Shanghai Daily: Chinatown’s invisible residents
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| 《唐人街看不见的居民们》|Chinatown’s invisible residents |
《上海日报》的英文报道：《唐人街看不见的居民们》（作者：须勤 中文翻译：钟宜霖）
Chinatown’s invisible residents
By Xu Qin | August 30, 2015, Sunday |
ILLEGAL immigrants have rarely been welcome in any place, at any time in history. And by their legal status — or rather lack of it — they are often invisible to much of the general population; non-citizens.
“Most people have only the faintest idea of how their life is ‘under the radar’ because, as part of the subaltern class, they tend to hide away from the public eye, and are thus invisible,” writer Zhong Yilin told Shanghai Daily at a recent interview.
非法移民历来很少会在任何地方收到欢迎。由于他们的法律身份--或者说缺乏合法的身份--在大多数情况下，他们都是一个看不见的群体：非居民。
“大多数人对这个神秘群体的生活一无所知，作为底层群体的一部分，他们大多都会试图躲避公众的视线，所以才会变得看不见。”作家钟宜霖在访谈中告诉《上海日报》。
Based in London, Zhong’s recent work “Chinatown” is a novel based on the lives of Chinese illegal immigrants in the UK. She tells of stowaways from the rural counties of China’s southern provinces; down-and-out adult children of Chinese high-ranking officials and the children of China’s nouveau riche who dropped out at boarding school due to a lack of parental guidance.
居住在伦敦的钟宜霖最新出版的作品《唐人街》是一部关于描写英国非法华人移民的长篇小说。她讲述了从中国南方的乡野村庄偷渡海外的偷渡客，中国政府高官不学无术的子弟，还有由于缺乏父母的监护指导而从英国寄宿中学辍学的富家子弟。
Quitting her job as a TV producer in Beijing, Zhong came to study in Britain in 2002 and gained a MA from the University of Warwick three years later.
In her final year at university, while looking for a cheap apartment where she could finish her academic paper without distractions, she moved into a community in London’s Chinatown.
During her stay there, she noted that her Chinese neighbors would quickly move on and be replaced by other transient tenants. Few could speak a word of English. Some were chefs without work permits; others were engaged in making pirate DVDs or selling drugs.
辞去在北京制作电视节目的工作，钟宜霖在2002年来到英国留学，并在三年后获得了华威大学的文学硕士学位。在她大学毕业的那一年，为了找一处便宜的房子专心写毕业论文，她搬到了伦敦一个中国人聚居的社区。
在她住在这里的时间里，她发现她的中国邻居们总是搬进搬出，房子经常变换住客。他们几乎没有人会说一个英语单词。有的是在餐馆里打黑工的厨师，有的则制作和售卖盗版光碟，还有人贩毒。
“As they found out that I could speak and write in English, they came for help with translations. Sometimes it was an application for residence permit; other times a call to ask for a delayed salary from their bosses,” Zhong said.
By the time she left the apartment six months later, Zhong had become friends with many of her under-the-radar neighbors, winning them over with kindness and helpfulness.
Friendship also made Zhong privy to their stories, tales that completely changed her perception of Chinatown.
“自从他们发现我会说英语以后，就常来找我帮忙翻译。有时候是为了填写一张英文的居住申请表，有时候是给他们的英国老板打电话讨薪。”钟宜霖说。
由于她的热心帮忙，当她在半年以后搬走时，钟宜霖已经和她神秘的邻居们成了朋友。这种友情让她知道了他们的经历和故事，这些故事也彻底改变了她对唐人街的认识。
Centered along Gerrard Street in central London’s Soho, to many people Chinatown is simply a popular tourism destination, complete with stone lions and pailou decorated archways, festooned with red lanterns and packed with Chinese restaurants and shops.
But Zhong was given an insight beneath this touristy veneer.
“It’s a Chinese village which offers protection to a group of marginalized people who, for one reason or another, got stranded in a life between Britain and China,” Zhong said.
在伦敦市中心的SOHO区，以爵禄街为中心的唐人街，对大多数人来说只是一个时髦的旅游景点。这里有石狮子，有中式的牌楼装饰的街道，妆点着大红灯笼，以及林立的中餐馆和中国商店。然而钟宜霖看到了这些游览景点底下所掩盖的东西。
“这也是一个给那些生活在边缘地带，因为种种原因而不得不活在中国和英国之间的夹缝中的人们，给予某种保护和安慰的中国村落。”钟宜霖说。
Take Zhong’s story of Ah Bao, for example. Originally called Tingting, she came to England as a student when she was 17.
Her father had made a small fortune running an Internet cafe in a small city in northeastern China in the 90s and Tingting’s parents decided to send their daughter abroad for a better education.
However, left to fend for herself in a strange country, within a year Tingting had spent all the money her parents had borrowed from the bank to fund three academic years at language school.
比如她小说里的阿宝，原本叫做婷婷，她在17岁的时候到英国来上学。她的父亲在中国东北的一个小城市里开网吧挣了些钱，所以她父母决定送女儿出国读书，接受更好的教育。
然而，在一个举目无亲的陌生国家里，婷婷不到一年就挥霍光了所有的钱，那是父母给她准备的在英国读三年语言学校的全部生活费。
Penniless, she returned home, only to be surrounded by envious relatives and former classmates curious to hear about her lavish lifestyle abroad.
