With the introduction of "Crazy Rich Asians" to Hollywood, it surely shone a new light towards the transformative diversity in Hollywood and everyone is surely excited about it. The first all Asian cast Hollywood movie in 25 years that primarily revolves about the theme of Asian culture.

I'm sure most people would relate to Rachel's story since she is an American Born Chinese (or ABC), but I, myself relate to Nick's background story.

I was born and raised in Malaysia, the country right above Singapore and both of our countries culture do coincide in many ways. Technically I identify myself as a Malaysian-Chinese. To start off, let's talk about food. In Malaysia, we have many 'hawker centers' as well; which is the place that Nick, Colin, and Araminta brought Rachel to eat when they first arrived in Singapore. In the movie, Nick quoted that this place is where "they have been perfecting the recipes for generations and each store sells Michelin Star quality food" for which I have to agree. These 'uncles' and 'aunties' have been selling their dishes for so long sometimes you stick to just one stall for the particular taste that you love the most. Not only are these dishes super delicious, they are very affordable as well.

A plate of 10 sticks of Satay (barbecued meat on a stick) should cost less than four dollars.
A bowl of shaved ice with red bean or as we call it 'Ice Kachang' (Kachang meaning nuts in Malay) should cost around a dollar.

Hawker centers are the place you go to when you crave scrumptious and affordable food. Gosh, I was missing home so much when I saw that scene.

Second of all, we are multilingual. I personally speak English, Mandarin, Malay, Hokkien, and Cantonese.
English, Mandarin and Malay were all taught by teachers in school ever since primary school up to high school. I picked up Hokkien, and Cantonese which are dialects of the Chinese language from my family who have been speaking these dialects ever since they were young as well.

Therefore when the phrase, 'kaki lang' (our own people) was mentioned in the movie, I was in complete shock. It is pretty rare to find people outside of Southeast Asia who actually know how to speak Hokkien and to see it being added into a Hollywood movie is just jaw-dropping for me. However, I'm so glad that they actually did add this phrase to the movie and explained it well.

Filial piety does play a huge role in the Chinese culture. (However, I do need to clarify though, not all Asian mothers are strict or as some would say it, act like tiger moms.) Still, I have seen some of my friends' mothers who forbade their child from studying abroad because they want their child to stay by their side. This is somewhat similar to Auntie Eleanor's story, as all she wants is what she believes is best for her child. She never gave Nick a chance to express what he feels in his heart. Even after all of this, Nick still loves her and cares for her, after all, she is his mum.

I really hope more movies involving Asian characters and cultures will be brought up to light soon. It's high time we share our story to the world.