Romanian | Malaysian Chinese
My parents went through a lot of racism throughout their dating and married life. My Chinese families did not approve of interracial marriage, their relationship was a talking point for our neighbours and my own school. Although this racism issue did not fully disappear in this generation however I have personally seen a shift of attitude from people talking about mixed-race families where people are more excited and interested.
They definitely struggled a lot initially since they wanted me to experience both of their cultures. I have to say that they did an excellent job in this and I am also sure that they had to compromise a lot.
Because of my mixed-race culture, I am now married to my partner who is of a Malaysian Malay race (adding culture spices on our family tree!). It’s an easy ice-breaker whenever I meet new people. Whenever someone sees my face and knows my name, you could see a question mark floating on top of their head. Once I start explaining my family’s origin it always becomes a topic of interest across the room!
Music and TV shows wise I am severely addicted to Chinese dramas and artists. This is mostly attributed to the fact that in my very early years I grew up in my Chinese Grandmother’s house where the house background is filled with Chinese-Cantonese drama which made the house very lively. However food and language wise, I tend to be quite Romanian. This is most probably because I went to a national school in Romania where I fell in love with the romance language. My Father and my Romanian Godmother were also avid cooks where they would also showcase to me their Romanian food weekly on Sunday! I have lived and schooled in both countries so I happen to understand both of these cultures quite well.
My connection to my identity has definitely changed as I have gotten older. I never identified myself as mixed-race when I was young but as I got older, the race topic started to be more prevalent. This is when I started understanding the mixed-race importance and what my parents went through to bring me to this world.
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