7. Astrology, Gryffindor, and Chop Suey
Chop Suey literally translates to “random pieces” in Cantonese. In this episode, Kristy & Angie cook up some chop suey of random shit including filial piety, Chinese Canadian history, and Asian representation in the BLM movement. Of course, there’s some Harry Potter and astrology goodness as well.
Highlights:
What does it mean to “be present”
China is basically Westeros
Juneteenth March 2020
Defining confirmation bias
Old vs. New Chinese immigrants
Which Pottermore houses are Kristy & Angie in
Takeaways:
If stories are not shared, they will be lost forever
Everything we know - labels, stereotypes, astrology, even science - that is all human conjecture
Our everyday action will determine if we progress or regress as a society
Mentions/Resources:
IG: @blackvancouver
Chop Suey Nation by Ann Hui (Book)
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Got a topic you want us to chat about? Have a question about mental health or adulting as an Asian American? Let us know!
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Transcript
HEADS UP: We use AI to help us transcribe so we can spend more time on the podcast. The transcription is not perfect. Please forgive any typos.
[00:00:00] Angie Yu: So. before we play our edited episode seven. I just want to take a moment to clarify something from episode six. Now, I know I made a comparison between depression and diabetes in episode six, and we also mentioned other physical diseases, such as heart disease, cancer, and hypertension.
[00:00:21] I understand in hindsight that this may have. You know, given the impression that we are devaluing the severity of these diseases. These diseases are incredibly serious, incredibly severe, and lots of people suffer as a result and we do want to apologize. Especially myself because I made this comparison. I want to apologize if we had offended anybody with any of these diseases where people who are struggling. Uh, with, with these diseases in their lives, we use them as an example to emphasize how serious. All illnesses can be physical or mental.
[00:00:59] And I'm really sorry if it came off. If it came off that way to anybody out there to any listeners out there.
[00:01:06] I think at the end of the day, we just all have to be more compassionate. Uh, be honest, be kind to one another. . thank you to those who have reached out to us to tell us.
[00:01:16] How much you appreciate the podcast? Um, it really means a lot to us to know that. The jibberish we say. Actually means something. Um, and it's something that really keeps, keeps us going. So. Thank you, everyone for listening to our podcast and. Please enjoy episode seven. It's a lot more lighthearted than pretty much all of our episodes. So far, this one's a little bit more like our first introduction where Chrissy and I kinda go back and forth and we bent her.
[00:01:43] And we talk about really random things. Um, enjoy.
[00:01:50] We're recording.
[00:01:51] Kristy Yee: Let's do it. Okay. I'm a bit nervous. Are you a little bit, maybe it's because I'm tired but I think it's because moms.
[00:01:58] Angie Yu: Yeah. Well, so
[00:02:00] Kristy Yee: I mean, just those do like, well,
[00:02:02] Angie Yu: well, well
[00:02:04] Kristy Yee: then,
[00:02:05] Angie Yu:
[00:02:30] before we jump right in, uh, I'm just gonna let our listeners know that Christie. Like I can tell there's something different about Christina.
[00:02:38] Kristy Yee: No,
[00:02:39] Angie Yu: first of all, she tripped over an air plant on my balcony. Can I just emphasize, I put the airplane in today? Like I put some stones on my balcony, it looks all cute and stuff. Cause he comes in I'm on like a happy hour zoom call with my coworkers. She comes in, she looks like so distressed. I was like, yeah, you looked so destruct.
[00:02:57] I think that's why I was like, not mad. You know, like if somebody does something and then they kind of like, not really. Feeling bad about it, then you get mad. So I wasn't even mad because you look so distressed. I was like, Oh my God, what's wrong. I thought you'd like, you won. I thought, I thought you went outside for like an important phone call or something.
[00:03:12] And you came in. I was like, Oh my God, it's right here. Like, I tripped over one of your succulents. And I was like, okay, first of all, how do you trip over a succulent? And then you're like, there's no soil. I was like, what? It's like come out. And I see that she tripped over an air plant. First of all,
[00:03:26] Kristy Yee: I can trip over anything. Yes, me
[00:03:28] Angie Yu: too. I do not remember in the yearbook I was voted.
[00:03:31] Kristy Yee: Yes.
[00:03:33] Angie Yu: Yes. But I think that's bias because all my friends were on the yearbook committee and, um,
[00:03:37] Kristy Yee: but there needs to be a little bit of truth and that was
[00:03:41] Angie Yu: a little bit true, but there was definitely also a lot of nepotism anyway, so, and then I'm like still all those zoom call with my coworkers and then Christie decides to take my plate away.
[00:03:50] And then you
[00:03:51] Kristy Yee: dropped the plate. I did, but I didn't break it God. Oh my God. I saw the whole thing in slow motion.
[00:03:58] Angie Yu: Me too.
[00:04:00] Kristy Yee: There was sauce on it too. And the sauce package flew in the air and I could see it spreading in front of my eyes. And I'm like, can I Ninja
[00:04:09] Angie Yu: this? Can I just.
[00:04:11] Kristy Yee: Yeah. You know,
[00:04:12] Angie Yu: you can, I could not,
[00:04:13] Kristy Yee: you did not.
[00:04:14] I could, could not. And I did not. And then I just watched it crumble onto the floor and the homely thing homely,
[00:04:21] the only thing I could think of was, do not shatter
[00:04:27] Angie Yu: my, I was on the plane. I could see a falling too. Slowly hitting the ground. Um, yeah. Thank goodness. It didn't shatter, but immediately I was like, Christie, are you
[00:04:38] Kristy Yee: okay? I know you were so concerned. I'm like, I'm fine. Like it's the sauce I'm worried about?
[00:04:44] Cause the sauce over the floor on the
[00:04:47] Angie Yu: Christy, the salt was fine. Like we cleaned everything up. Totally fine. The plate didn't break. The sauce is fine. The plate is fine.
[00:04:55] Kristy Yee: The plate is fine. I just talk about you. I'm fine. Are you sure? I'm fine.
[00:05:01] Angie Yu: Usually when people have to emphasize how fine they are, they're not fine.
[00:05:09] Kristy Yee: There's just a few things going on, but there are nothing major, so it doesn't seem like it warrants. A talk, you know what I mean? Like it's not worth
[00:05:21] Angie Yu: the, Oh God, I'm
[00:05:22] Kristy Yee: just listening to these words and I can see
[00:05:25] Angie Yu: your eyes. Yeah. Because I feel like we started this podcast so that we can talk about shit like
[00:05:32] Kristy Yee: that, but it's not like, it's not like shit.
[00:05:34] It's not like, Oh,
[00:05:35] Angie Yu: I'm
[00:05:36] Kristy Yee: like, I broke up with someone or, you know, someone got sick or it's not a, it's not a thing. It's just, there's, there's a few small irritation, not irritations, but a few small things in my life right now that are on my mind. And they are making me either nervous. or it's just because there's a lot of to do's and that makes me anxious.
[00:05:58] so I have anxiety and right now there's just a lot of things in my mind, like a mental to do list.
[00:06:05] And so it just keeps circulating in my head. And then one thing always leads to another thing, right? Like if I'm thinking about this one bullet item, then it leads me to another thing, like just now. Okay. So I'm. Talking really abstractly right now. Um, basically I I'm working with a contractor right now.
[00:06:23] We had some issues in terms of like picking our products and then getting the wrong thing and then having to like exchange. So then we had to do a whole ordeal this whole week where I had to basically take like, start my job later. Thank goodness. my work is flexible. In terms of their hours, but I had to, I'm not like I didn't plan to do this, but I had to keep going into the shop a few times.
[00:06:47] , um, and then I have a leak in my house right now, so I need to fix that, but I can't fix that because the main water line, that has been destroyed during this other project. So the two projects are conflicting each other, and then I'm waiting for the city of Vancouver to do something about it.
[00:07:06] And I can't fix my leak until that thing is installed. So that's on my mind. And then I have choir homework due tomorrow, but I only really started practicing since last night because we were given new assignments last night and I have to learn it by tomorrow. And so that's freaking me out because I feel like.
[00:07:24] I'm the underdog inquire. Like I am the person who is the least musically trained. So everything is just, I ha I feel like I have to work a lot harder , to produce the same quality or similar quality as everyone else I, I don't know how to listen to a metronome, for example.
