Born and raised in Mainland China but now living in the UK since he completed his degree, Xingang Wang is the first Chinese person to stand as the Conservative Parliamentary Candidate for Manchester Central in this year’s General Election. He is also the ninth Chinese candidate to stand in the election in May 2015.

Although not a professional politician, Xingang has been active in politics for a number of years; he is the Chairman of Conservative Friends of the Chinese Surrey branch and was the Conservative candidate for local council elections in 2014.

“I am very interested in politics and believe in working hard, education and family, which are key Conservative values,” he says.

Xingang, who works in accounting and product control, has a varied education that includes Transportation Management at Beijing Jiaotong University, Engineering at Imperial College London, Mathematics at Oxford University and he is currently enrolled in an Executive MBA course at Harvard Business School and is also doing a part-time PhD at the University of Surrey. On top of his academic records he also does a lot of volunteer work, is a magistrate, school governor and an amateur writer. He recently published his first book that gives career advice on becoming a Product Controller, which is available on Amazon.

But even with so much to juggle and living down south while campaigning in Manchester, Xingang is confident he can handle all the responsibilities and manage his time efficiently.

“I keep an open dialogue with everyone involved and it works very well,” Xingang tells Nee Hao. “The Manchester Conservative Federation know that I will spend my weekday evenings with the media, preparing my campaign plans, and I’ll go to the Conservatives HQ helping with key seats that Conservatives want to win and hold.” Xingang has also deferred a year while studying to focus on work and politics.

Talking to Nee Hao about the policies he wishes to improve upon, Xingang has four main points that he will make his priorities and believes he can make a difference in: transport, education, economy and crime. One of Xingang’s hopes is to help improve the local economy to drive Manchester into becoming the UK’s first “northern powerhouse”.

He also firmly believes that it is important for Britain’s Chinese community to be more involved in politics, saying “The Chinese community is an integral part of the UK. We work hard, support our families, we provide the best possible education for our children and many of us are very business-minded and have the minds of entrepreneurs.”

Xingang presses that the Chinese community needs a “long-term economic plan” to continue to make this country one of the world’s best. British Chinese people are one of the country’s wealthiest ethnic groups with a higher median wage than White British people.

“The Chinese community need to raise their voice,” adds Xingang. “Only when you actively get involved in politics and raise your concerns, your opinions will be listened to by all Parties and taken into consideration during the policy making process.”

Xingang is looking forward to the possibility of becoming Britain’s first Chinese MP after May.

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Note from the British Chinese Project: 

There are five candidates from the Conservatives, two from Labour and two from the Liberal democrats of Chinese decent standing in May 2015 hopefully becoming the first Chinese Member(s) of Parliament!

It has been a fantastic effort from Chinese for Labour, Chinese Liberal Democrats, UK (aka CLD, Chinese Lib Dems) and especially Chinese Friends for Conservatives and best of luck to all candidates!