Yilin Zhong

Yilin Zhong in Paris https://youtu.be/KvciZDc_cWU Novel Chinatown Interview (Part 3/8) Time: 16th February 2017 Venue: London Interviewer: UCL Documentary Film student Shi Yi Han Interviewee: Yilin Zhong (Author of book Chinatown) Topic: Chinatown, the novel Part 3 video length: 11’46’’ Yilin Zhong: (continued) I was the lucky one. But to meet those people is not the only lucky part I had, another lucky part I had is, I wrote them. I wrote them down. I didn’t imagine I would have written them down myself, even, but it just happened. I wrote it twelve years ago, it was a book I wrote twelve years ago, but as I said, it was so difficult to get published, that’s why it was just released recently. Because the main society just thought, those people are not important, those people are not existing, why would we bother, to even write about it? Interviewer: (In Chinese) Can you talk about how fiction presenting the theme of reality? My question i

(Novel Chinatown book cover) Novel Chinatown Documentary Interview (Part 2/8) Time: 16th February 2017 Venue: London Interviewer: UCL Documentary Film student Shi Yi Han Interviewee: Yilin Zhong (Author of book Chinatown) Topic: Chinatown, the novel Part 2 video length: 11’48’’ https://youtu.be/KvciZDc_cWU Yilin Zhong: (continued) So Chinatown is the best example of that (literary theory). Now that’s the first impression Chinatown gave to me when I was just a student, and I was a tourist as well, at the first week I came over to London, that’s the scene I have seen. So apart from I felt, oh, everything here is from China, that’s so good! So I can have Chinese food, and I could meet Chinese people even in London, that’s quite exciting. But apart from that, nothing more. Nothing much more. Because I only left China for about one week, there’s not much difference I would tell, at that point. However, one year later, when I was trying to finish m

Yilin Zhong in London on 9/9/2017 Novel Chinatown Documentary Interview (Part 1/8) Time: 16 th  February 2017 Venue: London Interviewer: UCL Documentary Film student Shi Yi Han Interviewee: Yilin Zhong (Author of book Chinatown) Topic: Chinatown, the novel Part 1 video length: 11’48’’ https://youtu.be/KvciZDc_cWU Interviewer: (In Chinese) Shall we talk about the name, you name this novel ‘Chinatown’, do you think this is the real scene of Chinatown in your heart? Yilin Zhong: The reason I named this book as Chinatown, I have said it in the postscript, that initially I couldn’t find what the main subject or theme of this book is, and that’s why although I had met those people two years ago before I started writing it, in the past two years, I couldn’t have written it, only because I couldn’t find a line, or the story line, or whatever you call the theme, to write about it. And the reason I wrote about it was (two years later) I met Amazon’s

【伦敦单身日记】之    露天花园的周末派对：论成为作家的必要条件 随便想起来写两句。 昨天和闺蜜去酒吧的时候，在门口被一个英国男人搭讪，假装问路，我们随便敷衍了他几句后离开，然后我对她说：“这人一看就是个想跟我们搭讪的。”女友笑道：“是啊，一个英国人还跟我们俩（中国人）问路，不过看着衣着倒也还行，过得去。”我说：“什么啊，一听他开口说话就知道他层次不高，虽然上过大学但是没什么教养，我不用看他脸（而且我也的确压根连看都没看他一眼）就知道他是 working class 出身的人。”女友大笑道：“不会吧？你就这么几句话（他总共跟我们说了不到三句话）都能看出这些来？”我笑道：“那可不是，别忘了我是干什么的。” 少顷，我们俩在酒吧里坐了下来，看里面的人来人往。这是一家伦敦高级夜店，需要 VIP 或者客人名单才能进来，而且还要付入场费。理论上来说在这里走来走去的人都是有点档次，或者说有点身份的人。然并卵，我和女友虽然都是单身，却是一个男人也没有看上。好容易我看到了有一个长相和穿戴都还不错的男人，可惜又不是我喜欢的类型，于是我便跟女友笑道：“你身后 60 度的那个男的还不错，可惜不是我的菜。” 她回头看了一眼说：“人家已经有女朋友了啊，不是在跟她聊天吗？” 我说：“我们进来的时候他们才刚开始说话的，聊天还不到两分钟。” 女友再次惊讶：“这你也知道？” 我笑道：“这算什么啊，我还知道一定是这个女的主动搭讪他的，但他并不对这个女的感兴趣，他跟她现在聊天，只是因为他还没有找到他看上了的女生而已。” 女友听我这么说，已经完全不能够相信了。因为直到这时候，我们俩进入这家酒吧还不到五分钟。 我叹气：“你也不想想，我就是写小说的，我观察一个人只需要三十秒，就能看个底儿掉。我还告诉你吧，这个帅哥虽然长得还不错，但是个大男子主义者，而且今天晚上 （这天是星期五） 他是一个人到这里来喝酒的，说明他平时人缘也不好，很 tough ，不好相处，所以没什么朋友。” 女友已经惊得一句话都说不出来了。 然而，直到此时， 我所说的这些仍然完全没有任何证据可以证明，对吧？ 所以呢，和你们一样，她很容易就会想，既然你是写小说的，那么这些，一定就是你自己虚构出来的吧？ 哈哈。。那你们就错了。

When I woke up this morning, I found there was a private message sent to me through the social media, 'I am from CCTV(China's central TV station, like BBC in the UK),' she said. 'I wonder if I can invite you to take place in our program?' I checked her social media profile, just to ensure she was real, not a  s cam  robot  or something. Then I replied: 'That sounds interesting, can you please tell me what the program about?' Then she asked if I could add her on webchat, an Chinese app like whatsapp. I added her, then she said: 'Our program is a new project, it's to invite all oversea Chinese to speak of their viewpoint on everything, basically we want to explore all the western thoughts in this TV program and make it as an international eyesight.' I praised their idea of making this TV show, then I asked: 'But how would you want me to practice in it? You know, I only write fictions, and I don't think I can contrib

In Paris In London here you are, here I am :) Yilin Zhong / 锺宜霖