Latest news with #ChineseHeritage
ABC News
25-07-2025
- Politics
- ABC News
Chinese Australians reflect on work in politics, as federal parliament resumes
Growing up in Queensland, Julie-Ann Campbell looked to Penny Wong as a role model. The now-foreign minister was one of the only politicians who showed a young Ms Campbell how people who "looked like" her could work in parliament. "You can't be what you can't see," said Ms Campbell. Ms Campbell won the Queensland electorate of Moreton, a seat encompassing multicultural communities in Brisbane's south, in May's federal election and is proud of her Chinese heritage. The Labor politician's family immigrated to Australia from China's Guangdong province in the late 1800s. As parliament resumed this week for the first time since the election, a record six politicians with Chinese heritage sat in the House of Representatives and Senate. In addition to Senator Wong in the Senate, five Chinese Australian politicians were elected or re-elected into the lower house in May: Julie-Ann Campbell, Gabriel Ng, Zhi Soon, Sam Lim and Sally Sitou. The parliamentarians, along with some former Liberal politicians, look back on some challenges they have faced, such as racism and discrimination — and reflect on why diversity in Australian parliament is important. "I'm proud that my daughter will grow up seeing people who look like her in parliament," said Ms Campbell. "That makes for a better democracy." For Sally Sitou, re-elected in the New South Wales seat of Reid, her background, experiences and family history are something she celebrates. Along with other ethnic Chinese, Ms Sitou's parents fled Laos because of the Vietnam War. The Labor parliamentarian grew up in the western suburbs of Sydney, never thinking politics was a career path for her — until she heard Bob Carr speak at the opening of the Chinese Lao Association's community hall. "He gave a really amazing speech about the government's commitment to working together with the local community to support them," she said. Ms Sitou said her background was now an asset in her work. "I think it is important that we try to get a lot more diversity of people into politics, regardless of which party," she said. "I really make my colleagues aware of some of the challenges for multicultural communities and for them to make sure that it is part of the work that they do." In 2022, Ms Sitou reclaimed Reid in inner-west Sydney for Labor for the first time in a decade. During that campaign, Ms Sitou said she was targeted because of her heritage. "There were some people who questioned my loyalty to this country, because of my Chinese background," she said. "I really made a point of calling it out … I felt like that's something I wanted to do." In Western Australia, before Sam Lim got into politics, he observed how politicians' views of the Chinese community impacted people. "As a police officer, I could see that on the front lines, some of the ways the anti-Chinese words and actions of the former government were affecting the community," Mr Lim said. "Running to be the federal member for Tangney was an opportunity to help change this, and so I said yes." Tangney is one of Australia's most diverse communities, with more than 160 different ancestries. People of Chinese heritage make up 16.5 per cent of its population. Mr Lim, a Malaysian Chinese immigrant, is the oldest of eight siblings in his family, who grew up in a home with a leaky roof, dirty floors and no running water. He joined the WA Police in his 40s and was awarded Officer of the Year in 2020, the force's highest honour, for his work with multicultural communities during the pandemic. Mr Lim speaks 10 languages including Malay, several Chinese languages, including Hokkien, and even Burmese, and says he understands how many people from migrant backgrounds think and feel. "Because I am one of them. I know what's dear to them," he said. "And I understand their concerns." For Gabrielle Ng, his Chinese Singaporean identity connects him to Chinese culture, shared by many constituents in the Victorian electorate of Menzies. Menzies's electoral boundaries were redrawn before the election, leaving it with the most Chinese Australian voters of any electorate in Australia. Nearly 30 per cent of the electorate has Chinese heritage. During the election campaign, Mr Ng found that some people, including the media, spoke about the Chinese Australian community as if it was monolithic. "I've made a point of highlighting the diversity in the Chinese community, with different countries of origin," Mr Ng said. "Mainland China, Malaysia, Singapore, etc, as well as language groups, cultures and political opinions." Mr Ng is proud of his heritage and has vivid memories during his childhood of visiting relatives in Singapore, eating at hawker stalls, going to yum cha and enjoying Lunar New Year celebrations. His father is a Chinese Singaporean immigrant and aircraft maintenance engineer who moved to Australia in his 20s, while his mother was raised in regional Victoria. He said his experience of racism also shaped who he became. "I've had some experiences of racism, like being called names in the schoolyard. Especially when growing up, it was very common for people to ask where I was really from," he said. Mr Ng said there was also the feeling that when politicians attacked Chinese or Asian Australians, "they were talking about me and my family". On the eve of the federal election, Liberal Senator Jane Hume claimed on television that "Chinese spies" were among the volunteers for a Labor MP's campaign — remarks that drew strong backlash from the Chinese community. "I think this has contributed to my sense of solidarity with other diverse groups and underdogs in society who might experience discrimination, as well as a strong commitment to multiculturalism," Mr Ng said. For former Liberal candidate Scott Yung, Senator Hume's comments left