美国国家公共电台 NPR Tea And Memories With Vancouver Author Jen Sookfong Lee

 

LULU GARCIA-NAVARRO, HOST:

Our last conversation in Vancouver is with novelist Jen Sookfong Lee. I spoke¹ with her as part of our ongoing² series where we talk to regional authors about what the headlines miss about their area.

(SOUNDBITE OF RAINFALL)

GARCIA-NAVARRO: It's raining, of course, when we meet Lee outside the Ten Ren Tea Shop in Chinatown. Forty-nine percent of the population in Vancouver is ethnic³ Asian. And over half of that is Chinese. Lee's work draws on her connection to Vancouver's Chinatown and explores Chinese-Canadian identity. Her grandfather was a Chinese immigrant who came to this city at the turn of the century. And we're meeting her here because this used to be his barber shop. Most of the shop is now taken up by shelves of brightly packaged canisters of tea and tea pots - cups and saucers for sale. But there's a table in the back corner where the employees brew⁴ samples for customers.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: Do you guys want some tea?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: I would love some tea.

JEN SOOKFONG LEE: That would be great.

UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN: What would you guys like?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: We pick out some jasmine tea to try and settle down to talk with Lee about the neighborhood.

LEE: My mom would bring me down here every weekend to buy groceries. And everywhere we went, people knew us because my grandfather eventually became kind of a leader for his community. So everybody knew who we were and would talk to us and give me candy - you know, weird⁵, old-people candy that, like, kids typically don't like (laughter). This is how I remember this.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: As we speak, our tea is being brewed⁶. It's a fairly elaborate ceremony. And at the end of it, we're handed steaming cups of tea.

(SOUNDBITE OF POURING TEA)

GARCIA-NAVARRO: It's really good, very smooth.

Lee tells me more about her grandfather and the days when this tea shop was his barber shop.

LEE: For a long time, he was the - his shop was the only barber shop in this neighborhood. And I think he knew everybody's secrets. And he was one of the few men here who was literate⁷ in both English and Chinese. So he ended up doing things like reading newspapers and telling people what the news was and sometimes filling out government forms for people. He was also one of the first Chinese men to apply for Canadian citizenship⁸ when it became legal to do so. So he kind of helped people navigate⁹ through all those processes. So he was really, yeah, central, I would say. That's a good word.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Obviously, a lot of cities have Chinatowns and have Chinese communities that are vibrant¹⁰ and very important. What makes this Chinatown different? And what makes Vancouver different because of the influence of the Chinese?

LEE: I think, first of all, our - you know, our Chinese community here is really old and has been here for a long time. But I think what makes Vancouver really particular is the constant sort of renewal¹¹ of the Chinese-Canadian community. So in the '80s, there were lots of people coming from Hong Kong. In the '90s there were people coming from Taiwan. And then now there are people coming from mainland China. And there's this constant, like, tension where the city gets used to whatever the community has become, and the new people from a new place come.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: The newest immigrants are affluent¹²...

LEE: Yes.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: ...And they're investing in the property market. And they're having that kind of impact. How has that changed the way that people receive them and view these new immigrants?

LEE: So for my family, because we've been here for a long time, people got really used to the idea of Chinese immigrants being, you know, working class to having sort of blue-collar jobs and working really hard and just being the sort of people that were relatable. But I think, oftentimes, there's a hierarchy¹³ of who is allowed to have money in Vancouver. So when you have affluent families coming from mainland China, that kind of disrupts what we think - what immigrants are supposed to be or what model minority immigrants are supposed to be. They have money. They don't need to work in the jobs that, like, say, my grandfather, my father had to work in. And that kind of disrupts how people view Chinese Canadians and how they relate to what they think we are.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: More hostility¹⁴?

LEE: There's hostility, yeah, for sure. And I often see that until I open my mouth because I don't have an accent, right? I have a Canadian accent. So, you know, if I walk into a shop, for example, people will be reluctant - who work there reluctant to help me until they hear my voice because they know then I speak English. And I speak it very well. Or, you know, people complain to me all the time about clothing shops carrying sizes that would only fit tiny, little, Asian women - you know, like me. But they don't mean me, you know?

GARCIA-NAVARRO: When Americans look north to Canada, many Americans see a more racially harmonious¹⁵ country. I guess, for many reasons, there are - especially right now in America, it's a period of particular strife¹⁶. Do you see that?

LEE: I think so. I think that when we look at America - Canadians - we see these racial tensions. And I find them really disturbing. Like, I don't know how I could live through something like that because that - because the racial tensions are so obvious and so visible. But, I mean, what's happened in America has trickled¹⁷ a little bit to Canada, too. There was a white supremacist - supposedly, a white supremacist rally was supposed to happen here. It didn't happen. Only a couple of people showed up.

