Author: Benjamin Cheung

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Can I call myself a Hong Konger?

[W]hat right do I, as a [Canadian-born Chinese], to say I am also a Hongkonger?

Creator:
Vivian Lee (she/her)

The identity label of “Hong Konger” is fraught with political and ideological implications. For some, access to this identity is simply migration and ancestral history. For others, access to it implies having had certain kinds of experiences. In particular, the idea of “Hong Konger” has become intimately tied to the 2019 Pro-Democracy protests, which has created significant contentions among Hong Kong diaspora due to their absence from the city during the height of the protests. Vivian’s work transports the reader through her mental struggle with this term, and her journey of figuring out whether or not she has the right to call herself a Hong Konger. She also links the label to linguistic and cultural knowledge, which is tied to various intersectional considerations in and of itself. Read through her work to see how she reconciles this conflict for herself – but understand that this may be different for other people. How differently can others reconcile this same identity confusion?

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Of Confucian women and men

“I embraced my Asian heritage a lot more in elementary school…but in high school — I don’t think…as much.”

Creator:
Sharene Kim

Acculturation can be a difficult and confusing process; but while it might be tempting to give overarching support or advice for people going through the acculturative process, one must also understand the intersectional nature of acculturation. For example, those who have a low socioeconomic status will likely experience acculturation in a very different way compared to someone with a high socioeconomic status. In this podcast, Sharene interviews two people who speak about how they see the gendered and cultural nature of acculturation as well, and how this might even coincide with different forms of cultural identity that they have come to adopt. Based on relevant cultural perspectives and expectations, how do you see people from different cultures and genders differ in how they acculturate?

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Immigrant parenting practices

“My parents didn’t have the expectation of us studying to become doctors or lawyers, just a non-labour job (斯文工)…”

Creator:
Samantha Ma 馬煒文

Parents are ultimately humans who are trying their best to do something they have never done before, in a time period that they have never experienced before, within cultural forces that they have never had to understand before. Parents often parent based on how they were parented, meaning that they are often mimicking behaviours that were used in a different time, within different cultural forces. And when these parents are diasporic, these differences in time and culture become even more amplified. Samantha interviews her parents to get a sense of how they lived with their parents, and how they perceived culture to have played in how they were parented. In turn, Samantha explores how those experiences may or may not have affected how her parents parented her, particularly from the perspective of considering the impact of culture. How might parents and children reconcile with each other in terms of coming from vastly different cultural perspectives and assumptions?

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Astronaut Monsters

I am Taiwanese Canadian; the order of those words does not matter, and I get to pick and choose the best of both worlds.

Creator:
Carolyn Wang 王郁庭 (she/her)

A common experience among Hong Kong diaspora (but also other diasporic groups) is to be part of an astronaut family: a type of family configuration in which a parent move back to their place of origin while the rest of the family remains in the new home. The goal is for the parent who moved back to earn more money than they would if they had stayed in the new environment, allowing the family to have more money and purchasing power. Despite such advantages, this is an immensely stressful arrangement for everyone involved: The parent who went “home” becomes isolated from the rest of the family for an extended period of time; the parent who stays is forced to play multiple roles as the sole parent in the home, and the child(ren) end(s) up experiencing a significant lack of parental support from one parent. Altogether, these dynamics often lead to fraught relationships between family members, leading to conflict and even marital dissolution. Carolyn’s poem is an emotionally powerful account of her experience within an astronaut family and lots of other diasporic experiences that many other migrants have also had. What might allow for greater psychological and relational resilience between and within family members in astronaut families?

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Sexuality and Migration

[L]iving in Canadian society as part of the LGBQ youth is by no means a smooth sailing journey…

Creator:
Patricia Li 李晴 (she/her)

Canada very successfully projects an image on the international stage as a welcoming and inclusive country where sexual and gender diversity are not just tolerated, but are accepted and appreciated. Patricia points out the fact that such an image is more idealism than reality – while there is much more safety associated with being an LGBQ youth in Canada relative to numerous places around the world, there is still much to be done to ensure that LGBQ youth can live authentic and fulfilling lives free from worries, fear, and uncertainty about their identities. She also folds in theoretical perspectives of acculturation to provide a more comprehensive perspective of the experiences of LGBQ Hong Kong diasporic youth. What can society and the Hong Kong diasporic community do to ensure that LGBQ youth are supported, accepted, and protected?

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Beauty is in the eye of the beholder

They lack feeling a sense of control over their own appearances, as their bodies are constantly subjected to outside influences about how they should look.