him feeling frustrated. "It's about using language that makes all Australians feel welcome and safe," he said. "Chinese Australians like my parents have worked hard, built businesses, and contributed through education." Mr Yung is a second-generation Chinese Australian with family roots in Hong Kong and Shanghai. Seen as a rising star in the Chinese community after nearly defeating then-opposition leader Chris Minns in a state election, Mr Yung was disappointed to not win the federal seat of Bennelong. During the campaign, some media outlets reported alleged links between Mr Yung and individuals connected to the Chinese Communist Party. Looking back, Mr Yung said he wished he had confronted the accusations more directly. "Politics is dirty, and the truth won't prevail unless you actively share it," he said. Liberal colleague Gladys Liu knows the toll of political life. In 2019, she made history as the first female Chinese Australian MP, winning the seat of Chisholm in Victoria. But scrutiny quickly followed. Despite winning the 76th seat that secured the Coalition majority, Ms Liu faced relentless questions about her connections to Chinese organisations. "If I weren't Chinese, there would've been no story to write," she said. After losing her seat in 2022, the attacks disappeared. "That confirmed for me — they weren't attacking Gladys. They were attacking the person who held that seat." Ms Liu was among the first to publicly condemn Senator Hume's remarks, calling them careless and unforgivable. "Politicians may face baseless attacks, but ordinary Chinese Australians shouldn't," she said. Gabriel Ng said Senator Hume's comments had a "chilling effect" on people in the Chinese Australian community, making them less likely to participate in politics. "One of the most despicable things about comments like those made by Senator Jane Hume … is that it makes people feel that if they get involved in politics, they will be treated with suspicion," he said. "What we want is an inclusive, vibrant democracy where everyone feels free to participate, so that the government can best reflect the will of all Australians." Senator Hume did not respond to requests for comment.
Daily Mail
19-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Race Across The World star breaks down in tears over 'bizarre' situation with ex in heart-wrenching reunion episode
Race Across The World star Yin broke down in tears as she broke down in tears over the 'bizarre' situation with her ex in Wednesday's heart-wrenching reunion episode. The fifth series of the BBC series wrapped up last week (11 June 2025) and fans were over the moon to see the cast back on their screens for a big old catch up. The instalment got very emotional, especially when exes Yin and Gaz - who were the first out of the show - opened up about their time on the programme. The former couple were married for more than 30 years but split three years ago. Speaking about how it works between the two, Gaz said: 'It probably has brought us more together. What we want in life for the pair of us is to just be happy.' He added: 'Whether I or Yin find love again, we will always be in each others' lives because we are just great friends. 'It probably looks bizarre to the outside world, but to us it's normal.' Yin looked touched as Gaz said: 'All I've ever wanted was the best for Yin and I'm just very proud of how Yin has become.' Yin also opened up about just how much being part of the much-loved series has changed her as a person. Talking to the camera, Yin said: 'Since leaving Race, I recognised that I was struggling already with what China means to me personally. 'My heritage is Chinese and I do identify as a Chinese person. 'Where I struggle is, with my upbringing, it was in a very traditional household. 'I didn't leave home on good terms with my parents.' Clearly getting very emotional at the dining table with the rest of her co-stars, she continued: 'Some of the struggles I went through are probably quite unique in the sense of because I look Chinese, I don't speak mandarin. 'I've struggled with my Chinese heritage.' She then explained that the death of her partner is what really encouraged her to take part. Yin continued: 'When I came back from Race I reconnected with my siblings and recognised that has to be addressed. 'The real gift that Race gave me was to address that then move forward with my life... 'My partner, who I had been with for three years, had passed away very suddenly in September 2023. 'One of the reasons to come on Race was to give me energy to see what is out there. 'The relief and lightness I now feel, I do feel like one of the biggest things that I've probably hanged about my self, life is there to live. 'It was the catalyst to enable me to move forward.' This year's series of Race Across the World hit our screens on 23 April. After nine episodes, the show finished last week. And it was mother-son duo Caroline and Tom who were crowned winners. It comes after Gaz left his ex-wife Yin emotional with a heart-wrenching confession live on Lorraine. Ranvir Singh stepped in for Lorraine and hosted the ITV morning show on Tuesday. The pair have been separated for three years and at one point during the interview, discussed their marriage breakdown on Lorraine. Gaz reflected: 'Like all break ups it was hard, I'm of that generation where what do you do? You try and blank it out, have a few beers and sort of forget about it.' He admitted that Yin 'helped' him and explained: 'She's an amazing person and I don't think I would be here if it wasn't for Yin. 'It wasn't that bad but it got to the point where I didn't like myself, I didn't like what I was doing, I just didn't want to be around anybody, very insular. 'Yin was the one that kept pushing me.' Yin appeared to be emotional as she interjected with praise for her former husband and said: 'He put in so much hard work and I'm just so proud of him.'
