Defining England Through Literature As a British-Asian

England is the ancient nation of Grand Shakespeare, London's Dickens and Blake, Dystopian Orwell, local multicultural and universal poet, hearty and hale, Benjamin Zephaniah, Zadie Smith, to name but a few. Hanif Kuerishi, spoke volumes about the British-Asian identity for me, with his numerous novels, including the Black Album.

We all want to belong to something greater than ourselves. Blake's Jurasalem, King Arthur and The Knights of the Round Table, The Green Knight, all ground the country in it's Christian heritege and virtue of high ideals, integrity, honesty and honour which are at the heart of England. Britains landscape is gorgeous, the lakeside poets Wordsworth have revered the nature spirit as if it were Gaia, or the tao, as the Chinese call it. Then there is the finesse of the City of London, the financial district.

If I were to choose a song to define London on a personal level, it would be The Clash song Love to the Falun Gong, which tells of the 24 hour protest that takes place at Portland Place to this day. a stones throw from Oxford Circus tube station. The Chinese Communist party needs to stop killing practitioners in China for doing the tai chi type exercises and the right to believe in Truthfulness, Compassion and Tolerance. Over 3000 have been killed. And many thousands sent to labour camps (Laogai) in China today. Falun Gong is Good.

This is what England is to me, as a British Asian.