Not the Chinese in foreign countries but those who look local but are in fact Chinese (of course local meaning Europe). Coming from the international arena of Hong Kong, I have come to meet a lot of non-Chinese looking foreigners who speak Cantonese. They are the real Hong Kong born and bred. But there are such a limited number of us that you don’t think they really do exist outside the little circle of Hong Kong. Even within Hong Kong, there are many foreigners who don’t speak a word of Cantonese, who came from the UK for business or what have you.
I am talking about Cantonese you know. Not Japanese. Not Mandarin. Perhaps it is still very fascinating for Japanese to find a hakujin (white man) speaking nihongo, or for a mainland Chinese to speak to a bairen who can speak guoyu. But this is Cantonese with 9 tones (ok, 6 real tones and 3 entry and exit tones) not many guailo can speak this dialect you know! The 4 tones in Mandarin are hard enough to learn, but to learn a dialect of Chinese is definitely rare of the rare. Its like finding a hakujin speaking native osaka ben!
So here is the deal. London being the most multicultural place in the world has probably the strangest people. Strange in the fact that their face deceive many. My face, for example hides the fact that I can speak Cantonese natively. We went to the Malaysian Embassy the other day for Malay food, and there was a big sign outside say “We only cater for Malaysians only, non-Malaysians are only welcome by the accompany of a Malaysian.” Well, I can pass off as a Malay. With a few phrases like terimakasih or satu roti canai dua teh tarik, I can pass as a Malay. In fact, I am most insulted in Chinese restaurants when they give me knife and fork, because I am a CHINESE (by mentality, by cultural upbringing, by the friends I make - I am Chinese). Yes, my face might say I am Pakistani or that I am not fully Chinese, but I don’t know Urdu (something I always feel ashamed of when I tell people about), I don’t know any other cities in Pakistan apart from Islamabad, Karachi or Lahore. I have been to Pakistan for 2 weeks of my life, less than I have been in Singapore or Australia for that matter. Its just I have no connection to where I am supposed to be from.
Then 2,3 months ago when we were sitting in a Chinese restaurant in Bayswater. There was a group of foreigners from 3 different generations sitting around a table eating lobster, this and that - which is a very typical English version of a Chinese meal. So in my mind, I went - ummm, foreigners trying to get a piece of Chinese culture by eating in a Chinese restaurant. Something which some Chinese might think about when they see me sitting with my friends in a Chinese Restaurant - little do they know that having a meal there did nothing to me than to remind me of my home. So I was sitting there, stereotyping the people next to me. Then suddenly I stopped talking and just listened. The foreigners sitting next to me was speaking in fluent Cantonese with one another. There is a great sense of excitement when that happens. Because its English people in a London restaurant eating Chinese food, speaking in Chinese with one another. Its like WOW…you know…like WOW! I was nearly jumping out of my seat and wanting to hug everyone of them and say to them - You know what it feels like to be a Chinese Foreigner treated as local in a country! YAY!
Then today, after having Kaiten Sushi in Kulu Kulu in Soho with Livia, we went to Hagen daz. Thank you YSS for treating me to ice cream by the way. We waited for Wang Yan there. Then next to us was a table with a Chinese guy. So I was like ok…This is London, there are millions of Chinese here - I think this whole city is Chinese really. So we (Livia and I) were talking, and they were talking. Then suddenly I looked - the girl he was talking to was Indian. So I thought - ok, not so uncommon, its London at the end of the day. Then I listened they were speaking in CANTONESE. Again I got really really excited. She was speaking native Cantonese - JUST LIKE ME!!! WOW!!! So I made Livia move seat and inside me I was like this little kid jumping up and down saying, “She could speak Cantonese!!!!”
Oh well, I don’t usually like to boast the fact that I am Chinese because I feel that there is a big part of Chinese-ness in me which is missing. However, it is these little things which happens in life which makes me smile and go - its so great to know so many different languages. In Malaysia I can pretend to be Malay (for a while…I did sustained a good conversation in KL a few years back when Rachel and I sneaked away from our hotel to a malay restaurant. I kidded the guy saying that I was from Nepal - which he believed.), in Spain, people would speak to me in Spanish, cause I look…Mediterranean. But too bad I don’t know Spanish. I am here in London, for my final 1 month. I am a true Londoner: A foreigner who is just as messed up as anyone else living here.