

Alexa Chung is of Chinese descent but who actually considers her to be Chinese? A c ontroversial discussion on Eurasian Mixed race Chinese and those of Chinese descent and their relationship with the British Chinese community.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk/2009/jan/18/race-identity-britain-study)

“[In the UK] 9% of children are of "mixed or multiple heritage" - that is, they live with parents from different ethnic groups, or they are themselves of mixed ethnicity. Over the past 14 years the number of children of... Chinese heritage with one white parent has risen from 15% to 35%.”





With a 133% growth over a 14 year period, is this a sign that Britain has finally embraced miscegenation and multiculturalism? What are the implications for the British Chinese community?





The statistical figures are tangible, one can physically see it in Britain's city schools, international schools and in Chinese Sunday schools there are more and more Mixed Race enrolled, yet nobody dares to question the implications. Reading the partial views of inter racially married Chinese writers on British Chinese website - Dimsum.co.uk, miscegenation is incontestable, there is no adverse critique.



Seemingly spellbound and infatuated by those who are ‘mixed race and/or of Chinese descent,’ like some unique exotic specimen, they exclaim “there are no ugly Mixed race Chinese babies,” as to imply a physically beautiful child is a form of justification for interracial breeding and marriage. Mixed race Chinese baby fetishers believe such an offspring is the apotheosis of perfection, amalgamating the best features of both races.





The beauty argument is a double edged sword. On the one hand, a ceaseless stream of successful beautiful celebrities with Chinese blood (i.e Keanu Reeves, Alexa Chung, Kristen Kreuk, Naomi Campbell etc) helps to perpetuate this myth, but then theres Gok Wan, he is considered below the standard of beauty. An article appeared in the Daily Mail last year of a British Chinese Male White Female couple who had TEN children. yes...TEN. I saw the photograph for myself, the kids differed in natural hair colours, some western looking with blonde hair, some looked a little Chinese, they all looked different, as nature intended, there is no guarantee of a beautiful child. One has to feel pity for those who fail to meet the stereotypical mixed race beauty expectations, its as if they failed to justify the reason why they're born. With the upside comes the downside, 'mixed race' are disproportionately judged on their appearance.





" You don’t look English? You don’t look Chinese? What are you? Where are you from?"





Even though British Born Chinese are probed with these questions too, their treatment differs from Mixed race. When a FOB meets a Mixed race who manages 5 words in Cantonese, the FOB will take a positive view... "Oh you can speak some Chinese, that's amazing !" Mixed race are not considered Chinese, its rare for them to speak the Chinese language, so the expectation is low. However, if a BBC (full blood) speaks Cantonese at a higher standard than a mixed race but not fluently, a FOB will say..."Oh your Cantonese is not good." Full blood Chinese are expected to speak it fluently, thus expectations are determined by physical appearance and mixed race are somewhat ambiguous.





In terms of identity, Mixed race can be in an very advantageous position. Their ambiguous ethnicity allows them to manipulate equal opportunities policies. Those with identity issues can metaphorically conceal their 'Chinese blood,' so they can simply claim to be...





...'White.' If that fails, they can then "play the race card" by jumping on 'ethnic' bandwagon by claiming to be... ...'Chinese.' In fact when that fails, they can try again a third time by claiming to be... ...'Mixed race/Other' In theory, they have three bites at the cherry, whereas a full blood Chinese is limited to one.





This begs the question, are these successful 'mixed race' paving the way for the full blood Chinese or are they merely blocking them by stealing their opportunities?





http://www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk/news/latest/view/item114698/Stratford-Eats-Takeaway Take this recent example,

"Britain's first British-Chinese musical, a hip hop version of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing...tells the story of Eddie Woo, a youthful dreamer and wannabe ladies’ man who works day and night in his father’s Chinese takeaway."

http://www.stephenhoo.com/HOME.html

The leading actor in the role is Stephen Hoo. Perhaps conveniently he doesn't say where his parents are from, merely 'being proud of his heritage.' Visibly, his facial appearance screams charlatan, he is not Chinese, rather he is mixed race. H ave you ever seen a Chinese White mixed race person working in a Chinese take away in the UK? Restaurant yes, takeaway no. (Gok Wan's father owned a restaurant and Tita Lau too ave you ever seen a Chinese White mixed race person working in a Chinese take away in the UK? Restaurant yes, takeaway no. (Gok Wan's father owned a restaurant and Tita Lau too http://www.titalauofficial.com/ ) Yet theres one playing the leading role in the musical about a Chinese Takeaway. The Chinese take-away is an iconic of representation of British Chinese culture, yet even that is not represented by a full blood Chinese.



I have been asking the same question for two decades now, why are there no famous British Born Chinese people who were born and raised in the UK (to parents who are both pure blood Chinese) and still live in the UK? (Stevie Hoang, but he's not exactly famous).





There are established factors, i.e Chinese parental discouragement, industrial discrimination of Chinese, class factors or...c ould it be that the few limited ‘ethnic’opportunities that arise for Chinese in the UK are all purloined by the mixed race and other non-BBC Chinese? R eading the biographical backgrounds of relatively famous British Chinese people, most are either born overseas, raised overseas, have emigrated or are mixed race (This issue will be explored in my next blog). Being optimistic, someone will come through eventually....or won't they? They now have to compete with a 133% rise in mixed race children.





Consequences of miscegenation - Genocide, Cultricide and Linguicide





In general, there are three routes.

Hegemonic Western Cultural Assimilation Multiculturalism/Biculturalism Sinocentricism

It is common for mixed race children to enter a phase where their identity is questioned, even within a multicultural society they theorectically still have to choose which way they go. In practice however, their future is determined at birth.





Hierachy of ‘Chineseness’ (i.e how culturally Chinese you will be 1 = most 5 = Least)

Far East Raised FOB's Far East Raised emigrating Overseas Western Raised BBC's Born to Foreign Raised Parents Western raised BBC's Born to Western Raised Parents Mixed Race

The most culturally Chinese are those raised in the Far East. The least culturally Chinese are Mixed Race. There isn't a British Chinese mixed race culture to envelop them in, so on probability, mixed race will assimilate into local hegemonic culture or 'turn native' by default.



Hierarchy of Chineseness For Mixed Race Chinese and White





1. Chinese father, White mother

2. White father, Chinese mother



