This is Xixi’s story.
Here it’s told in English, the language Xixi and I speak with each other even though both of our families hail from Guangdong, where our whanaunga speak Cantonese.
Xixi grew up in Guangzhou. It was a great childhood.
She and her sister would play on the sculptures around the fine arts university where they lived with their aunt, who had a job there.
They spoke Cantonese at home, and learned Mandarin at school.
They lived with relatives because their parents were in Aotearoa.