How do Antwerp Chinese experience their beloved city? “I feel like an explorer” (Antwerp)
Sooner or later, the Chinese in Belgium always have to deal with prejudices. The Asia Talks speakers all agreed on that. “We often had to hear the classic Ching Tsjang Tsjong in our childhood,” says GVA reporter Sonia De Bock. “But prejudice often stems from ignorance. That is why, as a journalist, I want to contribute to a greater understanding of Chinese culture.”
Sonia grew up in Brasschaat as the daughter of a Chinese mother and Belgian father. Although she went to a Flemish school as a child, she remained connected to the Chinese world through her mother. To her great annoyance, that included the Chinese school on Wednesday afternoon. “While other kids were free, I had to pick up my Chinese, but I didn’t feel like it at all. It’s only in retrospect that I really appreciate how valuable it was to maintain my connection to the language, the community and the culture,” she says.
love-hate relationship
Steve Leung also had a love-hate relationship with Chinese culture in his youth. He was born here, but knows neither Belgian nor Chinese. “It has already started, but I am starting to feel at home here. Gradually I just became an Antwerper”, it sounds.
Perhaps his passion for skating has something to do with it. As an adolescent you could always see him perform on a small square in Antwerp with his skateboard. Still by the way, because he has still not forgotten skating at the age of 41.
He is now a lawyer and specializes in immigration law. “I have a lot of admiration for people who have and leave everything behind to fight for a better life. My father came to Belgium when he was eighteen. He had perhaps a thousand francs (25 euros) in his pocket, no more than that. At twenty-one he was the manager of his own restaurant. I can hardly imagine.”
Explorer
For many Chinese migration not among the first generation. Steve and Sonia also face obstacles every day. “Sometimes I feel like I’m the first of the only ones in everything,” Steve says. I was the first lawyer and the first district councilor with a Chinese background. Sometimes I really feel like an explorer.”
“Hopefully that will change soon,” adds Sonia. “There are also very few Asian journalists in Belgium. An Asian newscaster does not exist here on a daily basis, which are much more common in the United States, for example. Usual media too often share the same great, classic stories such as China’s rise as an economic superpower, trade conflicts of the New Silk Road. the Chinese community here in Belgium receives too little attention in the news.
Although we have a whole Chinese quarter here and even a Chinese gate. Behind it are many relevant, personal stories, and I want to portray those as a journalist in particular,” she concludes.