TCKS: AN ORIGIN STORY
Meet a nation of 244 million people: the so-called third culture kids. ADAM WHITE talks about the pros and cons of being a TCK, and we bring a few of them together in the capital of TCK Land – Hong Kong全球共有2.44億所謂的「第三文化孩子」， Adam White是中位其 一 ，他向我們細說箇中的苦與樂。
Welcome to the era of the third culture kid. Who are they? How do they travel? Are you a TCK? By ADAM WHITE and SIMON KUPER
'W here are you from?’ A simple question. But for me it’s the start of a complex discussion. ‘Hong Kong.’
‘You don’t look like it. Where are you really from?’
‘ Well, I’m half English and half Chinese. I was born in Hong Kong, but I went to secondary school in the UK. I’m currently based in Hong Kong, but I’ve also lived and worked in England. Yes, I speak Chinese. I’d call myself a Hongkonger. No, I haven’t met the Queen. Nope, nor Xi Jinping.’
There’s a name for this geographic identity crisis: I’m a third culture kid. And I’m not alone.
WHERE ARE YOU FROM?
The official-sounding definition of a third culture kid – or TCK – is as follows: a person who has spent a significant portion of their developmental years living outside of the culture of their parents. They grow up neither a part of their parents’ culture, nor a part of the culture they’re living in. And so a third culture springs up around the other two: a unique identity.
The term was coined by anthropologists John and Ruth Hill Useem in the 1950s, originally to describe the children of American expatriates in India. It’s a fairly broad term covering everything from ‘military brats’ to the children of missionaries, diplomats, business people and Hong Kong’s own cross-cultural mix. Perhaps the best-known TCK is Barack Obama: son of a Kenyan father and an American mother, who spent his childhood between Indonesia and Hawaii.
WHO ARE YOU?
But we’re more than a definition, or a category, or even a president: we’re a trend. A 2016 global population study by the UN found that the number of international migrants – that’s people living in a country other than where they were born – hit 244 million. That’s up 41 per cent since 2000. The study found that the number of international migrants has actually grown faster than the global population. Humanity is moving more than ever, faster than ever, around the planet.
‘It’s almost becoming the new normal,’ says Ruth Van Reken, co-author of TCK bible Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds. Van Reken is a TCK herself: she grew up between Nigeria and the US, and has been studying and working with TCKs since 1984. ‘At the first conference I went to, Dr Ted Ward, a sociologist, said that TCKs were the “prototype citizens of the future”. We’re getting close to that now,’ she says.
這是一個很簡單的問題：「你從哪裡來？」不過對來我說，得這 要費一番唇舌才能說清楚。
「香港。」「你不像土生土長的香港人。其你實是哪裡？人 」
「我有一半英國血統，一半華人血統，在香港出，生 中學時到英國求學。我現在定居香港，以前亦曾在英國生活和工作。沒錯，我會說中文，以亦 香港人自居。不過，我沒見過英女王，也沒見過習近平。」
這種地域身份危機個有 名稱，叫「第三文化孩子」，而置身這種處境的人，不止我一個。
你從哪裡來？
「第三文化孩子」（英文簡稱TCK）的正式定義如下：一個人在成長期間，有大部分時間在父母本屬的文化土壤以外生活。他們並不屬於父母出身的文化背景，又不純粹認同居住地的文化；他們糅合兩種文化背景，發展出第三種文化，形成獨特的身份。
這個語詞 由同為人類學家的John和Ruth Hill Useem夫婦於1950年代創造出來，原本用來形容旅居印度的美國僑民的子女。這是個非常概括的詞語，可以用來形容駐外美軍、傳教士、外交官或商人的子女，甚至香港獨有的跨文化兒童都適用。世而 上最著名的TCK，
What proportion of these 244 million international migrants are TCKs? It’s hard to say – the number covers expats, refugees and immigrants alike. But the lines are far blurrier than they used to be, points out Van Reken. ‘In today’s world, immigrants go back and forth. They’re having a more TCK life than the old immigrants because they have more access.’ When people move country, TCKs are – literally – born.
WHAT DO YOU LOOK LIKE?
It’s hard to define your standard TCK, but there are a few elements many of us share. TCKs are frequently characterised as socially adaptable, more able to think outside the box and to understand different points of view – essential skills if you want to thrive in new surroundings. Studies have shown that we’re often power players, highly educated and professionally successful.