[00:07:41] And that's like the most basic thing
[00:07:42] Angie Yu: in music. And
[00:07:43] Kristy Yee: I don't really know how to count and all of that. and then I guess, I don't know, like work cause clearly I was still doing emails and it's like seven 48 right
[00:07:53] Angie Yu: now
[00:07:53] Kristy Yee: on a Friday.
[00:07:54] On a Friday. Yeah. And then I'm working tomorrow just for a little bit, just to. Do some stuff. So I guess it's a lot of things on my mind. That was just a big rant. I'm sorry.
[00:08:03] Angie Yu: No. Okay. So first of all, I just want to say that's not nothing like from, from what you had said, none of that it's nothing,
[00:08:12] Kristy Yee: or my mom's also kind of sick, so
[00:08:14] Angie Yu: there you fucking go there.
[00:08:16] You fucking go. Remember our, um, Our podcast is called shit. We don't tell mom, but it's also shit that we don't tell the world either. So you thinking that these. Little things are little and that you shouldn't burden anybody with
[00:08:28] Kristy Yee: it, but they are little, everybody's got to do lists.
[00:08:31] Angie Yu: Everybody's got to do with it. But you know, like the fact that you had all these in your mind and it was bothering to the point where you were stumbling over, um, you know, air plants Just want to emphasize, again, this is not like she's, didn't stumble over like a giant, like cactus or a giant Monstera plan.
[00:08:46] You know, where my millennial plant mama's at, um, She's tripped over a freaking air plant.
[00:08:50] Kristy Yee: That's like the size of my finger.
[00:08:52] Angie Yu: Yeah. Like, and it's so light. anyway, do you feel better now that you've talked about a little bit more?
[00:08:58] Kristy Yee: I feel a little, uh, Ranty. Is that a word? Yeah. Like I feel like,
[00:09:05] Angie Yu: yeah, no, it's not a word, but I understand you. Okay. Let's do this. Um, put your feet down on the ground, which I never
[00:09:10] Kristy Yee: do,
[00:09:11] Angie Yu: which you never do. I never put your chair straight.
[00:09:13] Kristy Yee: If anybody ever looks at our Instagram story,
[00:09:16] Angie Yu: you'll never see our feet.
[00:09:17] Kristy Yee: My feet, my, my leg leg is always in that typical, like. Asian gangster style, you know, with like my foot on the
[00:09:25] Angie Yu: chair and me too. Yeah. There was like literally the last Instagram story of us where we were both working. There was no legs.
[00:09:32] Kristy Yee: I know. I noticed that.
[00:09:34] Angie Yu: I noticed that there are no legs.
[00:09:35] Kristy Yee: We are no leg
[00:09:36] Angie Yu: people put your feet and then put your shoulders back
[00:09:39] and take a few deep.
[00:09:41] Kristy Yee: it's funny because I just learned this thing today. it's called square breathing. I think so what you do is you take a deep breath and you count to four seconds, then you hold for four seconds. Then release for four seconds and then you rest for four seconds.
[00:09:59] Then you repeat for four times. I don't know if it's actually four
[00:10:03] Angie Yu: times I made that one up, I think for any of these breathing exercises, it's really just being very present with your body. It is. And honestly, you know, we hear this all the time, like be present, be present.
[00:10:15] And I never really knew what the fuck that meant until I started going to therapy and trying these practices and being present just means being aware of what's going on with your body. So for example, you were being a bit clumsy today, more so than usual. , um, to me, it was a signal that, you know, something's on your mind.
[00:10:32] Kristy Yee: This is what happens when you get married to someone, they just know you.
[00:10:36] Angie Yu: I can't remember how many times you've been to my place now to do podcast stuff. And normally when you're nervous or excited, Like, I, I know what that's like for you now that today just seemed off.
[00:10:47] Kristy Yee: I am very, um, opened about my emotions, even if it's like, not verbally, my body really tells the message.
[00:10:54] What is that? In words, body
[00:10:56] Angie Yu: language,
[00:10:56] Kristy Yee: I guess so, yeah. It's very easy to read by
[00:11:00] Angie Yu: emotion. That's right. Yeah. I think we're both like that. Like, it's very easy. For other people to read us in general. And for me, I've actually started to pay more attention to other people more recently, like reading other people.
[00:11:13] Um, just because I feel like it also brings my awareness back to myself as well. That's
[00:11:17] Kristy Yee: a good one. Yeah. Listeners out there and maybe something to try for the week,
[00:11:22] Angie Yu: like just paying attention to someone else and what's going on with them.
[00:11:27] Kristy Yee: And then breathing exercises.
[00:11:28] Angie Yu: Yeah. I mean, I mean, there are people out there who have been doing that their whole life, but as extroverts.
[00:11:34] So my theory, okay, this has nothing to do with what we're talking about today. Doesn't matter. But my theory, and this is a personal observation, is that I find introverts and extroverts. I mean, at the end of the day, we're all people and we all have this wall that we put up. Right. And for me, introverts put up their wall by literally putting up their wall and being like.
[00:11:53] You know, a little bit more mysterious, a little bit less, eager to share. What's really going on with them. Extroverts. I don't think we're more open with people. I think we have a side of us that's more open and that's the only side we're really open about. for myself. I realized that when I'm being extra outgoing, extra bubbly and extra fun.
[00:12:13] I've come to realize that's my defense mechanism,
[00:12:16] Kristy Yee: because there's something extra going on inside that you're pushing down.
[00:12:20] Angie Yu: That's right. or even not pushing down, I'm just
[00:12:22] Kristy Yee: trying to not excite it.
[00:12:23] Angie Yu: Yes. So I don't actually think that introverts and extroverts one type of people is more, expressive than the other.
[00:12:31] I just think we have different types of defense mechanisms.
[00:12:34] Kristy Yee: It's interesting how you. Put it that way between introverts and extroverts, because I am a self identified introvert, your eyes just don't
[00:12:42] Angie Yu: like you find them liar.
[00:12:45] Kristy Yee: I do. I do I self identify as an introvert because I really regained my energy. When I'm not with people when
[00:12:55] Angie Yu: I am on
[00:12:55] Kristy Yee: my own, like just now on the balcony, like I chose to eat dinner on the balcony and just people watch and after a long day of work, the best thing that I could think about doing is being on my couch by myself.
[00:13:10] And not talking to anybody and talking to people as much as I love talking to people and like having this podcast, listening to stories, sharing stories. I love that, but it does take a lot of energy out of me. And so for me to recharge, I need to not be around people. Cause that actually drains my energy.
[00:13:27] Angie Yu: I mean, I'm, I think it depends on the scenario for me. If I've had a very social weekend, then I really need time to myself. or if I haven't seen people in a while, then I really need to socialize. yeah. I don't know, like the whole introvert extrovert thing. I think it's one of those very. If he thinks as well,
[00:13:44] Kristy Yee: there can be able to wash it.
[00:13:46] Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, at the end of the day, it's just another label and we're all somewhere on the spectrum somewhere.
[00:13:53] Angie Yu: This is why I always laugh. when I joke about astrology or if I'm talking about astrology, because I think it's fun and people are like, Ugh, pseudoscience.
[00:14:01] Kristy Yee: I'm not into that.
[00:14:02] Angie Yu: I'm like, um, so is every single fucking label we ever have ever come up with? Like everything in the world that we know, is human. Conjecture. Science is still human. Conjecture is just the best way to find out information we have right now, who knows maybe in a hundred years, people will make fun of our science.
[00:14:19] Right. But I think it's just funny when people are like, Ugh, like I don't believe in astrology. I'm like, well, I don't think it dictates anything, but it's. You know, you talk about introvert, extrovert, people talk about Myers-Brigg people talk about whatever. It's just like more labels. No. Anyway, I digress. Um,
[00:14:35] Kristy Yee: but hold up. But speaking of all of that, I think of all these. Different quizzes. I think it's because you mentioned Myers-Brigg and there was this Myers-Brigg test that's right. With the 16 personalities, then there's also the love languages test, there's also the strength finders test.
[00:14:50] Yep. There's all these tests and quizzes out there. I
[00:14:54] Angie Yu: fucking love
[00:14:56] Kristy Yee: tests and quizzes.
[00:14:57] Angie Yu: You know why they're all self fulfilling because these quizzes you pick what means most to you. And people are like, Oh, but the reason why personality tests are, you know, more believable than astrology is because you actually answer a question, whereas astrology is supposed to be your birthday that defines you.
