Edit (16/08/06):  It appears I’ve actually got the quote wrong. Slapped wrists. I’ve changed it (from “Who does she think she is” to “Where did you find her”) to keep it in line with the quote. Thanks the anonymous commenter, whoever you are.

 

Inspired by “Princess” Nikki from Big Brother 7 in the UK (For those who don’t know who she is – linkage, and a lovely Youtube video here), I’m going to do a “Who is she he?” all on me.

If you know me that well, you may as well ignore this one and move onto the next one. I’m extremely patriotic being Chinese, despite the fact I’ve never been there nor speak the lingo (I’m learning) and I’m proud of my heritage.

First and foremost, I’m Chinese (as if you could never guess). I’m also Han Chinese (Please note: The Han ethnic group is the largest ethnic group worldwide, and I would say that as a general rule of thumb, most Chinese people are Han Chinese). And that breaks down again. I’m also Hakka. Both my parents are. So for a good start, I’m ethnically Hakka Han Chinese. (Shorten it to Hakka Chinese, I prefer it that way).

Now I go into rant mode, scroll down if it gets boring, the double line break should show you where to go next.

The Hakka people are people who have been said to have originated in… forget it, you can read it on Wikipedia.

But my grandparents (some cases it’s great grandparents) moved from Meixian (TC: 梅縣) in the Guangdong Province. Some people might recognize Meixian differently, Mei Xian (That and Meixian are Mandarin), Moi Yen, Moi Yan, Moyyen, Moyyan, Moiyen, Moiyan (And there the Hakka Romanisation, and that’s where it becomes a mess, y’s and i’s move about and e’s and a’s replace each other).

We’re not called Hakka in Mandarin either (as that’s much of a surprise), just like the Cantonese are called 粤 (SC, PY: Yue), and Hakka is 客家 (SC, PY: KeJia).

And that’s not it. Not quite. My family moved to L’ile Maurice, better know in English as Mauritius. And since I hold a passport, I seemed to have picked that up in my nationality (considering my parents are Chinese-Mauritian anyway, it’s not a huge surprise). And that’s where my parents and most of my family grew up and eventually left. I still go there every few years for a holiday, because I still have family there, grandmother, aunites, uncles and a few cousins, and the pace of life is a lot more relaxed than it is in the UK.

So that does leave me with a British Born Meixian Hakka Han Chinese Mauritian.

I’ll be sticking with British Born Chinese in the future: it’s easier.