Being Eurasian: Memories Across Racial Divides

Epilogue

ja I *>• • » 0-~-<-»—I—« S Epilogue A fter reading the lives of these Eurasian memoirists, what emerged is a wavering continuum of their varying self-definitions o f their Hong Kong Eurasia n heritage . A t on e en d o f th e continuum , w e see Joyce Symons representing her interpretation of her Hong Kong Eurasianness as more British, less Chinese, colonial, isolated and tied to mercantile/treatyport history . Moving awa y from Symons an d edgin g toward s the middle , there i s Jean Gittms , whos e notio n o f he r Eurasiannes s i s based o n a n indeterminacy an d undecidability , thoug h a t mos t time s i t tend s t o lea n more toward s Symons' s direction o f being British . Occasionally , th e pul l from he r Chinese side can be felt a s she wavers in her choice of identity . Overall, Jean Gittms seems adamant about not making any strong ultimate identity decisio n a s i f thi s undecidabilit y wer e itsel f constitutiv e an d definitive. She insists on a Eurasianness that cannot be calculated or divided, a metissage that will always be in the intermediate space, having strong ties to both sides. Finally, at the opposite end of the continuum, we have Irene Cheng whose self-definition of Eurasianness is concessionary and contingent, a biological accident in her Ho Tung Chineseness. Her expression of Hong Kong Eurasianness is , most of the times , synomonous with Chinese. Th e two word s 'Chinese ' an d 'Eurasians ' ar e interchangeabl e i n her writings . Her choice of identity is based on her intens e cultural identification wit h her Chines e heritage . And ye t she occasionally acknowledges , and mor e often betrays , some o f the psychologica l stres s impose d upo n he r b y thi s strong interpretation of her ethnicity, with its elements of partial denial. Lastly, another issu e that need s to be addressed i s the explanatio n o f the drastic difference i n the tw o sisters' conception o f Eurasianness. On e 258 Bein g Eurasian Memories Across Racial Divides can, of course, rely on the explanation base d on the power dynamics an d sibling orde r withi n th e extende d family . Iren e i s apparently th e truste d older daughter whose ethnic an d ideologica l configuration woul d tend t o be closer to her parents. But how could we explain the other older siblings such a s Eddie or Eva whose ideologica l an d ethni c sentiment s clearl y d o not resembl e tha t o f Iren e o r thei r parents ? According t o Iren e Cheng' s memoir, Eddie, the eldest son of the family, to the utter dismay of the three elderly parents, had secretly married an Irish lady he had fallen m love with while i n Englan d (1997 , 120) . Eva wa s a successful medica l practitione r and ha d remaine d singl e an d independent , a powerfu l sisterl y figur e i n Cheng's memor y wh o does not see m to share Irene' s enthusiasm toward s Chinese Confucian sensibilities. The explanations of sibling order and family power therefore d o have their weaknesses. I would argue that perhaps, the role of one's individual existential choice could not be underestimated. No matter how hard stalwart defenders of social determinism have tried to prove the illusor y natur e o f free individual choice , thi s differenc e betwee n th e sisters' conception of their Eurasianness and ethnic identity has pointed to the fact that within the forces of social determinism, human beings can, to some degree and at certain moments, fashion themselves at their own willful choice. Of al l th e memoirists , Jea n Gittin s i s perhap s th e onl y on e wh o acknowledges tha t he r ow n identit y proces s coul d b e highl y strategic , contingent an d perhap s nebulou s a t times . Standing a t th e tw o extrem e ends, we have Symons and Cheng, who tend to find themselves constantly defending an d negotiatin g thei r personal notions o f Eurasianness agains t the prescriptive definitions and casual prejudice of others, often enough m circumstances of personal anguish. Most o f us do assume th e rol e of storytellers o f our own live s at on e stage o r another . Bu t bein g a Eurasia n fro m th e earl y twentiet h centur y Hong Kong, th e tas k becomes les s simple, as the questio n o f 'who am I?' always seems to intrude into one's life narrative. Am I more European than Chinese? More patriotic than colonial? More colonial than indigenous? It is the constan t jostlin g o f choice s whic h mark s th e storytellin g o f thes e Eurasian authors much more demanding, much more poignant. In many ways, these life narratives not only coincide temporally wit h those very turbulen t phase s of Hong Kong, as the city itself underwent a Epilogue 259 series of identity changes, but the city, too, like these Eurasian authors, had to cop e wit h it s ow n se t o f jostling choice s i n it s quest fo r it s historica l identity. ...