My father, Chee Keung Chui, known to many as Peter, who has died aged 76, came from his native Hong Kong to study economics at Manchester University in 1955. Once his studies were completed, he decided to stay in Britain, having met my mother, Rosalie. They married in 1970, at a time when mixed marriages were not as common as they are today. He established a successful chartered accountancy business and once his path was set, his influence in the community in Manchester grew.
In 1987, he was chairman of the organising committee to build the Manchester Chinese Imperial Archway. This was the first such archway in Europe and is the focal point of Manchester's thriving Chinatown district. He also helped to organise the annual dragon dance, the largest in Europe and a popular spectacle every Chinese New Year.
A passionate believer in helping others, he was founder chairman in 1984 of the Tung Sing Housing Corporation, which although initially set up to provide social housing for the Chinese community, has now developed into a housing association for all. Never one to be still for a moment, his other projects were as successful as they were diverse. He was the co-founder of the Chinese Health Centre, the Chinese Arts Centre and the Chinese Information Centre.
He helped organise the inaugural joint broadcast with Beijing and Hong Kong in 1982 for the Chinese language programme Eastern Horizon on BBC Radio Manchester, on which occasion part of Oxford Street in the city was closed off for a celebratory street party. In 1992, he was the first Chinese person to address the European parliament, on behalf of the migration forum, which he helped to found and whose purpose is to promote integration and understanding between different ethnic groups.
His work in the community was recognised with an MBE in 2001 and he was later made a deputy lieutenant of Greater Manchester in 2002. He also served as a JP from 1985 until 2004. He is survived by Rosalie, his children, Briony, Nicholas and me, and two grandchildren, Daniel and Alba.
