What the rise of ‘Wasians’ like Alysa Liu and Hudson Williams means for part-Asian identity

Beyond their talents, online discourse has frequently fixated on their racial identity. Specifically, they are all part-Asian and part-white – or “Wasian” in Gen Z language, a contemporary term for “Eurasian” that has been popularised by American internet culture.

This has in turn birthed “The Republic of Wasia”, a humorous, self-identified “country” on social media platforms like TikTok and X.

When Liu took to Instagram to promote Icelandic-Chinese singer Laufey’s music video for her new song “Madwoman”, in which Liu featured alongside a star-studded mixed-race cast, the skater specifically gave a shoutout to “Wasia” in the caption.

But while the “Republic” serves as a digital space to celebrate the cultural in-betweenness of biracial identity, detractors argue it risks stereotyping the very community it claims to represent.