I Am Not a Tourist

A fierce and urgent exploration of British Chinese identity and a rallying cry against anti-Southeast-Asian racism.


It was during a trip to the Ashmolean Museum in 2012 that Daisy first recalls being incorrectly labelled as a tourist – a trend that has continued since she settled in the UK, regardless of the documents she has gathered. From answering her daughters’ questions over whether they were ‘yellow’ or ‘Black’, to hearing the continued use of racist and culturally insensitive terms, such as ‘oriental’ and ‘Chinese whispers’, she has consistently felt othered, despite being a commonwealth citizen and having only once visited Hong Kong.


In I Am Not a Tourist, Daisy brings the experiences of East and Southeast Asian communities to the fore to explore what it means to be British Chinese today, and social, historical and political factors that have got us here. Fighting narrow and dehumanising stereotypes, of Chinese people excelling at school, or being devoid of original thought or leadership, or having authoritarian parents, she encourages readers to interrogate their assumptions and interpretations of ‘Chinese’ identity.


In the wake of the upsurge of anti-Asian racism, triggered by the racialisation of the COVID-19 pandemic as the ‘China virus’ and ‘Kung flu’, I Am Not a Tourist exposes the ongoing racism and inequalities that British Chinese communities face, and forms an urgent call for change.