[00:15:16] But then the same people also
[00:15:17] Kristy Yee: argue, like you have no control over
[00:15:19] Angie Yu: it, but then the same people also argue astrology is, um, what is it called? Like cherry picking. So they'll just give you a really wide range of things. And then you would just believe the ones that you see is that not the same as a.
[00:15:30] Choosing an answer from a personality
[00:15:31] Kristy Yee: test. Yes, it is. Because, because I'm thinking specifically the Pottermore test where you get sorted into your houses. I mean, I must say kudos to Pottermore people because the test, there are some parts of it where you're just like, I have no fucking idea which house this would be, but sometimes, you know, you're like, that's a rent and stuff, you know, and then you.
[00:15:53] Consciously or subconsciously will gravitate towards that answer because in the back of your mind, you're like,
[00:15:57] Angie Yu: I want to be as leather. Yeah. so when people are like, Oh, but you know, at least personality test is based on things you know about yourself. And I'm like, okay.
[00:16:04] But so is fucking astrology. And the same people say the same thing about astrology, like, Oh, it's just a really generic. So you just. Identify what the things that applies to you and I'm like, it's not the same as Myers-Brigg
[00:16:16] I don't even know how to, where to, how to start that argument.
[00:16:18] So I usually just go, okay. Haha. Whatever. I won't send you any more astrology means
[00:16:22] Kristy Yee: you're just like, okay. You're just not my people. I've never thought about it that way. But I see so many parallels now that we are speaking about it, by the way everyone I'm a Raven claw. Just
[00:16:34] Angie Yu: want to put that out.
[00:16:35] I'm a Griffendor.
[00:16:37] Kristy Yee: Okay. I have nothing. I mean, nothing against girlfriend, Doris
[00:16:42] Angie Yu: just lie. What's what's wrong.
[00:16:43] Kristy Yee: Nothing. Let's not get into this.
[00:16:45] Angie Yu: No, no, go get into it. Get into it.
[00:16:47] Kristy Yee: I don't really see you as a Griffendor . Okay. Which is a good thing because I'm not so into Griffin doors.
[00:16:54] Angie Yu: Cause when I told Lee that I'm a Griffendor he's like, Oh, I could totally see you as a girlfriend.
[00:16:59] But again, you see, like, everything is subjective, just like personality tests, just astrology, just like everything in the world, everything in the world is fucking up subjective.
[00:17:09] Kristy Yee: What does that call? That's like, Oh my God. It's funny because I thought of that word this morning, too. It's something, something biased.
[00:17:14] What's your bias? Implicit bias. No, no, whatever. Maybe it'll come
[00:17:19] Angie Yu: to me.
[00:17:20] Kristy Yee: Anyways. Self bias. I don't know.
[00:17:22] It's something bias. Okay. If we can come up with this by the end of this podcast, somebody please DMS . I need to know. Yes. Okay. I'm us at? Should we don't tell mom?
[00:17:32] Angie Yu: Thanks right on Instagram. Um, okay, so what's wrong with Gryffindors
[00:17:40] Kristy Yee: They're really like they act, Oh, hold on. Now that I was just about to say this and I'm like, maybe that is you. They act on emotions a lot without really thinking it through. I know that's why
[00:17:52] Angie Yu: I pause. And I'm like,
[00:17:53] Kristy Yee: wait a minute. And I'm like, don't be a dumb ass. Don't be so rash, rash. There you go. There you go.
[00:18:00] They're very rash, um, on how they behave and then they get really proud about it. See, that's the part where I'm like, I don't know if that's really you, because they're very honor. And like how out of how good of a person they are?
[00:18:16] Angie Yu: Oh yeah. I am definitely a little bit holier than thou. Sometimes I fully admit it.
[00:18:21] Um, Yeah. And also I'm a Sagittarius and we're very like, um, what is that word? People often think Sagittarius are very self-involved, but it's because we don't like to talk about other people.
[00:18:31] Kristy Yee: See, that's a Griffendor thing. Oh, okay. I just totally
[00:18:35] Angie Yu: improved my way,
[00:18:36] Kristy Yee: but it is, it is like huge Gryffendor thing.
[00:18:39] Like
[00:18:40] Angie Yu: very self-involved. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. And I can, I agree. I am very self-involved but. on the other side, my argument is, yes, I'm very, self-involved. It's also because I don't like to talk about other people because for me, I know myself best and I don't like to talk about other people unless they initiate the conversation because , it almost feels wrong to like lure them out.
[00:19:00] You know what I mean? Not really like force them to talk about themselves. Like today when I asked you what was wrong with you. Um, that's not something I would have done. You know, like
[00:19:07] like two, three years ago. Like , that's not something young and she would have done.
[00:19:11] And for me, I think a lot of personalities, and as we get older, we start to see things in ourselves that we've always been proud of. For example, I used to always be proud of that I have a lot of, like, I tend to find with having integrity and having, you know, um, A sense of justice.
[00:19:25] Kristy Yee: That is very Griffendor,
[00:19:26] Angie Yu: it's very quick and it's very solitary as well.
[00:19:30] And it's very me, even when I was talking to my therapist this week, we identified that as a value that I have. but then I also see where that's a downside. And I think as I get older, I just try to pinpoint. What are some things that I see as positive that might not be seen as positive by others and how can I be more cognizant of it?
[00:19:47] So I don't come off as, I don't know, like self-involved or whatever it is that other than my others might think. Right. And it's not, it's not to, you know, please other people it's more for my own growth.
[00:19:56] Kristy Yee: Totally. And I think that's really self aware and at least for me, like in my early twenties, I was not smart enough to think that way, like we didn't have the maturity level to think that way.
[00:20:06] And I think now, as we're, um,, in our, I was going to say in our thirties,
[00:20:11] Angie Yu: we're getting there.
[00:20:12] Kristy Yee: late twenties into our thirties. We start to step into another realm of maturity. And we are becoming more self aware and cognizant and, you know, being just aware of our surroundings and our presence in the surroundings and how it's being perceived and not so much like, Oh, because I care, we all care at some point in some way to some degree, but.
[00:20:34] That's not what it's about. It's more like, okay. Just understanding more about me and my place in the world and how I'm serving
[00:20:41] Angie Yu: that's right. And for myself, like I think on top of, you know, therapy and mindfulness and reading books about I don't like Buddhism and terrorism
[00:20:50] for me, uh, astrology is, I am very aware that it's not a science, like when people are like, let's do allergy as a pseudoscience. And I'm like, and the earth is round. Like, I fucking know that. Um, but you know, like for me, astrology has been a useful tool for me because it's another fun way for me to try to understand myself and understand other people better.
[00:21:11] And that's at the end of the day, that's why I try to simmer down to. I try my best not to use it to judge people. Of course, we all have our prejudices and our biases. Right. But I try to use it as a tool. Like for example, um, I might be like, Oh, this person is so like boring.
[00:21:26] I'm
[00:21:27] Kristy Yee: gonna be like, why
[00:21:27] Angie Yu: are they so boring now? I'd be like, Oh, cause you know, there are tourists and I'm like, they're not boring. They're practical. they're hardworking.
[00:21:33] you can say this thing about every single sign there is, but it's just being kind of aware that there are these categories of personality. For me, it's like, this is how someone is just accept them for who they are. And that's how. It has been a tool for me. Yes. Yes.
[00:21:49] Kristy Yee: and I think that that's beautiful because there's good and bad in everyone and there's some traits that you really identify with in another person.
[00:21:56] And there are some traits that you don't at the end of the day, if you choose to be friends with someone, . Like you don't always have to be a hundred percent compatible. Similar with a partner or whatever. Right. You kinda you're just like, okay, you know what? Like, they're not doing this in an unkind way
[00:22:13] Angie Yu: in a
[00:22:14] Kristy Yee: mean or begrudging way.
[00:22:16] This is how they behave because that's their personality. Like I'm not going to take it personally because I know they're coming from a good place . et cetera, et cetera. . Also I just want to point out because it seems like I was hating on Gryffendor that's okay.
[00:22:30] I'm not hating on Gryffendor I think the reason why I reacted that way is because there's so much glorification for the Gryffindor house, because like all the main characters are from this house. It's very over overly glorified in the movies. And so I'm like, okay, we need to look at all the houses in a very holistic manner.
