Pearls began during the Covid-19 pandemic with female surfers on the island of Siargao in the south-west of the Philippines. They were photographed surfing in Filipiniana, a traditional dress for women in the Philippines. 

It quickly gained traction online. “Pearls is a celebration of the resilience of women, of their culture and of the freedom of surfing,” Geotina tells Tatler in a video call. “I truly believe that our love for the ocean and for surfing connects us all. Having such a diverse [group] of surfers from the Chinese diaspora join this project shows that they’re as powerful, passionate and talented as any other culture sharing the ocean with them.”

He adds, “The beauty of this project is that each country finds pride in it in its own way. I’m glad that it provides a vessel for Asian female voices to challenge the dominating white male culture in surfing.” 

Alongside Mainland and Chu, the project also features Mainland’s daughters Charlotte and Aurora Hall, who are a quarter Chinese; Josephine Bahari, a brand strategist and a third-generation Chinese immigrant from Indonesia; Mayke Su Fengxing Altenburg, a jewellery designer and a Chinese adoptee who grew up in The Netherlands; and Beckie Liu, a Singaporean athlete of Chinese descent and the founder of surf bikini brand Haikini.

Here, they tell us about how they navigate the complexity of their Chinese identity—from coming to peace with being a “third-culture kid” to discovering one’s heritage as an adoptee—and how surfing helped them take ownership of their narratives.  

Cheryl Lee Mainland: I am very proud of my Chinese heritage, and even prouder that I can be a true bridge between the East and West. I am so passionate about this heritage that I have now made it my mission to teach the Chinese language and culture to the world with my company, Dragon Academy.  

Charlotte Hall: Even though I’m only a quarter Chinese, as I grow up, I look and feel more and more Chinese by the day. I’ve been learning Chinese since I was born and I love being able to speak it to people even though I’m not 100 per cent fluent yet. I view my Chinese heritage as a connection between me and my family and friends.

Aurora Hall: I’m very proud of my Chinese heritage.  It defines who I am as a person and it is my connection with my mum and grandma, [who I call] po po. I am proud to be able to speak Mandarin—it’s cool that I know one of the hardest languages in the world.

Nino Chu: It wasn’t until I left China to go to school in the US at 15 that I became more aware of and leaned into my Chinese identity. I’ve always felt very different from my friends there because I didn’t grow up watching the Disney Channel, didn’t celebrate Christmas and didn’t have siblings. Looking back, I think this gave me an interesting perspective—a unique chance to trade a taste of my culture with everyone else’s. Being Chinese is my currency, my inheritance and my endless source of inspiration.

Josephine Bahari: As a third-generation Chinese immigrant, my sense of pride in my heritage felt diluted, caught between identifying as both Indonesian and a third-culture kid. It took becoming best friends with a girl from China to spark my curiosity about my heritage. I began to explore the country my ancestors came from and delve deeper into my family history, uncovering more and more about who I am as a Chinese Indonesian woman.

Mayke Su Fengxing Altenburg: As an adoptee from Beijing who grew up in the Netherlands, my Chinese heritage was something that stayed in the background. Three years ago, I moved to Bali and became surrounded by people who have shown me the richness of Chinese culture. It’s been a personal journey of self-discovery.

Beckie Liu: Coming from Singapore, my Chinese heritage was something that I didn’t think too much about until my move to Bali in my mid-20s. Then my “Chinese-ness” began to be much more apparent. I love my Chinese heritage—the collectivist nature of it, the culture of striving for excellence, and especially the food.

Mainland: Pearls could not be a more perfect project to highlight all my passions. I’m a surf-obsessed entrepreneur who loves fashion and photoshoots, and whose mission is to teach Chinese language and culture to the world in a way that is new, relevant and cool.

Charlotte Hall: At first, I was a little unsure. But on the day that I went surfing with my mother and the other Pearls muses, I felt so connected with my Chinese culture. 

Aurora Hall: I’m happy that I was in it. It made me feel connected to the other girls—[through] wearing our qipao together, all having our longboards and all being surfers girls.

Chu: I’ve been following Pearls since the very beginning. The concept resonates with me on so many levels—longboarding, representation for women, a deep connection with nature and a love for traditional culture.

Bahari: I feel celebrated and honoured—not just tolerated. Just thinking about how much joy and light surfing has brought me—and how I am now given the opportunity to express it and potentially inspire others to break the mould—makes me giddy.

Su Fengxing Altenburg: What I love most about Pearls is how it highlights our personal stories and how the ocean means something different to everyone while still bringing us all together.

Beckie Liu: I’ve always dreamed of being part of it because it’s a cultural movement, especially for females in the surf industry. We’re shifting the primarily Western image of surfing to be a more inclusive one, and I hope to see more people from different cultures joining in this movement.

Mainland: Learning to surf at 40 has been humbling, thrilling and exhausting—and has taught me so many life lessons: every small cross step is a massive progression. “Knowing” how to do something versus “doing it” on your own, daily, repeatedly, in different conditions, is confidence and resilience-building.

Charlotte Hall: I love surfing because it has taught me some valuable life lessons—such as there is only so much I can control. Surfing is a bond that I share with my siblings and mum.

Aurora Hall: I participated in my first surf competition last year. It taught me how to be a winner and a loser. It showed me how determined I can be if I put my mind to something.

Chu: Surfing has been a vessel that’s brought me to countless new places, experiences, faces and perspectives. It’s connected me to local surfers wherever I travel, my best friends, my partner and my tribe. Most importantly, surfing has inspired me to create a lifestyle that, while untraditional, feels most suited to me.

Bahari: For me, choosing to surf is choosing the better life, while still doing what my peers are doing back home—working and spending time with family. It’s living life on my own terms.

Su Fengxing Altenburg: Surfing has taught me to listen—not just to my physical health, but also to my mental well-being. Through it, I’ve also learned to move through life with humbleness, creativity, commitment and curiosity. 

Liu: Surfing has definitely caused a seismic shift in my life. It has expanded my possibilities for my life, career and growth, and I couldn’t be more grateful to have discovered surfing in my late teens. Sad? Go surf. Stressed? Go surf.

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