Samuel Chinque or Sam Chen was a British Chinese writer, publisher, social and political activist, and prominent trade unionist in the United Kingdom.
23 Facts About Samuel Chinque
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In 1947, Chinque co-founded the London branch of the Xinhua News Agency, which became the first branch of the official state run newspaper of the People's Republic of China, outside of the country.
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Samuel Chinque was known at the time as Sam Chen, leader of Liverpool Chinese seafarers.
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Samuel Chinque later became the principal activist in the Save China campaign during the Japanese occupation of China and a prominent ally to both the UK and China.
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Samuel Chinque is regarded as a key figure in the British Trade Union Movement and in the emergence of a British East and South East Asian Activist Movement.
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Samuel Chinque was born in Kingston, Jamaica on 22 November 1908, where his parents owned stores.
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In 1916, when he was 8 years old, Samuel Chinque's mother died prompting Samuel Chinque and his father to leave Jamaica and move to China.
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In 1926, at the age of 18, Samuel Chinque became a merchant seaman, a job which involved hard manual labour and low pay.
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Samuel Chinque is credited for helping to win the rights of equality of pay between Chinese sailors and their British colleagues working in Liverpool docks at the time, paving the way for British and Chinese seamen across ports in the United Kingdom to gain the rights for a fair wage and better working conditions.
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Samuel Chinque helped to establish the Chinese Seamen Union in Liverpool, which was able to represent the Chinese Seamen beyond the British Seamen and Fire Brigade Union, who had previously sought to protect their own interests by pressurising shipping companies into not hiring Chinese workers.
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In 1935, Samuel Chinque joined the Communist Party of Great Britain.
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Samuel Chinque's activities were largely frowned upon by the then Chinese government, the Guomindang and the official Chinese consulate in Liverpool, which were active discouraging his work and pressuring him to desist.
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When Britain entered World War II in 1939, Samuel Chinque joined Liverpool's fire department in order to contribute to the war efforts in his adopted home.
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Samuel Chinque served as an auxiliary firefighter whilst continuing his work as union activist campaigning for the rights of seamen and firefighters in the United Kingdom.
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Samuel Chinque is known for his often clashing patriotism for China throughout its modern history, and his equal devotion to the principles of socialist internationalism.
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Samuel Chinque's home became a meeting point and an unofficial office for his diplomatic work.
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Samuel Chinque eventually moved to London, encouraged by his visitors, who consider London as a more suitable base for his national influence.
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Samuel Chinque become an unofficial ambassador for the People's Republic of China.
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Samuel Chinque managed the London branch until he was 74, starting only with a manual hand-cranked Gestetner printing machine.
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Samuel Chinque's former wife, Sylvia Marie Samuel Chinque was a second generation British Chinese born in Liverpool.
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Samuel Chinque lived till the age of 107 then died in Hong Kong in 2013.
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Samuel Chinque's first born son and most of the grandchildren went to her funeral.
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Samuel Chinque died at home in 2004 in the company of his wife, Kin Yung, and their daughter, Chloe Samuel Chinque.