A ZINE FOR COLLECTIVE CARE CHINESE AND SOUTHEAST ASIAN CREATIVE RESPONSES TO COVID-19, RACISM AND XENOPHOBIA
IN TR O 2020
will always be known as the year of the global Covid-19 pandemic, and for Chinese and Southeast Asian people, this emergency gave rise to a second: a dramatic increase in racism and violence around the world. The pandemic exposed the racism and sinophobic stereotyping perpetuated across media and political discourse against people and communities of a projected ‘Chinese’ appearance. Racism was compounded by physical isolation that made it so much harder to care for, comfort and mobilise one another. The desire to counter this was the impetus to create a digital space for people of Chinese and Southeast Asian ancestry and allies to share, make, and listen deeply together. These desires and conditions gave rise to a series of digital creative workshops that invited people of Chinese and Southeast Asian heritage and affinities to share together by creating recipes, making affirmations and weaving object dialogues, and the product of these workshops have come together in this zine. These zine-making workshops
became a digital haven where we could rest and digest on a Sunday evening; a restorative place formed by invisible hands and pixellated faces. Here, we held space against the exhaustion of microaggressions, racial violence, and injustices that were borne by our physical bodies and internal landscapes. The process of making together formed a space to amplify, hear each other and build from a place of collective dialogue and care. To practice rest as resistance and heed the words of Audre Lorde, “Caring for myself is not self-indulgence, it is selfpreservation, and that is an act of political warfare”. While our communities and bodies were subjected to racist and hostile narratives, the zine workshops became a space to inscribe our embodied experiences; to be tellers, receivers and makers of our own stories. Though separated by distance, we digitally came together to speak about the historical and multidimensional lives of our personal objects to weave imaginative scripts, articulate the complexity of intergenerational connections through
CONTENTS WORKSHOP 1
RECIPES FOR INTERGENERATIONAL INTIMACY & RESISTANCE P4 WORKSHOP 2
food and create personal affirmations of power through collaged landscapes. A heartfelt thank you goes to everyone who joined in the workshops with such generous spirit, openness and imaginative agility. Our faces lit by screens, there were palpable moments of intimacy despite the distance; the pages before you capture that affirmation, desire and alchemy.
BE-LONGING(S) & OBJECT DIALOGUES P38 WORKSHOP 3
AN AFFIRMATION FOR POWERFUL CARE P58
The Zine of Collective Care participants were: AMY, ANA, BOYI, CELESTE, CHRISLYN, CLARINDA, ETHEL, FEI, GENEVIEVE, JIAJIA, JOYCE, KATHARINA, MARGARET, REGINA, TINA, VICKY, XIAO
Artist Facilitator: DENISE KWAN Designer: BETHAN MORGAN
WORKSHOP 0NE
Recipes for intergenerational intimacy & resistance Chinese food has historically been subjected to Western gazes and this has been acutely heightened by the racialisation of Covid-19. Reversing the prejudice projected onto Chinese food, we collectively compiled, re-made and revived recipes that nourished familial intimacy, resistance and togetherness.
During this workshop, ‘Recipes for Intergenerational Intimacy & Resistance’, the material and somatic role of food formed a conduit to time travel, revisiting the tenderness of the extended family and recognising labour as love. Food, desire and joy became a sensory vehicle to resist cultural prejudice and create a site of migratory adaptation and re-invention.
Xiao on
Cold skin noodles 凉皮 / 酿皮子
I had a dream about mountains and clouds. I was a bird flying over the mountains – they are huge and extraordinary, craggy and strong, reminding me of your grandma’s hands. Then I flew into the clouds and became part of it - floating around her hands. It was a sweet dream.
凉皮
Boyi on
Chinese Sauerkraut 酸菜 When I googled the proper translation of 酸 As soon as I had one bite at the sauerkraut, I 菜 (suancai), “Chinese Sauerkraut” came up started to regret. I realized this dish was meant as one of the results. It reminds me of the time to stimulate your desire to consume alcohol with when I was visiting alone in Germany during the fatty sausages, so they were made very salty, Christmas time, I accidentally smelled the smell and I also started to understand how weird did of German sauerkraut for the first time in my life. I seem to that kind lady in the Christmas market It immediately reminded me of the suancai that that I insisted to have a plate of sauerkraut. I my mom cooks every winter. I asked the lady who were selling those sauerkraut that if I could have some of it. She said she only serves sauerkraut with those who buy the sausages from her as a side dish. In the end, she agreed to sell a full plate of Sauerkraut only for 1€. I was very excited, expecting the plate of fermented cabbage would taste exactly same as my mom’s cooking because their smell is so similar.
looked at the full plate of oversalted supposedlysuancai, thinking about the happy memory where I enjoyed the delicious mom-made suancai at home, as well as ways to secretly put the leftovers to the bin without being noticed by the lady.
