British | Hong Kong Chinese
I am a little Eurasian baby, half English, half Chinese, born and raised in Hong Kong. My Mum is from Hong Kong and my Dad is from Cheltenham. I feel like growing up in Hong Kong was possibly the best thing that’s happened to me. It’s an amazing international city, with such a diverse mix of people, which in turn creates such a harmonious living place for everyone. Everyone embraced different cultures and appreciated them with festivals and celebrations. I had an awesome time growing up there and I do miss it a lot! I honestly have to thank my parents for bringing me up the way they did, as I grew up fully understanding the importance of embracing both cultures. They encouraged me and my sister to go to local schools so that we could read, write and speak Chinese properly. We are fluent in 3 languages, Cantonese, Mandarin and English. Meeting up with both sides of the family was also just as important, as we learned to appreciate the different customs, e.g. celebrating Christmas with a massive feast over at my aunt’s house in the UK, or huge banquets for Chinese New Year with my mum’s side of the family in Hong Kong. I only really found my mixed ethnicity challenging when I graduated from drama school at the Royal Birmingham Conservatoire. I always saw my mixed heritage as a positive thing but having been in the industry for a short time, I can already see that there is a severe lack of representation when it comes to Asians. It’s particularly frustrating when you see mixed-raced (Eurasians) actors being called out for not being ‘Asian enough’ to be in an Asian role, but then not ‘White enough’ for playing a White role. However, as I said, times are changing, and we are beginning to speak up and be heard, so I’m sure that we will win this and come out on top in the future, we just need to keep fighting for it! If I were to be born again as a human being, I wouldn’t change a thing. Well, maybe not fight with my mum as much about learning Chinese. I had the best time growing up and glad that it has led me to where I am now.
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