Have you ever imagined which celebrity or historical figure you'd invite to dinner and the amazing conversations you'd have? I don't think I need to invite celebrities just some "sit up and be noticed" British-born or raised Chinese (BBC) people I've met through my writing - interesting, dynamic "conversation makers" you'd want to get to know (although, they wouldn't describe themselves as such in their modest ways). At the top of my invite list would be Helen Yuet Ling Pang, a fellow contributor to Dimsum, film and video examiner at the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), food aficionado and author of Word Foodie Guide.

The more I found out about Helen Yuet Ling, the more I thought she has an unusual background, which will be of interest to people. If you've been reading my column, I've made it somewhat of a personal mission to showcase BBCs, who are making waves in their fields. People breaking new grounds, breaking stereotypes and making their voices heard in mainstream society.

http://www.dimsum.co.uk/features/making-waves-the-british-chinese-way.html.

Never a Dull Moment at Work.

Helen Yuet Ling has been gaining recognition for her work over the last six years as a film examiner for BBFC based in London. As you watch the latest blockbuster at the cinema or settle down for the evening with a DVD, consider it may have been reviewed by Helen Yuet Ling, one of 30 examiners at the BBFC (the UK's classification body for all films, DVDs, videos and some video games). You may find it amusing that in a week, Helen could be rating pre-school material (U_c) to hard-core pornography sold only in licensed sex shops (R18) - you couldn't describe her work as boring!

http://www.guardian.co.uk/news/2007/feb/10/mainsection.helenpidd

"Food, Glorious Food!"

However, Helen Yuet Ling isn't only known for her work, she's also getting kudos for her food blog, World Foodie Guide. I recommend you check out her blog, but be warned it draws you in with mouth-watering descriptions and quality food photos that you can almost touch and taste! Being the child of a restaurateur, Helen Yuet Ling loves everything to do with food and her blog is an eclectic mix of restaurant reviews, recipes donated by family and friends and, more recently, research into the origins and background of foods. All this she does in her spare time and for fun.

When Helen Yuet Ling shares her recollections of her parents' restaurants in Germany, I'm reminded of my own parents' restaurant in Birmingham in the 1970s and 1980s - fond memories of colourful, regular customers, great food and a cosy atmosphere - and, having taken my father's cooking for granted, it's pay-back time for me as I'm now trying to recreate the home-cooked dishes of my childhood. Since having a family, I've found a zest and interest in cooking traditional Cantonese and Hakka food.

http://www.dimsum.co.uk/food/a-british-born-chinese-guide-to-the-essential-chinese- kitchen.html.

Like many second-generation, Helen Yuet Ling never really learnt to cook properly, but she's now trying to catch up as fast as possible.

Friend to Friend.

I invite you to my dinner party with fellow guest Helen Yuet Ling Pang and, as new friends getting to know each other, we shall talk about her background and childhood; parents' restaurants; schooling in Germany and the UK; feelings about identity; career path; a typical day at work; her personal life and, of course, her love of food.

Helen Yuet Ling, tell me about your background.

"My father arrived in London from Fan Ling village, Hong Kong in 1960 when he was 16 and my mother joined him in 1969 when they got married. I was born in Epsom, Surrey in 1970 and we lived in various places in the South-East of England until I was about six. We spoke Cantonese at home and I learnt English when I started nursery school. Although, one of my aunts tried to teach me to read and write Chinese, I never kept up my studies and then had to leave England soon after for Germany."

What was your time like in Germany? How did you feel as a Chinese person at school?

"My parents moved to Bonn, Germany when I was about five to set up a restaurant, leaving me behind with my paternal grandmother. When the business was more stable, they sent for me and I attended an international school, the British Embassy Preparatory School (BEPS) in Bad Godesberg, Bonn for the next seven years. There I made some very good friends, children of diplomats from all over the world, including Thailand, Sierra Leone, Israel and Sudan. I met the Queen when she visited our school in 1977 and she asked me if I was from China. Not quite sure what she meant, I replied that I was! At that age, I didn't really see myself as Chinese or anything else - I was just me.

One of the happiest periods of my life was spent at BEPS and in Bonn. I had good friends and the freedom to go out whenever and wherever I liked. In those days, parents didn't worry about what their children were up to and Bad Godesberg must have been one of the safest places in the world in which to grow up. I travelled everywhere by bus or bike, explored parks, climbed hills, took the ferry across the Rhein, pretended to be a detective and followed complete strangers around town.

My brother was born in Bonn in 1977 and later attended my school. My grandmother also came to live with us. I didn't have many German friends of my age, apart from our neighbours. But I watched a lot of German television and grew up on a diet of US Westerns, Pippi Langstrumpf, German police dramas and soaps, and Czech animation."

What are you memories of the restaurants your parents opened in Germany?