酸菜
Recipe for intergenerational intimacy
CREATED BY
Xiao and Boyi Recipe
01
PICKLED CABBAGE DUMPLINGS FOR QUALITY FAMILY TIME
Ingredients Wheat flour Water Pickled cabbage Minced pork Ginger Spring onion Salt Soya sauce Shaoxin cooking wine Sunflower oil Sesame oil Time Attention Patience Acceptance Openness Curiosity Inclusivity Reconciliation Teamwork Don’t ask wrong questions, but do ask questions Perhaps don’t talk about politics ? Living in the present moment
酿皮子 / 酸菜 SERVES 1X FAMILY
METHOD 1. It’s a teamwork, get everyone involved! 2. Make a dough and let it rest well. Don’t forget to cover the dough with “curiosity” , “attention” and “patience” 3. Chop all the ingredients, mix everything together and drizzle over “acceptance”, “openness”, and “inclusivity” 4. Roll out dumping wrappers using a rolling pin. Coordinate your hands, the rolling pin and the wrappers with some “teamwork” skills – looking for the right rhythm 5. Wrap the dumplings and seal them with “reconciliation” 6. Boil the dumplings in small batches in a large pot – never take your eyes off the pot while cooking them 7. It’s time to enjoy!
Fei on
Spicy dry hotpot
It is the food that I cook when I have friends to come over. So, in my head spicy dry hotpot symbolises reunion and closeness. Last time when I was back in China in 2019, I cooked this for my mum, she absolutely loved it. When I was doing the meditation in the workshop, I saw her smiley face while enjoying the food. It’s the face that she is saying “I am proud of you and I love you so much”. Though she rarely explicitly expresses her love to me, I can feel how she feels just by looking at her, always. Through her eyes, I can feel that I am her, she is also me.
regina on
ginger
I selected ginger. I love ginger and its healing benefits. Not only does it make all dishes taste good, it helps with the digestion. We grew up with ginger in the house and while doing this workshop, I focused on my mom and how she prepared the ginger in meals. I wondered how she did so much without the internet. I lost my mom in 2012, which was a catalyst for me to pick up and retire to New Orleans, finding love and incidentally, my ‘roots’ and having a furry daughter named Ginger.
Recipe for intergenerational intimacy
CREATED BY
FEI and regina Recipe
02
HOT MAMA GINGER POWER IN ANCIENT CLAY POT
Ingredients Ginger Chicken bones Wood fire Ginger flower blossom Combine ginger and hotpot for a ginger soup based hotpot Inside the hotpot, we put ginger and chicken bones Use wood fire to keep the pot warm Last but not least, a bunch of tall ginger flowers blossom as a background of the dish, it represents healing.
The method commences with care and intimacy. Mama uses the dry hot pot for strength and ancestral wisdom and uses the ginger as a source of resilience.
METHOD 1. Good family hot pot, copper referred and used from foremothers, the roundness and the heat reflects the womb and the goodness forthcoming from the womb/ pot. 2. Ginger roots; may leave the soil or not, soil enriches the minerals. It provides purification and rejuvenation. 3. Bones for taste and regeneration of the blood; purity and restorative circulation 4. Love; the sacrifice that mothers do for their family 5. Resilience; reinforced with the metal of hot pot, the fact hot pot is hot. 6. Protection from the pot and the ginger adds further protection. The digestion system is protected and relieves the inflammation that constantly reminds us that the conflict is in living. 7. Home; comfort peace 8. Wood or natural heat source; source of continuous lifeform, the impetus and once the fire is out, there is no light, no warmth, cooked food for survival or warm nights to eat food. The huge clay pot symbolises warmth of a mother’s womb to offer protection and regeneration.
