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The Art Of Chinese Gift Giving Etiquette: Best And Worst Gifts
Choosing and giving someone a gift can be hard. It could be a thank you gift, something for someone at their wedding, a parting present for someone on their last day at work or a birthday gift. To some of Chinese background, some gifts might be better than others. Next month is my birthday. About…
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When And Why Do We Trust Strangers? And Why Some Asians Don’t Often Trust
To trust or not to trust? That’s the question we often ask ourselves when we meet someone for the first time or encounter strangers. Trust: it’s about believing others, taking their word and seeing the best in them. I’m not one who trusts easily. Generally, I avoid talking to people I don’t know, be it…
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Why Having An Ethnic Name Is Annoying But Something To Be Proud Of
There are times when we find certain names harder to pronounce than others. Maybe ethnic names, cultural names or names with more than a few syllables. Names we have never heard of that make us stop and wonder if we’ll ever get the pronunciation down pat. I was born Mabel Kwong in Australia to Chinese-Malaysian…
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Why Asians, And Many Of Us, Like Taking Photos
These days taking photos is something a lot of us like to do. It’s intriguing how some of us like taking photos of ourselves, taking selfies. Intriguing how some of us like taking photos of what we see around us, such as that city building reaching for the clouds, the unmoving calm blue ocean, family,…
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Hi, I’m Asian. I Don’t Drink Because I Can
“Do you want to come out for a soft drink with us?” This is a question I get asked quite a bit by people I know who are planning on heading down to the bar or pub to knock back a few beers. They know I don’t drink anything alcoholic, and it’s very nice to…
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How To Answer “Where Are You From?”
As an Asian Australian who speaks with a slightly tinged Singaporean-Malaysian accent, quite often here in Melbourne people ask me when we’re mid-conversation, “Where are you from?”. This question is an ambiguous one. As Melissa Loh has discussed, it can mean: Which city I live in? Which country I was born in? Where I grew…
Mabel Kwong 