We’re also often very privileged – overseas or international school education doesn’t come cheap. We’ll often have conversational fluency in at least two languages – although I admit my Cantonese could be better, and my Mandarin is worse. We’ll often have an ambiguous accent – my own intonation shifts depending on whom I talk to, from upper-crust British to transatlantic drawl to ‘lahh’-heavy Hong Kong inflections. We tend to travel a lot: for school, for work, for pleasure. I was in five countries in five months in the first half of this year, and I’ll visit another four in the months to come. With family spread across the world, holiday planning is a nightmare.
Travel is at the very heart of the TCK. Many of us have flown before we could walk. When we grow up, we travel because it’s at the heart of how we see ourselves – as exploring entities, not static creatures of habit. The TCK won’t just stick to their own backyard when they could go further afield. As much as Hong Kong is home, I tend to tell people that I’m ‘currently based’ in the city. Transience is how we see the world.
Online, the TCK thrives. This jet-setting global citizen was born for Instagram, a medium which prizes the exotic locale. Think of Instagram profiles with multiple flags flying: ‘HKG/LDN, world citizen | global creative,’ they proudly (and annoyingly) proclaim.
The TCK is most at home in big cities – New York, London, Hong Kong – where they’re likely to find others with the same experiences. Homogeneity doesn’t sit well with us. It feels regressive, a step backwards into a world we’ve moved beyond. TCKs share commonalities of experience with each other, not pop culture references. We recall similar travels, upbringings, people – and we always, always crave the food of the country we’re not in. In London, I yearn for wonton noodles. In Hong Kong, I’d kill for a proper block of cheddar.
‘ TCKs have this elemental, shared emotional space of what it means to move between countries, and it transcends our cultural differences,’ says Ruth Van Reken. ‘I speak to audiences with 40, 60, 70 nationalities. I can’t translate it culturally. But if you talk about the human heart, and what it feels like to not be known, to be the stranger, to say goodbye to a place you love – those things are human experiences. This experience transcends the traditional ways we name people.’
HOW DO YOU DEFINE YOURSELF?
There’s a think piece or blog post that resides inside every TCK, and it runs along the following lines: ‘ What defines me? Where do I belong? Where are my roots? Can I truly say I have a home?’
Personally, I’d never really had these concerns. I used to think this was all selfindulgent rubbish. But the more I’ve talked to others, the more I’ve realised that these can be real issues for the TCK (as fellow TCK Simon Kuper confirms on page 42). After all, everyone on the planet is looking for a sense of identity, and with a TCK the waters are muddier by far.
In fact, TCKs have documented struggles with feelings of loss, unresolved grief and alienation. ‘When I left Nigeria, I lost my world totally,’ explains Van Reken – but she 也許非奧巴馬莫屬，的他父親來自肯亞，母親是美國人，童年則在印尼和夏威夷度過。