To save face, Tingting said it was with a sense of guilty relief that she returned to the UK.
Back in London, she worked at a Chinatown restaurant, but unable to make ends meet, became Ah Bao, the prostitute.
她身无分文地回到国内，却整天被那些羡慕的亲友们所包围，还有过去的中学同学们，好奇地打听她在英国过着如何奢侈的生活。为了父母的面子，婷婷说她不得不回到英国，只有这样才不会觉得心虚。
回到伦敦以后，她想去唐人街的中餐馆工作，但仍然入不敷出，所以只得成为了阿宝，一个妓女。
Though she had to hide her secret from friends and family back in China and pretend to be the successful Tingting living a good life in the UK, Ah Bao told Zhong that she has a clear conscience. She not only made a living on her own, but also paid off her father’s debts.
尽管她不得不向她国内的亲友和家人隐瞒自己的秘密，在他们面前仍然装作是一个在英国过得很好的成功的婷婷，但阿宝告诉钟宜霖，她问心无愧。她不仅养活了自己，还还清了她父亲的债。
Zhong insists that it was not her plan to chronicle her neighbors’ stories.
“It’s just coincidence that I moved to that house on that street and lived with them. Everything happened naturally.” Zhong said.
钟宜霖坚持她从没有打算把他们的故事写成小说。
“我是纯属巧合地搬到那条街上的那套房子里，和他们住在一起的。一切都是自然而然地发生的。”钟宜霖说。
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| A selfie of author Zhong Yilin at her London home |
Q: How the book came into being?
It has been 10 years since I first encountered my characters in Chinatown. But a book on them wasn’t finalized until I met Shi Tao, vice president of Amazon China, who was in London for a book fair. We met at a Chinese restaurant, and as I was telling him the interesting people I know in London, he became interested in the story of Ah Bao and encouraged me to write down these stories.
问：这本书是怎么写出来的？
钟宜霖：我是在10多年前认识唐人街的这些人的了。但我从未想过要写一本关于他们的书，直到几年前，亚马逊中国的前副总裁石涛到伦敦来参加书展。我们在一家餐厅吃饭，我聊到了我在伦敦认识的这些有意思的人，结果他对阿宝的故事很感兴趣，并且鼓励我把这些故事写下来。
Q: Do you see any changes to your characters in Chinatown in the past few years?
Nothing dramatic. I see them finding new jobs, getting married or having children. These are normal changes for all of us. Even though most of them have realized it is unlikely for them to become legal citizens, they hope their children who are born in the UK will one day breathe the fresh air outside of Chinatown and buy a house of their own when they grow up.
问：在过去几年中，你看到唐人街的这些人物有什么变化吗？
钟宜霖：没什么大的变化。我看到他们有的换了新工作，有的结婚生了孩子，这些都是所有人都会有的变化。尽管他们大多数都明白自己不太可能得到合法的身份，但他们仍然希望他们在英国出生的孩子有朝一日可以呼吸唐人街以外的自由空气，长大以后能买一套自己的房子。
Q: Do you intend the book to be an appeal for understanding for the situation of illegal immigrants?
I meant the book to evoke a positive change in the minds of people who see illegal immigrants as being inferior, and thus ignore their very existence. All the characters in my book are fictional but they all come from real examples of what is actually happening. It is important to know there is another life in Chinatown, other than it being a cultural name.
问：你希望这本书成为理解非法移民的状态的某种诉求吗？
钟宜霖：我希望这本书能够唤醒人们积极地看待这个问题，让他们意识到非法移民不是卑贱的群体，并因此而忽视他们的存在。我书中所有的人物都是虚构的，但他们都来源自真实的原型和正在发生的事情。有一点很重要，就是人们必须意识到唐人街生活着这样一个不同的群体，而不是仅仅只是一个文化上的标签。
Q: Are you planning to keep writing the Chinatown stories?
The answer is definitely yes, although it is hard and I am still waiting for inspiration. With the new wave of immigration and policy changes to Britain’s visa system, this book is just the start of a series.
问：你还打算继续写唐人街的故事吗？
钟宜霖：肯定的。虽然这很困难，我还在等待灵感。但是，随着英国移民政策不断的发展和新的改变，这本书很可能只是未来一个系列作品的开始。
About the Author
Zhong Yilin was born in Beijing into a writer’s family and first published poems when only seven. In 2002, she moved to study in London and has settled in the city. She is also the author of: “London Single’s Diary” (2009), “London Love Story” (2010) and “Personal Statement” (2013).
作者介绍：
钟宜霖出生在北京一个书香家庭，七岁就发表了诗歌。在2002年，她到伦敦留学，然后定居于此。她还著有：《伦敦单身日记》（2009）、《伦敦爱情故事》（2010）和《北京北京》（2013）。
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| 《唐人街看不见的居民们》|Chinatown’s invisible residents |
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Shanghai Daily link: http://www.shanghaidaily.com/sunday/book/Chinatowns-invisible-residents/shdaily.shtml#jtss-tsina
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