CHRISLYN on
Sago gula melaka
Sago is the queen of comfort foods in my cookbook. Smooth, pearly, and versatile, it’s a vessel of maternal love at family gatherings. Whether we reunite in Malaysia or a remote harbor in Maine, our aunties always find a way to serve up perfect half-moons of sago pudding, drizzled with a swirling eddy of creamy coconut milk and caramelized gula melaka (palm sugar). As I experiment on my own now, I’m discovering the joy of a blank slate. “This time, I’ll try stewing it with jackfruit and pandan. Next time, how about chilling it with mango puree?” Every time is different, a fluid mirror of the shifting geographies I call home. Sourced from the soft center of a sago palm, this dessert keeps me gently rooted to my foremothers, inviting me to creatively nourish myself and my community wherever I am.
joyce on
congee I chose congee as my food item. It is probably
Another reason this dish means so much to
the most under appreciated, valuable and
me personally is because my grandmother
best comfort food dish Chinese people have
started our family tradition of adding crisps
ever created. It was once a peasant dish for
into congee.
people who couldn’t afford food and for when times are hard, but it has since progressed to become a staple dish for Chinese people during childhood, when we are ill, too lazy to cook or when we get old and have no teeth left to chew.
In an attempt to try to coax my older brother, who was a very young child at the time to eat, she crushed up Cheese & Onion Flavour Tayto crisps and mixed it into his congee. It obviously worked and it became our very own tradition,
It is the easiest, most versatile, creative and fun
for whenever we have congee we would
to cook dish. It is the one dish where there are
always add our own favourite crushed packet
no rules. We start from a blank state and we
of crisps and mix them into it. Since children
personalise the dish to our tastes, it also tests
we would enjoy and have fun experimenting
our resourcefulness to use up any ingredients
and choosing the flavour of crisps we want to
we want to use up and challenges our ability to
have and crush them into our bowls. We have
experiment with the ingredients we have.
free rein to add whatever we want into our
congee. I know that this is the one dish that we will all definitely pass on to our own children. Not only am I amazed by this discovery of this origin story, I am also amazed and proud of how this story embodied the ingenuity, resourcefulness and versatility of Chinese food. Similar to how Asian food businesses in the Western world have adapted to Western tastes, our food has evolved into something better, a new fusion cuisine. I hope to see more Asian dishes being developed this way and it will encourage more people to cook and enjoy Asian food.
Recipe for intergenerational intimacy
CREATED BY
chrislyn and joyce Recipe
03
INDULGE YOURSELF: PERSONALIZED CONGEE OR SAGO PUDDING
Ingredients
Congee as a main dish / Sago dessert as dessert
MAIN
METHOD:
Rice Salt Ginger Stock Seasoning
1. Wash rice
Congee
2. Boil and simmer rice with salt, ginger, and stock (as desired) until thickened. 3. Add water and bring to boil 4. Cook until done
DESSERT
5. Add your own seasoning, toppings and ingredients
Sago pearls Toppings
6. Enjoy!
METHOD:
Sago
1. Prepare the dish that feels comforting to you in this moment. 2. For sago pudding, add pearls directly to boiling water, cooking until translucent, then drain and refrigerate. 3. Once your base is ready, have fun and get creative with your toppings. Explore what’s in your kitchen and your heart, adding any ingredients that please or intrigue you today. 4. Your dish is ready when you say it is!
JIAJIA on
Sweet Soup with dried longan, jujube, goji berry& egg 桂圆红枣枸杞鸡蛋糖水
Heartwarming and soothing, we cook for others and us. Kitchen in the village, kitchen in the city. Back to the country, back to the village.
MARGARET on
Lao Gan Ma sauce Being a Filipino-Chinese born and raised in
Ma and other spices. He would open up and
the Philippines (my mother was Filipino while
share stories about my grandparents and
my father was a second generation Chinese),
how they came about to the Philippines as
one of the ways I was able to connect to my
economic refugees from China, where our
Chinese heritage was through my father’s
ancestral hometown is in China, what are the
cooking.
differences between northern and southern
My father is not the type who can easily express his feelings but shows how much he
dishes, and many other things related to China from politics to culture.
cares for his family through actions, namely
Lao Gan Ma has a special place in my heart not
cooking our dinner even after a long day of
only because it became an avenue for my father
work. He never fails to add Lao Gan Ma (chilli
to share Chinese culture to his children but
and black bean sauce) in any dish he makes.
also a bridge that connected and helped forge
While he prepares the ingredients from washing the veggies, dicing the meat, to frying everything in the wok with Lao Gan
a strong father-daughter relationship.
