English | Taiwanese
I've always identified culturally as half English and half Taiwanese. As I get older I'd probably prefer to use British instead of the former, as I feel like it gives more justice to the diversity of our nation. My Mum is Taiwanese, born and raised there until she was around 19. She met my English Dad at a bar, who at this point had been travelling around Asia for some years and fell in love with this interesting old hippie. They decided to go back to England where myself and my siblings were raised. They separated when I was small, so we lived and grew up under my Mum's roof: we were raised with her values and ways of life, which did a lot to entrain Taiwanese culture into us, despite never having visited. But, being a Mother raising four children alone and learning English by herself, there was little room for Mandarin lessons. We walk and talk very British-ly, but my adoration for breakfast tea competes well with my love of Asian cuisine. As we transcend into a time where a larger chunk of our population is mixed-race/dual-heritage or simply a concoction of many cultures, it becomes ever more important for us hybrids to establish our own identity. Which for me is neither British nor Taiwanese, it'd be mixed. My boyfriend is French-Vietnamese (but raised and educated in China/South Africa/England) and the many dimensions to his cultural identity is definitely an important asset to me. Just last month, me and my sisters visited Taiwan for the first time in our lives. I cannot describe how surreal and incredible it was to meet my family for the first time. We visited Mum’s old stomping grounds, where she met Dad, where she first worked, the night markets she used to frequent and for the first time ever we were able to experience all the things she told us stories of when we were younger. Despite only being able to speak to our Grandparents through Google Translate, we got a sense of where all of our Mum’s attributes originated; her kindness, gentleness. Bear in mind that this is also the first time I’ve met lots of other Taiwanese people: other people that look like Mum! It filled a hole in my soul, I’m sure of it.
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