A Hong Kong-born priest in London has
expressed his surprise at the racism he
experienced in the UK after the outbreak of
Covid-19.
Rev Hin Lai ‘Harry’ Ching said in an
interview with the BBC that he “never would
have imagined my Chinese identity would
be exposed and abused in that way”.
Rev Ching is assistant vicar for
international ministry at St Martin in the
Fields in central London, where he is priest
to its Chinese congregation.
He was born in Hong Kong but came to the
UK in 1997 to attend boarding school. He
then trained as a minister in Hong Kong
and served his curacy in Dubai.
After returning to the UK, he received his
minister’s licence in the last week of
February 2020, just before the first national
lockdown.
“I lived in Britain for many years before
wearing a clerical collar, and this is the
first time I’ve been racially abused by
strangers,” he said.
He recalled a “misunderstanding” when he
went to buy communion and was served by
an Italian gentleman at a time when Italy
was being ravaged by coronavirus.
“Obviously there was something in our
interaction he didn’t like or maybe it was
because of the atmosphere here, but he
completely took what I said the wrong way
and it took us a few minutes, with another
colleague of his involved, to resolve the
misunderstanding,” he said.
“For me, things like that are unprecedented
because I’ve integrated into this country
very well. I went to school here and I see
myself as British too, so I never would
have imagined my Chinese identity would
be exposed and abused in that way.”
There were reports of racism towards
Chinese people in the UK after Covid-19
broke out first in Wuhan China, before
spreading around the world.
Rev Kong Ching Hii, who leads the King’s
Cross Methodist Church (KXMC) in London,
said that someone had shouted “you
Chinese, go home” at a Chinese Methodist
minister in Birmingham.
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