The Chinese in Wales Association (CIWA) is a charitable organisation which aims to deliver services that will make a positive difference to the lives of ethnic Chinese residents in Wales.
CIWA was set up to meet the changing demographic needs of the Chinese community in Wales. We are building on the support given by Swansea Chinese Community Co-op Centre over the previous 20 years. Now CIWA, with their support, are developing better services to meet the changing needs of the Chinese community in Swansea and the surrounding areas. We aim to bring our services and community building to other parts of Wales.
CIWA has its headquarters based in Swansea. We are currently operating a drop-in community centre based in 2nd Floor, Swansea Grand Theatre. This provides core services such as language services in Mandarin, Cantonese and English, alongside advocacy, information service and case referral. Based on our experience and recourse, we advise on local welfare, housing, healthcare, education and employment. We also organise social and educational activities and participate in the promotion of a diverse, multi-cultural society.
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The aim of the organisation is to make a positive difference to the lives of ethnic Chinese residents in Wales through:
Promoting community cohesion, both within the ethnic Chinese community and the wider community.
Delivering to, and representing the Chinese community including disabled people, children, young people as well as elderly people. Including planning and service delivery to ensure their complete well-being.
Supporting members of the ethnic Chinese community facing disadvantage to address the inequalities that they face and to enable them to participate fully in society.
Promoting both Chinese and Welsh culture and heritage to explore and advance cultural exchange between the two communities.
Progressing any other activities that promote the health, well-being, welfare, art and culture of ethnic Chinese residents in Wales.
Having due regard to the provisions of the Equality Act.
CIWA is committed to being one of the leading national charities to provide excellent community services across Wales.
In the mainstream society, the general view of the Chinese community is that it is homogeneous- a group of migrants from China. But the Chinese population has brought with it the diversity of south-east Asia. Nowadays, the Chinese community in Wales is made up of a variety of different backgrounds, with different standards of education. There are also many British-born and Welsh-born Chinese.
Even though there is little evidence to show who was, and when the first Chinese migrant settled in Wales. We believe that Chinese migration to Wales has a history of at least 100 years. The largest influxes came from 1940’s to 1970’s, mainly from Hong Kong and Guangdong province. A large proportion of Chinese Britons today are the second or third generation of these immigrants. In addition, one of the other streams of Chinese migrants is comprised by asylum seekers and illegal migrants. Since 2000, due to China’s astonishing economic development, there are a significantly increasing number of students coming from mainland China to study in Universities. Meanwhile, more and more, high skilled and well-education Chinese from mainland China are settling in Wales. Nowadays Mandarin has replaced Cantonese as the dominant language used within the Chinese community.
The early year immigrants are ageing and the new immigrants are settling and growing. The needs of this diverse community are complex due to demographic transition. As a grassroots charity, CIWA provides support to ethnic Chinese residents, especially those who are most vulnerable. Through breaking language barriers and cultural difference regardless of age, religion and background. We promote community cohesion within the Chinese community and bring the ethnic Chinese people from different backgrounds together. We provide services to enable them to integrate into the mainstream society.
