Mixed Race Chinese & those of Chinese Descent



Alexa Chung is of Chinese descent but who actually considers her to be Chinese?

A controversial discussion on Eurasian Mixed race Chinese and those of Chinese descent and their relationship with the British Chinese community.



(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...

1. ...'White.' If that fails,  they can then "play  the race card" by jumping on 'ethnic' bandwagon by claiming to be...
2. ...'Chinese.' In fact when that fails, they can try again a third time by claiming to be...
3. ...'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?


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

"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. Have 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...could 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? Reading 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.

1. Hegemonic Western Cultural Assimilation 
2. Multiculturalism/Biculturalism 
3. 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) 

1. Far East Raised FOB's
2. Far East Raised emigrating Overseas
3. Western Raised BBC's Born to Foreign Raised Parents
4. Western raised BBC's Born to Western Raised Parents
5. 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

 The least culturally Chinese will be a Mixed Chinese White baby born to a White father Chinese mother, based on personal experience, more so if its a girl than a boy.  A self-hating inter racially married Chinese female whose life ambition is to obliterate her Chinese bloodline should pray that she gives birth to a daughter.

If the Child has a Chinese father, his Chinese surname can act as a gravitational pull towards a Chinese identity, 'carrying the family name' along with its obligations is a reminder of their heritage, at least for Chinese males (females have different obligations), so it cannot be enforced by a White Father or his Chinese wife...as she has a tendency to follow her husband's culture. However, there are limits, a mixed race child is a tabula rasa, it is devoid of heritage or cultural responsibility and if it is raised in the UK, it is highly unlikely to be sinocentric. If the child doesn't become westernised in the home during its early years, it certainly will be by the time it spends a year in nursery or studying in a British school. These establishments will do their utmost to white-wash the child via socialisation and assimilation, it is not uncommon for Chinese parents to be instructed by the school or nursery not to speak Chinese in the home, it is said that speaking an alternative language to English impairs the Child's development in school causing him to lag behind in class. Consequently, servile BBC's who complied with this white-washing route are well educated, mastering Latin and French, yet they can't speak their own ethnic Chinese language. Generally, by raising a child in the west,  the overall odds for racial, cultural and linguistic preservation are poor, irrespective of ethnic parenting variations.

It gets worse. Statistically, according to 2001 census, mixed race are more likely to marry inter racially than any other race, its not uncommon for their partner also to be mixed race like themselves but not necessarily the same mix nor Mixed race Chinese. Its  rare for a mixed race Chinese to marry a full blood Chinese. There are exceptions of course, Jamie Cho whose partner is British Taiwanese chef Ching He Huang. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jamie_Cho


Posterity 

British mixed race Chinese are barely Chinese, neither in physical shape, cultural form nor linguistically, if they themselves are incapable of upholding their Chineseness, then their offspring are certainly not going to do it.

A topical example, Polly Samson (of Chinese descent).   http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polly_Samson 
The mother of Charlie Gilmour who was arrested for his part in the student riots in London late last year. There is nothing Chinese about her or her son, if it wasn't reported in the press, nobody would know she had Chinese blood.  

And...if a full blood Chinese has an child with a half White half Chinese partner, the child will be 75% 3/4 Chinese. Will a 75% Chinese uphold their Chineseness? There is a famous example, Alexa Chung. Alexa Chung's father is 75% 3/4 Chinese,

"I'm 3/8 Chinese 5/8 English. A very silly fraction. Less than a half,more that a quarter."  http://twitter.com/alexa_chung/status/3368205919 

Her father did not marry a Chinese, he married a White woman. How Chinese is their '3/8 Chinese' daughter? Alexa Chung is basically a White woman who will marry a White guy or a non-Chinese mixed race.

It is puzzling as to why mixed race are 'considered' part of the British Chinese community. Mona Hammond who played Blossom Jackson in Eastenders has a Chinese father,  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mona_Hammond yet it is doubtful a Chinese person would consider her to be Chinese, but Black, she has never played a Chinese role in her life. Maybe exceptions are made for Alexa Chung et al because She is mixed race Chinese and White Caucasian and has White skin as opposed to Black skin. Or perhaps the fact there are no famous British Born Chinese people (full bloods raised and live in UK) with celebrity status, so mixed race are the next best thing, rather like clutching straws. Chinese people really do wish that Alexa Chung can speak Chinese so they can proudly claim "She's one of ours and she's an A-list."

However, merely being mixed race or biracial or of 'Chinese descent' flatters to deceive, it doesn't follow that a half White half Chinese person will be bi-cultural,  they will rarely reflect 50% British culture and 50% Chinese culture, culturally its likely to be nearer 90% non-Chinese 10% Chinese, whereas their children in the next generation (as in case of Alexa Chung i.e who has a pureblood Chinese grandparent) will be culturally 0% Chinese. They cannot speak Chinese, they do not look Chinese, they do not follow Chinese culture, they do not identify themselves with other Chinese people, their social or dating circles are not Chinese, nor do many Chinese people perceive mixed race as being Chinese. In the west, miscegenation is the start of a slippery descent into multi-generational cultricide, genocide and linguicide, it is extremely unlikely the following generations will re-breed with Chinese and yet amusingly they can claim to be Chinese by virtue of a Han Chinese relative high up the family tree.