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Being Chinese

Being Chinese
Being Chinese is an occasional column that contemplates and explores the cultural, existential and related aspects of Chinese experience, whether the writers are Chinese by birth, descent or osmosis.
Young women go through etiquette training at a vocational school in Beijing in 2007, ahead of the 2008 Olympics. Photo: Reuters
Women and gender

Being Chinese | Why Chinese women like me are done being quiet and ‘appropriate’

Chinese women are praised for gentleness. Our tone must please; our anger must be graceful. But a new generation is speaking out.

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Chinese culture

Being Chinese | A very Chinese funeral and all the things my family didn’t say

Chinese overseas

Being Chinese | Looking for love in Shanghai, Chinese auntie-style

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Food and Drinks

Being Chinese | My food obsession has deep Chinese roots

The rationing era imprinted something on me – not just a craving for food, but a reverence. In Chinese culture, food is never just food.

A child plays a game with zongzi, or sticky rice dumplings, on a high speed train running between Chongqing and Chengdu in southwest China in May 2017, ahead of the Dragon Boat Festival. Photo: Xinhua
China education

Being Chinese | How education in China has evolved, before my very eyes

Amid falling births and policy adjustments, education for one of my children is a more joyous experience than it has been for the other.

Chinese culture

Being Chinese | Life and finance lessons from my Hong Kong mahjong parties

I was a hit with my mahjong buddies because I didn’t play like a typical Chinese person. The years since have taught me better.

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China society

Being Chinese | Young Chinese are trying out the simple life. Am I missing out?

My generation has never known an economic slump lasting a number of years. Some friends are taking the opportunity to slow down.

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A view of Lieshen village in Chongqing on August 15. Photo: Xinhua
Hong Kong society

Being Chinese | Half a world away from Hong Kong, I had a Chinese epiphany

I thought I understood British culture. No amount of book reading or television watching could have prepared me for a seismic shift.

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Chinese culture

Being Chinese | I crave a sense of community. Is that my Chinese side talking?

AI chatbots can’t fufill a desire for connection that may have been passed down generations in a culture where community ties are treasured.

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Hong Kong society

Being Chinese | An ‘elegant’ English name would be all wrong for my Hong Kong baby

My daughter, a child of multiple cultures, needs a carefully chosen name in a city where racial difference is not seamlessly accepted.

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Young residents from diverse backgrounds holding new mainland travel permits return to Hong Kong in 2024, after a trip to Guangzhou and Foshan. Photo: Xiaomei Chen
China society

Being Chinese | I escaped a Chinese guoxue ‘reading group’. My friend is less lucky

The trend of ‘national studies’ unsettled me. Packaged in Chinese symbols – robes, incense, ancient wisdom – much of it felt too commodified.

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People young and old pray at Yonghe Temple in Beijing on January 1. After three decades of modernisation, many urban Chinese are spiritually adrift, restless and unsure of where to anchor their values in a fast-changing world. Photo: EPA-EFE
Chinese overseas

Being Chinese | What’s in a Singaporean Chinese name? It’s a long story

In the US, I’ve been assumed to be Taiwanese, mainland Chinese or Korean. It’s like watching people play charades using my business card.

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Chinese overseas

Being Chinese | Dating in the UK, Chinese auntie-style

Looking for a life partner as a 40-something Asian woman in the UK, I found success in unexpected ways.

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Chinese culture

Being Chinese | People laugh in my face when I say I’m Chinese. So what?

I don’t look Chinese. But it’s the tiny things, values and cultural touchpoints that collectively make a Chinese person Chinese.

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People walk past a mural of a Chinese letter writer in Chinatown in Singapore in February 2021. Photo: AFP
China society

Being Chinese | I’m not ‘lying flat’, just choosing a saner lifestyle than China’s 996

In China, work culture is shifting and companies are sending employees home earlier. I chose balance over fatigue before the tide turned.

A woman with a child attends a New Year’s Eve countdown yoga session at Singapore’s Marina Bay in 2016. Photo: Xinhua
Chinese tourists

Being Chinese | Once a Chinese frog in a well, I’m now living my travel dreams

When China opened up and millions went abroad, it influenced everything from fashion and cuisine to values and perspectives.

US-China relations

Being Chinese | I’m a Cannes-going Chinese showbiz producer. It’s fun – except when it isn’t

I make deals with international studios and platforms. Often, I face a wall of Western presumption about the Chinese way of doing things.

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Women and gender

Being Chinese | I identify as a Chinese auntie, cheapskate and busybody. Anyone else?

I revel in low prices and awkward questions. I’m finding that being a Chinese auntie overseas also means being part of an Asian sisterhood.

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A woman finds a use for a bus stop railing while running an errand in Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong, on October 20. Photo: Eugene Lee
Singapore

Being Chinese | In Singapore, my children are freer to be happy than I was in China

Having been through China’s pressure-cooker education system, I appreciate how Singapore balances Eastern discipline and Western creativity.

Women and gender

Being Chinese | How far Chinese women have come since my grandmother’s time

I have more equal status than my grandmother did in the pre-communist era. But young women are still pushing back against discrimination.

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Chinese overseas

Being Chinese | I look Chinese but don’t speak the language. Is that so bad?

I may be missing out on a deeper appreciation of the culture, but I’ve learned to live with it – thank goodness for translation apps.

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Halloween revellers pack Hong Kong’s party zone, Lan Kwai Fong, on October 26. Photo: Nora Tam
Chinese culture

Being Chinese | Why don’t we say ‘I love you’ in Chinese? Let me count the reasons

Chinese speakers like me have been trained to understand the difference between ‘aiyah’ and ‘aiyaah’, and things left unsaid among loved ones.

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Love messages are displayed on an electronic billboard in Tsim Sha Tsui on February 14, 2024. In cities like Hong Kong, those three little words are seldom spoken in Chinese. Photo: May Tse
Chinese culture

Being Chinese | To know who we are, China must remain open to foreigners

Interactions with the outside world have shaped my identity as a Chinese and a human being, opening my eyes to the value of cultural exchange.

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Chinese culture

Being Chinese | My Hong Kong crash course in Chinese calculations of everything

Some autumns ago, a midlife crisis brought me to Hong Kong, where it has been inspiring how savvy people are about Chinese cosmology.

Chinese culture

Being Chinese | The beauty of being a filial Chinese daughter

Despite the caregiving challenges, there’s a beauty in accepting filial piety is not a choice but a necessity: roles and responsibilities are clear.

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Amy Wu and her father, Dr Joseph Wu, attending the annual senior prom event organised by the New York Dutchess county government’s Office for the Ageing in October 2024. Photo: Courtesy of Evelyn Loo
Chinese culture

Being Chinese | Who’s Singaporean and stressing over Lunar New Year food abroad? Not me

Grappling with being the sole source of Singapore Chinese culture for my children, I have focused on transmitting it through food.

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A Chinese lion dance is performed in the streets of Chinatown for the Lunar New Year in London, Britain, on January 21, 2023. While London marks the occasion with festive pop-ups, that’s not the case in most other parts of the UK. Photo: Reuters
Chinese overseas

Being Chinese | No stereotypes please, overseas Chinese students are a wonderful mix

By no stretch of any imagination can one reduce Chinese students in the UK to a uniform, faceless tribe, as my cohort once was.

Chinese culture

Being Chinese | How my Malaysian Chinese education is paying off

Malaysian Chinese have paid a heavy price for Chinese-medium schools, but for my generation, that investment is reaping dividends.

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