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Chinese and Any Other Asian by Anna Sulan Masing

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Chinese and Any Other Asian

Publisher
Orion
Publish Date
6 February 2025
Run Time
6 hours 54 minutes
Format
Audiobook
$13.95

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What to expect

'Chinese' or 'Any other Asian'. The boxes that people of vastly varied East and South East Asian heritage have to tick when declaring their ethnicity on many forms in the UK.

This represents a shameful sweeping together of a diverse heritage and experience. East and South East Asian people have lived and worked in the UK for centuries, fought for the British Army in both world wars, have influenced British culture through food, writing, music and art in a multitude of ways. And yet this influence is often overlooked.

People of ESEA heritage experience unique forms of racism. Asian food is mocked as unhealthy and Asian restaurants as dirty. ESEA women are exoticised and sexualised, and assumed to be the nanny of their mixed-race children. The community was scapegoated for the Covid-19 pandemic.

Anna Sulan Masing addresses these issues in a comprehensive way. She explores what it means to be East and South East Asian in Britain today, and celebrates the varied experiences that make up ESEA identity. Powerful, moving and illuminating, this will be a must-read for anyone interested in the make-up of our multicultural society.

'Vital reading, but also vital in the truest sense - real, alive, full of humanity, interrogatory, empathetic, energising' Claire Kohda, author of WOMAN, EATING

Critics Review

  • Vital reading, but also vital in the truest sense - real, alive, full of humanity, interrogatory, empathetic, energising

    Claire Kohda, author of WOMAN, EATING

  • An important, vital, and illuminating read . . . An incredibly well-researched, personal, and direct exploration of society, racism, culture, food, the hypersexualisation of ESEA women, and gendered violence

    Angela Hui, author of Takeaway: Stories from a Childhood Behind the Counter

  • Rigorous, revelatory and radical, Chinese and Any Other Asian is both a fascinating social history and a timely invitation to have better conversations about culture and ethnicity. Bold and necessary

    Jimi Famurewa, author of SETTLERS: Journeys Through the Food, Faith and Culture of Black African London

  • A complex, nuanced, and absorbing portrait of what it means to be mixed - with food, gender, and labor concerns as throughlines - whose ideas and critiques can be applied well beyond the shores of Britain

    Alicia Kennedy, author of No Meat Required

See more reviews
  • A resonant and enjoyable read for all of us, no matter our cultural identity . . . elucidating, entertaining and approachable

    Charlotte Druckman, author of SKIRT STEAK and WOMEN ON FOOD

  • An essential look at ESEA identity through the lens of resisting British colonialism... skillfully interrogates the concepts of race, class, gender and language within pop culture with refreshing aplomb. A crucial volume in the Asian diasporic repertoire

    Esther Tseng

  • Writing with both sincerity and scepticism, Masing offers an essential deconstruction of East and Southeast Asian identity in a society that so easily collapses all nuance. As a person of Southeast Asian heritage, I've always wanted to read a book like this - simultaneously illuminating and affirming.

    Bettina Makalintal, senior reporter at Eater

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Details

Author
Anna Sulan Masing
Narrator
Anna Sulan Masing
Duration
6 hours 54 minutes
Release Date
6 February 2025
ISBN
9781399606684
Format
Audiobook
Publisher
Orion
Genre
Society and culture: general, Asian history

Synopsis

'Chinese' or 'Any other Asian'. The boxes that people of vastly varied East and South East Asian heritage have to tick when declaring their ethnicity on many forms in the UK.This represents a shameful sweeping together of a diverse heritage and experience. East and South East Asian people have lived and worked in the UK for centuries, fought for the British Army in both world wars, have influenced British culture through food, writing, music and art in a multitude of ways. And yet this influence is often overlooked.People of ESEA heritage experience unique forms of racism. Asian food is mocked as unhealthy and Asian restaurants as dirty. ESEA women are exoticised and sexualised, and assumed to be the nanny of their mixed-race children. The community was scapegoated for the Covid-19 pandemic.Anna Sulan Masing addresses these issues in a comprehensive way. She explores what it means to be East and South East Asian in Britain today, and celebrates the varied experiences that make up ESEA identity. Powerful, moving and illuminating, this will be a must-read for anyone interested in the make-up of our multicultural society.'Vital reading, but also vital in the truest sense - real, alive, full of humanity, interrogatory, empathetic, energising' Claire Kohda, author of WOMAN, EATING

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