{"id":78,"date":"2025-08-17T18:10:45","date_gmt":"2025-08-17T17:10:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/mengmeng-zhang\/?p=78"},"modified":"2025-08-17T18:10:49","modified_gmt":"2025-08-17T17:10:49","slug":"trade-and-identity-migrant-entrepreneurs-in-newcastle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/mengmeng-zhang\/2025\/08\/17\/trade-and-identity-migrant-entrepreneurs-in-newcastle\/","title":{"rendered":"Trade and Identity: Migrant Entrepreneurs in Newcastle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\"><em>By Mengmeng Zhang<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Newcastle\u2019s city centre is home to a rich patchwork of cultures, where independent shops and restaurants are often run by people who once came here as migrants. These small businesses do more than serve food or provide services \u2014 they carry stories of heritage, resilience, and adaptation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this audio feature, we meet <strong>Haiqiu Kelly<\/strong>, who has managed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.aiqinnails.com\/?fbclid=PAQ0xDSwMO64hleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABp115shpCDV0IUiMtLM0Lws1IjaEoakBRFzICkb93dq9-GB9OeHNs1SDOQiaT_aem_sRDPmOXNvnBqlQ4hMqIIxQ\">Aiqing nail<\/a> salon for more than two decades, and <strong>Danuwat Boocha<\/strong>, the owner of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/pickthaigrainger?igsh=MW9jODJmMGt0cnI2NA==\">Pick Thai<\/a>, a Thai street food stall in Grainger Market. Their reflections move between traditions kept at home, the everyday realities of working life, and the cultural exchanges that happen with local customers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>\ud83c\udfa7 <strong>Listen below to hear how their voices capture the intersection of business and identity in Newcastle.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed is-type-rich is-provider-soundcloud wp-block-embed-soundcloud\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Trade and Identity: Migrant Entrepreneurs in Newcastle by Mengmeng Zhang\" width=\"770\" height=\"400\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"no\" src=\"https:\/\/w.soundcloud.com\/player\/?visual=true&#038;url=https%3A%2F%2Fapi.soundcloud.com%2Ftracks%2F2154672471&#038;show_artwork=true&#038;maxheight=1000&#038;maxwidth=770\"><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-right\"><a href=\"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/disclaimer\/\"><strong>Disclaimer<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Mengmeng Zhang Newcastle\u2019s city centre is home to a rich patchwork of cultures, where independent shops and restaurants are often run by people who&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":345,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"wds_primary_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-78","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/mengmeng-zhang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/mengmeng-zhang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/mengmeng-zhang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/mengmeng-zhang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/345"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/mengmeng-zhang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=78"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/mengmeng-zhang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/mengmeng-zhang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=78"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/mengmeng-zhang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=78"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/journalists.org.uk\/mengmeng-zhang\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=78"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}