The Pilgrimage: On Living Between Worlds
A British Vietnamese-Cantonese-Hakka third-generation immigrant reflects on leaving London for Shanghai — and never leaving
En resumen
- A British Vietnamese-Cantonese-Hakka third-generation diaspora member recounts how an offhand comment about needing "international exposure" at a London law firm led them to book a three-month stint in Shanghai a decade ago — and never leave.
- Reflecting on their experience as a minority of a minority in the UK, where less than 1% of the population identified as Chinese, they explore questions of belonging, identity, and the assumptions embedded in casual remarks about where one truly belongs.
Resumen generado por IA
Por qué importa
The author is a British Vietnamese-Cantonese-Hakka third-generation immigrant who worked at a London law firm before moving to Shanghai. In the UK, less than 1% of the population identified as Chinese, making the author part of a minority of a minority. The piece reflects on the casual remark that prompted their move and the identity questions it raised.
"You could do with some international exposure. China, maybe," a law firm partner said as we stood over the water cooler. His offhand comment was so blasé. I wasn't sure what unsettled me more – the comment or my reaction to it. Was it xenophobia or the inertia of assumption? He was perfectly pleasant, encouraging even, but beneath the civility was an implication I couldn't ignore. I had never set foot in Asia, yet suddenly, it felt as though my credibility required a pilgrimage. I wrestled with a familiar refrain: go back to where you came from. It threaded through my thoughts, persistent and uninvited. So I booked the flight. Three months at a law firm in China, I reasoned. International exposure. Professional development. Tick the box. Return to London. A decade (and five cities) later, I am still in Shanghai, a city that has reinvented itself several times over in that time. The future I thought I was preparing for – stable and linear, shaped by hyper-independent eldest immigrant daughter syndrome – has dissipated along the way. In the United Kingdom, I was a statistic no one read aloud. Less than 1 per cent of the population identified as Chinese. My British Vietnamese-Cantonese-Hakka third-generation diaspora heritage cast me as a minority of a minority.
Preguntas abiertas
- What specific law firm in China did the author work at?
- What specific experiences shaped the author's decade in Shanghai?
- How has the author's relationship with their British identity evolved?