"The restaurant of which I have the clearest and fondest memories is the one that we had for the longest period of time (under 30 years). It was called ‘China Kanton' and located in a small area called Plittersdorf in Bonn (until 1990 the capital of West Germany). It was the only Chinese restaurant in the area and, as it wasn't in the city centre, it attracted many regular customers, like President Richard Weizsaecker and his family, Chancellor Helmut Kohl and his bodyguards, German cabinet ministers, political party leaders and most of the diplomatic corps. My father was considered to be the man with the connections and many an introduction was made at the restaurant. Once someone even called him a spy, although for whom I don't recall! Every time the President and his family arrived for dinner, my father would call me at home and make me go and sit with them. I'd always prefer to be in front of the TV rather than make small talk at age 11.

Of course, as a child, I spent a lot of time at the restaurant sitting at "our" table, which was never for ordinary guests, but for us and special friends. I loved eating there. My favourite treats were the gigantic fresh spring rolls with mince meat and crunchy bean sprouts, large fresh prawn crackers and roast duck. Many a "midnight feast" (siu yeh) was held at the restaurant, after all the customers had left, with giant platters of lobster, prawns and fish.

The restaurant closed in 2005 as the main customer base moved to Berlin and Bonn once again became a sleepy provincial town, but my parents still have friends all over the world whom they met at the restaurant all those years ago."

How did you adapt to coming back to the UK?

"I came back to the UK on my own when I was 13. My parents gave me the choice of either going to a German secondary school or attending boarding school in Surrey. Having grown up on a diet of books set in English boarding schools, I chose the latter. My little brother stayed behind with my parents. It wasn't that hard to come back to England really. It was harder adapting to life at boarding school and the first term was the toughest, even though I went to my aunt and uncle's home every weekend. Boarding school life turned out to be rather fun in the end though. I learnt to be independent at school and to look after myself. I still spent most of my holidays every year in Germany and have spent most of my adult life going back to see my parents, who only moved away from Germany to retire in Costa Rica two years ago."

Why did your parents decide to retire in Costa Rica? It's an unusual destination for Chinese immigration or am I missing something?

"My dad's always been adventurous and open-minded, and my mum too. Other places he considered moving to included the Seychelles and Estonia. There are 60,000 Chinese in Costa Rica, some of whom have been there many generations. There's a great roast duck and lap cheung shop where they buy roast duck (incredibly expensive, but great quality) and a couple of Chinese supermarkets. They live in a little town called Atenas, an hour away from the capital, and have made some good friends (non-Chinese). It's cheap to live in Costa Rica and everyone's very friendly. My parents' first project was to oversee the building of their house."

Where are your loyalties - do you feel British Chinese or something else?

"When people ask me where I'm from, I say I was born in the UK, but my parents are originally from Hong Kong. I would never say I was from Hong Kong myself, as I have no emotional ties to the place. I have relatives who live there, but that's it and I haven't been back for a decade. I like watching Chinese films and love Chinese food, but I wouldn't be able to chat to a Hong Kong Chinese about the latest pop group or fad. I think first and foremost I'm me, then I'm British because I was born here and because it's my country, then I'm British Chinese. I'm still struggling to find my identity and I will probably feel differently about my loyalties when I'm older."

I'm always impressed by people who speak languages as someone who's had to work hard to maintain her proficiency in Cantonese and Hakka. How many languages do you speak and to what level?

"I speak Cantonese - my mother tongue I guess, but I can't have deep conversations about politics or economics. I learnt Mandarin at the Beijing Language and Culture University from 1996 to 1997. That's where I learnt to read and write Chinese (simplified) properly for the first time. I forgot most of the reading and writing over the last decade though, but when I joined the BBFC they sent me off to the School of Oriental and African Studies for private lessons for a year or two. That's where I had one-on-one lessons in Cantonese, learning to read again. But the lessons were a mixture of learning both Cantonese and Mandarin, as I had never learnt to read in Cantonese, only Mandarin. Anyway, I improved a little with both.

I learnt German at primary school in Bonn and did my O-level at 13 before coming back to England. I continued German lessons at secondary school, doing A-level at 14, but then doing it again properly when I reached Sixth Form. I've had to use it at work throughout my life, translating articles for the German Handelsblatt in Beijing for example or listening to problematic hardcore porn dialogue at the BBFC. My French is up to O-level only. And I know a little Japanese (I had a Japanese boyfriend for 3 years, worked for 2 Japanese TV companies, had some lessons and have loads of Japanese friends)."

Your Chinese name was changed in 2006 by a nameology master in Hong Kong. I didn't know you could change names; I love my Chinese name, but perhaps I should have it checked out when I'm next in Hong Kong. How do you feel about the change?

"Since my Chinese name changed, my luck has really improved. You'd think that being British Chinese I wouldn't be superstitious, but I've always been fascinated with feng shui and mediums. When my mother suggested the name change, I didn't hesitate for a second. In fact, my parents and brother had their names changed too, while my husband, being English, had one of the characters of his surname changed. It's quite common in Hong Kong and other parts of the Far East to change a name in order to improve one's luck. I never used my old Chinese name and even my grandmother uses my English name. Since being given the name Yuet Ling, however, I've really started to use it and feel more Chinese. I love the way my name sounds and the way it looks in calligraphy. There are things I have to do in order to improve my luck. I can't just sit back and wait for good things to happen to me. I have to believe in my new name, use it as much as possible, try and be a better person, do more charity work and so on. Out of all of us, my husband is probably the most fervent believer in the name change! His new business really took off after the name change."