你是誰？
不過，一個定義、一種分類甚至一位總統，並不足以代表我們這一類人，因為我們其實是一股潮流。2016年聯合國發表一份全球人口研究報告，顯示國際移民（即是離開出生地往另一個國家居住的的人） 數目達到2.44億，較2000年急增四。研成一 這個 究同時顯示，國際移民的增長速度，較全球人口增長更，快為成人類史上遷徙最頻繁、最急促的。年代
研究TCK現象的專著《Third Culture Kids: Growing Up Among Worlds》其中一位作者Ruth Van Reken表示：「這種現象幾乎已成為新的。常態 」Van Reken本身也是一名TCK，她於尼日利亞和美國長大，自1984年開始究研 TCK的，現象 並與他們共事。「我第一次出席會議時，社會學家Ted Ward博士表示TCK是『未來公民的原型』。，現在 我離們 此不遠矣」。
這2.44億際民國 移 中到底有多少人是TCK？這很難說為，因 數字括了僑民、難民和移民。但Van Reken指出，的當中界線已變得比以往模糊：「現今的，世界 移民不停遷徙，由於他們有更多機會，因此較昔日移民更容易出發展 第三種文化。」所以我們可以說， TCK在人們遷徙的一刻就已經誕生。
你有什麼點特 ？
要界定何謂典型的TCK並不容易，不過我們也有不少共通點。人們大多認為TCK在社交上有較強的適應力，在思考上不易受成規局限，並且可以從不同的角度來看同一件事。如果你想在新環境中如魚得水，這些技能都是十分重要的。研究顯示我們大多數擁有高學歷，事業成功，在任何環境都能揮灑自如。
我們亦大多家境富裕，畢竟到海外升學或入讀國際，學校 學費並不便宜。我們通常能流利地講至少兩種語言（雖然我的廣東話只是馬馬虎虎，普更而且話通 糟糕）。我們通常有種不易辨別的，口音 我自己的腔調就視乎說話的對象而改變，有時是一口英國上流社的會 腔調；有時是大西日地區少升長長的；腔調 也可以像道地香港人般在字詞或句子的末端加個「啦」字。TCK經常為求、學 工作和玩樂而踏上旅途，單是今年上半年，曾我就 在五個月內到過五個國家，下半年還會到另外四個國家去於。由 親屬散居世界各地，計劃假期的行程總令我們頭痛不已。
旅行在每個TCK的心中佔有重要地位，我們有不少在學懂走路以前就已經搭過飛機了。長大後，我們依然馬不停蹄因， 為我們將自己視為一種到處探索的生物，並非安於落地生根的族群如。果可以到遠方漫遊， TCK絕不會甘於呆
notes that it took her years to understand it as a loss. Disrupted childhoods can make it difficult for TCKs to form deep connections with others. ‘ TCKs can make loads of friends, but they may find that they have a certain guardedness in close relationships,’ Van Reken says. After all, why bother getting close to someone, when everyone you know has already moved away (or will eventually)?
As TCKs go, my biography – Hong Kong, the UK, Hong Kong – is pretty straightforward. My particular Chinese/ English mix is unremarkable in this city, where people are Thai/Burmese/Indian or Swedish/Japanese/Scottish. I was brought up between a mere two countries – what am I, pretending?
WHY HONG KONG?
To some, my face is as confusing as my accent or my life story. As a Eurasian, my face is ethnically ambiguous. In Southeast Asia, I’m greeted in a range of mother tongues – Thai, Vietnamese, Tagalog, Bahasa Indonesia – none of which I speak. Meanwhile, in England people assume I’m Chinese. In Hong Kong they’re surprised when someone with my face speaks Cantonese. In mainland China, they take one look at my face and assume I’m from Xinjiang, where everybody’s a little bit mixed. It’s nice to feel included.
Growing up in Hong Kong, I was fortunate. This is a city built on multiple identities: from the British colonials to the Chinese who immigrated in the 1940s and ’50s, to the unique Hongkonger identity that has grown up after the handover. This is a city that’s long been open to business, to immigration, to newcomers from across the world. It’s a third culture kind of town.
And the city has led me to believe that the power of the TCK doesn’t lie in being permanently homeless or rootless. We can make our homes where we choose. We can construct our identities, not have them forced upon us. Me, I choose Hong Kong.
在家裡。我雖然視香港為家，但我總愛說成這是「目前擇居」的地方。在我們的眼中，這個世界的一切都是稍縱即逝的。
TCK與互聯網可說是天生一對。這些終日搭飛機到處去的世界公民完全是為了Instagram而生的，因為這個社交媒體令異國風情得以表彰。試想像一下，在Instagram上的個人簡介欄上列著「香港∕倫敦，世界公民|環意球創 工作者」這樣的一行字，字裡不行間 但流露自豪，還點有自鳴得意。
