This as-told-to essay is based on a conversation with Lily Wu, a 31-year-old Chinese American compliance professional who moved to Hong Kong in her early 20s. Her words have been edited for length and clarity.

If you'd asked me where I was from 10 years ago — before I moved to Asia — my answer would've been very different.

"Where are you from?" has become the poster question for how Asian Americans are often treated as foreigners in their own country. I used to reply, "Boston," very matter-of-factly. I grew up there. I'm American. I speak English. It was a defensive answer, like: "Don't challenge me."

Now, I just say, "I grew up in the US, but I'm ethnically Chinese." It's honest, efficient, and I'm less defensive about it than I used to be.

American, born and raised

I was born in Ohio but spent my early years in China while my parents studied in the US as part of the first wave of Chinese students to leave under Deng Xiaoping's 1980s reforms.

We eventually settled in Boston, my hometown. I grew up surrounded by other Chinese or Chinese-American kids, and it felt like a little cultural cocoon.

Later, when I started middle school at Boston Latin School, I met kids from around the world — including China, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Mexico. A lot of kids at my school were local to Boston, but most non-white students, like me, were children of immigrants.

That shift gave me my first understanding of how wide the world was.

I grew up in a Chinese enclave and went to a diverse, progressive school where overt racism wasn't socially acceptable, at least not in my circles.

Cantonese was my first language — my mom's family is from southern China — but over time, I stopped using it. One day, I started answering my parents in English, and they let it stick.

Eventually, we became an English-speaking household.

Looking back, I wish I spoke better Cantonese and Mandarin. Like many Asian Americans, I wanted to fit in — and while maybe my parents could've pushed harder, my brother and I were probably just stubborn.

As a kid, I didn't think much of it, but now I feel a growing pull to reconnect with my roots. I was still surrounded by Chinese culture: I went to Chinese school, played the yangqin (a Chinese instrument), and watched "My Fair Princess," a TV drama, with my mom.

Now, there's so much I still want to learn — not just the language, but everything that comes with it.