Home is not Here

Back in September, I had the immense privilege of meeting Prof Wang Gungwu at a very lovely dinner party hosted Dr Lee. 

According to Prof Wang's wiki entry, he is an Australian historian, specializing in the history of China and Southeast Asia, educated in Nanjing University, University of Malaya, University of London SOAS, and a founder of Parti Gerakan Malaysia (!)

Last week, I chanced upon this book on our bookshelf - a partial memoir recording his formative years of growing up as the only son of literate parents in multicultural colonial Ipoh, to their long dreamed of but short lived return to China, and ending just as he continues his tertiary education at the newly formed University of Malaya in 1949.

I appreciated the straightforward story telling against the backdrop of war and uncertainty. 

But the part of his story that resonated with me most were his observations and challenges of balancing overlapping cultural identities and heritage - when you're not quite 'other' - that was foundation for his interest in the chinese diaspora. 

(Not quite 'other', is my own made up term to describe having a different cultural experience from those from the same ethnic group) 

Just as when you're 'other - other', certain assumptions are made about you when you're not quite 'other', one being exclusionary and the other inclusionary - real or perceived. 

But there is a rootedness and assuredness that those who grew up in the place where they were born and in a culture that is not dissimilar from their parents, with the same set of friends for 20 years, take for granted. Like calling yourself PJ boy or girl. Like knowing you have a place to return to after university abroad. Like not having your code switch on auto-pilot all the time. This has been my own personal observation - which I would love to discuss with Prof Wang if I ever have the opportunity to meet again. I do hope so. 

On the flipside to the un-rootedness, there is a freedom - to discover your own path (which Prof Wang does, as his concludes at the end of the book) - and hopefully find your way home one day, some day.