The first Chinese people came to Devon in the 1950s and they now make up the largest minority ethnic community in the South West.

Even now the biggest difficulty faced by Devon's Chinese residents is the language barrier and surprisingly it's a growing problem.

Few of the Chinese elders speak much English and the younger generation know hardly any Cantonese.

Now plans are in place to help overcome the language barrier by recording the elders' tales on tape as part of an oral history project.

Plymouth's Racial Equality Council has joined up with the BBC to capture the stories in a project backed by the Heritage Lottery Fund.

Wah Chung

"The young generation of Chinese," said elder Wah Chung. "Outside, Chinese; inside, already same as you, English!"

Lorraine Francis of the Racial Equality Council believes it's a chance to create a link between both Chinese generations and also with Plymouth in general.

"What we hope by doing things like this is that we build bridges between the community," said Lorraine.

"A bridge between Chinese elders and the young Chinese but also between the Chinese community and the wider community."

Shei Ling Wong of the Equality Council said many of the elders had trouble at first but soon grew to the task.

The project is all about teaching the young generations

"When one man started telling the story, at first he was a bit reluctant," she said.

"Then as he got more and more in to it and more relaxed there was so much issue behind it all and it was just amazing."

For Shei Ling Wong it's a chance to keep the heritage and history of the Chinese community in Devon alive.

"The Chinese have been in this country since the 18th century and there is much history." she said.

"A lot of history has been lost and we definitely don't want to lose what we've got now."