Sheffield’s east and south east Asian community reacts to city centre hate crime incident

However, concerns have been raised following an incident last week which saw a female Chinese student in hospital after an attack, said to have been fuelled by racial discrimination. This follows a similar incident in 2020, in which a male Chinese student was attacked on West Street, an incident also believed to be caused by racism.

Zongyou Zuo, president of Chinese Students and Scholars Association in Sheffield said after last week’s incident they had accompanied the victim to the medical walk-in centre.

“After that, we contacted the International Office of the University of Sheffield and then sent an email to the university asking the university to provide necessary support and assistance to victims.

“We can’t stand by and watch this matter. In addition to writing to the university, we are also actively keeping in touch with the victim recently so that we can keep track of her mental and physical health.

“This is a typical hate crime, and it is hard to imagine this happening in Sheffield city centre.

“We hope that the suspect can get a fair trial and that the victim can get out of the shadow of this incident as soon as possible, and we also hope that similar events will not be repeated in the future.”

Despite the community finding such hate crimes “upsetting”, many say they have not experienced racism while studying or working in Sheffield, and have reflected on their positive experiences.

Jeff Tsao, a former Sheffield University student who is originally from Taiwan, said: “During the past three years I lived in Sheffield, I can say this is a friendly city. I did not have any issue with racism or discrimination. I believe I am not the only international student who thinks this way. After I started to work, it is still the same.”