Add another item to the ever growing list of expressions of Chinese-ness: Irish-Chinese (or Chinese-Irish) political representative. This story came to my attention today:
An Alliance candidate has become the first person from an ethnic minority background to take a seat in the Northern Ireland Assembly.
Anna Lo, who is the chief executive of the Chinese Welfare Association, was elected in South Belfast.
Ms Lo, originally from Hong Kong, secured the fourth highest vote in the constituency, with 3,829 first preference votes.
She said her decision to stand had been an extension of her community work.
She said she also wanted to give a voice to Chinese people who never felt they had any part to play in Northern Ireland politics.
A woman born and raised in Hong Kong now represents both Catholics and Protestants in the Northern Ireland Assembly. When you think about it, it makes perfect sense: who better to bridge the long-standing Northern Ireland political divide than a Chinese woman:
Alliance Party Leader David Ford commented:
"Anna is a proven leader, with a strong track record in community relations and community development work.
"Anna's candidature is a major watershed The population in Northern Ireland has become much more diverse over recent years. It is time that our politics caught up.
"Today, the notion that Northern Ireland consists of only 'two communities' has been dealt a devastating blow.
"As a cross-community party, Alliance has been to the forefront of efforts to build an inclusive and integrated Northern Ireland. This is much more than Protestant-Catholic relations.
This is great. It reminds us, once again, of the global presence of Chinese people and the blurring boundaries of ethnic-cultural identity. We are all hybrid now! Ms. Lo's experience broadens the definition of Irish-ness as it simultaneously extends the reality of Chinese-ness. A girl now growing up in China can aspire to elected office in Northern Ireland.
Now, if we can just make those National People Congress elections more democratic...
Best wishes to Ms. Lo as she embarks on her political career. May the luck of the Irish (or should we say the qi of the Irish) be with her!
Dear Sam,
i appreciate your views expressed here however i disagree with your conflation of culture and ethnicity.
Race and ethnicity in today's world, which has as you say a global presence of Chinese people, is separate from cultural upbringing or background of a given inidividual in a place like Ireland, America, or any other Commonwealth country.
Irish-Chinese (or Chinese-Irish) is a label used for convenience. Individual's are more than race and cultural upbringing.
let me point you towards Homi Bhabha (ed) Nation and Narration. there is no such thing as nationality.
Regards,
Wing Li
Posted by: Miss Li | March 21, 2007 at 10:51 AM
Several media wrote that she is the first lawmaker in Europe with Chinese roots, they seem to ignore the existence of Ing Yoe Tan, member of the Dutch Senate since 1998, and Varina Tjon-A-Ten, member of the Dutch Lower House in 2003-2007, not to mention a Dutch State Secretary in 2002-2003, Khee Liang Phoa. Tan's family previously lived in the Dutch East Indies, and Tjon-a-ten in Suriname. Phoa has gone back to live in China since 2004. I just wrote short stubs on all three on wikipedia. The genealogy of Mrs. Tjon-A-Ten is quite interesting as to the question of identity and ethnicity: her paternal grandfather came from mainland China to Suriname, but she's a moksi watra (mixed blood), one of her grand-grandmothers was a Brahmin Indian from British Guyana who married a Scot, and she also has Dutch and Jewish ancestry.
Posted by: Pierre-Yves Lambert | July 09, 2007 at 03:48 PM