, karaoke, Cantonese opera, Chinese card games), eat in the canteen. They also organise away-tours: pre-Covid, they’d go to Europe; now, they only go to other parts of the UK.
What’s admirable is also that they run counselling sessions for alcohol and drug addicts (all non-Chinese, as it happens). So, it’s not just a place that serves the Chinese community, but the community at large.
It’s a place with a truly charitable spirit.
(London, 2022)
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