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Chinese New Year: questions your children might ask
Chinese New Year, also known as Spring Festival or Lunar New Year, is the most important traditional festival in China celebrated at the turn of the lunar calendar, usually in late January or early February. It is a time for families to gather, exchange gifts, and participate in traditional activities such as dragon and lion […]
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Reviewing George Yeo’s ‘Musings’: Government, Singapore and a “Jewish” status
I managed to borrow George Yeo’s book Musings: Series One from the library in Singapore and it taught me three things: Who is George Yeo? And why am I reading his book? For non-Singaporeans, George Yeo’s name might not ring a bell. Succinctly, he’s a “Teochew Chinese, a Roman Catholic and a native Singaporean.” Wikipedia […]
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I’m taking the next step to learn Chinese in Taiwan
I regularly go on language exchanges to practise Chinese. At every meeting, half the time, someone would say that my Chinese is very good and they see no need to really undertake such a disruption to life and career. So why am I bothering to dedicate months to go to Taiwan to learn Chinese? My […]
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In Spain, “nihao” connects the Chinese community
I spent 43 days in Spain visiting lots of places north of Madrid and in Seville. In 43 days, a lot of things can happen. One can almost complete a career as prime minister in that time. For me, it represented a period which strengthened my understanding of how life is for Chinese people living […]
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What does my accent when speaking Chinese say about me?
I’m currently travelling the UK and I was in the northern part of England recently. If you know the UK, the accents vary much more at much lesser distance, unlike in the US or Canada where there’s more homogeneity. As I got off the train one hour north from London, I could hear a slight […]
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A common thread: Chinese music and Chinese identity
你问我爱你有多深， 我爱你有几分。 Sounds familiar? From what I observe, many Chinese people, regardless of where they grew up, will know this song. I have never thought of this before, but it seems clearer and clearer to me that Chinese music represents a common centrepiece of Chinese identity. And I don’t mean modern Chinese music. Rather, there […]
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How does a Chinese association serve Chinese-Jamaicans?
When things are going bad, we become scapegoats,” says Chinese Jamaican Dalton Yap in an interview about growing up in Jamaica.
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It ain’t easy for the Chinese Argentines
In Argentina, if you said you “went to the Chinese”, you’d be expected to come back with groceries.
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Is Chinese hard to learn? Here are my tips.
Chinese is hard to learn but I have some bite-sized tips for you that have helped me a lot.
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How Chinese is Singapore?
How Chinese is Singapore? The long and short answer: people think it’s part of China. It isn’t. But one thing that really sets Singapore apart from other places that have overseas Chinese is the fact that it’s probably the ONLY place where Chinese people are not a minority. I can’t think of any other place […]
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Paloma Chen, poetry, identity, growing up Chinese in Spain
For many years until her mid-teens, Paloma wanted nothing to do with her Chinese culture. Today, that has changed completely.
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Migration is a difficult gamble our ancestors have undertaken
It’s Mother’s Day today and Asian Heritage Month here in Canada. I think it’s a good opportunity to show appreciation for our parents, grandparents and ancestors who have moved from China to places abroad. Migration is difficult and it’s a complete gamble. The prosperous countries today might just be the ones facing strife and poverty […]
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What’s it like being Chinese in the UK’s north?
Chinese Chippy Girl is a particularly interesting podcast because it talks about growing up Chinese in the UK. The host is Georgie Ma (馬珮瑶) who grew up in Macclesfield, England, near Manchester. In the first episode of her podcast, she shares her experience being Chinese in the north of England. Other episodes are in an […]
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Is “Chinese diaspora” a problematic term?
I used to sling the term “Chinese diaspora” in the same way as “Overseas Chinese” but someone argued that it might be a very damaging term.
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Chinese people in Spain: are businesses ‘a space of resistance?’
Short of interviewing a person directly, I try to understand them through their words. I encountered an interview with a 23-year-old Chinese person in Spain, Paloma Chen, in the Spanish newspaper El Pais. The first time I picked up El Pais was in 2005 when I lived in Salamanca, Spain, and picking one up in […]
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A Chinese Trinidadian born between revolutions
Born in the ’60s, Patrick shares his experience as a Chinese Trinidadian living through revolutions in China and Trinidad.
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Jessica J(ie-ke) Lee’s Two Trees Make a Forest review
A half-Taiwanese, half-Welsh writer explores her Taiwanese identity. How similar is it to the overseas Chinese experience?
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Lily Kwok, one of the 4,000 Chinese in Trinidad and Tobago
Two opposing concepts of racism and privilege colour the experience of the Chinese in Trinidad and Tobago.
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Mexicali Chinese’s brush with poverty, dilapidation and a restaurant’s scandal
A Chinese family seeks a better life by migrating across the Pacific, only to be met with a harsh start.
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A Chinese school brings family from Taiwan to Peru
Much unlike my previous guests, Eric Yuan Jan’s family comes from a different region of China and of a much different professional background.
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Will Overseas Chinese lose their ability to speak their language?
I am not entirely sure if Chinese migrants can maintain their ability to speak Chinese, especially with each successive generation.
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A Chinese and Mexican identity formed in a restaurant
While Roberto’s parents toiled in their Chinese restaurant in Hermosillo, Mexico, his Mexican neighbours raised him.
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Four generations of Chinese immigration to Mexico
Four generations of Chinese migration to Mexico’s north, within which lies a story of familial separation, racial persecution and belonging.
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The little known Chinese immigrants in the West
I moved to Canada in 2011 for university and that was the crucial moment that made me think really hard about being Chinese. The University of Toronto really helped with its large student body made up of people from diverse origins. One of the most impactful experiences that led me to want to write on […]