Marriages as cross cultural bridges

 Interracial marriages are common now and are a sign of incteasing multiculturalism.

In many countries which have a homogenous ethnic composition,the society is unified by holding the same values but migration and globalization has opened such nations to embrace multidiversity building on each others strengths and uniqueness.

A case is China when trading along the silk route opened up the Chinese to foreign influemce in music,dance and food.inter racial marriages became a bridge to cross cultural communications when chinese princesses were married off to kings of foreign nations to boost diplomatic ties and foster friendly relations.so the Chinese primcesses were married off to Tibetan kings or even puteri Hang Li Po to Melaka sultans and they brought along cultivation of silk or food like tea to the foreign lands.

The gender imbalance gap with males outnumbeting females in China caused Chinese men to look to foreign brides.so rural chinese males married vietnamese,cambodian,african women and these inter racial marriages bring diversity to China.the overseas Chinese too have inter married with the locals in foreign lands ,thus giving rise to multi diverse culture of the peranakan in south east asia in which malay spices blend with chinese cuisine.or new recipes in asian american cuisines like chop suey ,fortune cookies and general tso chicken.so when the chinese diaspora migrated to foreign lands and settled down there,they adapted to local customs but still kept their cultural heritage.as the Malay proverb say" di mana bumi di pijak,disana langit dijunjung".it means whereever one sets foot on that part of the earth,there the sky is upheld.the Chinese proverb says "xi hai wei jia".it means everywhere in the four corners of the globe,one can feel at home".the West say "when in Rome ,do as the Romans do."

So inter racial marriages reduce the dualism of east west differences or north south divisiveness.As China opens up to migration of talents and imvestment in new businesses abroad,it will imcreasing move to become integrated into the global village.

Im thankful to be brought up in a multidiverse nation as when in Bali on holiday,Jun and I can chat and crack jokes with our indonesian tour guide or when we visit Nepal,we love eating the curry,pilaf rice and dhall.we respect the local customs and wear a sarong to enter the hindu temple in Bali and take off our shoes to enter the  Myanmar  or Thai temple.We eat with our hands the banana leaf rice meal and use communal spoons to scoop food at a chinese dinner table.we feel at home anywhere when we make the effort to adapt instead of condemning the different lifestyles and rituals.