Regarde les Chinois : Terry Chan
2008-06-02 | Cedric Sam
Regarde les Chinois poursuit sa route à Beijing. Le mois dernier, j’ai rencontré Terry Chan, un Torontois qui vit à Beijing depuis l’automne dernier pour étudier le Mandarin. Je l’ai rencontré dans le coin touristique de Houhai, un lac au centre de Beijing, avec des restaurants, bars et boîtes de nuit dans ses environs, desservant surtout des expatriés et des jeunes locaux.
Regarde les Chinois continues on its trek in Beijing. A month ago, I met Terry Chan, a Torontonian who lived in Beijing since last Fall, learning Mandarin. I met him at the tourist area of Houhai (后海), a lake in Central Beijing, with restaurants, bars and nightclubs built in its surroundings, serving mostly an expatriates and young locals.
***
Comme les Chinois: So, where are you from?
Terry Chan: I’m from Toronto and just got to Beijing in September 2007 to learn Mandarin.
CLC: So, we’re in this tourist area called Houhai…
And just been disappointed by a restaurant catering to expats…
CLC: And we’re getting run over by these… whatever they’re called (actually, they’re modern-day rickshaws-for-tourists). So, what do you think about China?
Hoho, what do I think about China! How do I answer that… Difficult question to answer. In what respect?
CLC: Oh, I don’t know… daily life! What were you expecting before you came to China?
Well, I was told, actually, by some friends who have been to China before to not expect anything, to sort of come here with a blank slate, and go from there… [silence] Sorry, I must be giving you the most boring interview ever! (Editor’s note: to be fair to Terry, this is probably the interview with the least preparation ever!)
CLC: Why did you come to China?
Well, actually, as a Chinese-Canadian person that never really learnt the language, I thought that part of me would always feel incomplete, if I didn’t learn Chinese. My family is from Hong Kong. It’s my eventual goal to learn Cantonese, but I figured that in the short term, learning Mandarin would be useful, because you can’t really use Cantonese outside of Hong Kong or the diaspora in Toronto, Vancouver. Also, as I’ve taken courses on China – Chinese politics – when I was at university, I figured it’s a topic that interests me…
CLC: China? Or Chinese politics? …
Chinese politics. I figured that if I can’t speak the language, then what did I really know about China…
CLC: Is it hard to make friends with locals?
Um, you know it’s weird… On campus, it’s sort of weird. We only meet up with locals only if we have a stated goal, which is that we teach them English, and they teach us Chinese. Well, actually, I’ve made a few friends randomly, on the subway. It’s sort of weird, normally, pretty much every time I go out on the street, as a huayi (华裔), a lot of people mistake me for a local. It’s pretty often that Chinese people will ask me for directions. When they see the confused look on my face, they get interested! That’s how friendships start! For example on the subway!
*** Incidentally, after the interview, we meet three Torontonians of Egyptian origin on the subway!
CLC: Yeah, it happened to me! But it didn’t get further than that.
What was the expression on the face?
CLC: Oh, the person just turned around, and left…
Oh ok. I got that yesterday! They look at you very weirdly, like, “what’s wrong with you”. That’s a minority of people. Other people, they have this inquisitive look on their face.
CLC: Maybe they’re just afraid of having to speak English. Imagine if we had to speak Mandarin to some stranger, in Montreal…
Yeah, that’s true. Well, it’s going to sound like a very simple, obvious thing, but the biggest hindrance for learning Mandarin in Toronto was that there were too many barriers to test it out!
*** Wind is picking up madly…
CLC: Oh gosh, the wind is getting high (!)
Yeah, on days like this, it’s relatively better. Actually, I think that a lot of people in Beijing like the rain, even though the weather sucks, because it means that the next day, the wind will carry the pollution away.
CLC: And it’s actually the case! I can see a blue sky in Beijing!
I will be amazed if there can be blue skies for the Olympics.
CLC: Do you get special treatment for being a huaqiao (华侨 – Overseas Chinese)? Being in the middle of two cultures… you’re not one, you’re not the other?
I mean, it is nice to blend in. For example… Maybe we should stop.
*** We skip the recorder for a while, because they are repairing the alleyways in Houhai. We can’t even hear ourselves speak, let alone record what we’re saying…
CLC: So, we’re talking about special treatment.
Well, there’s a handful of people who look at me and can tell that I am not from around here.
CLC: What gives it away?
I guess it’s maybe the way I dress, or my hair or something like that. To be honest, most of the time, it sort of feels like flying under the radar. People mistake me for a local, and it’s kind of nice, and I can blow my cover as I please, so!
You know, you often see for other laowai (老外 – slang for foreigners), if they are white, they get bugged all the time on the street. Someone would come up to them and say “Hello! Hello!”, and they want to practice their English, or something like that. Maybe in that respect, it’s not too good… Oh, or maybe it would be a good thing for my Chinese if people would approach me like this all the time!
CLC: You want to stay in Beijing?
I could stay here, but never to live. I think Toronto will always be home. There’s some stuff that you can put up with, for example the pollution, if you’re only going to be here for a year. But if you had to live here, stay with this for the rest of your life, personally, I couldn’t do it.
CLC: So, we’re going to find this kao rou (烤肉 – barbecued meat) place?
Yeah. Right now, we’re standing in front of Guloudajie, and the old Bell Tower. We’re going to a place, a street, that sells a lot of street food.
CLC: Well Terry, thank you for your time!
