推薦語
Recommendations
序
Preface
肖像
The Portrait
離開廣州
Leaving Canton
中國開出嘅慢船
Slow Boat from China
戰爭同埋唐人街
War and Chinatown
佢哋嘅思維模式係東方嘅
Their Mode of Thought is Eastern
唐人街不斷萎縮
Dwindling Chinatown
衫領同恤衫
Collar and Shirts
搜捕行動
Manhunt
驅逐令
Deportations
空框框嘅咖啡廳
An Empty Café
岸邊嘅陌生人
Stranger on the Shore
Vivienne Chow 唐睿 黃念欣 徐忠雄 聯合推薦
Recommended by Vivienne Chow, Tong Yui, Wong Nim Yan, and Shawn Wong
《第八位中國商人同消失咗嘅海員》既獨特又帶俾我哋驚喜，佢唔只探尋華人移民未為人知嘅故事，仲要用粵語華文嚟書寫──粵語華文喺華語研究入面長期受遺棄同漠視。地緣政治嘅困苦無日無之，呢部作品極合事宜，透過回望過去，為我們嘅當下提出洞見。
──Vivienne Chow，文化藝術記者
The Eighth Chinese Merchant and the Disappeared Seamen is a uniquely fascinating project that looks into not only the untold stories of Chinese migration, but also champions Cantonese Chinese writing, which has long been discarded and disregarded in the field of Chinese studies. It’s a timely read amid the ongoing geopolitical turmoil, offering us insights into the present by taking a good look at the past.
──Vivienne Chow, Arts and cultural journalist
呢本係一本敘事密度非常高，同埋充滿人文精神嘅小說。故事講述一位為咗推翻滿清而奔赴英國嘅革命者，喺佢同民國革命失諸交臂之後，被二十世紀上半葉一系列世界大事困鎖異鄉。小說嘅高潮之一，係對1946年英國政府強制遣返數百名華人海員呢段黑歷史嘅控訴。呢啲海員喺二戰期間，對英國嘅航運同物資供應貢獻良多，卻喺戰後被棄之如敝屣，但呢個實際上，卻只係小說主人公陳泉利，從晚清到民國，所見證到嘅複雜中英關係、同埋華僑喺英國所遭遇到嘅歧視同不公事件嘅一端。作者利大英講過︰「冇中國嘅世界就唔係世界，冇世界嘅中國唔可能再係中國。」而呢部通過華僑視角，以既憂鬱又間唔中穿插一啲幽默語調嚟敘述嘅小說，正好可以彌補一般人只係通過大歷史敘事，或者單從中英其中一方嘅歷史敘事，而對呢段時期嘅偏頗認知。
──唐睿，香港浸會大學人文及創作系助理教授
It is a condensed story full of a humanistic spirit. It is a story of a revolutionary who left China for the United Kingdom to overthrow the Qing Dynasty. Having missed the revolution of the Republic in China, a series of world events forced him to live in the foreign land in the first half of the 20th century. This story culminates in the accusation of the British government repatriating a few hundred Chinese seamen as a result of force in 1946. Despite their immense contributions to the British shipping business and resource supply during WWII, these Chinese seamen were abandoned immediately after the war. Our protagonist Chan Chin Lee and his fellows endured discrimination and injustice as a tiny part of the bigger story of the complicated Sino-British relationship during the late Qing and the early Republic. The World without China is not the World, and that China without the World can no longer be China, as Gregory Lee once said. An overseas Chinese perspective reveals that this melancholy yet humorous novella can revive the shrewd historical understanding ordinary people might have of history, especially if they learn about it from the grand narrative or from a narrative offered by either China or the UK alone.
──Tong Yui, Assistant Professor, Department of Humanities and Creative Writing, Hong Kong Baptist University
利大英教授以傳記小說嘅方式，繼續佢逆想離散中國嘅學術旅程。粵英雙語版嘅《第八位中國商人同消失咗嘅海員》別開生面，以兩種想像嘅「鄉音」，記錄華人、愛爾蘭人、利物浦人嘅多重身份鏡像；為愛國、革命同反殖，寫下一頁唔可以忽視嘅情感注釋。
──黃念欣，香港中文大學中國語言及文學系副教授
Prof. Gregory B. Lee continues his academic journey of reimagining the Chinese diaspora by means of a biographical novel. The Cantonese-English bilingual version of The Eighth Chinese Merchant and the Disappeared Seamen uses two imaginary “mother tongues” to show the multi-reflections among identities of the Chinese, Irish, and Liverpudlian. This sentimental annotation is an unremovable record of patriotism, revolution and decolonization.
──Wong Nim Yan, Associate Professor, Department of Chinese Language and Literature, Chinese University of Hong Kong
利大英阿公陳泉利曲折離奇嘅故事既係想像力獨特，亦喺二十世紀轉折時期廣為常見。故事關乎絕對唔妥協嘅意志，堅毅而決斷咁面對英國制度下種族主義嘅高牆；同時關乎一班中國海員，佢地喺二戰期間為英國人服務，但係又遭強制遣返中國，被迫離開佢地嘅家人。呢個故事關乎種族滅除──一段唔可以被靜音和遺忘嘅事蹟。
──徐忠雄，《家鄉》作者，美國華盛頓大學英文系教授
The dramatic story of Gregory Lee’s grandfather, Chan Chin Lee, is both a unique immigration story and a common one at the turn of the 20th century. It is a story of uncompromising perseverance and determination against a wall of institutional racism in the United Kingdom and a story of Chinese seamen who served Britain during WWII only to find themselves forcibly repatriated to China without their families. It is a story of racial erasure that cannot be silenced and forgotten.
──Shawn Wong, Author of Homebase, Professor of English, University of Washington