Recipe for Resistance & Solidarity
CREATED BY
JIAJIA and MARGARET
Recipe
04
We created a dish that challenges the stigma associated with Chinese consumption of ‘unconventional’ ingredients,
BITS AND BOBS, A VERY CHINESE BEER SNACK
which has been receiving public attention since SARS and
to go with your choice of a very British pint.
combines both these cultures to create the ‘Bits and Bobs
COVID19. I’d like to call it an act of Chicken Feet Rebellion. Since beer is such a feature in British life and street food is a central figure in Chinese life, we created a recipe that Beer Snack’. “Bits and Bobs” is made of chicken, beef, or pork innards (chicken feet, intestines, liver, gizzard) which are seen as
Ingredients
staple ingredients and nutritious in any Asian street food or household but in Western culture, these are seen as ‘exotic’, ‘dirty’, or waste to be discarded. This recipe calls for a lot of patience, from cleaning the innards to boiling them in ginger, and finally to adding spices
Chicken Beef Pork innards Chicken feet Intestines Ginger Star anise Sichuan peppers Soy sauce Beer
like star anise, Sichuan peppers, and soy sauce. Food is a way of cultural expression directly linked to identity. Asian food being seen as ‘dirty’ is a form of othering which disregards the history and tradition of those who have cooked the food. Our ‘Bits and Bobs, A Very Chinese Beer Snack’ is a form of resistance showing that Asian food does not need to be adapted to Western palettes for it to be seen as delicious. It is also a form of solidarity that bridges the gap between both cultures by becoming a beer snack.
amy on
Black olive paste condiment
Black olive is a condiment to congee and many things. It connects me to my relatives, a reflection of family history, symbolic of extended family, love, care, tenderness and village collective care.
VICKY on
Braised pig trotters
Braised pig trotters represents warmth, home, family gatherings, nutritious and non-western. This dish is a form of resistance, not many people in the West would eat this, embrace or accept this type of food.
Recipe for intergenerational intimacy
CREATED BY
AMY and VICKY Recipe
05
PIG TROTTERS WITH BLACK OLIVE PASTE
Ingredients Vinegar Salt Star Anise Cinnamon Dried orange peel Onion Dark soy sauce Rock sugar Ginger Rice wine Pigs trotters Health Nutrition Msg (substituted flavour and love) Black olive Warmth Tenderness Attention Protection Presence Acceptance Heartfelt Compensated love Sorrow
METHOD 1. No measurements, take out your ingredients 2. Make sure the table is cleaned and cleared 3. Shake up all your ingredients and make sure both you and the ingredients are confused 4. Once you’ve done that, accept that these ingredients belong to you 5. Take tenderness and infuse that into the pig trotters through ginger and protection 6. Smother the trotters in dark soy sauce 7. Simmer the trotters mix with rice wine and loving kindness and stir with nutritious chopsticks 8. Sprinkle a hint of msg or substituted ingredients in case the parent ingredients are not present 9. Melt down the rock sugar and incorporate into the pigs trotters 10. Serve with a side dish of shiny black oily olives either with rice or congee
TWO
SHOP
BE-LONGING(S) & OBJECT DIALOGUES: T
he heightened visibility of Chinese and Southeast Asian bodies has been in stark contrast to the historical invisibility of our lived experiences. Against these homogenising forces, we drew on the histories of our personal belongings and objects as anchors of embodied knowledges. In this workshop ‘Be-longing(s) and Object Dialogues’, the process of speaking through objects presented a constellation of
affinities and divergences centred on family stories and self affirmation. Drawing on the stories of our objects, we collaboratively created imaginative scripts where the histories of our objects spoke to one another. These object-centred dialogues and collages merged fiction and reality in an alternate space to reveal longings, affirmation and transformed meanings.
01 ANA
#
PRAYER BEADS & TIGER BALM H
ave displaced you, forbidden you from going back home as if punishing for my non return.
