Scottish | Hong Kong Chinese
I identify as a Chinese-Scottish/Canadian and as Agnostic. My Mother is originally from Hong Kong and immigrated to Canada with her family as a young child. My Father's ethnic background is Scottish, though his family has been in Canada for generations. They eventually met in Toronto in the early 90s. For my Father, everything was completely new. Having to celebrate occasions on the lunar calendar, observing new cultural practices, and attending family gatherings where the predominant language is Cantonese were all challenges for him. My Mother, however, had lived in Canada for decades by the time they met and felt comfortable in North American cultural settings. We're also estranged from my Father's side of the family, so growing up, all the family events I attended were with my Chinese family. Therefore, I didn't feel like I combined the cultures of my Mother and my Father, as much as I was combining the cultures of my Mother and my home country Canada.
I think interracial relationships have certainly become more accepted and widespread. When I walk down the street now, I see a lot more families and interracial parents with mixed-race children then I did when I was growing up, even in a country as culturally and ethnically diverse as Canada. I think with any aspect of a person's life that's important to them (friends, religion, hobbies, job etc.), it's vital that their partner take some kind of interest in them and accept them, even if they aren't shared. If my partner isn't familiar with my cultural practices, I hope that they would be willing to learn about and celebrate them with me.
I think being mixed-race has provided me an entry point into different cultures and given me some more freedom to explore my identity. I grew up in Canada and Canada is often referred to as a cultural mosaic because it's an environment that welcomes different groups and allows them to continue their cultural practices without having to sacrifice their identity to conform to a larger North American culture. Growing up as mixed-race in a diverse multicultural environment gave me the opportunity to witness cultural bridges and both explore and express my cultural identities in different spaces. I'll never claim that Canada is perfect, like many nations, we still have a long way to go to fully create an environment free from hatred. Canada is a country of immigrants and needs to continue to take steps to create free and safe spaces for minorities if we're to remain and benefit from having a multicultural populace.
Confusion around my identity and subtle racism have been recurring themes in some of the challenges I've encountered based on my mixed identity. There's always the struggle of feeling as if you're not enough or that you're just outside of a cultural sphere. My appearance is fairly Caucasian compared to other biracial Asian-European people I've met, and I also have a very Scottish sounding surname. Because of these reasons, many people aren't aware that I'm Chinese and that I identify strongly as Canadian-Chinese. I've had people tell me that my plans for a Chinese New Year’s dinner was cultural appropriation, making me feel like I have to claim my cultural identity and justify these practices, but that I'm somehow less qualified to do so and perhaps should not. I've also heard many casually racist jokes made towards Asians, and when attempting to speak up against them, I'm met with comments such as 'but you're not really Asian' and therefore, should not take offence. Even my existence as a biracial person has been described as the 'Whitewashing' of an East Asian culture. It makes me feel like an outsider, and so I've continued to try and open dialogues about how different cultures can connect, because we're not completely separate and competing worlds.
Food is a massive way I connect with my culture, and I often cook traditional Chinese food for friends and others as a means to introduce them to Chinese culture. Growing up, every week my family went for dim sum, I learned the symbolic meaning of certain food dishes at Chinese New Year and come mid-autumn festival we always tried new food stalls at the night markets. To me food has always been an incredibly enjoyable and accessible way to connect with my Chinese culture. I am sadly yet to visit Hong Kong myself, though I am currently planning my first trip to Scotland for next month.
As a child, being mixed-race was just something that made me different, but as an adult I have a much greater appreciation for being exposed to different cultures and perspectives, and how to create my own identity. As I get older, it might change again as I see more mixed-race people like myself and see these communities grow and overlap even more.
If I had the opportunity to be reborn I'd return exactly the same. My upbringing gave me challenges and benefits and coming back any differently would alter who I am in a meaningful way. I've only just begun to accept myself as I am, and I wouldn't sacrifice that for anything.