SBS Australia
05-06-2025
- General
- SBS Australia
Why this historic home saved from demolition could hold the key to a 'lost' Chinatown
Victory House, the historic 1906 home of a Chinese-Australian goldfields family, has been restored and will reborn as a museum in Ballarat. Funds to first build the home were won in an early Melbourne Cup (sketch top right). Source: Supplied, AAP Victory House, built in 1906, was home to a Chinese mine manager family in Ballarat. After being saved from demolition, the house is being transformed into a Chinese heritage museum. Community leaders aim to revitalise the surrounding area into a Chinatown, restoring Ballarat's once-vibrant Chinese presence from the gold rush era. By 1858, Ballarat's Chinese population had peaked at nearly 10,000, accounting for about 25 per cent of the adult male population. Community groups say the restoration of a 120-year-old house is the first step towards establishing a Chinatown in Ballarat to mark the contributions of thousands of Chinese workers drawn to the area both during and after the gold rush. Located at 742 Geelong Road in the Ballarat suburb of Canadian, Victory House was built in 1906 by Chinese mine manager James Wong Chung and his wife, Margaret Wong Chung. Interestingly, the funds — 400 pounds ($17,560 in today's money) — to build the house were won by Margaret after picking the winner named Victory in the 1902 Melbourne Cup. The family lived in the home for more than a century, until it was sold in 2008. Now, plans are underway to convert the restored house into a Chinese heritage museum — the first step in a broader, 10-year plan to revive Ballarat's historic Chinatown. Local Chinese community leader Charles Zhang and the founder of the Xin Jin Shan Chinese Library, Haoliang Sun, led the restoration of Victory House. Sun said the Canadian suburb, where Victory House stands, once had the highest concentration of Chinese miners in Ballarat and was home to six Chinese village camps. Those communities have long since vanished. "Other than the Chinese gold rush display at Sovereign Hill, there's no place in Ballarat today that shows how the Chinese actually lived during that time," he said. Historical records indicate that by 1855, there were approximately 2,000 to 5,000 Chinese miners on the Ballarat goldfields. By 1858, the Chinese population had peaked at nearly 10,000, accounting for about 25 per cent of the adult male population in Ballarat. To bring that history back to life, Sun and Zhang have purchased several buildings on the same street, with more deals in the works. Their vision is to create a precinct that includes a Chinese medicine shop, teahouse, Chinese restaurant and Asian supermarket — what they refer to, for now, as a Chinatown. "We're calling it Chinatown, but the name doesn't really matter," Sun said. "What matters is that a space like this must exist." Zhang acknowledges that building a Chinatown is a bold and complex undertaking — one that will require significant support from local, state and federal governments. "Restoring one house can be done by one or two people. But rebuilding a Chinatown takes a whole team," he said. "It's not something that can be done just out of passion or impulse." Still, Zhang, now in his 70s, remains optimistic. "I hope that in my lifetime, I can devote my energy and ability to doing something meaningful for future generations of Chinese Australians — to keep our history and culture alive." The Victory House museum is currently awaiting council approval to open to the public. Ticket proceeds will go toward the museum's ongoing maintenance. For the first time since its renovation, sisters Denise Johnston and Julie Odgers returned to Victory House, their great-grandparents' former home in Ballarat. Walking past the thick cypress hedge in the front garden, Johnston, 77, said she no longer felt the fear she had as a child. "It was always dark … when the wind would come through, it was really like a haunted house," she recalled. But once they stepped inside, they were greeted warmly with open arms and homemade biscuits. "I felt really emotional when I entered. It has just brought us these beautiful childhood memories," Johnston said. The house was named after the 1902 Melbourne Cup-winning horse Margaret had picked. "Our great-grandmother (Margaret) loved horses. When we come to visit her, she'd be sitting here listening to her radio and reading the racing guide," said Odgers, 75. But sadly, no one in the family has won a race since, she added. The Wong Chung family's Australian story began with James's father, Ah Wong Chung, who migrated from Canton (now Guangzhou) in the late 19th century during the Victorian gold rush. He ran a general store in Linton, supplying goods imported from China to both Chinese and European miners. In 1868, he married Irish woman Mary Anne Baker. The couple had one son, James, the future builder of Victory House. James married Australian-born Margaret Ann Holderhead in 1896. After having six children in Linton, the couple moved to Ballarat in 1903, initially living in a small miner's cottage. At the time, James was managing the nearby Woah Hawp Canton Mine. In 