《中国絮语》:英国“现代奴隶制”下的底层发声

Chinese Whispers:Chronicling the Subaltern Voices under “Modern Slavery” in Britain

英国华工的生存现状鲜有记录,《中国絮语》打破了沉默。该书揭发了当代英国隐形"奴隶制"下的黑工生产线,为21世纪英国既受制法者制裁、又受违法者欺侮的华工移民还原历史。在剖析这一"现代奴隶制"的剥削链环时,该书谴责英国华人社区的阶级剥削和精英主义,同时指出英国移民、劳工保障等制度的弊端。然而,作者指向英国体制的锋芒却常藏于对华人与中国的自我批判之下,其言说立场暴露了英国白人文化宰制下少数族裔的弱势话语权。尽管其主题难逃种族、政治意识形态的局限,该书的新闻化写作却拓展了族裔文学的叙事空间,丰富了族裔文学的创作形式。

In her 2008 book Chinese Whispers, investigative journalist Pai Hsiao-Hung chronicles the invisible and shocking misery of undocumented Chinese immigrant workers in 21 St-century Britain. By exposing this underworld ＂ghost population＂ of immigrant labor, the book criticizes class discrimination within the Chinese community in Britain and points out, if vaguely, the defects in the British immigrant policies and the British political system that fail to protect the rights of migrant workers. The seemingly neutral position implies the difficulty for ethnic writers to speak up for the subaltern in a predominantly white society. Within the confines of racial and political ideology, however, this book manages to expand the narrative space of ethnic writing with its journalistic expertise and rich oral accounts.