[00:22:49] Just like astrology that there are both, you know, I'm good. I hate it. It's so black and white, good and bad, but there's, there's this there's two sides to a coin. Right. And there is a spectrum and like Griffin door is not the fucking, you know,
[00:23:04] Angie Yu: It,
[00:23:05] Kristy Yee: and neither is Lutheran the bad.
[00:23:09] No. Right. um, and so. That was why I reacted that way was to push down that over glorification and just to like level it off a bit. Yeah.
[00:23:18] Angie Yu: I mean, when I was reading the descriptions about Pottermore houses or whatever it was, um, cause I'm not that into Harry Potter and I never read the books I seen on the movies, but I never read the books.
[00:23:29] And I know that the movies glorify Gryffindor even more than the books because the books are more well rounded. Is what I've heard
[00:23:35] Kristy Yee: it is, but even in the books, they're still over glorification for, um, Griffin doors. Yeah. But definitely less so than the books or the movies. Yeah.
[00:23:45] That was all about labeling.
[00:24:02] Angie Yu: That was about labeling.
[00:24:04] Kristy Yee: What about stereotypes? What do you feel about that?
[00:24:07] Angie Yu: I mean, there are stereotypes
[00:24:09] Kristy Yee: for a reason.
[00:24:10] Angie Yu: Yeah. I don't believe in them, but I think it's like when people are like, Oh, I don't see color. And you're like, but you should see color because, you know, and I think what, I mean, as we should be aware of stereotypes and be cognizant of.
[00:24:21] Of the fact that these stereotypes do exist and try not to use these stereotypes as our way of interacting with other human beings, because like, yeah, stereotypes exist for a reason. Like, don't pretend like you don't see color where you don't see stereotypes. Like we are all fucking aware of these stereotypes and the fact that we have different skin colors, but it's like being aware of it and how you act upon that information.
[00:24:46] Kristy Yee: I find like, so often
[00:24:48] I stereotype without meaning to like it, it would be like the first thing that comes to mind. Like, it's a subconscious thing because it's so ingrained in our brains. sometimes I would catch myself. That would be good. Then I'm self aware and I'm like, Hmm, that's probably not a correct thought.
[00:25:03] Now I'm just making assumptions. You know, let's get to know the scenario or the person first, but sometimes I don't and I'm like, fuck, now I'm a bad person. Yeah.
[00:25:14] Angie Yu: And I'm the worst when I'm at parties. Like when I'm meeting a bunch of people, I don't know. Yeah. that's when I feel like the worst person.
[00:25:20] What do you mean? Tell me more about that. I think a little bit of it comes from social anxiety as well. Right? if I see someone who's like an East Asian female who looks CBC right away, I feel more comfortable and I'm drawn towards them because I'm like, I know how to interact with them.
[00:25:35] And I know what to say and what not to say so that they like me and that's social anxiety. Right. Um,
[00:25:41] Kristy Yee: That's a hundred percent me. Oh my
[00:25:42] Angie Yu: God. Yeah. And the thing is, um, we're all like that. Um, we're human beings, right? we learn from our past experiences and we form these like little frameworks in our head.
[00:25:51] So if we see someone like that, we know, Hey, I have lots of friends who are like that. If I approach them, I will know how to interact with them.
[00:25:57] Kristy Yee: And we also want to be liked. like humans are social creatures.
[00:26:00] We are communal animals. we have this mental need to be liked because in human biology, we need to live together in a community.
[00:26:12] Angie Yu: And so therefore we don't get picked off by the saber tooth
[00:26:14] Kristy Yee: tiger.
[00:26:15] Exactly. Yeah. Yes. And, and then it becomes comfortable for us. We talked about this in episode four. Didn't we
[00:26:21] Angie Yu: yeah, I think we did.
[00:26:21] Kristy Yee: Yeah. Yeah. Cause we were talking about why is it so comfortable that we gravitate towards, people who are Asian that's right. Um, as compared to the black communities, right?
[00:26:30] You're like, why do I have so little black friends? What does that send?
[00:26:33] Angie Yu: And, uh, just to bring it up, um, neither Chrissy and I could make it to the, uh, Juneteenth. March day. Um, I touched him. He could have gone, I could have slipped away. Um, but Christie was in Abbotsford at 4:00 PM. So
[00:26:43] Kristy Yee: sorry,
[00:26:44] Angie Yu: that was, that would not have worked.
[00:26:45] So I take full blame of choosing, not to be there. Um, and that's my privilege and yeah, like, so I, a couple of my closest friends went and they sent me photos and send me videos and. One thing that they pointed out is that they were really disappointed by the lack of East Asians present.
[00:27:02] Ooh, because Vancouver has such a large East Asian population. So the representation of our people at the Juneteenth March, they had the black lives matter March today in Vancouver, downtown, was not representative of the percentage of us here in Vancouver. And I'm disappointed. Okay,
[00:27:20] Kristy Yee: so we talked about stereotypes.
[00:27:22] Yep. So I'm just going to stereotype
[00:27:25] Angie Yu: okay. Go shoot. We're uncomfortable.
[00:27:28] Kristy Yee: So uncomfortable. People are going to hate me now, is that because most of us, East Asians are working? Um, cause I didn't go cause I was working. Yeah. Like there was no choice
[00:27:44] Angie Yu: and I didn't go because we had agreed to do our podcasting today because Sunday you had other plans.
[00:27:50] Correct. And those plans seemed more priority because they are filial piety. Like you're accompanying your mom to the cemetery. And I'm like, well, that seems more important. When I was talking about the March , I was like, Oh fuck. Like, I, I can't because I had to move the thing with Christie and. I just don't want to make her feel like she has to choose between this and her filial duties. And that's, that's the Asian thing, isn't it? The filial piety that's Asian.
[00:28:14] And I didn't even have to, like, I didn't even run it by you. I was just like, I know that's important. And yeah. And that's probably a stereotype as well, right? And then the stereotype that you just said, which is we value work.
[00:28:26] Kristy Yee: We prioritize work over social justice, over our social values, which now I feel hella guilty for,
[00:28:32] Angie Yu: Hey, we didn't go to the March.
[00:28:33] So I'm going to fully go out and say it like I'm guilty of being one of those East Asians not present at the March
[00:28:40] Kristy Yee: as am I that's right. That's just what it is. That's just the truth.
[00:28:44] Angie Yu: Yeah.
[00:28:44] Kristy Yee: Here's another level of honesty is that I didn't know about the Marsh until yesterday. Hmm. So I'm just not being informed
[00:28:51] Angie Yu: enough. I knew about the March because I follow black Vancouver on Instagram. So for those of you who are not sure if there are other resources, uh, give them a follow, they post some very insightful.
[00:29:03] Information about the movement about the initiative. And they always keep everyone up to date on the protests and marches and rallies going on here in Vancouver. So that's ad block of Vancouver. We'll
[00:29:14] Kristy Yee: link it in the show notes.
[00:29:16] Angie Yu: and that's uncomfortable. And we should see in our sit with our uncomfortable
[00:29:21] Kristy Yee: discomfort.
[00:29:22] Angie Yu: Yeah. There you go. I was
[00:29:23] Kristy Yee: like,
[00:29:23] Angie Yu: it is Friday. This Friday. Yeah. labels, stereotypes. Um, I don't know like why, for those of you that did go to the March, I commend you for your effort. Um, thank you for representing us Asian millennials at the March. And for those of you guys who didn't go, um, why didn't you go where you like us?
[00:29:41] Like you just had other things. That you prioritize above social values or, you know, like what is it?
[00:29:47] Kristy Yee: Or maybe it's like me, wasn't informed enough and
[00:29:51] we're not here to try to make anyone feel guilty.
[00:29:53] It's more of a self reflective exercise because as we're talking about this now, I'm self-reflecting and I don't think I would have done that if I hadn't been doing this episode with you today, Angie, and it's interesting because if we haven't been doing this episode, then you may have gone to the March.
[00:30:11] Angie Yu: Yeah. I would have.
[00:30:12] Kristy Yee: And then we wouldn't have been talking about any of that. Right. And I wouldn't have had the opportunity to self reflect with everyone who's listening. Yeah.
[00:30:21] Angie Yu: So maybe that's our contribution.
[00:30:23] Kristy Yee: now. We're just patting ourselves on the back for something that we haven't,
[00:30:26] Angie Yu: I don't want to say, like, we're not like masturbating.