1906, the family moved into the newly built Victory House and welcomed another six children. In 2022, Victory House narrowly escaped demolition when new landowners applied to redevelop the site. Four Ballarat councillors argued the home wasn't significant enough to preserve, given the city's abundance of historic buildings. But after an outpouring of support, including from over 120 Chinese-Australian organisations and descendants of the Wong Chung family, the house was saved and placed on the Ballarat Heritage Register. Mick Trembath, Odgers's son and a sixth-generation descendant, said the restored Victory House held meaning far beyond his own family. "There are very few things in Ballarat that are not only genuine reminders of Chinese culture, but any contributing culture, (including) the Croatian people, Polish people and the German people," Trembath said. "To have something like this … You can walk through it, touch it, and fill it with memories. It's a really important thing. "I was really happy that we were able to save it." Share this with family and friends
CNET
19-05-2025
- Business
- CNET
Can I Delete My 23andMe DNA? Everything to Know as Firm Sells to Regeneron
Capping off a dire run of bad news in the last year, 23andMe announced this week that it will be acquired by the pharmaceutical company, Regeneron. While this turn of events might not be the worst-case scenario for many, the many ordeals that the genetic-testing firm has weathered recently still has a lot of folks wondering: Can I delete the genetic info that I sent to company? And how exactly can I go about doing that? As we grow increasingly aware of how much of our personal information is being gathered across the internet, our genetic information is perhaps the most personal data we could possibly share with anyone, let alone with companies. But over 15 million people did just that with the popular genetic-testing and ancestry-tracking company 23andMe. These concerns certainly haven't been soothed by recent news out of the company. In November, 23andMe announced that it would be laying off around 40 percent of its workforce, in the wake of a major data leak and ongoing financial and management struggles at the company, which has seen its stock price plummet by 70 percent. Around 6.9 million users were affected by the data breach, with investigations finding that the hackers responsible for the attack specifically targeted the accounts of users with Chinese or Ashkenazi Jewish heritage, which they spread on the dark web. After all of that, and four years of dwindling sales, 23andMe entered bankruptcy proceedings and was ultimately acquired by Regeneron. From the start, the company pledged that it would only agree to be bought by a company that would comply with certain data privacy standards, and Regeneron has now pledged to "ensure compliance with 23andMe's consumer privacy policies and applicable laws with respect to the treatment of customer data." As noted in a report from 404Media, this move means that 23andMe's data trove will most likely be used in the study and production of new medical drugs, which it compared favorably to past acquisitions of similar data by companies that make "DNA forensics products for law enforcement." While 23andMe might have avoided that fate for now, that might not be enough assurance for privacy-conscious people out there. To get all the details about what you can do with the data 23andMe has from you, keep reading, and for more, find out how much 23andMe will pay out in a class-action settlement and read about the complex relationship between DNA testing companies and privacy. You can also check out CNET's Best DNA Testing services of 2025 list. Can you delete your 23andMe account? Yes. If you used 23andMe for DNA testing, you have the option to delete your account and personal information whenever you choose. A 23andMe spokesperson told CNET that once your request is submitted, the process of deleting data begins "immediately and automatically" and can take about 30 days to complete. But not all your data is deleted in 30 days. What data is deleted after you close your 23andMe account? The answer to this is more complicated. Your 23andMe data will be deleted after you request the deletion of your profile, a company spokesperson told CNET. The process gives you the option to have the company discard your genetic sample, too, if you initially requested that 23andMe store it. And your information will no longer be usable for any of the company's research projects. However, there's more to it than that. "If a customer opted in to 23andMe Research, their Personal Information will no longer be used in any future research projects," the spokesperson said. "Please note, data cannot be removed from research that's already been conducted." Bay Area news site SFGate found that genotyping laboratories that worked on a 23andMe customer's sample will also hold on to the customer's sex, date of birth and genetic information, even after they're "deleted." A 23andMe representative said that by law, labs are required to retain the information for a set period of time -- from two to three years -- after which it will be