From Difference to Connection
7 MINUTE READ Author Across Cultures Yang-May Ooi’s trail of her Hakka roots takes her to Jonathan Spence’s book God’s Chinese Son, the true story of Hong Xiuquan, who believed he was Jesus’s younger brother. In this extraordinary real life history, Spence weaves a tale of Christianity, Chinese religion and political discontent that all came... Continue Reading →
7 MINUTE READ Author Across Cultures Yang-May Ooi can buy pastrami at her local M&S. But whenever she eats it, she thinks of New York. Curious about how a Jewish deli favourite got there, she follows a trail through Romania, the Ottoman Empire and Central Asia to see how this Eastern European food travelled and... Continue Reading →
7 MINUTE READ What could the Chinese Hakka and the Welsh possibly have in common? Separated by thousands of miles and very different histories, they share a surprising connection hidden in the names we use for them. Yang-May Ooi follows this unexpected trail to ask a bigger question: who gets to decide where we belong?... Continue Reading →
9 MINUTE READ Born in Malaysia, Author Across Cultures Yang-May Ooi grew up straddling two worlds: the muggy, multicultural streets of Kuala Lumpur and the gentler, rain-soaked landscapes of Britain. A third also infuses her outlook, her ancestral history that links her and her family to China. Recently, she has been exploring her family history... Continue Reading →
9 MINUTE READ Following on from the Belonging Across Cultures podcast with Chef Norman Musa where he talked with Author Across Cultures Yang-May Ooi about beef rendang as the iconic dish of Malaysia, Yang-May’s curiosity was piqued about the origins of this, one of her favourite dishes. How did it come to be a Malaysian... Continue Reading →
12 MINUTE READ Belonging Across Cultures is fascinated by the connections between nations, peoples and ideas. You may be sipping a cup of tea while settling down to read this story. As you can imagine, this evergreen shrub, Camellia sinensis, used to grow in the wild. Until the Chinese discovered what it could offer us... Continue Reading →
14 MINUTE READ Not all migration is across international borders or across the seas. The history of the British Isles is full of personal stories of individuals and families travelling across the landscape in search of a better life. In the days before modern travel, moving from one part of the country to another would... Continue Reading →