At the above link is my short research paper regarding how the script-writers of Dad’s Army – Jimmy Perry and David Croft – wrote around 80-scripts which contains a scattering of blatantly anti-China references. This is peculiar for the time that Dad’s Army was set – namely WWII – as China was a staunch ally of the UK in the war against International Fascism! This alliance followed on from the example that China set during WWI – taking the side of Great Britain. This support for the British Cause did not prevent two noticeable (racially-motivated) backlashes against the Chinese people living in the UK. The first was in 1919 – when a xenophobic wave of nationalist hysteria resulted in the British Army being ordered to round-up any and all ethnic Chinese people (with ‘fixed-bayonet’) – a process which resulted in around 20,000 Chinese people being forced onto ships and deported to China, never to be seen or heard from again. This ‘purge’ left around 300 Chinese people living in the UK.
The second round-up was perpetuated by the incumbent Labour Party in 1946 – and is the reason a ‘Chinatown’ nolonger exists in East London. During this ‘purge’ – around 2,000 Chinese people were ‘kidnapped’ by the Police (usually ‘males’ on their way to work early in the morning) – and forcibly placed on ships bound for China. Those who had ‘White’ (English) partners were visited by the British Police and Social Workers and were told that they were ‘sexual deviants’ whose ‘mixed-race’ children will be taken away and placed into ‘Care’ – if any legal challenge was raised against this government-sponsored ethnic cleansing. It was only from 1956-onwards that Hong Kong Chinese people were once again permitted to settle in the Mainland UK (by the incumbent Tory Party) – primarily due to a labour-shortage.
The Dad’s Army scripts appear to possess US Cold War attitudes aimed against ‘Communist’ China – rather than the actual attitudes of the time being portrayed – although, of course, anti-China racism has always been (and remains) a strong and motivating force in the UK. Today, the incumbent (but ‘unelected’) Tory Party are giving ‘Golden Visas’ to those Chinese people in Hong Kong who heeded the US (and UK) call to commit crime involving arson, assault and murder – in an attempt to overthrow the ‘Socialist’ System! The British government has oscillated over the years between deporting law-abiding Chinese citizens – and ‘inviting’ what amounts to Chinese criminals into the UK – giving these reprobates three-bedroomed houses in wealthy areas and a large bank account filled with the tax revenue gathered from the British people (including legitimate British-born Chinese people)!
Further Reading:
Examples of Anti-China Racism in Dad’s Army Scripts (1968-1978) – [31/10/23]
SANGHA KOMMUNE (SSR) 