My cousin immigrated to Canada from Hong Kong about 10 – 12 years ago. Him and his wife were police officers in Hong Kong. I saw them last week and I was left with a feeling that I wasn’t “Chinese” enough – for them at least, I think I’m doing alright. “Juk Sing”, that’s what they call me – born and raised in the Western world. My cousin has these preconceived stereotypes about people such as myself, and when I say “people such as myself” I mean me being a “Juk Sing”. My cousin is a great guy, but just a little too traditional and discriminating for me. Here is just a few of the things him and his wife thought:
- He was surprised to learn that I understood and could speak Cantonese as well as I did (I’m no expert, but I can hold my own, I just need to conquer Mandarin!)
- He didn’t think I liked eating Chinese food….um, I freakin live on the stuff. I love Asian food, not just Chinese.
- Him and his wife didn’t quite understand how I could live on my own, away from my parents.
- His wife thought I should go home for dinner every night (in Hong Kong, family members gather for dinner every night – even if you don’t live together, you eat together)
- His wife was then surprised to learn that I cooked, she thought I just did take-out. And, even more surprise to learn that I enjoy cooking and I cook rice too. My cousin instantly thought I cooked pasta cause you know that’s what Juk Sing’s like…right.
I could go on and on with the list, but it was very entertaining to me these stereotypes they had. Based on what, I wasn’t exactly sure. I’m not your typical Canadian born Chinese person. I live on rice, I eat all sorts of Asian food, and actually, I’m not a huge fan of Western food, I like it, but if there was a bowl of rice, pho, Malaysian curry or chow fun in front of me, I’d pick those any day over a burger, fries and spaghetti with meatballs.
When people stereotype, it irritates me. But, I can forgive my cousin, because he grew-up in a totally different environment than me. Seriously though, me not eat rice? Its like me not breathing……I’d die.