The return, a return, some kind of return. Strange objects, unfamiliar faces incapable of meeting same beliefs. An understatement of your existence. The room smelled like incense and the shop seller takes years arriving, busy amongst lotus seeds while in the back her husband arranges disorderly Buddhist monks’ vests. You have travelled too far not finding home and while people appreciate your sense of aesthetics, feeling picturesque is fucking tiring.
02 CELESTE
#
RUBY EARRINGS From her surrogate gay activist grandmother who has passed on
HISTORY, THE OLD WOUND.
OBJECT DIALOGUE
ANA’S OBJECT:
PRAYER BEADS & TIGER BALM
in dialogue wih CELESTE’S OBJECT:
RUBY EARRINGS
at a train station
“ PRAYER BEADS & TIGER BALM
PB/TB
RUBY EARRINGS
RE
RE: We are both red and we are hiding away here.
PB/TB: What are you hiding from?
RE: Afraid someone will find me and waiting for my original
person. Waiting for it from comeback, I´ll glitter from the floor and I´m sure she will see me. Actually, are you hiding?
PB/TB: I suppose I´m trying to find someone that is coming on the train. I´m looking for a yellow bright light in the dark of a huge night and I wait for him or her. I hope they recognise me by the way I smell. RE: So, you want to be found?
PB/TB: Very fast! Your person…where is she coming from and why do wait? Why don´t you go and find her? RE: That´s a good question, I don´t know where she lives
anymore. I suppose I can wait, and someone will take me to her or maybe I´ll just live in the train station. PB/TB: Do you want the lights on or off?
03 JOYCE
#
GOLD BRACELET C
rushed deep underground In the utter darkness for millenniums
Syphoned from the center of the earth Violently disturbed, dug up, machined And boiled in intense heat over thousands degrees Until my body reveals its true form To be made malleable and make whole Into another useful being My forced origin into being became a symbolic gift of fortune, the celebration of new life A charm to protect the wearer for the rest of her natural days From a grandmother to her granddaughter As a token of love to solidify their everlasting bond, connection and belonging.
04 XIAO
#
NAME SEAL
D
o you remember those weekend and summer holidays we had together? When everything was so uncertain for you, it was so special to pick up a brush, take a deep breath, produce something solid and claim the work with me in this bold colour. Do you know it’s actually quite cold to live on your bookshelf? Why did you take me here? How are you now? Have you found a new name seal? Sometimes I have dreams about those summers. Shall we go back? Together?
OBJECT DIALOGUE
JOYCE’S OBJECT:
GOLD BRACELET
in dialogue wih XIAO’S OBJECT:
NAME SEAL
whilst floating on an iceberg
“ GOLD BRACELET
GB
NAME SEAL
NS
GB: Are you lost? Are you looking for your owner?
NS: I don’t know. I don’t think so. What about you?
GB: No I’m not either. I think she is fine without me. I have
done my part. I’m waiting to return into the center of earth and be melted apart and be free again. NS: Why?
GB: So I can be free and be whatever I want to be. Maybe
turn into something new. Are you waiting for something?
NS: Well, I once belonged to a girl whose name is imprinted on me so I can remind her who she is. We had some good time’s together. It has been a very long time ago but I still carrying her name. I guess I will meet her again when she also returns to earth. GB: Yes, we will all be together again… Look! The sky is
turning pink and the sun is rising. The colour is so magical! How did we end up on an iceberg? NS: I don’t remember but it sure is beautiful here! They would have enjoyed seeing this gorgeous scene. Do you miss her? GB: I guess, I hope she became the person she wanted to be.
I hope we will all meet again one day.
05 VICKY
#
FAMILY PHOTO ALBUM F
or far too long That’s been sitting on our shelf
Who’ll take possession of it? To make use of it And have memories to look back on To share their life with others For what is life, if not to be shared?
Island Adventure; Guiding the Way Top left Float Your Cares Away with a burst of energy, It’s a Free Zone Top right Witness of Unveiling Entanglement Bottom left
06 GENEVIEVE
#
BLACK ANGEL I
t can be a very lonely place on this planet but it can also be a peaceful, tranquil, untroubled planet… Live your dream free from racism, discrimination, xenophobia, Islamophobia, homophobia, microaggression. However, this lonely planet reveals many different tips a) the sky isn’t the limit b) you can be enlightened by discovering a new world c) embracing new cultures d) meeting people down at the coffee shop – that’s different and diverse, yet have similar values e) it may take your breath away
Leaving the planet with wings like a dove represents the release of creative energy and the aspiration of the soul.
