Two Worlds, One Dynasty: My Teochow-Toisanese Story

Dynasties are not only written in history books sometimes, they are carried in the blood of a single person.

I am Teochow. I am Toisanese. Two regions of China, two distinct roots, both threaded together to create the fabric of who I am. Both are Cantonese-speaking, yet each with its own dialect, its own rhythm, its own taste of life. To grow up between these worlds was not a division, but a fusion a merging of legacies that shaped my identity into something fierce, layered, and undeniably unique.

My family’s story, like so many Chinese families, carries the echoes of survival. They fled the grip of communism, leaving behind the soil that raised them. They went first to Hong Kong, that crowded city of resilience and reinvention. And it was destiny perhaps fate itself that brought my parents across the ocean to Montréal, Canada. It was there, in a new world, that the two sides of my family’s history met, intertwined, and gave me life.

To be Chinese and to be Canadian is to live in two currents at once. It is carrying centuries of tradition in one hand, while building something new in the other. It is standing tall as a bridge between East and West, between ancient roots and modern reinvention.

And at the center of this identity is food the languages of love spoken in flavors. From my Teochow side, I taste the delicate, clean flavors: slow-braised dishes, seafood done with restraint, soups that comfort the soul. From my Toisanese side, I taste the hearty, earthy strength of dishes made for family tables: garlic, soy, preserved flavors, food that anchors you back to the village no matter how far you’ve traveled. Two kitchens. Two dialects of cuisine. Both teaching me who I am without saying a word.

This is what it means to live in dynasty. To carry the weight of heritage and the fire of survival. To stand as one who embodies many worlds, refusing to be reduced to only one. My dynasty is not bound by borders it is written in migration, in sacrifice, in love carried across oceans.

To be Teochow and Toisanese, to be Chinese and Canadian it is not contradiction. It is convergence. It is my crown, my legacy, and my fierce reminder that dynasties are built from the blending of worlds.

This is KNg Dynasty. This is me.