My mother gave me this golden bracelet as a marriage gift. A few weeks later, I left Hong Kong, my native city, to join my husband in the United States. The bracelet always reminds me of my mom, a brave Chinese woman who, at her young age, fled the Chinese Communist regime to the British colony of Hong Kong for freedom in the sixties. In traditional Chinese culture, parents adorn their bridal daughter with luxurious jewelry at the wedding feast. They do this to show to the guests how much they value their daughter. My mom’s whole family stayed in China when she left the country. By the time she married my dad, her parents had already passed away, and no sibling of her was at her wedding to present her a jewelry gift. But the Chinese traditional culture is deep in her blood. For her, the bracelet is a cultural tool of parental love. That gift takes on a different meaning to her daughter. It is now a reminder of my Hong Kong Chinese identity which I embrace wherever I am. 

– C

Relationship:  Im/migrant Im/migrant