How did you get into your career?

"Before I found my current job at the BBFC, I worked in TV production, having gotten into it straight after leaving the London School of Economics and Political Science. As both my degrees were in International Relations, I wanted to work in world affairs, so when I was hired as a trainee researcher on Channel 4's ‘The World This Week', I thought it was the perfect job. From there I went on to work as a researcher at two London-based Japanese production companies, which involved much location shooting around the world. Even when I was studying Mandarin in Beijing, I did some work for the BBC Beijing bureau, travelling to Guangzhou to do research on the rise of superstition. When I returned to London after a year and a half, I was hired to work on the last series of BBC2's ‘The Net', about internet technology. I stayed on at the company for another year as producer of two weekly series for Sky's dottv, both about internet technology. That took me to New York, where I produced and directed segments about dotcoms for another programme on the same channel, until I was hired as production coordinator by dotcom JumpCut. We worked on live webcasts of major events like ‘Ozfest' and ‘Blair Witch 2 Webfest'. When JumpCut spent all the money that had been invested in it, we closed down and I returned to London to get married. I worked as associate producer on two BBC2 children's science series, ‘Pod's Mission', before I saw the advert for the BBFC job. They were looking for bilingual examiners fluent in English and Cantonese. So that's a long-winded way of explaining how I got into film classification. I think I impressed them at the interview by telling them about my childhood, when all my viewing of 18-rated films, like ‘Godfather', ‘Serpico' and ‘Omen II', was completely unregulated by my parents!"

Describe your job and a typical day at BBFC?

"There are about 30 full-time examiners and we come from a wide range of backgrounds. Examiners classify all films and DVDs that require a release in the UK market. This could mean watching the latest US releases, like ‘Cloverfield', an episode of a TV series, like ‘Murder, She Wrote', a WWE wrestling show or a 3-hour long R18 porn work. Each day, we view 344 minutes of material, which would be a mixture of different things. We also have to write detailed reports on each work, analysing the issues such as language, sex, violence, horror, drugs and so on, recommending a suitable category. These reports are then approved by a Senior Examiner and approver. As well as being an examiner, I'm also one of the four approvers. Once a week, we attend the Examiners' Meeting, where we discuss policy, issues raised by the week's viewing and watch problematic scenes or sometimes entire films, so that more opinions can be gathered. We also do various research and policy-based work, as well as educational visits to schools and universities."

Are there many British Chinese in your field? How would you encourage others to get into it?

"As my job is so specialised, there are currently just two Chinese examiners at the BBFC. But we've had Cantonese-speaking examiners ever since the advent of video (and subsequently DVD), to view the unsubtitled serial dramas from Hong Kong (usually TVB), as well as view the normal works that come in. My colleague is Singaporean Chinese and has lived in Britain most of her adult life. She has also been an examiner a lot longer than me. There were also two colleagues from Hong Kong, who have recently left the BBFC. If you're interested in working at the BBFC, I would say keep an eye out in the Media Guardian for adverts, but we recruit examiners on a very irregular basis these days. There are of course other jobs here as well, in IT, Information Services, Projection, Accounts and so on. We're a small company though, so we don't recruit very often."

Has your ethnicity been an advantage or disadvantage in your job?

"I don't think that it's been either an advantage or disadvantage. Of course, I was hired for my Cantonese language skills, so I suppose being Chinese gave me a foot in the door initially. I'm also asked to look at German language works that come to us unsubtitled, as well as Mandarin works. So because of the specialist language skills required, we're all quite multicultural here. I don't think my ethnicity has ever played a great part in my career as a whole, whether at the BBFC or in TV production in general. I've never really thought about my ethnicity while looking for work."

Tell me a little about your husband and how long have you been married?

His name is Gary and he's English. We've been married for over 6 years. He loves cooking at home and is into Brazilian music and jazz. He's lived in Rio and Milan. He's also in the middle of writing a crime novel and finishing his first album (Brazilian music). He composes his own music and plays guitar and keyboard, and sings a bit too. Right now, he's a property investor, but he's only been doing it for a year.

How has Gary adapted to marrying someone with a different cultural ancestry?

He says it doesn't feel like he's married into a different culture. Once in a while, all the relatives get together for a meal and he enjoys that, especially as he gets special vegetarian meals cooked for him! He's just as much into Chinese food, feng shui and cinema as I am. In fact, when we do have Chinese food at home, he prepares it anyway!

A Break Before Dessert!

Because I'm greedy and want dessert, I shall treat you to a second helping of Helen Yuet Ling Pang in my next article, where I will feature her love of food. She shares her thoughts about creating and writing her food blog, her food adventures and views on food trends.

Let's Hear from You.

Can you suggest someone else I can invite for dinner? Do you have questions for Helen Yuet Ling Pang about her work or blog; perhaps, whether she likes to go to the cinema in view of the fact she watches films for her work? Does our conversation spark any thoughts you want to share below or you can email me direct at This email address is being protected from spam bots, you need Javascript enabled to view it .

Until dessert, I hope you have a good week,

Susan S. Cheung