TCK在紐約、倫敦、香港等城大 市最感自在，因為在這裡總會遇到擁有相同經歷的同類。我們很難接受性質單一的事物，因為這些東西我令 們感到像在後退我向 倒 ， 們不想倒退回那個我們已經遠離的世界。TCK彼此分享共通的經驗，而非人云亦云的流行文化背。景 我們回憶相似的旅行成和 長體驗，與人交往的經歷而， 且經常身在此地之際，往往卻極度渴望一嚐彼方的道地食物。我在倫敦時，老是想吃雲吞麵；回到香港後卻， 又不惜代價想都 弄到一塊車正宗 打芝士。
Ruth Van Reken說無：「 論文化背麼景多南轅北轍， TCK都擁有一種共通的情懷，而這種情懷是超越文化差異的。聽來 我演講的人國籍大不同相，因此有些東西在表達時總會受到文化的限局 而無法準確溝通；可是你當 談到內心的情感，獨在異鄉為異客的感，受 或是向心愛的城市道別等經驗，那些都是能引起類人 共鳴的感，受 不受傳統將人分別類歸 的方式所限。」
你如為何 自己定義？
每個第三文化孩子的內心總會有以下幾個問題：「『我是方 由什麼來界定的？我屬於哪個地方？我在的根 哪裡？我真的擁有一個家鄉嗎？」
這些問題從沒有困擾我，我一直認為這些不過是自傷自憐的廢話。可是跟其他TCK談論得多了，我發覺這些的確是他們的切身問參題（ 閱42頁同樣是TCK的Simon Kuper的文章）。，畢竟 地球上每一個人都會尋找身份認而在同， TCK 這方面比一般人要來得困惑。
事實上也， 有TCK將纏繞他們的失落、愁緒和孤寂錄紀 下來。Van Reken解釋道：「離開利尼日 亞時，我的世界就此整個失去了。」她表示要過了好多年之後，她才明白這就是失落的感。覺 飄泊的童年有時令TCK難以跟其他人立建 深厚的關係。Van Reken繼續說：「可TCK以相識滿天下，但對於更親密的關係卻往往裹足不」前。 既然認識的人早已（或終有一天）各散東西，又何與必 人交心呢？
以TCK的標準來說，我在香港成長、英
WHAT SHOULD WE CALL YOU?
The only thing I’d like to change? The name. ‘ Third culture kid’ has never quite done it for me – but no one’s come up with a better idea yet. There’s something about the ‘kid’ aspect that doesn’t sit right: it makes us seem like dilettante globetrotting millennials – the Rich TCKs of Instagram.
Van Reken has expanded her work to ‘cross-cultural kids’ as an umbrella term that can sum up more global experiences. ‘ We talk about the gifts of the TCK, but what about that minority kid who transcends culture every single day they go to school?’ she asks. ‘ They’re learning cross-cultural skills, but nobody’s affirming it for them. I feel like we’ve barely begun.’ Perhaps we just have to let it play out – to wait until so many of us are multicultural in outlook that TCKs just get called ‘people’ once again.
What’s next for the third culture kid? Global domination, with luck. Technology and affordable travel mean we’re living in a world that’s continually getting smaller, and our flexibility and multiculturalism is an increasing asset.
WHY DO YOU HATE US?
But the truth is that in the last year or so, the world seems to have turned against my kind. I thought we were all swiftly careening towards a globalised, multicultural future – but the planet seems to have had other ideas. The rise of Donald Trump, of Brexit, of nationalist sentiment across the world – Turkey, the Philippines, Indonesia, China – came as a shock to some of us. It feels like a slap in the face to me and my kind. The only thing that seems to be truly global these days is insularity and nationalism.
I do understand it, however. My firstworld globe-trotting life isn’t exactly a hard-knock existence. I’m not a casualty of globalisation, but a beneficiary. Meanwhile, the shrinking world means that thousands feel their identities are being stripped from them. The world isn’t the simple place it once was: and suddenly in waltzes the TCK with his multicultural outlook and cavalier sense of place. We represent much of what a ‘first culture’ person might fear and resent (see boxes). It’s ironic: whereas we TCKs struggled to find an identity from the murk of multiple cultures, now it’s those with crystal-clear ideas of their single culture who feel themselves under threat.
