Caught between two cultures Having both Chinese and Western sensibilities brings challenges to celebrating the holidays

• Published in: Toronto star
• Main Author: Li, Florence
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: Toronto, Ont Torstar Syndication Services, a Division of Toronto Star Newspapers Limited 31.01.2011
• Subjects: Asian Americans; New year; Students; Canada; Asia; China; Hong Kong China
• ISSN: 0319-0781

Ask me where I'm from, and I'll tell you, "Hong Kong." But when I'm back home with my family, ask me the same question and I'll tell you, "Toronto." In 2007, after spending four lonely years at Queen's University in Kingston, I hastily moved back in with my family in Hong Kong when the post-undergraduate job search got rough. Those two years back in Asia became my "lost years." I was disillusioned and unemployed. I returned to Toronto on vacation in June 2009, and never left. I call it my extremely extended holiday. Now, when my friends in Hong Kong ask me why Toronto is better, I tell them it's not that Toronto is better; it's that I like myself better when I am here. I belong here. Toronto is that place where I can occupy the in-between spaces of being whatever and whoever I want to be. I'll always look forward to seeing my family in Hong Kong, but the moment the plane's wheels hit the tarmac at Pearson International Airport, I'll feel like I'm coming home. "Harmony at home, longing for home." Calligraphy by William Ho, www.theonegallery.ca/www.oneheartbeat.ca Florence Li grew up in Thornhill and lived in Hong Kong. Above, she shops in Torontp's Chinatown and below, she inspects produce at, the Graham St. market in Central district, Hong Kong. She thinks of both places as home but doesn't fully belong to either. dreamstime photo illustration