Recently Rosie in Beijing, a longtime reader and blogger herself, made an excellent suggestion:
I would be interested in reading about some people’s experiences raising kids in China or maybe about having biracial kids or being biracial. There is a lot of talk about western women with Asian men but I think mixed race/nationality is another issue worth discussing.
I can’t agree more. After all, one of the biggest reasons I run guest posts is to provide fresh perspectives on this blog. And while I don’t have kids yet or know what it’s like to be biracial Asian, these are experiences that many of you already have (or will have soon) and would like to read about.
I’m interested in guest posts about:
- Biracial identity from people who have an Asian parent
- Pregnancy, raising biracial Asian kids and parenting in Asian cultures and countries
- The red tape of having kids across borders (such as visa and residency issues)
- Helping your biracial and/or bicultural children embrace their identity
- Plus anything else you can think of related to having/raising biracial Asian kids or being biracial and Asian!
I’m looking forward to your submissions!
As always, you can send them in using the form on my submit a post page or via e-mail (jocelyn (at) speakingofchina.com). You can also check out the general guidelines for all guest posts at the submit a post page.
P.S.: My apologies to everyone hoping for a fresh post today. I’ve been battling the flu on and off the past couple of weeks and have spent a lot of days just sleeping, resting and not having as much time or energy for writing as I would have liked. But don’t worry, I’ll be back next week with a fresh post from yours truly, promise! 😉
I am sure it will make for some great posts. I have witnessed first-hand my Canadian friend’s biracial child grow up in Taiwan and I am amazed at how she can function in three different languages and could from probably the age of three.
Thanks Constance! Wow, that is pretty amazing, three languages by the age of three!
Hi, I’m myself a biracial kid. French & Chinese. Probably one of the first generations to have grown up (at least partially – almost half of my life) in China (but officially, I am French).
In a certain way, it’s so part of my own identity that I don’t really feel anything special about it. It’s just who I am. It’s at the same time so easy and so complex, but the same as anyone else. That’s what being human is.
I did write something on the subject though, but it’s in French. If you know French, you can try to have a look here.
I wrote this following an exhibition I saw of a Korean-American artist, CYJO. The exhibition if over now, but you can see her work on her website.
Thanks for sharing, La Renarde! I read your post through Google translate and found it quite interesting.
Thanks for keeping my suggestion in mind! I’m really looking forward to hearing more on this topic.
R Zhao, your suggestion was fantastic! A million thanks to you for inspiring this.
Hope you get better soon!
And that’s going to be a really interesting topic. I think China adds a layer of complexity on top of this. For example, I would love if my kids have a Chinese identity as well, yet I wouldn’t be really keen to expose them to things like the party’s idea of “nationalist education”, which they tried to introduce in Hong Kong. But what’s an affordable alternative, and how do parents deal with it? is it an issue at all?
Thanks Robert! And good questions all around on that!
If you raise your kids in China, I see the biggest challenge is not getting the best of both. The Chinese education system is not up to par with the best in the world. Naturally the parents will try to stay away from the mainstream Chinese education and go for an American or other non-Chinese system. However, the oversees extension of such western schooling is also not strong and very expensive. The biggest advantage is the language. Your kids can be bilingual. Again, they are not likely to be really good at both languages. If you biracial kids choose to stay in China for long term, they might do fine with the bilingual and bicultural background. The bicultural part is also debatable. I think it is a real challenge to raise your biracial kids in China.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Dan.
Great topic, I’m really interested in seeing the responses to this as someone who will (hopefully!) have bi-racial kids with my Chinese fiance one day!
Glad you find this interesting! Thanks Cat!
What a great idea! I’ll get on it!
Thanks Kimberly! I would LOVE to run a post from you again!
I can’t help with this but I will be looking forward to read all the information and stories that others share… will be useful in the future 😀
😉
I have just emailed you…..let me know if you have received it!
Thanks Alexandra! Loved your post and I’m looking forward to running it!
I don’t have kids 🙁 but I do look forward to reading and gaining new perspective and understanding of struggles that children go through.
Thanks Sveta!
That’s too bad that you are feeling sick. I’m working on a post for you… I just need to polish it up! Hope you feel better! 🙂
Thanks Leslie! I’m looking forward to your post!
I’m looking forward to reading posts from this series.
Since our son’s still little, I can’t offer a lot of experience on the whole raising biracial kids’ topic, but maybe I’ll still come up with an idea. We have the in-laws help out with looking after him, so maybe that would be something to write about.
I’m sorry to hear that you’ve been battling the flu on and off. Get well soon!
Thanks chinaelevatorstories! I’d certainly LOVE to hear anything from you about your experiences as a new parent in China (including having your in-laws help care for your son). Or even things about your pregnancy experience (which you’ve done a wonderful job blogging about).
Yeah, the flu stinks. January has been such an unproductive month for me because of it! Ah well, as they say, life is what happens when you’re making plans, eh?
Jocelyn, I’d love to send you a guest post. We’ve had some very interesting conversations about identity in our house over the years=) Sorry to hear that you’ve been battling the flu. It’s just been awful this year. Best wishes for a speedy recovery!