杭州觀察(一)

二零零三年八月二十九日

抵杭

「這個學生是從英國過來的, 不過其實是我們香港人。」

感謝主！終於安抵杭州。如果不是一個在德國認識的中國朋友介紹下認識的一個浙大朋友在機場接我的話，我肯定會煩得多。

因為我是以英國公民身份進入大陸，所以過關時自然要排最長的那條隊。乘了民航大巴到武林門─杭州的市中心後，我們再乘計程車到玉泉校區的國際教育大樓辦理登記手續。由於那裡的宿舍沒有空房間，所以我暫時住在玉泉校區外的旧留學生宿舍裡，待西溪校區最新落成的新留學生宿舍完成裝修以後再搬到那裡去。

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「按國籍說，他是英國人。」歷史系系主任向一位同事介紹我說。「但你告訴他你在哪裡長大。」他對我說。

「香港。」

到現在為止，我還是不知道應該介紹自己是英國華僑，還是香港人。譬如說宿舍的管理員叫我填寫我在英國的地址。我對他說我在英國沒有地址，要填的話，就只好填我父母在香港的地址。他有點一臉茫然。因為我是以英國護照，而非回鄉證入境的，正式來說，他們待我一如其他老外一樣。當然，實際上，他們當我是海外華僑，香港人，或者兩者皆是。

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用外國護照在中國銀行開户口，費時得很。但若你不會說普通話的話，就肯定更加糟糕。

當我在等待開户時，有一對美國夫婦到相鄰的櫃台辦同樣的事情。自然地，他們說英語。經過一段短的「對話」，我發現那個櫃員是完全聽不明白他們說什麼。由於自己在德國和西班牙有著相似的經歷，我明白到連用簡單的英語來溝通都不行時，是多麼的煩惱。所以我毛遂自薦的充當了傳譯，但你知道，我的普通話不怎麼靈光的啊！　

那個男人告訴我，他們是來杭州當教師的。我沒有問他是到大學，還是高中教。無論如何，能夠引進以英語為母語的教師到大陸來，是一個好現象。我希望有一天大陸沿海的同胞可以追上我們香港人的英語水平。　

另有一次，一個白人跟我上了同一輛公車。他用很簡單的普通話去問司機和其他的乘客，他手上的紙條上寫的地方應該怎麼樣去。啊！原來是中國銀行。由於自己也是外地人，不熟悉杭州的地理，我就沒辦法幫忙。然而，這男子也似乎懂得一些漢語，和知道大約在那兒下車，但他仍是有點兒緊張。我想，這些外國人也真勇敢，無論他們是歐洲人，北美洲人，還是非洲人。由於中文不是用字母的，如果他們之前未有學過中文的話，真是很難猜到這個那個字的意思是什麼。與在歐洲旅遊不同，在那裡，即使你不會說那地方的話，你也可以猜到什麼是“aeroport” ，什麼是“polizei”。

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Observations in Hangzhou (1)

29^th August, 2003.

Arrival at Hangzhou

“This student comes from Britain, but actually he is a Hong Kong person.”

Thanks be to God! Eventually I have arrived safely at Hangzhou. A friend studying in Zhejiang University who was introduced to me by a Chinese friend in Germany picked me up at the airport. Without him, there would be much more troubles.

As I entered mainland China as a British citizen, naturally I had to wait in the longest queue in the immigration control. After taken a coach to Wulinmen – the city centre of Hangzhou, we took a taxi to the International College in the Yuquan campus to register. As the accommodation there was full, I have to stay temporarily in the old International student hostel outside Yuquan campus. Once they have finished furbishing the newly built International student hostel in Xixi campus, I will move there.

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“Regarding to his nationality, he is British,” the Head of Department of History introduced me to one of his colleagues. “But, let you tell him where did you grow up,” he told me.

“Hong Kong.”

Up to now, I am still confused whether should I introduce myself to others as a British Chinese or a Hong Kong Chinese. Say, the porter of my hostel asked me to write down my address in Britain. Then I told him that I don’t have an address in Britain anymore. The only address that I have would be the one of my parents in Hong Kong. He looked a bit confused. As I came here with my British passport, rather than the “travel document for fellow Hong Kong Chinese to visit their homeland”, they officially treated me as any other foreigners. Of course, in reality, they regarded me as an overseas Chinese or Hong Kong Chinese or both.

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Opening an account in Bank of China with a foreign passport may take you ages. But it will be even worse, if you don’t speak the language.

When I was waiting for my account to be opened, an American couple went to the next counter to do the very same thing. Naturally they spoke in English. After a short “dialogue”, it seems to me that the teller behind the counter did not understand at all what they spoke. With similar experiences in Germany and Spain, I understand how annoyed it was when you could not communicate even in simple English. So, I offered my help as an interpreter – you know, my mandarin Chinese is not that fluent!

The guy told me that they came to Hangzhou to work as teachers. I did not ask whether they are going to teach English in a university or in a high school. Nonetheless, the introduction of native English speakers as English teachers in mainland China is really a good sign. I hope one day the English proficiency of coastal mainland Chinese can catch up with that of us in Hong Kong.

In another occasion, a Caucasian got on the same bus as I did. He used very simple Chinese to ask the driver and other passengers how to get to the place written on his small piece of paper. Ah! The Bank of China. As I am also a foreigner and don’t know much about the geography of Hangzhou, I can’t really offer my help. Nonetheless, it seems that guy can understand some Chinese and know more-or-less where to get off, although he still looked a bit worried. I think that those foreigners are really brave, be they Europeans, North Americans or even Africans. As Chinese language does not consist of alphabets, it is really hard for them to work out what this and that characters stand for, if they have not learnt Chinese before. Unlike travelling in Europe, even if you do not speak the native language, you can still work out what is “aeroport” and what is “polizei”.

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