
What do athletes Alysa Liu and Eileen Gu, actors Lola Tung and Hudson Williams, and singer Megan Skiendiel of Katseye all have in common?
They have all been the focus of heavy media attention this year – and all are biracial.

What do athletes Alysa Liu and Eileen Gu, actors Lola Tung and Hudson Williams, and singer Megan Skiendiel of Katseye all have in common?
They have all been the focus of heavy media attention this year – and all are biracial.
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.
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