by Heather Diamond | Mar 31, 2021 | Belief, Blog, Family, Intercultural, Relationships, Tradition
Ching Ming (also spelled Qing Ming), one of two annual “grave-sweeping” observances in the Chinese calendar, coincides with Easter this year, which seems vaguely appropriate to me. They are both commemorations of death, transition, and afterlife. Of course, Easter focuses on a single individual while Ching Ming is when Chinese families honor their ancestors. I might be stretching things, but the emphasis in both cases seems to be on continuity after death.
by Heather Diamond | Mar 24, 2021 | Blog, Daily Life, Family, Intercultural, Relationships, Tradition
Being in a Chinese family periodically throws me up against my cultural edges and forces me to question behaviors or beliefs I take for granted. For me, the concept of reciprocity is like an electric fence between my American training and Chinese customs. It zaps me with words like favor, debt, and obligation—all of which make me squirm.
by Heather Diamond | Feb 18, 2021 | Blog, Family, Intercultural, Relationships, Tradition, Writing
I stepped out of my comfort zone twenty years ago when I first came to Hong Kong, but I didn’t realize then that beyond every doorway we step through, there is another threshold we must dare ourselves to pass.
by Heather Diamond | Dec 1, 2020 | Blog, Daily Life, Family, Intercultural, Relationships
My intercultural marriage is never dull, but parts of it are mired in translation.
by Heather Diamond | Aug 1, 2020 | Blog, Daily Life, Family, Intercultural, Relationships, Travel
I woke up in the middle of the night last night thinking about authenticity. That thought came on the tail of a dream in which I was in a pink kitchen telling someone about why it wasn’t ok for a white woman to dress up in Chinese clothes and be part of a Chinese...
by Heather Diamond | Mar 18, 2020 | Blog, Daily Life, Family, Relationships, Travel, Writing
I live in my head, as do many writers, but I’ve been thinking about bodies lately. This is partly because this month I am in a writing workshop where we are writing essays on what the body remembers. Not much, if I ask mine. My head knows that there were triumphs and...