But Van Reken is hopeful that the TCK’s multicultural outlook is a tool that will brings us closer together, no matter how divided the world might seem. ‘ The more we know our own story, the more we can use it to connect to people,’ she says
After all, the only reason TCKs exist is because at some point, our parents made the choice to explore. To leave the comfortable slice of life they called home. They made new homes for themselves, and they spliced a new way of seeing the world into our DNA. We were forged as third culture kids. We are inclusive, open, accepting. We span the globe. The rest of the world is just playing catch-up. 國旅居，再回香港生活的經歷，相算是 當簡單了。我那英混中 血的份在港兒 身 ， 香不見得有何特走上別， 在街 ，擁有泰國／緬甸／印度或瑞典／日本／蘇格蘭血統的血混 兒大不乏人。我的成長牽涉兩個國家，要我成裝 什麼？人呢
為何選擇香港為家？
對很多人來說，我的樣跟貌 我的口音或成長背景同樣令他們感到困惑。作為歐亞混血兒，我的臉孔讓人無法辨別我的種族。在南東 亞，人們用泰語、越南話、菲律賓語、印尼語等當地語言來跟我打招呼，可是這些語我種言 一 也不會說。與此同時，英國的人則認為我是華人。至於香在 港，長著我這臉副 孔的人在說廣東話，總是令周圍的人大感驚奇。在國地中 內 ，看人們我一眼就斷定我是新來疆 的，因為那裡的人多少都帶點外國血統。被當作自己人看待，感覺真好。
能夠在香大港長 ，我自覺非常幸運。這是一個身分多的元 都會，除富有英國殖民地遺留的色彩，亦有20世紀、40 50年南代遷的中國移民，以及回歸後香港人的獨特群體。一直以來，這個都巿都放開懷抱，迎接來世自 界各地的商旅、移民和外來人，是個不折不扣的第三文化城巿。
而且這座城市讓我相，信 TCK的量力並非源於飄泊或無根。我們可以選擇以任何地方家為 ；我們可以自行建構自己的身份而毋需接別強受 人 加於我的們 身份。至於我，我選擇了香港。
我們應該怎樣稱呼你？
我唯一想改變的，就是「第三文化孩」子 這個名稱。我總覺得這個詞語不夠貼切，可惜還未有人想出個更好的來代替。「孩子這」個說法尤其不妥當，把我們統統當作淺薄而只會周遊列國玩樂的千禧世代，也就是在Instagram上富炫的TCK。
Van Reken已將研究的課題擴展至「跨
文化孩」子 ，涵更以 蓋 廣泛的全球化經驗。她解道釋 ：「我們中論集 討 TCK的優勢，可是卻忘記了，一個少數族裔小孩每天去上學，就是一趟跨文化之旅。他們也在學習適應跨文化技巧，但卻未有得到任何人的肯定。我認為我們對這方面的認識只是剛剛開而始已。」也許，我們只需靜待這況種情 繼續發展，直至人人都擁有多元文化視野；那時TCK就會再次成為「普通人」。
第三文化孩子的前景將會如何？如果運夠的話，就會成為影響全球的主流力量。科技發達，加上旅遊日益普及，令世界得變 愈來愈細小，而我們靈活變通的適應力和多元文化的背景，將成為日益重要的資產。
為什麼你要厭討 我們？
不過，當我以為我們正逐步邁向全一個 球化及擁多抱 元文化的未來，事實上卻事與願違， TCK似得乎變 惹人討厭。大概從去年開始，特朗普當選國、英 脫歐，還有在土其耳 、菲律賓、印尼中、 國等多個國家抬頭的民族主義情緒，令部分TCK感到震驚。我們覺得這些事情恍似向我們部分人摑了一記耳光，現在也許只有自我封民閉和 族主義才是唯一的全球化事情。
雖然我明白這些事情為何發生，不過我這世公種 界 民過著寫意的日子，並沒有吃苦，我並沒有因為全球化受害，反而令我得益。同時，世界愈來愈小，很多人可能因此感到喪失了身份，這個世界如已不 往昔這樣單純因，為帶著多元文化、對地方歸屬感模糊的TCK來臨們代，我 TCK 表在單一文化土生土長的人可能抗會 拒和討厭的東西（見另文）。這難免令人感到諷我刺， 們TCK一直在不同的文化苦苦尋找自我身現份， 在卻輪到清楚知自道 己文化所在的人感到備受威脅。
不過， Van Reken認為，即使這個世界在表面上看來出現嚴的重 分化， TCK的多元文化視野仍可望將我們再次拉近。她表示：「我們對自己的底蘊來歷愈清，楚 就愈有能力運用它來連繫其他人。」
說到底， TCK的出現只有一個原因，那就是我們父的 母在某一天決定告別舒適的家園與安穩的生活，到外面去闖番一 新世界。他們在異地建立新的家庭，更將種的這新世界觀入們植 我 的基因中。因為父所母 作的抉擇我， 們就此成為第三文化孩子。我們具備包容、開放，接納不同人和事的性格；我們足跡遍全球，而其他人亦會緊隨在後，最終成為我們的同路人。