OBJECT DIALOGUE
VICKY’S OBJECT:
PHOTO ALBUM
in dialogue wih GENEVIEVE’S OBJECT:
BLACK ANGEL
waiting outside a coffee shop
“ PHOTO ALBUM
PA
BLACK ANGEL
BA
PA: This line is taking bloody ages. Hey, where are you from?
You seem new around here. BA: I’m from here.
PA: No, where are you really from?
BA: Oh, so where are you from?
PA: I’m from all over, it’s complicated. Where have you flown
from?
BA: I have flown from a beautiful place, far away, far above the earth, where there is no suffering. The aspiration of the soul soared. How about you? PA: I’m from another continent, quite unlike this one.
However I carry my heritage and many memories always with me no matter where I may be. What are you getting from here anyway?
BA: I hope the coffee will release a creative energy. Do you think it will allow me to be free? Because where I’m from, it symbolises freedom and suffering.
WOR K S H OP 0
3
AFFI R MAT ION F O R POW E RFU L CA R E AN
During a time where our bodies are experiencing racial hostility, what does it mean to feel and be in our bodies? To echo Audre Lorde, how do you hold faith with sun in a sunless place? In this workshop, ‘An Affirmation for Powerful Care’ we somatically enquired about the seed of power through an orange sensory meditation. Through collaging and making, we articulated the urgency of coming together, and shared questions of inhabiting multiple identities and ways to to practice self-nourishment to generate an ecology of care.
back and forth. Here. No, there. I've been missing you.
Time is not linear. You are enough. We can choose the d we are connected to. Eat nourishing food. T A FF IRM ATION FOR CA RE
Time is not linear. You are enough.
We can choose the dimensions we are connected to. Eat nourishing food. Take breaks.
Think about your ancestors. Don’t be bogged down by identity.
When anxious, move your body to let the anxiety flow away. The ground carries you. There is no ending outcome when we weave.
CLARINDA
dimensions
Take breaks.
A FFIRMATION FOR CARE
TAKE A STEP BACK AND RE-EVALUATE. ETHEL
Caring for each ot but also for ourselv is only possible by stepping out of our perspective into ano
ther ves
r oth�
AFFIR MAT IO N FO R CARE
I wanted to highlight the topic of perspectives as a way to think about hope in a sunless place. A change of perspective, be it because of age/time roles (turning into a mother or grandmother), technology or belief systems that can lead to actual change. I see great potential in the thinking and research about perspective in relation to care. Caring for each other but also for ourselves is only possible by stepping out of our perspective into another one.
K AT H A R I N A
T s a I t
AFFI RM ATI O N F O R CA R E
It represents lots of cliches in how I feel I am viewed by others and how I feel. At times, I feel as though I am only viewed as the panda in the facemask but there is much more to me. It’s ok to feel different identities, to come to terms with it and to celebrate them. In the middle is a candle and this represents the flame that burns to keep my spirit strong, the love and support of family and friends and home, wherever that may be. TINA
The orange is small, imperfect and thick skinned but at the same time can be fragile and easily bruised or battered. It needs care for it to grow strong similar to the heart and to find inner peace.
A FFIRMATION FOR CARE
WE NEED EACH OTHER TO DEVELOP OUR OWN SENSE OF AGENCY. XIAO
TH A NKS Thank you to all the participants who shared and contributed so generously. CLARINDA
BOYI WANG
ETHEL MANN
FEI
KATHARINA SOOK WILTING
REGINA MARIE SERAFINO-ROGENSTEIN
TINA YU
CHRISLYN CHOO
XIAO MA
JIAJIA YI
ANA MARTA FORTUNA
AMY SUO WU
JOYCE LOK YENG LAW
MARGARET GO
GENEVIEVE J
CELESTE CHAN
VICKY SUNG
‘A Zine of Collective Care: Chinese and Southeast Asian Creative Responses to Covid-19, Racism and Xenophobia’ was a part of a wider programme of activities titled ‘Sinophone creative responses to Covid-19, Racism, and Xenophobia’ delivered by the Contemporary Chinese Centre, University of Westminster. Thank you to the University’s Covid-19 Research Community Fund for supporting the making of this zine.