Creator:
Donna Wu 伍子颖

Humans are known to be a hypersocial species – we have a fundamental need for affiliation (i.e. being around others and existing in a social space), for better or for worse. When thinking about it being “for the better”, it means we can cooperate/coordinate with others to divide up tasks, allowing our species to survive. We can also rely on each other to provide support so that we don’t need to face our problems alone. When thinking about it being “for the worse”, though, it means that we are often subjected to others’ opinions and perspectives that may lead to negative emotions and experiences on our part. For example, existing means being subject to various forms of influence, including explicit and implicit messages about what counts as “attractive”. For Asian diaspora (including those from the Hong Kong diaspora), this often means being caught between different messages about attractiveness – mainstream ones in Canada, and prominent ones from their heritage cultures. Donna explores these different norms of attractiveness, and traces the various ways in which these norms may have a psychological impact on diasporic folks. How should one navigate through these messages about attractiveness?

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“You’re too white to be Chinese!”

I have my own voice and that voice is very, very, very unique.

Creator:
Peggy Chau 周柏蕙 (she/her)

Imagine that you are simply a human trying to authentically identify with your cultural heritage; but for various reasons, the environment around you places barriers that prevent you from exercising agency and authentically accepting and acting out that identity. This is a common experience for biracial/multiracial people who are often gatekept from identifying with any combination of their cultural identities. They are always too much of one, and not enough of the other…and which one they are too much or not enough of changes constantly depending on which cultural group they talk to. This severely impacts biracial/multiracial folks’ self-confidence, preventing them from finding a cultural voice with which they are most comfortable. Peggy speaks with someone who has dealt with these identity issues throughout her life, and we get a glimpse into how she navigated her identity quandary to be the culturally confident individual that she is today.

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Defining the Hong Kong Canadian

In our present time, we now see the birth of a new “Hong Kong Canadian” identity from the ashes of a now-dead Cantonese-dominated “Chinese Canadian” identity.

Creator:
Aidan Lai 黎至正 (he/him)

One of the most elusive acts we can do as diaspora is defining our cultural identity – we have to look backwards into history and around us in the present to figure out the numerous alternatives from which we can choose. And when many alternatives are inherently political and controversial, deciding on alternatives becomes extremely problematic and difficult. In the case of Aidan’s work, he takes this problem to another level by proposing a future-oriented perspective of cultural identity. In thinking about what is a “Hong Kong Canadian,” we can look to the migration history of people from Hong Kong to Canada. We can also see how the current group of Hong Kong migrants have shaped the existing definition of Hong Kong Canadians. How can we think about a new and future definition of Hong Kong Canadians by thinking about who future generations of Hong Kong migrants will be, and what the future generations of Hong Kong migrants will be like?

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“Tell me about yourself”

“It felt unjust, as if my prior efforts and achievements were being dismissed or wasted.”

Creator:
Rowan (she/her)

When people migrate to a new place, the first things that they want to do usually include finding a home and getting a job – all in an effort to find stability and restart their lives in a foreign land. In this comic created by Rowan, it’s clear that a whole host of obstacles prevent newcomers from getting settled and stabilized. For example, what happens when an employer only wants/values local experiences, eschewing whatever relevant work and education experiences the applicant had back home? This effectively forces newcomers to start their careers from scratch, ignoring the expertise that they may have already gained and demonstrated previously. Not only does this have implications for financial outcomes, but also for one’s self-worth. Have you experienced something similar? How do you think this system more appropriately assess an applicant’s international qualifications and experiences?


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Recon”Net”ting

These forms…not only bridge geographical distance…but [act] as archival sites for deeper historical education.

Creator:
Tiffany Yau 丘苑婷 (she/her)

When considering diasporic studies, it isn’t enough that we consider first generation diaspora – second generation+ diaspora are a significant and oft-overlooked part of the population (both in terms of media representation consideration, and in academic interest). While cultural identity formation and maintenance is (relatively more) straightforward for first generation diaspora, second generation+ diaspora tend to have more trouble and confusion in this arena. By having their existence and experiences ignored by mainstream media, they feel that the mainstream culture has invisibilized them, affecting their self-regard and feelings of belonging. At the same time, they might also have trouble connecting with their heritage culture due to lack of access to heritage cultural products (e.g. pop culture, heritage media). Tiffany breaks down how improving cultural representation and diversity in mainstream media has helped bridge some gaps between multigenerational diaspora and the mainstream culture, and how the internet (replete with its convenient access of heritage cultural media from “back home”) has been a boon for these same diaspora trying to connect with their heritage culture. What avenues do you go through to connect with your culture?

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