Chinese-ish: “Where are you from?”

Chinese-ish unpicks the experiences of young Chinese-Australians in today’s Australia. Source: Joanna Hu

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Being asked ‘where are you from?’ can be a common experience for young Chinese-Australians, and it isn’t necessarily easy to answer. This episode of the Chinese-ish podcast tackles that question, and how it feels to be asked it, with research students Christopher Cheng and Alexandra Lee.

Episode two of Chinese-ish tackles what can be a touchy question for many young Chinese-Australians.

Sometimes, it’s a simple conversation starter about someone’s journey from A to B. Other times, it’s loaded with an unspoken and harmful assumption about someone’s foreign-ness.

Being asked ‘where are you from?’ can be a common experience for young Chinese-Australians, and it isn’t necessarily easy to answer. Unpacking the complexities in this episode are two research students with Chinese heritage, Christopher Cheng and Alexandra Lee.

In this episode of Chinese-ish

Why context matters when it comes to asking ‘where are you from’
Where Chinese-Australians are actually from
How place and identity relate (and how they don't)

Speaking about his own heritage, Cheng says, “My parents are from Hong Kong, but before I actually went overseas I had no idea of what Hong Kong was. It felt quite meaningless to say that you're from Hong Kong when you didn't really know about the place.”

Lee, who was born and raised in Ballarat, speaks to similar complexities. “I don't really identify as culturally Chinese. I identify as mixed race, as Asian Australian.

“I'm more comfortable with [these labels] because I identify with it more at the racialised level of experience, in the sense that it's how other people see me.”

Even though ‘where are you from?’ seems like a simple question, it can bring together these questions of race, place, culture and identity in unexpected ways.