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Today in Focus

Revisited: the secret deportations of Chinese merchant sailors

Today in Focus

The Guardian

Daily News, News

4.5778 Ratings

🗓️ 31 December 2021

⏱️ 31 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

During the second world war, Chinese sailors served alongside their British allies in the merchant navy, heroically keeping supply lines open to the UK. But after the war hundreds of them who had settled in Liverpool suddenly disappeared. Now their children are piecing together the truth. Help support our independent journalism at theguardian.com/infocus

Transcript

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0:00.0

This is the Guardian.

0:08.8

This week, we're revisiting some of our favourite episodes from 2021.

0:13.4

And today, we return to a piece we ran on Remembrance Day,

0:17.7

the forgotten story of one of Britain's greatest wartime betrayals.

0:33.2

If Onfoli had a happy childhood, she grew up in Liverpool in the 1950s,

0:38.7

but she always had this sense that she was different somehow.

0:42.7

She had black hair and in summer, she were tan easily.

0:46.0

Her sister was blonde and always got sunburned.

0:49.6

If Onfoli was raised by her mum Grace and by her adopted dad Edward,

0:54.9

who Ivon's simply knew as dad, her parents were both white.

0:59.1

And Ivon didn't really question whether she was too.

1:02.0

Not at first.

1:03.9

It must have been about eight or nine when somebody else came to live in our street.

1:10.3

And I remember going in to my mum all with my friends.

1:14.2

And Mrs. John Eusladd, she said,

1:17.9

Oh, he's like you and I thought, pardon.

1:21.1

It just didn't register.

1:23.5

I thought, what are you talking about?

1:25.1

He was like me and then later she said,

1:26.6

Well, he's half Chinese and you are.

1:29.2

And I thought, I'm just lost the plot.

1:32.0

Little things happened throughout my life.

...

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