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Meet the man at the heart of Leeds Chinese Community Association
KITCHEN KING: Man Chiu Leung at the Leeds Chinese Community Association centre on North Street.
Man Chiu Leung is director and secretary of the Leeds Chinese Community Association.
Born in Hong Kong, he moved to Britain at the age of 23 to work in the textile industry.
Now 62, he lives in Moortown with wife Lai Hong, a former nurse.
The couple have two grown-up children – Caroline, who works for Bradford City Council and Timothy, an accountant in London.
Interview by Grant Woodward.
“My childhood was a happy one, even though we didn’t have much.
Hong Kong was a very crowded place – and after the Communists took over China in 1949 a lot of refugees fled to Hong Kong.
Up to the age of 14 I grew up in a flat that my grandad rented and sub-let to other families.
There were three bedrooms and four families were living there – 21 of us in total. There was even a mother and daughter living under the stairs.
And there was no bathroom in those days, just a bucket in the kitchen.
I went to school at different times to my brothers and sisters because there weren’t enough places for everyone.
“The thing I’m most proud of, recently at least, is appearing with Jamie Oliver on his programme Jamie’s Great Britain.
I love cooking and he came here to the community centre in North Street when we were serving lunch to 40 people.
He seemed a very down to earth chap.
My son and daughter both watched it and were very proud of me.
“The one thing I couldn’t live without is food.
I cook for the senior citizens twice a week – every Tuesday and Friday.
I can cook English food as well as Chinese. I enjoy making trifles and Victoria sponge cakes, but I’m a very poor pastry chef.
“I came to Britain to study textiles at Leicester Polytechnic and then in 1969 I got a job in the textile industry in Leeds, which is all gone now.
I worked at West Riding Fabrics in Guiseley, starting on the machines and eventually ending up in the office as a planner.
“The last time I cried was about four years ago when I finally made peace with my son, who died of cot death when he was just four weeks old.
He died a few weeks before Christmas in 1981 and then shortly afterwards someone set fire to the clothing workshop that I had at the time.
I didn’t cry and my wife was upset that I didn’t seem to mourn my son, but we had our daughter and I was trying to keep everything together.
I had been so busy when he was born that I never really cuddled him at all. That is my biggest regret.
It was only in 2008 one day when my wife had gone to work that I spoke to him and said sorry for the fact that I couldn’t mourn him when he passed away. It was only then that I started to cry.
“There are around 5,000 Chinese people in Leeds, which is nothing like somewhere like Manchester which has at least 20,000.
We are quite a small community and very scattered but it would be nice if there was a Chinatown in the city centre.
A lot of Chinese businesses have been knocked down to make way for the Eastgate development, so it would be good if something was done as part of that.
“The new year is very important to Chinese people and we will be marking it with a big celebration at Leeds Town Hall for up to 1,200 people.
It is traditional to celebrate on the first Sunday after new year, but we are breaking away from that by doing it this Sunday, which will be our New Year’s Eve.
There will be food and lots of Chinese art and culture. This coming year is the Year of the Dragon, which some people say means we will have prosperity.
Others say that disasters happen in the Year of the Dragon. We will just have to wait and see who is right.
“One thing that might surprise people about me is that I’m not sexist.
When people introduce me at parties or somewhere they say, “This is Chiu, he might seem like a sexist but he’s not really.”
I think it’s because of my upbringing. In the Chinese community I grew up in the women did all the work in the home and the men did nothing.
I noticed when I came here and worked in the textile mills that it was the same.
The men and women would both work but when they got home the woman would do all the cooking, housework and looking after the children.
I think it is amazing all the things that women do, they work so hard.
Although when my wife was a nurse I would always cook the family meals when she was working on a night shift.
“The community in Leeds is very excited that the Chinese team is coming here to train for the Olympics.
People talk about China and its politics but this is sport we are talking about and I believe the two should always be kept separate.
It would be good for the city whoever came here to train, I think it is a great honour for Leeds to be chosen.
“My philosophy on life is not to worry too much.
You can plan but not everything comes as you planned and then you have to be flexible.
You have to roll with the punches and look on the brighter side of life.
“To relax I go to the gym. I’ve been going for over ten years now and go three to four times a week.
I don’t run so much now, I tend to do more swimming because it’s the best sport for older people.
But I can still run a mile in about 10 minutes.
“If I could meet anyone living or dead it would be Confucius, the great Chinese philosopher.
There is no state religion in China but what Confucius taught was very similar to Christianity.
I admire him and would like to have been a pupil of his.”
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Saturday 26 May 2012
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