My DNA analysis results are in!

I am so excited to share this with my readers: my DNA results are in! I took a DNA analysis test back during the Olympics - you can read more about the "We Are No Race" project  here. Well, I got the results today and I am slightly disappointed that more details weren't revealed - such as if I am more prone to certain ailments or diseases, or a more detailed breakdown on my DNA roots but what I did learn is still pretty interesting. The diagram below says it all. I was already told at the time of my test not to expect my DNA to be 100% Chinese/Asian - but 83.6% is pretty low, I thought it would've closer to like 95+%. I did expect to find some African blood in there for the simple reason that all humans originated from Africa - but at just 0.7% that figure was lower than I had anticipated. As for for 15.8% European - woah! Like, where did that come from?!

I am going to think about these results and write a longer post on it at some stage. The only thing that comes to mind at this point is that the European blood probably originated from my dad's side (I am guessing) for he is Hakka and my mum is Hokkien. You can read more about the history of Hakka people on wikipedia - and they have migrated over great distances over the centuries, hence the term 'guest people' 客家人; Hakka has a language is quite far removed from Mandarin - for example it contains the consonant 'V' whilst it 'V' sound is totally absent in not just Chinese (in all it's dialects/forms) but also Korean and Japanese. Though through generations of assimilation, the 'V' in Hakka has slowly morphed into more like 'F' sound in amongst some speakers. There are some which argue that Hakkas shouldn't even be considered 'Han Chinese' - but they are simply very well assimilated and can pass as Han Chinese.

 Nonetheless, as far as I know, I don't have anyone who is mixed in my bloodline (never mind having say a white great-grandparent or anything like that). Any mixing that has resulted in his my mixed ancestry probably happened a very long time ago and has been diluted through the generations. But then again, I know my parents both self-identify as Chinese as did all four grandparents. I don't know anything about my great-grandparents given that they had passed away by the time I was born and my parents never talked about them - but boy, I do wanna find out more now. I wonder why I have never asked my parents about their grandparents in the past? Hey readers, do take this opportunity to talk to your parents about their grandparents.

Do you know what lies in your DNA?

What's ironic of course, is the fact that my Hakka father is oh so Chinese. He was Chinese-educated, doesn't speak English, speaks Chinese as a first language and is fluent in Hakka, Cantonese, Hokkien and Mandarin. Let's contrast him to my Hokkien mother who was English educated and is less Chinese in her ways to the point where I would speak in Singlish/Hokkien with her, because I know her Mandarin isn't great. But my European blood probably came from my dad's side, rather than my mother's - so there is a question of nurture vs nature and how our ethnic/cultural identity is shaped by factors like our education, our families and friends, rather than our bloodline, By that token, that makes my dad more white than me - LOL.

Now before I do the next exercise, let me write a disclaimer. I am not DNA expert, I know very little about how it all works, I am just a geek who is good with statistics okay? So if this is totally wrong, please don't attack me - kindly leave me a comment to tell me where I have gone wrong, thanks. So if I am 15.8% European, then that means my dad would be 31.6% European if (and this is a big assumption) it is true that the European blood came entirely from my Hakka dad's side rather than my Hokkien mum's side. Good grief, that makes my oh-so stereotypically Chinese dad almost a third white - good grief. That's such a shock for me, really. Like, that's practically Eurasian - that's a shock as my dad couldn't be more stereotypically Chinese in so many ways.

Do I have a rather large nose for a Chinese person?

Now what I do know is that both my paternal grandparents in Malaysia (ie. my dad's parents) are both Hakka, so I am unable to continue extrapolating this statistic back any further to try to find out how far back I would have to go before I have an ancestor who is obviously European/white - but if my dad's already at 31.6%, I suspect not very far. A few generations perhaps? Or have most Hakka people always carried some European blood (as high as 20 to 30+%? Woah!) in them because of their historical background? Who knows? Having said that, each time a pure Hakka person marries someone else who is say, a Hokkien or Cantonese person, that percentage gets diluted when they have a child, as in my case. I would love to compare & contrast the results between say Hokkien, Cantonese, Hakka and other Chinese dialect groups to see if the % of non-Asian DNA characteristics vary amongst these groups.

I've never been all that interested in my DNA origins until today - after all, I had always just accepted that I was Chinese of Hakka-Hokkien mix, but wouldn't have thought of myself as 'mixed' in any way. I never really talked about my ancestors with my parents (nor did they ever volunteer any information beyond their parents). I got to know my Hokkien maternal grandmother really well as she took care of me when I was a child, but never got to know the other three grandparents. I've always been far more interested in what I do in terms of choosing the cultural contents of my life - for example, I am learning Welsh and Korean, this gives me access to Welsh & Korean culture because of my newly acquired language skills rather than because I have Welsh or Korean blood in me... Or wait, maybe I do... who knows?

How much do you know about your ethnic ancestry? 

Okay, I've gotta get back to work and mull about this. Expect a longer post from me at some point about this issue - but what do you guys think? If I am 15.8% white, can I tick the box for Eurasian or am I still Chinese? And as for my so stereotypically Chinese dad, if he is indeed 30+% white - would that make him Eurasian or does he get to self-identify as Chinese? And more to the point, how will he react if I told him that he is probably about a third white? It's too late for me to call Singapore now, but I will do so soon - and yes, of course I am going to blog about it and share his reaction with you. My guess is that he will probably not react much and just ignore it... or who knows? He may have some Hakka secrets to share with me about my Hakka roots? Stay tuned!

PS. If there are any DNA experts amongst my readers, please leave a message in the comments section below. I have so many questions - like, I have two sisters, if they do the same DNA test, would their results come out exactly the same as mine given that we all have the same parents? (Aah, someone has just answered that question - no the results wouldn't be the same for my sisters as we could draw different characteristics from either parents' DNA pool.) But hey, this is so interesting and fascinating, I wanna learn some more!