Being Eurasian: Memories Across Racial Divides

Preface

Preface B oth my parents originally came from Zhongshan . On th e paterna l side of my family, I have five Eurasian uncles and one Eurasian aunt from m y grandfather's firs t marriag e i n Cairns, Australia. Thes e Eurasian uncle s an d aunt s wer e raise d b y my Chinese grandmothe r i n Zhongshan I remember as a young child, I loved to hear them switch fro m their heav y Cairn s Englis h t o th e Lund o dialec t a s they tol d u s thei r childhood adventures i n Shekki. In Hong Kong during the late 1950 s and 1960s, there were still traces of the Hong Kong Eurasian community i n my father's workplace, in our neighbourhood as well as in the French Conven t school which I attended for 1 5 years. One of my mother's mahjong buddie s was a Eurasian lady, Mrs Waites (whom we called chat gu neuhng). Chat gu neuhng's British husband was a ship captain and was often away He r mother was a self-taught Chinese herbalist from Macau, and friends and neighbours often sough t her advic e and remedie s for thei r littl e ailments. I used t o spend long afternoons a t the Waites' home after schoo l playing with th e youngest of the Waites girls, while the adults shuffled their tiles energetically on the mahjong table amid occasional outbursts of Cantonese and English exclamations I t was in the lat e 1960 s and early 1970 s that old Eurasia n neighbours and school friends graduall y disappeared from ou r lives. Many migrated to Australia, others to Canada and England, and with them thei r Eurasian charm and eccentricity . ...