And I remember reading about this rally being planned. And I remember having, like, these weird heart palpitations. And it's funny because that kind of racism¹⁸ is not something that I ever saw growing up. And it's not part of what my generation even has ever experienced - not that level. But I think I was just so terrified of what that might look like. And I started thinking about my grandfather and how people used to go through Chinatown and break windows and have marches and beat up Asian men.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: And now you feel that that might be happening again.

LEE: Yeah, I feel - I'm really quite frightened of it, actually, yeah.

GARCIA-NAVARRO: Vancouver novelist Jen Sookfong Lee - she's the author of "The Conjoined" and "The Better Mother."

1 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

2 ongoing   

adj.进行中的，前进的

参考例句：

• The problem is ongoing.这个问题尚未解决。
• The issues raised in the report relate directly to Age Concern's ongoing work in this area.报告中提出的问题与“关心老人”组织在这方面正在做的工作有直接的关系。

3 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

4 brew   

v.酿造，调制

参考例句：

• Let's brew up some more tea.咱们沏些茶吧。
• The policeman dispelled the crowd lest they should brew trouble.警察驱散人群，因恐他们酿祸。

5 weird   

adj.古怪的，离奇的；怪诞的，神秘而可怕的

参考例句：

• From his weird behaviour,he seems a bit of an oddity.从他不寻常的行为看来，他好像有点怪。
• His weird clothes really gas me.他的怪衣裳简直笑死人。

6 brewed   

调制( brew的过去式和过去分词 )； 酝酿； 沏（茶）； 煮（咖啡）

参考例句：

• The beer is brewed in the Czech Republic. 这种啤酒是在捷克共和国酿造的。
• The boy brewed a cup of coffee for his mother. 这男孩给他妈妈冲了一杯咖啡。 来自《简明英汉词典》

7 literate   

n.学者；adj.精通文学的，受过教育的

参考例句：

• Only a few of the nation's peasants are literate.这个国家的农民中只有少数人能识字。
• A literate person can get knowledge through reading many books.一个受过教育的人可以通过读书而获得知识。

8 citizenship   

n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份)

参考例句：

• He was born in Sweden,but he doesn't have Swedish citizenship.他在瑞典出生，但没有瑞典公民身分。
• Ten years later,she chose to take Australian citizenship.十年后，她选择了澳大利亚国籍。

9 navigate   

v.航行，飞行；导航，领航

参考例句：

• He was the first man to navigate the Atlantic by air.他是第一个飞越大西洋的人。
• Such boats can navigate on the Nile.这种船可以在尼罗河上航行。

10 vibrant   

adj.震颤的，响亮的，充满活力的，精力充沛的，(色彩)鲜明的

参考例句：

• He always uses vibrant colours in his paintings. 他在画中总是使用鲜明的色彩。
• She gave a vibrant performance in the leading role in the school play.她在学校表演中生气盎然地扮演了主角。

11 renewal   

adj.(契约)延期，续订，更新，复活，重来

参考例句：

• Her contract is coming up for renewal in the autumn.她的合同秋天就应该续签了。
• Easter eggs symbolize the renewal of life.复活蛋象征新生。

12 affluent   

adj.富裕的，富有的，丰富的，富饶的

参考例句：

• He hails from an affluent background.他出身于一个富有的家庭。
• His parents were very affluent.他的父母很富裕。

13 hierarchy   

n.等级制度；统治集团，领导层

参考例句：

• There is a rigid hierarchy of power in that country.那个国家有一套严密的权力等级制度。
• She's high up in the management hierarchy.她在管理阶层中地位很高。

14 hostility   

n.敌对，敌意；抵制［pl.］交战，战争

参考例句：

• There is open hostility between the two leaders.两位领导人表现出公开的敌意。
• His hostility to your plan is well known.他对你的计划所持的敌意是众所周知的。

15 harmonious   

adj.和睦的，调和的，和谐的，协调的

参考例句：

• Their harmonious relationship resulted in part from their similar goals.他们关系融洽的部分原因是他们有着相似的目标。
• The room was painted in harmonious colors.房间油漆得色彩调和。

16 strife   

n.争吵，冲突，倾轧，竞争

参考例句：

• We do not intend to be drawn into the internal strife.我们不想卷入内乱之中。
• Money is a major cause of strife in many marriages.金钱是造成很多婚姻不和的一个主要原因。

17 trickled   

v.滴( trickle的过去式和过去分词 )；淌；使)慢慢走；缓慢移动

参考例句：

• Blood trickled down his face. 血从他脸上一滴滴流下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The tears trickled down her cheeks. 热泪一滴滴从她脸颊上滚下来。 来自《简明英汉词典》

18 racism   

n.民族主义；种族歧视(意识)

参考例句：

• He said that racism is endemic in this country.他说种族主义在该国很普遍。
• Racism causes political instability and violence.种族主义道致政治动荡和暴力事件。