Lend Us a Hand, held in June at UCL, created a new space for London’s Chinese community through a market for small collectives.
The event was organised by the interdisciplinary collective Bouncing Around, supported by UCL Grand Challenges. The centrepiece of the event was the 2046 Market, Co-launched with EAST2046 × 706 Youth Space London.
Unlike a typical market focused on commerce, it served as a hub for community building and mutual aid for London’s Chinese diaspora. The stalls ranged from AI initiatives and 3D-printing startups to artists and printing collectives. Together, they created a community space showcasing the diversity of London’s Chinese diaspora.
Alongside the market, there was also a light-touch support corner where professionals and individuals with lived experience shared insights on job applications, work visas, and workplace culture in the UK.
Dr Lois Liao, a founder of East2046, was pleased with how the event turned out, particularly by the number of collectives, organisations, and individuals who became involved.
“I think it went unexpectedly, compared to how we planned it. We didn’t expect for so many smaller collectives that were so active. Each collective is really niche. Sometimes there’s just one or two people behind the collective.”
Despite the limited resources available to them, she thought the event went well, thanks to everyone involved. She said, “We had quite limited resources running the event. The market was named Lend Us a Hand, so we’re glad people lived up to this and helped throughout the day and organised the event.”
Reflecting on the event’s aims, she added that the event gave a “true community vibe.” She was particularly pleased they had been able to “make good projects be seen by more people.”
Following the market, there was a Liu Shui Xi (流水席), an ending dinner party. A banquet with dishes coming one after the other, encouraging discussion and sharing, it was a fitting end for an event about community.
It went “really well” according to Liao.
She added, “All the businesses that came, they were not traditional restaurants. They were new Chinese creative types. It went really well, as soon as the food went out, it was gone. It was followed by a dance event. In China, people do square dancing after dinner, it really felt like that.”
Lend Us a Hand serves as the fourth and final event in the Bouncing Around series, which has spent the last year exploring the lived conditions of Chinese migrants in London through eight podcasts and a series of offline gatherings.
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