My Experience Growing Up as a British Born Chinese in the UK 

Resonated so much especially when you feel UK is home but some people dont get that or assume english isnt yir first language , also a bbc.

Going back a few years, the one thing I remember about Chinese/Korean students when I was at secondary/6th Form, etc was that they didn't get racial abuse so much (and if you were for example Pakistani you very much ran that risk), but seemed very isolated and alone. They weren't disliked, but on the other hand no-one tried to get to know them either. And there was some odd notion they were a good deal brighter than us. I suppose it's because there simply weren't many in my day, so we didn't know how to approach them.

Oh wow, my dad is also from Hong Kong and mum from Shanghai as well though the cultural values were mixed, basically trying to mix both Western and Eastern principles. Respect you for opening up your experiences. It can be a struggle growing up in a Western world with East Asian ethnicity because you're basically in the netherworld. It was also hell for me as a kid to my young adult years, basically I never felt home at any place. I'm an Australian born Chinese but I'm planning to relocate to the UK full time within 18 months 😅 it's a long story.

100% agree with your dads choice to ensure you study. My bf is from Hongkong too actually lol and in future will want them to be able to be truly bilingual which i fully support - how to encourage them to truly want to spk cantonese I am wondering how we will acheive this - and also as I studied mandarin for 6 years I'd like kids to learn that too - though not as important as cantonese for our future little family tho hehe and now I've been learning cantonese for a year (very badly too hehe). It's interesting to see your experience as I guess its were you have two parents that are foreigners to the UK but you've been raised here. I do wonder what it would be like for a half chinese/half english child, I'd want them to feel as tho they fit half and half equally into both, but I don't know if that is how ppls brains work. I guess if you and your partner ever did have them (I know you said you didnt but incase it ever happened one day) it'll be similar for you with your partner in fact as he is White English too. I'd Anywya I am glad you have just found hapiness as you exist currently - :D Thanks for sharing.

She's proper Essex.

Hello Cindy ! Very interesting video. And regarding your identity: think big, eurasian earthling ! While going to university I was living in a students' dormitory. For some time I was surrounded by Chinese students: the neighbour on the left as well as the neighbour on the right as well as the neighbour across the doorway - they all were Chinese. From different parts though. One from Taiwan, one from Beijing, and one from Shanghai. It was a very interesting experience. All of them were comparatively reserved. The Taiwanese opened up a bit first. Then my neighbour to the left from Beijing. Both were there for graduate level studies, ie they were more advanced in their studies than I was with mine. The Beijing student told me about the differences between different parts of mainland China which seemed to be quite big. He also was the first participating in table tennis (pingpong?) matches and it seemed to be almost impossible to win against him.

Thanks for posting this Cindy and sharing your experiences! I’ve been excitedly waiting for it! I like your English name! I think it suits you! Ohhh man I’m so sorry to hear about your horrible racist experiences 😢 Like I can’t believe your worst bullies were OTHER ASIANS?? And that teacher….hearing about that makes my blood boil…I can’t express how I feel about that in a public forum. And really disappointing to hear that your Dad wasn’t supportive, you had to literally take it upon yourself to change schools. I’m glad your new English teacher scored you fairly. I hope you don’t feel dumb or ugly anymore cos you are smart and beautiful; I love your energy and enthusiasm - always stay true to yourself and don’t let anyone bring you down. Being a NZBC (New Zealand born Chinese) I can relate to a lot of what you’ve said but I won’t post it here cos it’ll be a novel.

I lived in Shanghai for 30yrs

I can’t be the only one who was the only Chinese kid in the whole school apart from my siblings right?

Your father is right. When do you see a "gwei lo" don't speak "GWEI" 話.