I don't think we're told Nell's ancestry in any detail, but, she's the daughter of Tequila and Bud. Tequila appears to be a typical "white trash" uneducated young woman who is living in the LT but whose ancestors are probably American or European, the discussion of the Freedom Machine (Diamond Age contraception) strongly suggests Tequila sees herself roughly this way. Bud is deliberately your generic Cyberpunk protagonist, if he has any Chinese ancestry it's unlikely he recognises or celebrates it.
Yes, the LT is in China. It's an analogous situation to Hong Kong, physically it is in China, but as its name suggests ("Leased Territories") it is controlled by outsiders, hence the anger of groups like the Fists.
Hmm, okay. I did remember that these were people who were culturally pretty Europeanised in terms of name choices and some other things, but I just assumed that was a Hong Kong-like situation, like you said, where there's significant Euro cultural influence on a group of Chinese people. I don't know, maybe it's just my mental block because I read it when I was young, I just can't picture her as a little white girl.
Huh. I'd always pictured Nell as a little white girl, but although there are strong hints (including when Madam Ping hires her for example) I don't think we're explicitly told that.
Huh, I wonder if it was intentional to leave it ambiguous. I have recently (3-4 years ago) gone through vaguely similar conversations about various characters in the Wheel of Time, albeit those conversations were generally a lot more acrimonious. Overall, I just think it's weird how people get so hung up on ethnicity specifically. I understand it if someone's got a sore spot about not being historically represented in the culture they live in, fair play, but some people get really involved in it with no such concern. About the Wheel of Time, there were some people saying that they couldn't watch the show because some of the cast didn't match their headcanon in terms of appearance, and it's just like... if the obsession is that bad, maybe you should reframe this as "I can't deal with adaptations" rather than targeting it at the cast specifically.
Anyway, sorry for getting sidetracked. I just can't stop thinking about Wheel of Time since the second season finished, what an incredible series of television. I haven't felt this way about a TV show since early Game of Thrones.
Yes, the LT is in China. It's an analogous situation to Hong Kong, physically it is in China, but as its name suggests ("Leased Territories") it is controlled by outsiders, hence the anger of groups like the Fists.