British | Singaporean Chinese
Growing up, we spent every summer holiday in Singapore with our family (my Mum is the 9th sibling out of 10). I'm very grateful to my parents for bringing us around Southeast Asia and teaching us about our culture and heritage from a young age. When I was 10, we visited my Grandfather's village and saw the school he built for the locals. He left China at age 13 to find work in Singapore where he met my Grandmother. Between raising a family, my Grandmother laundered the uniform of the Japanese soldiers during their occupation in the war and my Grandfather delivered the laundry. This ensured their safety during horrific times. He later went onto build a successful construction company, the first in Singapore. My Grandmother was Peranakan which is a Chinese subculture dating back to the 15th century where inter racial marriages began between settlers from South China and Southeast Asia. She'd wear a kebaya, their traditional dress every day. It's sad that her generation may be the last to wear kebayas. Returning to school and settling back into British life after summer in Asia felt like an adjustment. I'd make friends with the small number of East Asian girls so I could share my knowledge and appreciation for their pop culture.
During our trips to Asia, my sister and I were stared at which made me self-conscious. Lots of conflicting emotions around my appearance would develop. After a brief negative experience age 6, I remember feeling embarrassed about being different and wanting to fit in. As I got older, the more I embraced it.
My Mum met my Dad when she moved to London in the 80s. As the youngest daughter, she wouldn't have been allowed had my Grandfather still been around. She encountered racism at the workplace when a group of English women repeatedly mocked her accent. Her response is why I love to share this story.'I've come to your country, and I can speak your language, could you speak mine if you were in my country?' She listed all her spoken languages, Hokkien (her dialect), Mandarin, Cantonese, Malay and English. It's not surprising she was then met with silence.
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