The New Irish: David Lee was one of the first Chinese people to move to Ireland. He has seen much progress over 40 years, writes Carl O'Brien.

David Lee smiles as he inspects some old sepia-toned photographs of his father during a visit to Phoenix Park almost 40 years ago. "It's like a different world," he says wistfully, touching the pictures by the edges, careful not to damage the glossy prints.

One shows his father and a colleague dressed in dark suits, posing stiffly for the camera. Some Dublin children are gathered around the bottom of the Wellington monument. A few of them are staring curiously at the two Chinamen.

"You'd have hardly seen a foreigner in Ireland then," recalls Lee, who moved here at the age of 12 with his father. "There have been big changes in the last few years. Things are so much more cosmopolitan now. Go to Parnell Street and you see people of different nationalities everywhere. It's an incredible difference."

The Lees were among the first Chinese families to move to Ireland. David's father, Fong Lee, set up a Chinese restaurant on O'Connell Street called the Luna. It caused such a stir that queues used to form outside the door at weekends, as people waited to be seated. "The Irish people had probably never tasted Chinese food before," David laughs. "In the early days we had to import food like rice and prawns from England. I still remember the CIÉ trailer coming up to the door with the food. How things change."

These days there are between 40,000 and 50,000 Chinese in Ireland, making them one of the largest ethnic minorities in the country. Most of the new arrivals are Chinese students on work-study visas. They plan to stay for a few years, learn English and earn money in mostly low-paid jobs in the service industry.

In the basement offices of the Irish Chinese Information Centre, on Fitzwilliam Square in Dublin, a steady stream of students arrive for advice on accommodation, visas and other issues. "For most of them it's their first time leaving home and their first time abroad," says Dr Katherine Chan Mullen, a GP and a founder of the centre. "They come here often with little English, and conversation can be difficult. They generally know very little about Ireland and are shocked by the cost of living, so they tend to group together, often six to a room, to save money."

The students are typically from middle-class backgrounds in north-eastern China, where thousands of workers are being laid off from state enterprises. Most seek to travel to the US, Canada or Britain to study, but education is substantially cheaper in Ireland, and it is often easier to secure a study visa here, according to Dr Chan Mullen.

Maggie Hua, a 23-year-old postgraduate student at University College Dublin, came to Ireland after her father saw a programme about Ireland as a destination for Chinese students. "In China, if you can speak English you will be more competitive," she says. "In one sense it is crazy. We have to speak English because English-speaking people have economic power. Maybe in several years' time people will look to China."

She has found adjusting to life in Ireland quite easy, although she says it is sometimes difficult to get to know Irish students. "It can be hard to get beyond the initial friendship. Many Irish people go to the pub. For me, I feel it is a waste of time. I don't like drinking. Chinese people, I think, would prefer to have dinner with friends than to go to the pub," she says. "I think that when I go back to China I will have much more of a social life than I have here."

Under the work-study visas Chinese students are entitled to work for up to 20 hours a week. They are now a common sight across counters in Spars, Centras, pubs and takeaways in Dublin and cities around the country.

"I think we work very hard," she says. "In China competition is very tough, so people will always work hard. I sometimes hear that maybe Irish students working in part-time jobs might come to work late and maybe be a little lazy," she laughs. "Compared with China you can earn a lot of money here, so we don't mind working hard."

But for David Lee's Irish-born son Edwin, a 20-year-old student at Portobello College, the sight of young Chinese in almost exclusively low-paid jobs does not always sit easily.

"I feel a little embarrassed," he says. "It does give the impression that all Chinese people are good for are these jobs. I do feel bad about it, especially when I'm on the other side of the counter to them at McDonald's or wherever." And the Chinese work ethic, combined with the language barrier, often means workers are open to exploitation.

"There are reports of people being mistreated by employers," says Dr Chan Mullen. "Compared to the number here I think it is very small. Often, however, Chinese people don't want to cause trouble, they may be afraid to complain and are willing to work long hours for low pay quite frequently."

The growth in demand for language schools has also sparked a trade in bogus study visas and false attendance records for young Chinese people seeking to work rather than study.

The vast majority of students, however, are hard workers and are committed to learning English in the hope of improving their employment prospects at home, says Michelle Merrigan, a former language-school teacher. "They are very guarded when they come in to the classroom. It's different to dealing with Europeans. Some teachers tend to think that Chinese people don't interact enough, but over a period of time you can build up trust with them."

Reports of racist abuse are also common. Many regard it simply as a nuisance, but the community was jolted in January 2002 by the death of a young student, Zhao Liu Tao, in a racist attack. He died after being hit on the head with an iron bar by a gang of youths on his way home from a party in north Dublin.

There has also been some resentment towards newer immigrants among older businesspeople: some of them believe that the criminal activities of a few Chinese are giving the community a bad name. These have included kidnapping and extortion, with several reports of Chinese students being forced to pay money to Chinese gangs. "We don't like to see these kind of things happening," says Dr Chan Mullen. "This undermines the reputation of the entire community."

To acknowledge the burgeoning Chinese population, and with the support of a range of groups, Dublin City Council transformed Smithfield into a temporary Chinatown last February to celebrate the Chinese new year. The organisers, who had expected a crowd of 40,000, were taken aback when about 125,000 people flocked to the festival. Whether such events will foster a new Chinese community here, by helping to persuade recent arrivals to stay permanently, remains to be seen.

Those who do decide to stay are likely to have an easier time adjusting to life than the community that arrived from China and Hong Kong in the 1960s and 1970s. "Of course it's much easier now," says David Lee. "There are lots of restaurants, lots of shops. It's a lot different for the new Chinese students coming here." Having grown up in Ireland, his son Edwin is proud to identify with both the Irish and Chinese communities. He speculates that maybe others will do the same in the future.

"As I get older I appreciate my roots more. In my early teens I was so involved in getting more Irish. . . . I'm starting to understand the Chinese culture and the new year. I take pride in it now, just as I do with St Patrick's Day. I can have the best of both worlds."