[00:30:29] Like went on. Like, I hope you go masturbate,
[00:30:32] Kristy Yee: but it's so not
[00:30:33] Angie Yu: that we are then let us know what I'm trying to say is like, we're not here to shame anybody and we're not here to shame ourselves either. It's just about dialogue. with everything that's going on, everyone on different sides of the initiative, um, the movement and people on different varying degrees on the spectrum of the initiative, right?
[00:30:51] From like the hardcore activists to, you know, people in the middle who are just apathetic towards everything. And then people on the other side who are anti anti racism, which doesn't make sense. But anyway, um, Every like everyone's on a spectrum and everyone contributes to what they believe is their value differently.
[00:31:09] And I guess the stereotype for me was that I stereotyped you by assuming that you would value your filial piety.
[00:31:16] Kristy Yee: Ah,
[00:31:18] Angie Yu: right. That was
[00:31:18] Kristy Yee: not, I had no idea that the March was going on today. I chose Friday because this is my flex day. Friday nights are my flex nights in my calendar because as NG knows, my calendar's pretty busy, right now I'm trying to leave Friday as my flex days.
[00:31:37] So, because I couldn't do something on Sunday, then I decided to use Friday.
[00:31:40] Angie Yu: because like the whole decorum thing, , I'm like, Oh, Sunday's father's day. Like, are you going to do so I'm like, I'm not doing anything with my dad. We celebrate it on Tuesday.
[00:31:48] And you were like, Oh, I'm, accompanying my mom to the cemetery to visit my grandpa. And I was like, Oh, okay. Well, in Chinese culture, like respecting your elders, visiting their grave, like praying to your ancestors, putting apples on their thing and burning incense for them. Like, that's a key part of our culture.
[00:32:05] So for me, it was like, I stereotype. Your values without actually communicating with you and be like, Hey, I actually originally planned going to the March.
[00:32:16] Kristy Yee: Oh my gosh.
[00:32:17] Angie Yu: But instead of communicating, I just assumed. Because I've stereotyped. You
[00:32:23] Kristy Yee: see, this is okay. And you and I are close Angie. And I see each other quite a bit because we are married and we have a podcast baby together.
[00:32:34] Right. , and we have a podcast. Talking about talking, having conversation
[00:32:41] Angie Yu: about
[00:32:41] Kristy Yee: communicating yet. We didn't communicate that. I love, I love that we are realizing this in the middle of our episode right now, and we're dive, divulging this in this episode
[00:32:52] Angie Yu: and also to be completely Our episode today was going to be a bar mob.
[00:32:57] it's funny because we talk to ourselves so much. Why can't we communicate with each other more.
[00:33:03] Kristy Yee: It's the fact that we do communicate with each other, or at least we thought we did enough, and yet we did it, no made an assumption
[00:33:12] Angie Yu: and I made an assumption
[00:33:14] Kristy Yee: and there was the stereotype as well, which.
[00:33:17] I feel like I totally understand. Cause if you told me something like that, I'd be like, yup.
[00:33:20] Angie Yu: That's a
[00:33:21] Kristy Yee: hundred percent.
[00:33:22] And here I am realizing that I'm like, Oh shit, you know, there's this March, like, I'm not informed. I need to do better to keep myself up to date and educated and know what's going on, I
[00:33:34] Angie Yu: mean, I didn't hear about Juneteenth until the Juneteenth March became a. Global thing, because this started in Texas old , June 19 was the, uh, the first day that the news of the abolishment of slavery
[00:33:48] Kristy Yee: had reached
[00:33:48] Angie Yu: Texas, which was the last date.
[00:33:50] Kristy Yee: I think some people call it block independence day.
[00:33:52] Angie Yu: Yeah. Like I've never heard of it before this year. Most of which
[00:33:58] Kristy Yee: is also saying something in of itself too, because we're not that far removed from the States.
[00:34:04] That's right. So , why don't we know about this?
[00:34:06] Angie Yu: I don't think a lot of people in the States knew about it
[00:34:08] Kristy Yee: before. That's even more. Okay. No judgment.
[00:34:10] Angie Yu: Well, no, that's the thing. We're
[00:34:11] Kristy Yee: all just learning. I'm glad we're progressing. And that now we know,
[00:34:15] Angie Yu: you know, I put it on my Instagram story today.
[00:34:18] Um, I said, why is today important? It's literally part of our history here in North America. It wasn't still is race from our history books along with a huge chunk of other meaningful nonwhite history, because. It's one of those things where I'm like, why did I learn about this? This seems like a very important day, more important than like the umpteenth time.
[00:34:35] Some small battle in the middle of fucking nowhere happened with like these generals from Europe
[00:34:42] Kristy Yee: or national pancake day. Yeah.
[00:34:45] Angie Yu: Yeah. Fuck national pancake day. I mean, I love pancakes, but you know, like this is way more important, but
[00:34:49] Kristy Yee: I hopped does give off free pancakes. I think.
[00:34:52] So
[00:34:52] Angie Yu: it's a commercialization thing.
[00:34:53] capitalism?
[00:34:54] Kristy Yee: Oh, well that's a whole other episode.
[00:34:56] Angie Yu: I guess stereotypes, no labeling,
[00:35:02] Kristy Yee: labeling.
[00:35:03] I was going to say labeling of stereotypes,
[00:35:08] Angie Yu: this is the most candid episode. you know what it is, it's, it just doesn't feel right for us to go with our schedule because of so much that's , going on in the world, but not like there's so much on our minds. like, We don't have as large of a black population as the us, but we are so close to them. Like our pop culture is all American. Um, you know, the TV, we watch the music we listened to majority of that is American.
[00:35:29] So we are tied really close to, to the U S and politics. When we talk about politics here, we talk about both Canadian politics and American politics. not just because they're our biggest trading partner and our. Neighbors lean neighbor by the way, our only neighbor. but also because America is so, you know, influential on the entire world.
[00:35:48] And as much as you know, we hate saying that all people in the States think they're in the center of the world, in this decade. And in the century, they kind of are, I forgot who said this? Um, it was like they said in the 18 hundreds. They would've wanted to live in London because that's where the industrial revolution was happening in the 19 hundreds.
[00:36:04] They would've wanted to live in the U S especially in New York. And now in like 2010, 2020s, they said they would want to live in Asia because that's where all
[00:36:12] Kristy Yee: the action where all the up and coming yeah, the trendiest.
[00:36:16] Angie Yu: Um, but I still feel like the U S is highly influential. , so what's going on in the U S impacts us.
[00:36:21] A lot. And a lot of our policies is affected by, uh, American policies as well. And I remember back in high school, I hate a social
[00:36:29] Kristy Yee: studies because we liked social studies. It was so boring.
[00:36:33] Angie Yu: Okay, you liked, I didn't like,
[00:36:34] Kristy Yee: I liked some parts of it. The parts that I did not like was when we learned about government structures and we had to like, you know, memorize that hierarchy and how that worked, which in hindsight, I'm like, I should have paid more attention because now I'm a contributing citizen in this country and I need to understand these things.
[00:36:50] And now I have to relearn it as an adult, um, the most interesting parts for me about social studies was all the stories.
[00:36:56] Angie Yu: Stories are interesting, but for me, I never related to them. Hmm. I remember I became really interested when they started talking about Chinese Canadians except, Oh, it's like one paragraph on like one page in like some random chapter
[00:37:09] Kristy Yee: yet the Chinese had a huge.
[00:37:12] Part, they played a huge role in Canadian history. Oh yeah. Um, I mean, but not enough of it is recognized. Like a
[00:37:19] Angie Yu: lot of people don't know that the Chinese people were already here before Vancouver was even incorporated city. Yeah.
[00:37:25] Kristy Yee: which is why it it's upsetting for me. Okay. I'm getting uncomfortable again.
[00:37:31] Good. So a lot of times when I'm not in Canada, even when I am in Canada , but when I'm traveling and people ask me, where are you from? I say, I'm from Canada. And then people will ask me, where are you really? From? Like, I think a lot of people will relate to that aisle. And then I'll explain, you know, , I'm born in Canada.
[00:37:50] Like generations of my family have lived in Canada. Like we fucking paid head tax
[00:37:56] Angie Yu: all.
[00:37:56] Kristy Yee: Did my family tax.
[00:37:59] Angie Yu: Yeah. Your dad's side, right?
[00:38:00] Kristy Yee: My dad's side. Yes. So I'm really proud to be, you know? Yeah. It's such a big part of this. In this community.
[00:38:10] So I'm really proud of that.
