Full Name: Phua Mei Xin (Translated: Beautiful Heart)(She is also used to being called “Ah girl” by the general public and “Tai Kar Che”(eldest sister) by her younger siblings)
Age: 16
Date of birth: 17th May 2002
Birthplace: Penang, Malaysia
Current home: Hogwarts
Blood Status: Muggleborn
Sexual Alignment: Heterosexual
Wand type: 10”, Phoenix Feather, Elm
Hair colour and style: Black usually straight and in a ponytail or a simple braid down her back
Eye colour: Dark brown almost black
Height: 5’ 3”
Body type: Slim. Anything else is unacceptable to her parents
Dress sense: Very simple and modest around her family but more modern around her friends
Birthmarks: One on her right upper arm which she was taught to cover up by wearing clothes with sleeves because it was considered a blemish
Tattoos: Forbidden
Scars: Some from the few canings she received as a child
Piercings: The usual ones for earrings
Likes: (3 minimum)
- Instant noodles, especially the ones that come in a cup
- Prawn mee, asam laksa, curry mee, nasi lemak, rojak, cendol and most of all, durian
-Sleeping
-Dancing
-Studying
-Being independent, although with traditional Chinese parents she doesn't get much freedom
-Music
Dislikes: (3 minimum)
-Traditional Chinese mentality (women’s main purpose is to get married, produce children, clean the house, cook meals etc.)
-When she cannot be herself with her parents and relatives
-Being nagged by her relatives to get a boyfriend. Correction: A Chinese boyfriend
-Being reminded of her duties as a female
-Having to obey her parents although she doesn't like their decrees because she was raised to obey with her mouth shut
Strengths: (3 minimum)
-Studies, exams, tests
-Languages (fluent in Hokkien, Mandarin, Cantonese, Bahasa Malaysia and English (though her English is, of course, Malaysian English))
-Housekeeping (she hates it with a passion but was made to do chores by the time she was old enough to hold a broom and mop so she became good at it)
-Following the rules and obeying even if she doesn't like it
-Maths
Weaknesses: (3 minimum)
-DADA. Raised to be a demure obedient girl, Mei Xin finds it difficult to be aggressive
-Low self-esteem. Raised with typical “kia su” (afraid of losing) parents, everything Mei Xin does is never good enough and her parents often find the tiniest faults in her. She could score straight A’s and her parents would call her ‘stupid’ to their friends. Or people would comment on how nice she looked and her parents (in front of her) would call her ugly.
-Socialising with new people. Naturally shy and taught that girls are not supposed to be loud, Mei Xin is usually quiet around new people though with her friends, she’s sociable and outgoing.
-Spoken English. Though she tries to be aware of what she says, Malaysian slang does slip out often.
-Potions. Mei Xin was taught to cook. However, Malaysian Chinese cooking does not really involve set recipies and mainly relies on taste and sight (the word for this is ‘agak-agak’, a Malay word meaning ‘to guess’). Having to follow a set recipe during Potions is tedious and frustrating to Mei Xin.
Positive traits: (3 minimum)
- Very kind hearted and caring
-Gentle, sweet, well-behaved
-Generous and gracious
-Determined to prove that women can be more than baby producing machines
-Forgiving
Negative traits: (3 minimum)
-Unable to stand up for herself
-Shy
-Envy; she has friends brought up in more modern families and she envies their freedom and independence
-Won't speak her mind or opinion unless it’s with her friends
-Keeps her feelings all bottled up inside until she gets sick from the pressure, stress and anxiety
Born the second child to Kok Tung and Li Hui, Mei Xin was raised in a traditional household although many other Chinese families followed a more modern culture. From a young age, she was taught to obey without questioning and if she dared to open her mouth in protest, her parents did not hesitate to cane her. She was also taught that, as a girl, she wasn't allowed to share her opinion but was to remain quiet and obedient. She also learned how to cook, clean, do the laundry and a myriad of other household chores.
