This will go down as the Oscars in which a record number of people of Asian descent took to the stage to give away and collect trophies - and also to speak in their mother tongues.
At the podium, South Korean film-maker Bong Joon-ho gave a presentation on the Best Director nominees in Korean. The winner, Beijing-born Chloe Zhao, quoted from a 13th-century classic text in Mandarin. Best Supporting Actress winner Youn Yuh-jung, from South Korea, gave a lesson on how to say her name correctly in her speech.
At the 93rd Academy Awards, held largely in-person on Sunday night in Los Angeles, Bong, 51, gave his presentation on the films made by the Best Director nominees entirely in Korean, with interpreter Sharon Choi, 26, by his side. Bong, with Choi, stood on the stage a year ago to pick up the Best Director award for black comedy Parasite.
It was there last year that he and Choi urged Anglophones in their audience to overcome the "one-inch barrier" of subtitles and embrace films from around the world.
Zhao, 39, then went on stage to pick up her Best Director trophy, becoming the first non-white woman to do so in the 93-year history of the Academy Awards.
Her film, Best Picture winner Nomadland, depicts an economically challenged America and how it is negotiated by van dweller Fern, played by Frances McDormand, who won the Best Actress Oscar.
The three trophies, from six nominations, make the film the biggest winner of the ceremony.
Zhao, who left China at age 14 to study in Europe and the United States, spoke in her speech about how she and her father in China would have fun memorising Chinese poems.
She recited "Ren zhi chu, xing ben shan" - the opening lines of San Zi Jing (Three Character Classic) - which she translated as "people, from birth, are inherently good".
Best Supporting Actress winner Youn, 73, in taking her prize, gently corrected everyone, presenter Brad Pitt included, who mispronounced her name. Pitt is a producer of her movie, the immigrant drama Minari. "But tonight, you are all forgiven," she said, to laughter from the audience.
Youn is the first person from South Korea to win an acting award at the Oscars, and her victory comes after criticism of Academy voters.
Last year, they failed to award acting nominations to the cast of Parasite despite the film being nominated in six categories - and winning four, including Best Picture.
The Academy Of Motion Picture Arts And Sciences, which organises the Academy Awards, has been trying to shake off its image as an organisation that favours Hollywood insiders, who are mostly white, English-speaking and male.
