Dimsum is a non-profit website for people interested in the experience of being Chinese

Chinese people

The term Chinese people may refer to any of the following:*People with Han Chinese ethnicity ....

 or East Asian in the UK

United Kingdom

The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

. The aim of the organization is to raise awareness of the complex issues Chinese people face in trying to fit into a predominantly European culture, specifically the issues British Chinese

British Chinese

British Chinese , including British-born Chinese are people of Chinese ancestry who were born in, or have migrated to, the United Kingdom. They are part of the Chinese diaspora, or overseas Chinese...

 people face. Dimsum's main goal is to give a voice to and represent a cultural minority in the UK .

Dimsum currently runs as a non-profit company. All members of the management team and all contributors participate in Dimsum on a voluntary basis.

The name

Translated literally, Dimsum

Dim sum

Dim sum refers to a style of Chinese food prepared as small bite-sized or individual portions of food traditionally served in small steamer baskets or on small plates...

 (or Dian Xin, in Mandarin) means "a bit of heart or mind". In everyday usage, dimsum generally means light refreshments. The Chinese often take light refreshments by drinking tea and eating a variety of delicious morsels of food, very much like Spanish Tapas

Tapas

Tapas are a wide variety of appetizers, or snacks, in Spanish cuisine. They may be cold or warm ....

 or Greek Meze

Meze

Meze or mezze is a selection of small dishes served in the Mediterranean and Middle East as dinner or lunch, with or without drinks. In Levantine cuisines and in the Caucasus region, meze is served at the beginning of all large-scale meals....

. This is Dimsum. Often, when eating dimsum, people use this as an opportunity to talk about politics and life. Therefore it has become a large part of social life. Chinese restaurants all over the world serve dimsum all day and provide a space for people to meet and share experiences of life. This is the reason the website is named so, the idea being that it is supposed to be a meeting place for social discussion.

Just for Chinese?

The emphasis on Chinese in Dimsum is not meant to be exclusive or racially discriminating. Dimsum was started by a group of people who are Chinese or are interested in Chinese issues. As a natural consequence their website has a definite Chinese leaning.

Competitors and Similar organisations

Dimsum is the biggest organisation of its kind in the UK. Their largest rival is another similar website called Squat, however that has a different focus. Globally there are several similar types of organisation such as nihao-usa.com.

Goals

Dimsum's aims are to

• Positively explore and promote British Chinese culture, community and perspective in Britain and abroad
• Give voice to those within, and those with an interest in the British Chinese community
• Encourage the British community to incorporate the Chinese perspective

Accomplishments

Several notable accomplishments Dimsum has made include the following:

• Successful campaign against racial scapegoating during the 2001 Foot and Mouth outbreak
  2001 UK foot and mouth crisis
  The outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease in the United Kingdom in 2001 caused a crisis in British agriculture and tourism. This epizootic saw 2,000 cases of the disease in farms in most of the British countryside. Over 10 million sheep and cattle were killed in an eventually successful attempt to...
  
  , involving the first ever British Chinese political demonstration, a government apology, and widespread media coverage and support. Dimsum was the central portal for the issue and was able provide rapid dissemination of information to a geographically dispersed community.
• In partnership with the Scotland-China Association, Dimsum launched the UK’s first ever British Chinese film festival, showcasing the work of British Chinese filmmakers. Patrons were David Yip
  David Yip
  David Yip is an English actor.Yip, of Asian and English descent, was born in Liverpool and trained at East 15 Acting School, London...
  
   and Zhang Ziyi
  Zhang Ziyi
  Zhang Ziyi is a Chinese film actress. Zhang is coined by the media as one of the Four Young Dan actresses in the Film Industry in China, along with Zhao Wei, Xu Jinglei, and Zhou Xun...
  
  . A second festival also exhibited films from other countries in the Chinese diaspora
  Overseas Chinese
  Overseas Chinese are people of Chinese birth or descent who live outside the Greater China Area . People of partial Chinese ancestry living outside the Greater China Area may also consider themselves Overseas Chinese....
  
  

Awards

• “Electric Shadows” finalist for Pearl Awards 2004
• Winner of Windrush Community Champion Award 2003
• Wai Kwok Cheung won the silver award for 'Best Diversity Feature in New IMPACT Journal' which reprinted his Dimsum article, 'Being Chinese in a Westernised Workplace’
• Runner up in Windrush Small Business Award 2002
• Finalist in Windrush Technology and Community Awards 2002