Spotlight on... China

Size: 137,600 Chinese Londoners, according to 2009’s official estimates.

Age: Chinese sailors started living in Docklands in 1782. Many were part of the (legal) opium trade and the area became notorious for smoking dens.

Favourite parts of London: All over — but particularly Millwall, Borough and Soho’s Chinatown.

Best place for mouth-watering Chinese food?

Chinese restaurants in Chinatown aren’t necessarily the best. You can also get fantastic dim sum at the elegant Princess Gardens behind Bond Street. Or if you’re out late, head to the HK Diner on Wardour Street — it’s a cheerful greasy spoon that stays open until 4am.

The HK stands for Hong Kong, right?

Your powers of deduction astound me. Britain’s 156-year occupation of Hong Kong is the reason so many Chinese Londoners speak Cantonese, rather than Mandarin, the main language of mainland China.

So Mandarin is what everyone should be learning? Yes. The way the Chinese economy is growing you’ll be out of a job if you can’t speak it by 2050.

Let’s stick to things that are happening now.

There’s a fascinating exhibition of modern Chinese art, The Art of Change, at the Hayward Gallery

Talking of changing, wasn’t there a buzz about some Chinese designers at London Fashion Week? Everyone was going gaga for Huishan Zhang’s stunning cocktail dresses. He trained at Central St Martins — as did Yang Du, who designs the kind of clothes Gaga would be proud to wear.

Maybe I’ll be brave enough to wear one to the Chinese New Year revelries in February.

Do, you’ll look awesome! It’s one of the most extravagant Chinese New Year celebrations in the world — it’s one hell of a party.