[00:38:11] Angie Yu: but
[00:38:12] Kristy Yee: then really sad in that nobody knows about it. Even Canadians don't know much about it.
[00:38:18] Angie Yu: I didn't know that you didn't talk about this.
[00:38:21] Kristy Yee: Yeah, I guess we've never talked about it.
[00:38:24] Angie Yu: I guess it's one of those things that you don't share openly.
[00:38:26] Kristy Yee: Well, it's not like, hi, my name is Chrissy.
[00:38:28] , my ancestors paid the head tag. It was,
[00:38:32] Angie Yu: I like sailor moon. And my said, you mean, that's not one of the first few things
[00:38:39] Kristy Yee: maybe I should add that. I don't know.
[00:38:41] Angie Yu: That's interesting.
[00:38:42] Kristy Yee: Yeah, I know. I know. I remember, um, when my dad was still around and he used to have boxes and boxes of like stuff, right. And I actually held.
[00:38:51] The head tax piece of paper with the name and the picture on it and everything. I held it in my hands.
[00:38:58]
[00:38:59] Angie Yu: That's so cold.
[00:39:01] Kristy Yee: I know. And what's really, really, really upsetting for me is that I can't find it. And what
[00:39:07] Angie Yu: happened to it. I
[00:39:08] Kristy Yee: know where it is like, well, after my dad passed away, we did a whole bunch of just like, get rid of shit. I'm so nervous that it might be in one of the boxes that we got rid of. We still have some stuff left over, but I just, I don't know, like I, in my, in the back of my mind, I'm like, please, please, please, please, please still be there.
[00:39:30] But part of me is like, it's probably gone, which is. Fucking devastating. I know. I almost want to cry just talking about that now. Oh God.
[00:39:38] Yeah, but I mean, I'm still really proud. I can't never go away. you know, I'm really honored to be a part of this
[00:39:47] Angie Yu: family, this
[00:39:47] Kristy Yee: clan, and that I had once held onto a piece of history.
[00:39:52] Angie Yu: Did your dad ever talk about that side?
[00:39:55] Kristy Yee: He did, but I was a too young to care and then be too young to really understand.
[00:40:01] Angie Yu: I mean, that's a really difficult conversation to have, right? Like, how do you explain to your kids? Hey, like there was this super discriminatory. Policy put in place to exclude our people from this country.
[00:40:14] How do you have a conversation like that with their children?
[00:40:17] Kristy Yee: I think my dad was actually pretty open about it, but I was really, um, I was just not into it at all. So then he took that as me not caring. And there was a lot of things between my dad and it was a very complicated relationship. And I think that just added fuel to the fire type thing, because I remember who tried to explain our history and even how he came over and like how my grandpa came over and the whole, that whole side of the family, like I had some family members who reside it.
[00:40:48] In Saskatchewan, which is like, you would never think about that. You would always think BC and Victoria and Vancouver are the hubs of where most Southern Chinese people would immigrate to. But I have family , who like, Oh my God, I can't English like LACA, Cantonese, like place roots.
[00:41:08] Put down their foot. Yeah. Yeah. , in like fucking Saskatchewan in like the
[00:41:14] Angie Yu: earliest stereotyping
[00:41:16] Kristy Yee: Saskatchewan. No, it's just, , it's far from the coast, which is where everybody lands and then it makes sense to be here. And it is also why Vancouver has such high Chinese population. so then it's surprising to be like, Oh, they went out to further inland.
[00:41:32] but yeah, I feel really guilty for. One potentially losing that Relic of history and then two, um, kinda just regretting, not having those conversations with my dad. And understanding more of those stories.
[00:41:46] Cause now it's gone.
[00:41:48] I'm sorry. It's okay. Thank you. Oh, Holy crap. This is how we planned this
[00:41:51] Angie Yu: episode. Candid. Remember he did promise our listeners that we would have candid conversation, and this is a candid conversation.
[00:41:59] Kristy Yee: So I say definitely to folks out there whose parents are still around,
[00:42:05] Angie Yu: you know,
[00:42:05] Kristy Yee: give an opportunity for yourself and for your family members do just share some of those stories because stories are great.
[00:42:13] And if we don't open up those opportunities, then they might just be gone. And if a story isn't told, then it'll just be
[00:42:22] Angie Yu: forgotten. Yup. have you read the book? Chop suey nation? Yes. You have. I think I have, yeah. By Anne hood about Canada.
[00:42:30] Kristy Yee: I definitely read chop suey nation. I remember the title. I don't remember the author.
[00:42:36] I'm a goldfish. A lot of things just kinda go in and out of my
[00:42:39] Angie Yu: brain. The book really resonated with me. Um, I think she did a fantastic
[00:42:42] Kristy Yee: job of
[00:42:43] Angie Yu: talking about, you know, Chinese Canadians and our presence in Canada. So, and Hawaii is a globe and mail journalist. She's originally from Vancouver. I think now she resides in Toronto as a journalist and she wrote this book called chop suey nation because chop suey was invented here in Canada.
[00:43:01] And I think that chop suey also kind of represents that Chinese Canadian. Cuisine, right. It's just kind of what we have. We live off the land we live, we eat off of what's here. You know, like restaurants, aren't going to import expensive ingredients from China just to make the same thing. They're going to use what we have here in Canada.
[00:43:19] And that's also a part of that whole Chinese immigration ingenuity, right. Is to be resourceful. So what she does is she does a road trip. She goes from Victoria all the way to the. Something islands. I can't, I'm blanking out the Falcon
[00:43:32] Kristy Yee: islands. I don't remember the details of this
[00:43:35] Angie Yu: book.
[00:43:35] All Clint islands.
[00:43:36] Kristy Yee: No, I apologize. Everybody of y'all here clicking and typing. We are literally Googling this as we speak. How do I spell chop?
[00:43:43] by the way, chop suey. I think when I was reading the book, I was trying to find the equivalent, like what, what it actually meant in Chinese. I'm sorry. I was going to say, is it stopped? So
[00:43:53] Angie Yu: that soy, yeah, I, sorry, I don't know what it is. And Kennedy, that was my sad attempt at Cantonese.
[00:43:58] Kristy Yee: So stop is like random and so means left pieces.
[00:44:02] Yeah. Yeah. Like small bits and pieces. So basically random pieces. Of shit thrown together in a walk.
[00:44:08] Angie Yu: Basically. It's a way to use up the rest
[00:44:11] Kristy Yee: of the ingredients. I think full Island in this, in the story or in the book, it mentioned something like there was okay, please, correct me if this is wrong or if I'm making this up.
[00:44:20] But there was a Caucasian person who like wanted to eat Chinese food and they didn't know what to serve. So they took all the top soil and then they served fried it together. And then they called it chop, suey, something like that, something like that. . Okay. Yes.
[00:44:32] Angie Yu: Um, I've read the book. Yeah. So, sorry, not Falcon islands.
[00:44:35] Uh, Fogo Island. I apologize that it's in Canada. It's um, it's like
[00:44:40] Kristy Yee: we're in Canada, like
[00:44:41] Angie Yu: East coast, like almost Greenland,
[00:44:43] Kristy Yee: wholly.
[00:44:44] Angie Yu: Yeah. She literally went from one side of that is so cool.
[00:44:48] Kristy Yee: I love that.
[00:44:49] Angie Yu: Um listeners, if you are looking for a book to read about Canada and Chinese cat Canadians in particular, I really recommend this book.
[00:44:55] Kristy Yee: We will link it in the show notes.
[00:44:57] Angie Yu: saw, I really liked it because for me, I don't really know that much about the Cantonese immigration. Right. I know more about like the mainland immigration, cause that's, that's the wave that I'm part of. And for me, it was really interesting to kind of learn about the Chinese community that came before I did.
[00:45:10] And, You know, she talks about her dad and her bow, her parents venture in Chinese restaurant and the restaurant tours. and then her dad passes away. You know, she talks about how he came here and it was just, it's just so different from my experience. and I, as someone who came here, you know, pretty late, right.
[00:45:27] In 2000, um,
[00:45:27] Kristy Yee: I
[00:45:28] Angie Yu: acknowledged that without all the struggles and the hard work that. The existing Chinese Canadian community has already put in. I don't think it would have been as easy of a transition for my parents. And I, even though we did receive a lot of discrimination from certain Cantonese people when we first moved here, um, I don't think that's the bulk of Cantonese people here.
