Being a South African Chinese

Me...

I was born on Tuesday 22 July 1980 at Marymount Hospital in Johannesburg. I grew up in Southdale, a suburb in the South of Johannesburg. I attended an english primary (co-ed and government) and high school. My second language was Afrikaans (I even got a distinction for this in matric!).

I am a second generation South African Chinese and I have lived in Johannesburg most of my life, except for about a year in Cape Town for work and 2 months in London. I have always spoken english at home because my parents speak english, their parents spoke different dialects of chinese.  My mom is Cantonese, her parents, who were born in Canton, moved to Port Elizabeth in South Africa when they were young. My dad is Hakka (ancestors originally from Meixian in China) and his parents came over to live in East London in South Africa.

Chinese in South Africa...

The local South African community is very small (I recall estimates around 10k). There are some community groups who get together for chinese celebrations (like for thr Chinese New Year & Debutante Balls) and sports (like the annual Easter Tournament which is held in a different city each year). Back in the day, I used to play basketball and do chinese dancing for a local chinese club. There is an old 'Chinatown' in Commissioner Street in Johannesburg. Today, there are still a couple of Chinese restaurants and grocery stores. There is a newer 'Chinatown' in Cyrildene, east Johannesburg, which has quite a lot of shops. There are a few chinese community centres and the Chinese Kuo Ting School off Grayston Drive. Today there are a lot of foreign chinese/taiwanese living in South Africa and there are many asian malls selling cheap clothing, appliances, stationery, jewelry - actually anything you can think of! Many of the local chinese have emmigrated to Australia, New Zealand, UK and the US.

During apartheid, unlike the Japanese, Chinese were classified as non-whites and were discriminated in the most inhumane way. My dad often tells me stories of how badly they were treated. I was fortunate not to have experienced any of this.

Being a South African Chinese...post apartheid

In 1994, when I was 14 years old, apartheid in South Africa ended. 27 April 1994 was declared Freedom Day (which is now a public holiday), I was fortunate to have danced at the inauguration of Nelson Mandela at the Union Buldings in Pretoria on this very day. A big turning point for our country, the day we celebrated our freedom as a democracy. 

Today, Chinese in South Africa are still a minority and still there appears to be confusion regarding which race chinese fall under. Only in 2008, were Chinese regarded as 'previously disadvantaged individuals' and allowed to participate in most equity employment schemes. Most race classifications on forms/surveys don't have a category for Chinese, they only list White, Black, Coloured and Indian.

I have grown up in a western society and admit that I don't know much about my heritage/culture. Sadly both my grandparents have passed away so along with that so has many information and traditions. Having this year, I plan to learn more about china, the history of my ancestors, the culture/traditions, chinese in South Africa, etc.

I am and always will be a proud South African but it will be amazing to learn more about where I come from especially now that China is becoming a dominant force in the world. I have started learning Mandarin and look forward to my journey of discovery and learnings about Chinese.

A good interesting link about chinese in SA and the history:

http://www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?id=875