Don’t let your race define you: on being a Chinese person in the UK during Covid-19

Whether I like it or not, I am always known as the ‘Chinese girl’.

Ethnically Chinese people make up less than 2% of the population in the UK, making my racial identity stand out even more. Pre-Covid, being known as the ‘Chinese’ girl, bothered me because I am much more than my ethnicity and culture. Often, I found myself saying:

“No, Andrea, I do not want to be friends with you because you like eating egg fried rice and ‘totally love’ pandas.”

“No, Freddy, I don’t want to date you because you have a ‘thing’ for Chinese girls and want to improve your Mandarin skills.”

“No, Ellie, I don’t want to be your best friend just because we are both Chinese.”

I found myself explaining that I grew up in London and that my mother tongue is English, not Chinese. I wear English clothes, have ‘English’ values and understand the English culture much more than any other. Instead of being cast into the role of ‘friend’ to people who fetishize my supposed culture, I wanted to form connections with others based on shared values and interests. I felt frustrated that people choose to define me by such arbitrary qualities such as my ethnic appearance.