[00:45:49] So this is something that I try to. Emphasize, right. for a really long time I had this prejudice towards Cantonese people. Hmm.
[00:45:57] Kristy Yee: I didn't know about that.
[00:45:59] Angie Yu: Yeah. Wait, which part? Like,
[00:46:01] Kristy Yee: I guess it didn't occur to me that, like the new immigrants from mainland China would have a prejudice against the Cantonese community in Vancouver. I knew that the Cantonese community, um, there was some racism, racism, racism,
[00:46:14] Angie Yu: discrimination.
[00:46:16] It's just a Nick
[00:46:17] Kristy Yee: hate. Basically. There's some hate, there's some hate against the newly immigrated, um, mainland. Chinese people during the early two thousands, because I'm part of the Cantonese community. So then I hear all these things, right. And then I hear about all the different comments and the stereotyping
[00:46:33] Angie Yu: and all of them.
[00:46:34] Kristy Yee: Yeah. But I guess, because I wasn't exposed to the mainland side of it, then I didn't know what was the experience. And also what was the hate that came out of that from the other side? Or, I
[00:46:47] Angie Yu: mean, some of it is pretty bad. I mean, I know that. The Cantonese side, because people would say it to me, surprisingly, like people would think that it's appropriate to say to me.
[00:46:57] Oh, but you're not like them. You're not, you're not, you're not like uncivilized
[00:47:02] Kristy Yee: it's like say, Oh, you know, , you speak well for a black person.
[00:47:06] Angie Yu: Yeah. The worst thing, like yeah, exactly. Or like yeah, exactly. You speak well for a black person or. Your English is so good for an Asian person.
[00:47:16] Kristy Yee: Right. And they're like Kendra, so polite for a mainlander
[00:47:20] Angie Yu: that's right.
[00:47:20] So people would normally assume they're like they would, people would just automatically speak Cantonese to me and I'll be like, Oh, sorry, I don't speak Cantonese. They're like, Oh, you're from Taiwan.
[00:47:28] Kristy Yee: That's the last thing that they would guess is mainland.
[00:47:32] Angie Yu: And then, and then I would correct them and be like, no, I'm from mainland China.
[00:47:36] And they would always be like, really, like, it would always be a really like exaggerate a reaction, like, yeah. No way, Fred and you're so much better. And I'm always like, what the fuck is that supposed to be? Um, but the discrimination on the other side is because most of the people that came here on the 1995 to 2006 wave of mainland immigrants, everyone's educated because the minimum was, um, that you have to have like some sort of engineering degree.
[00:48:06] Of course later on when there was a lot of investor immigrants, then education wasn't really a thing. It was just mostly like, Oh, these people are rich and rude, rich and rude became the stereotype. But at first it was like, Oh man people, Oh, our poor communist brethren, you know, um, The stereotype that we were all poor, which was, yes, we were poor.
[00:48:23] We were very poor. We came from a communist country with no savings. Like, of course we're poor. Right. Um, but my parents were always proud of the fact that they were highly educated, so they would kind of turn it back around and he is learned, I don't think my parents would have hated on the Cantonese people.
[00:48:37] Was it not for the fact that they were bullied first? Yeah. Um, and I'm not saying that either one is better or not better, but I'm just saying like,
[00:48:43] Kristy Yee: But hate fuels, hate,
[00:48:44] Angie Yu: hate feels. Hey, exactly. Right. Um, so my parents would always kind of, you know, say really unkind things about Cantonese people.
[00:48:50] They were like, Oh, they all came here illegally. Is that a thing? Yeah, because there was a lot of these things called paper sons and paper wise and paper, whatever. like, the father would come here first. And then they would be like, I need to now get my son here.
[00:49:03] But sometimes it's not the real sun
[00:49:06] Kristy Yee: paper.
[00:49:07] Angie Yu: There was a lot of like,
[00:49:08] Kristy Yee: I mean, that's real.
[00:49:09] Angie Yu: Yeah. And then my mom said, Toto,
[00:49:12] Kristy Yee: Toto. Yeah.
[00:49:13] Angie Yu: It's basically just illegal immigration, , uh, like under the table immigration.
[00:49:17] And my parents would be like, we were invited by the government and I'm like, okay. And when you're young, you just kind of take your parents work for us. And of course now my parents don't say that stuff anymore either because they've also become more, um,
[00:49:30] Kristy Yee: They've also grown and they've evolved, educated themselves, frankly, and matured in their own levels.
[00:49:36] Angie Yu: They've they've evolved. They still have their moments and now I'm evolved enough to at least call them out on it. But when I was a kid, I, I didn't call them out on that. I just took their word for it.
[00:49:45] Kristy Yee: You also did you. We're not mature enough. First of all, there's no way, dude. We're like barely getting to the level right now as 29 year olds.
[00:49:55] Okay. So there's no way. So whatever your parents said you would imitate or you take on, right? Because you just don't know any better.
[00:50:04] Angie Yu: Yeah. And then the two other stereotypes are really mean as well. One is that they said people in the South have bad teeth. Oh,
[00:50:11] Kristy Yee: I didn't know that. Okay. This is very
[00:50:13] Angie Yu: interesting.
[00:50:13] Like, cause, um, one, like I've never had braces, neither have any like basically almost none of my mainland friends have ever had braces. Um, and the other thing is like they have bad skin.
[00:50:25] Kristy Yee: Okay. So I have bad skin and I also need braces. I haven't had braces, but I needed braces. So this is why there are stereotypes.
[00:50:37] Angie Yu: Yeah. So these were the stereotypes and it's, it's obviously those things where it's like, well, those are going to be the stereotypes that my mom or my dad or other people in our community points out because. We don't have those tricks. Right. It's always negative. And it's always something it's always like a difference that you point out
[00:50:53] you know, there's stereotypes for a reason. Um, the skin thing, I don't know, like the humidity in Southern China, whereas it's dry here who knows maybe like, who knows, right? Like maybe that plays into it. also there's like genetic factors, you know, there's all these different things, right? Like the reason why people in the North are taller.
[00:51:09] It's because back in the day, it's like, they all had to go fight the fucking Wars up North. So they will send Pete, like you have to be a certain height to find the army. They will send all the taller men up to the North to fight, and then they would just stay or they like rape and pillage. And then the genes get passed down.
[00:51:25] Like.
[00:51:25] Kristy Yee: Mm. Cause as they're taking territory up towards the North, they have to send the big strong people and then they end up staying in those territories and then spreading their seeds. Therefore, now the folks up in the North are taller and bigger
[00:51:39] Angie Yu: and same thing in India as well. Like the state of Punjab.
[00:51:41] Was always an area of conflict as well. And that's like seek warriors. It's like a known thing. Like see soldiers seek Wars and they're taller as well than the average. Um, like Tamel, for example, which is Southern India. But like these stereotypes layer, like some of them are true. Some of them it's not right.
[00:52:01] like my family friend people would be like, Oh, you're tall for a southerner. And that's funny because where I'm from too people in the North, we're all considered Southern.
[00:52:08] Kristy Yee: Yes.
[00:52:09] Angie Yu: Whereas two, you guys were
[00:52:10] Kristy Yee: all Northern the Northern you're all northerners. It's like game of Thrones.
[00:52:13] Totally, totally. We're like, we are the CA when I say we, I mean, I'm referring to those of Cantonese descent, people who are from the province of Canton, which is like the Southern most Southern
[00:52:27] Angie Yu: parts, but
[00:52:29] Kristy Yee: Oh yes.
[00:52:30] Angie Yu: Hi, Nan. But, yeah,
[00:52:32] Kristy Yee: but the Heinen's like Hawaii, you know what I mean? Like they're like literally and figuratively, they're like Hawaii and they're all on their own.
[00:52:38] There's this beautiful Island with beaches. they just kind of do their own thing, but they're part of the nation just like Hawaii anyways. So we're like son spear of the game of Thrones, you know, where like all the way down South that's where the stands
[00:52:50] Angie Yu: are.
[00:52:50] Kristy Yee: Yes. Yes. So everybody else above us are just all northerners, right?
[00:52:55] They're all the same, which is also a bad stereotype. Because if you look at the game of Thrones, look at how many different countries, countries, kingdom, kingdoms. Thank you. Yeah. Look at all those different kingdoms and they all have different traits. Right. So similarly in China, all of the other provinces have different traits and they all have different customs and they all have different things
[00:53:16] Angie Yu: and they all see other places, but stereotypes,
[00:53:20] Kristy Yee: but raised from Cantonese parents, I don't know about anybody else, but maybe my parents are just really racist.
