CHINESE WHISPERS by Hsiao-Hung Pai
Reviewed by B. Zephaniah
CHINESE WHISPERS by Hsiao-Hung Pai
It is easy to see the nature of a city or a country, just look and see the type of work that people are doing, look at the cars people drive, look at their houses, and look at the colour of their skins and how much money they spend. Get a guidebook or visit the tourist information office. It’s so easy. But it’s only part of the story. What really fascinates is what we can’t see, what happens below the surface, who cleans up after us, and who dare not step up and be counted due to fear of either law makers or law breakers.
The Chinese community in Britain is one of the largest immigrant groups, but one of the least understood. In the past few years the tragic deaths of 58 so called ‘Illegal’ immigrants at Dover and the death of 23 cockle pickers in Morecambe Bay brought the plight of many Chinese people to the forefront of our news, but they were soon gone when a famous footballer hurt his foot. The writer and journalist Hsiao-Hung Pai is the only person that I know in Britain that is working tirelessly to reveal the truth about how many Chinese people are living and dying in Britain. Yes there are Chinese community centres, Chinese advice centres, and Chinese social workers who are doing their bit, but Hsiao-Hung Pai is in a different league altogether, she has put her life in danger to tell us about the people who leave China in search of a better life and end up working in our underbelly. These workers are picking our food in the fields, fishing our food from the sea (not mine obviously, vegan), selling us cheap DVDs, working in the sex industry, and even looking after our children. If you have some time and you are that way inclined it is possible to get some of the statistics concerning these workers from studies, but in her book ‘Chinese Whispers’ you get people’s real experiences, these come from the writer herself or from others who have survived or are surviving this underworld.
This is not a good book or a bad book, this is a book of truths, truths that we are not shouting about because they are so neatly tucked away, the Chinese community are not shouting about it, the unions are not shouting about it, and employers or exploiters are not shouting about it. That’s why you must read this book. It’s about getting to know how your country ticks, it will help you get into the nooks and crannies of our sweat shops and supermarkets, it will help you understand the suffering of a whole army of people who are not counted and not cared for. Read it, for the sake of your country.
