Concise chinese-english from Xiaolu Guo (郭小橹)

prologue

Now.

Beijing time 12 clock midnight.

London time 5 clock afternoon.

But I at neither time zone. I on airplane. Sitting on 25,000 km above to earth and trying remember all
English I learning in school.

I not met you yet.

You in future.

Looking outside the massive sky. Thinking air staffs need to set a special time-zone for long-distance airplanes, or passengers like me very confusing about time. When a body floating in air, which country she belonging to?

People’s Republic of China passport bending in my pocket.

Passport type: P
Passport No.: G00350124
Name in full: Zhuang Xiao Qiao
Sex: Female
Date of birth: 23 JULY 1979
Place of birth: Zhe Jiang, P. R. China

I worry bending passport bring trouble to immigration officer, he might doubting passport is fake and refusing me into the UK, even with noble word on the page:

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the People’s Republic of China requests all civil and military
authorities of foreign countries to allow the bearer of this passport to pass freely and afford assistance in case of need.

China further and further, disappearing behind clouds. Below is ocean. I from desert town. Is the first time my life I see sea. It look like a dream.
As I far away from China, I asking me why I coming to West. Why I must to study English like parents wish? Why I must to get diploma from West? I not knowing what I needing. Sometimes I not even caring what I needing. I not caring if I speaking English or not. Mother only speaking in village dialect and even not speaking official Mandarin, but she becoming rich with my father, from making shoes in our little town. Life OK. Why they want changing my life?
And how I living in strange country West alone? I never been to West. Only Western I seeing is man working in Beijing British Embassy behind tiny window. He stamp visa on brand new passport.
What else I knowing about West? American TV series dubbing into Chinese, showing us big houses in suburb, wife by window cooking and car arriving in front house. Husband back work. Husband say Honey I home, then little childrens running to him, see if he bringing gift.
But that not my life. That nothing to do with my life. I not having life in West. I not having home in West.

I scared.

I no speaking English.

I fearing future.

Cita extraída del prólogo de la novela "A concise chinese-english dictionary for lovers" de la escritora y cineasta china Xiǎolǔ Guō (郭小橹). La rudimentaria y a ratos cómica forma de hablar inglés de sus protagonistas (que casi permite imaginar su acento en nuestra cabeza, mientras se lee) refleja el conflicto a nivel lingüístico entre su milenaria cultura y la nuestra, motivo por el que incluyo el texto sin traducir en su versión original.

Claro que habría que ver lo que les parecemos nosotros tratando de hablar chino...

Su autora rebosa sinceridad, realismo, sensibilidad y sentido del humor en sus obras, retratando con magistral precisión el alienante choque cultural entre las civilizaciones oriental y occidental en nuestros tiempos, desde su privilegiada perspectiva en el sudeste asiático. 

Podéis descargar esta breve novela aquí (mientras dure el enlace) en varios formato, incluyendo e-book. Requiere solo un nivel rudimentario de inglés y tener la mente abierta

Os recomiendo ver también la película de la misma autora que me llevó a encontrar la novela: "Chinka: She, a chinese" ["Ella, una joven china" 2009] donde una joven de la china rural que nunca ha salido a más de 5 kilómetros de su pueblo se ve arrastrada por los acontecimientos a una vida de inmigrante en la bulliciosa Inglaterra.

El resto de sus películas y documentales están en cola para ver también, cuando tenga un rato y termine la novela, que de momento me está encantando.