[00:53:26] Everybody who is up North or just all northerners. And they're all like the same, like. when we talk about northerners, right. That's what we'll call them. They're the northerners. Right. Right. And then, so then they're like, they all spit everywhere and they like pee on the streets and they're like super rude and they don't have any manners.
[00:53:41] Angie Yu: When I was a toddler, I peed on the street because that's why I was potty trained at six months. How
[00:53:47] Kristy Yee: do you know when you go potty train? I have no idea when
[00:53:50] Angie Yu: I've had this conversation with my mom,
[00:53:52] Kristy Yee: typical mother daughter conversation like, Hey mom, when was I potty trained? Cause that's not a conversation I had.
[00:53:58] Angie Yu: I've had the conversation several times with my mom
[00:54:01] Kristy Yee: several times. Yes. Several times,
[00:54:03] Angie Yu: several times I was asking her about split pants. Okay. Yeah. Anyway, this is like, we're like digressing the hell out of this, but I like the game of Thrones analogy. So in the future, when we have Chinese guests, so we're going to continue using so where I'm from, like, I'm kind of, I'm in the middle, like I'm from the Wu area, which is where Shanghai is the Wu region, like the down then.
[00:54:24] And that's kind of like the literati area,
[00:54:26] Kristy Yee: you know, like
[00:54:27] Angie Yu: yeah, like the Tang dynasty. The song dynasty, you know, like the poem and like love. So like, we're like the high garden,
[00:54:36] Kristy Yee: artsy, fartsy, fancy. We have
[00:54:39] Angie Yu: like fertile land and soil. And we never really worried about food that much, even like during famine times, my parents would just like jump in the river and , catch fish or ELL or whatever stuff like that.
[00:54:52] Eat wild flowers, eat wild grass. like, of course they were starving, but like they could. Eat from the land, right? Yeah. Um,
[00:54:57] Kristy Yee: they still have more abundance because you guys are high garden. Yeah. That's right. Gross shit,
[00:55:02] Angie Yu: bro. Shit.
[00:55:03] Kristy Yee: and like, we kind of keep to ourselves as the sands people, as the sun spear.
[00:55:08] Cool.
[00:55:08] Angie Yu: And you guys do a lot of Trey, a lot of merge mercenary. Yes. I always said mercenary
[00:55:15] Kristy Yee: would have understood.
[00:55:16] Angie Yu: You would have. Yeah. Cause we're married.
[00:55:18] Kristy Yee: Well, I mean, this is now this is going to like fucking China history, but one of the biggest ports of China is in Kong's owl, which is the main city in the province of Canton.
[00:55:30] That's right.
[00:55:30] Yeah, which one of those ports. They Oh shit. Now I might be getting this wrong. in Gonzo? There's this port that had to be given up after the opium Wars of one of the opium Wars or some shit after they lost it. Like, Oh shit. Now we have to give away our, like one of our major
[00:55:48] Angie Yu: ports open up the port.
[00:55:49] Kristy Yee: Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Because the BR so,
[00:55:52] Angie Yu: so for those of you who are not familiar with the opium Wars, there was two of them and it's called the opium war because Britain want a tea from China. So they started selling opium and they got people addicted to opium so that China would trade opium for tea and.
[00:56:06] Kristy Yee: And it was because at first they were just trading tea and it was all good, but then it got too expensive. Oh yeah. So China was actually making bank from the tea because like so many British people wanted the tea and then it got more and more expensive. And then Britain is like, okay, we need to devise a plan to get this tea without breaking the bank.
[00:56:26] Let's send them opium.
[00:56:28] Angie Yu: Hmm.
[00:56:29] Kristy Yee: Gotcha. That was our history lesson of the day.
[00:56:32] Angie Yu: Speaking of T and ports,
[00:56:34] tea in Chinese is TA in Mandarin. That's cha in Hokkien is
[00:56:39] Kristy Yee: tech. Okay. Okay.
[00:56:42] Angie Yu: So when ti made its way to Europe, it was mostly by ships. That's right. And ships have to go through ports. And one of the biggest ports was in hook yen. Like
[00:56:53] Kristy Yee: food, Joel. Oh, okay. Oh, the port's
[00:56:57] Angie Yu: he became tea because Hey Ted, they took 10 or something
[00:57:02] Kristy Yee: during this.
[00:57:02] I'm so sorry. People
[00:57:04] Angie Yu: were apologized to our hooky and friends. Um, whereas char, which has the Mandarin and all the other Mandarin variations, the silk road goes through. Like most of the Mandarin speaking areas and the silk road, um, goes through India, central Asia, and then parts of like Northern Africa.
[00:57:21] Yes. So in those places, like in India, chai
[00:57:24] Kristy Yee: Wow.
[00:57:25] Angie Yu: Yup.
[00:57:25] Kristy Yee: That's cool. That was really cool. Yeah.
[00:57:27] Angie Yu: So if in your country tea is similar to teeth, then it means that the origins came from ships. And if it's similar to cha or chai it's silk
[00:57:36] Kristy Yee: road, boom,
[00:57:37] Angie Yu: boom
[00:57:38] , so speaking of labels, you know, at the end of the day labels, like I mentioned earlier in the day, like nothing we know is the right view or the real view or the absolute truth. Because there is no absolute truth because everything is subject.
[00:57:55] Like everything can pretty much be subjective because it's all rooted in the creation by humans. Like we create these things, we create these frameworks, we create these systems. We create words.
[00:58:08] Kristy Yee: We create labels.
[00:58:09] Angie Yu: We create labels, which means we can unlabel things we can. You know, change the system, like the whole black lives movement.
[00:58:16] We created the current system. So people who are like, Oh, but that's just the way things are. No, there is no absolute right. There's no such thing as this thing is just the way they are. This is absolute and absolute
[00:58:27] Kristy Yee: it really. Irks me when I hear that from anybody. Like my mom says that all the time, , um, particularly when she's talking about gender biases, like, that's just the way it is.
[00:58:36] Right. I'm like, what the fuck
[00:58:37] Angie Yu: but then if you look at other cultures, like in Thailand, there's always been a third gender in India. There's also another culture where it's , very common for men to dress up as women. Like what we know as men and women. ,
[00:58:49] So
[00:58:49] Kristy Yee: labels, by the way, labels, I just want to draw this, making this shit up. that means we can unmake it up or we could change it. we can just change the narrative. I don't mean like flip the page. Like it's easy. Like it's an easy thing to do. That's not what I'm saying.
[00:59:05] I'm just saying we have the ability to move and make change. Because everything that came before us was made up, so everything in front of us can also be made up by us as well. And whether are we moving towards a more progressive or regressive way, then that's up to us to decide and how we behave as people, whether or not we're stereotyping what we have done before and what we choose to do moving forward.
[00:59:30] That is something that you can choose every day.
[00:59:32] Angie Yu: And I love that when I'm talking like really in abstract terms, you actually understand me because I'm like, I sound fucking high right now. I'm not high. Um, there's nothing wrong with being high, but I was not high. Um, and that's just a Savage in me talking. I'm sorry. I just had to slow some astrology in there. That's just the Sagittarius and me talking because I don't believe that anything is any big. Yeah.
[00:59:55] Kristy Yee: So it's just like labels, labels, or label stereotypes are stereotypes, but we could also change those narratives.
[01:00:00] and none of those things ever define who we are as people.
[01:00:04] Angie Yu: That's right. And if we can have two different words for the same thing, like tea and cha and tea and Chi, why can't we adjust whatever system we have to suit the needs of those humans who need it?
[01:00:15] Yeah.
[01:00:15] Kristy Yee: So I think that's it. That's the end of our episode. I don't our next episode. We have no idea what we will be talking about because apparently we just go off of our schedule, actually not a script, but like our scheduled, cause we don't have scripts.
[01:00:28] Angie Yu: We have schedule isn't chalk. We have
[01:00:32] Kristy Yee: like, you know, shit to talk about, but we don't know what the next episode will be.
[01:00:36] Join us on our next episode
[01:00:38] Angie Yu: where we will talk about things
[01:00:39] Kristy Yee: that we won't know what we're talking about.
[01:00:41] Angie Yu: That's right. Aye.
[01:00:43] Kristy Yee: Aye.
