Chinese Girl

I grew up like a foreigner in my own land

Always careful to not be too prideful of our history

Of kings and queens that could rule the world

If only they dared

And so I learnt to keep my head down

And hide my pride

My white friends are filled with their national pride

My white friends are not ashamed of their land

My white friends never learnt to keep their head down

My white friends learnt to be proud of their bloody history

Proud of their kings and queens who dared

Declare that they had the right to rule the world

And the world

Bent their knees and broke their pride

To the white man who dared

Steal our land

Who dared to rewrite our history

Who were proud to keep whole civilisations down

But I am proud and I will not be kept down

No matter what the world

Might say of my country’s history

I will remember and have pride

I will not let someone dictate to me what it means to be from my land

I will remember my ancestors who dared

The ones who dared

To make gunpowder and light up the sky instead of bringing it down

The ones who explored other lands

But never thought to conquer the world

I will remember the good and the bad and take pride

Because they are all threads woven into the tapestry of my history

My country is old, her history

Is rich in stories of those who dared

To innovate and invent with pride

Who worked hard from sun up to sun down

You could travel the world

And never find a culture, a story, a people like the ones in my land

I am a Chinese girl and I will never bow down

To the ones who dare rewrite history and conquer the world

I will take pride in my slanted eyes and curious foods that bring me back to my home land

For more musings on culture and immigration, check out my piece Immigration Generation 1.5.