deleted. The representative also said that this data is retained only by the genotyping lab, not 23andMe itself. If the lab were to be the subject of any sort of breach, the data it retains is anonymous -- it does not include a name, address, email, phone number or other contact information -- and that the genetic information included is raw and unprocessed. Before you delete your 23andMe account, download your data Before closing your account, consider saving all your 23andMe information first, including your raw genotyping data, your DNA relatives and your ancestry composition. Some of the files can take up to 30 days to prepare, so make a plan for how you want to approach this. Downloading your raw DNA file will let you upload your genetic data to another service for family or ethnicity searches, if you want. Here's how to download your raw genotyping data and related information: Log into your 23andMe account. Head to Settings and in a browser scroll to the bottom and tap View next to 23andMe Data. In the app, scroll to the bottom of Settings and tap Access your data under 23andMe data. Here you can pick which information you want to download before you delete your account, including an overview of your 23andMe reports, your ancestry composition raw data, your family tree data and your raw genetic data. Note: These files come through as PDF, TXT, JSON and other formats, and you'll need the appropriate apps to view the data. For your DNA file, 23andMe will send you an email with a link you use to download the data. You can also recreate everything in spreadsheets, as mapped out here, or take screenshots of everything. Some of the downloads come through right away, but some can take 30 days, 23andMe said. How to delete your 23andMe account and data Once you delete your data from 23andMe, unless you've downloaded it first, it's gone, the company warns. Ready? Here's how to delete your data: Head to Settings again, scroll down to 23andMe Data, and tap View. You may be asked to verify your birthdate to continue. If you've already downloaded or otherwise captured all the information you want to keep, scroll to the bottom and tap the Permanently Delete Data button. 23andMe will send you an email asking you to confirm your request. Once you do, the company will begin the deletion process and you will lose access to your account. If you had the company store your genetic samples, it will discard them. For more, find out how 23andMe fares against its main competitor, Ancestry.
Vogue
15-05-2025
- General
- Vogue
Mahjong, My Grandparents, and Me
Like a cherished family recipe, the way my family plays mahjong is time-intensive and involves complicated steps: shuffling, stacking, drawing, and discarding tiles. Play is led by intuition, wisdom, and strategy accumulated over time until it becomes muscle memory. While mahjong comes as second nature to its best practitioners, marinated in decades of practice, for the uninitiated it can feel intimidating to know how to start. New elements of the game seem to unfold as you're playing, privy only to the most seasoned players, leaving the rest of us to just follow along. Mahjong is a game best learned in person. However, I realized there would come a day when I'd want to play it just the way my grandparents taught me but there might not be anyone around to remind me how. This idea spooked me deeply and set me on a course to thinking about, researching, and writing about mahjong. I grew up an ocean away from my grandparents, but the game of mahjong brought us closer together, and now that they are gone, playing mahjong by their house rules—which I spent the past five years carefully taking down—is a way to remember them. I grew up in Southern California, a 12-hour plane ride away from New Zealand, where my parents lived until the 1980s. To my kid brain, New Zealand was a place where the seasons were opposite, ketchup was called tomato sauce, and the first meal you ate upon landing had to be a meat pie or fish and chips. My Chinese heritage felt secondary to my Kiwi roots, though the outside world sometimes disagreed. In my younger days, when strangers asked, with that question behind the question, 'Where are you from?' I'd get a little thrill in matter-of-factly saying, 'New Zealand,' to upend their expectations. My great-grandparents left China for New Zealand in the early 1900s, not long after the game of mahjong reached the Western world. Yet over generations, as my family has lost our Cantonese language skills, somehow mahjong has made it through. The few phrases I know in Cantonese fall into three categories: household requests (things like 'wash your hands' and 'set the table'), food-related terms, and things to say during a mahjong game. My paternal grandparents taught me how to play mahjong when I visited them for a month the summer after graduating from college 15 years ago. Despite holding dual New Zealand–American citizenship, this trip was the longest stretch of time I'd ever spent there without my parents. While friends backpacked across Europe or took summer jobs as baristas, I settled into the rhythm of my grandparents' lives, and on the weekends, we played mahjong.