As such, Mei Xin grew up envying her brothers and other female friends who were raised with much more modern and open minded beliefs. Her parents enrolled her in a Chinese school and Mei Xin threw her whole being into her studies, wanting to change her parents and grandparents beliefs and show them that women could be smart too. She almost succeeded when she placed top of the class in the mid-year exam but things changed. Her magical abilities began to show and her family, being staunch buddhists, thought she was possessed. She was taken for ritual after ritual but nothing worked.
It wasn’t until someone from the Malaysian magical organisation came and explained to them what was going on that the rituals stopped. Her parents, however, still believed her to be possessed and admonished her to hide her abilities from everybody. They kept her in the Chinese school and Mei Xin never failed to place the highest in the class. But nothing she could do could change her parents’ beliefs that she was a disappointment.
In keeping with the typical ‘kia su’(afraid of losing) parents (meaning that their children must be the best at everything and must out do their friends’ children), Mei Xin was sent to plenty of extracurricular activities. Together with her sisters, she had piano classes, ballet classes and singing classes while her brothers were sent for swimming, taekwondo, karate and kung fu lessons as well as other various sporting activities.
Once she was old enough to attend the local wizarding school, Mei Xin finally found a place for herself. She made many friends and could be herself amongst them but most of all, she was away from her parents. It did not keep them from controlling her though, and to save face and avoid leaking out that Mei Xin was ‘special’, they made her attend night tuition to keep up with the local school syllabus as well as take the local exams. And so Mei Xin had both magical and muggle education.
When the Malaysian government shut down the school and redistributed the students, Mei Xin couldn’t be happier. She was placed in Hogwarts. She would be in a different country, a different time zone and that surely would hinder her parents from controlling her life. She was wrong. Although they couldn’t control her behaviour, they threatened to disown her if she did not continue with the Malaysian education syllabus.
”If our friends ask how many A you got for what subject, what are we supposed to say, huh? You want us become jokes to our friends issit? So Mei Xin lugged all the textbooks required for SPM (Sijil Pelajaran Malaysia, equivalent to the O-levels exam) to Hogwarts. And they also reminded her a thousand times to not get involved in a relationship with a “gwai lou” (Devil fellow: a cantonese name for Westerners). Not only that but they refused to give her an allowance, saying “Since you people have your own kind of money, why you need us to give you money for what? Never going to use also.” (You wizarding folk have your own kind of currency so you don’t need us to give you Pounds/Euros. You’re not going to use it.) Although intimidated by the drastic change in culture, Mei Xin adapted the best she could. She got herself a job to earn some money and worked out a schedule to fit in work, studying the Malaysian school syllabus and studying the wizarding subjects.[/color]
Mother: Name: Phua Li Hui
Age: 48
Living or Deceased: Living
Blood type or Species: muggle
Occupation: Housewife
Father: Name: Phua Kok Tung
Age: 59
Living or Deceased: Living
Blood type or Species: muggle
Occupation: ‘Kopitiam’ owner. [[Kopitiam: Coffee shop. Although, in Malaysia, a kopitiam doesn’t sell coffee/tea exclusively like Starbucks or Coffee Bean. It has stalls that offers a variety of food.]]
Siblings: Name: Phua Fook Chong(M), Phua Mei Lan (F), Phua Fook Han(M), Phua Fook Ming(M), Phua Mei Lin(F)
Age: 20, 14, 12, 8, 6
Living or Deceased: All living
Blood type or Species: All muggles
Occupation: All students
Kok Tung can trace his ancestry back to the Han Chinese of Fujian, China. In the 1800s, the a handful of members of the Phua family immigrated to Malaysia and settled in Penang. There, they started a ‘kopitiam’ business which prospered and stayed in the family, passed down from generation to generation until Kok Tung, as the first born in his family, inherited it.
His marriage to Li Hui was arranged and together they had six children. They held on to their traditional beliefs, raising their children (especially the girls) with a firm hand and constant verbal abuse and physical abuse. Of course, the boys were treated better and favoured over the girls. They, however, recognised this and were kinder to their sisters. All the siblings grew up very close to each other.
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