第八位中國商人同消失咗嘅海員 The Eighth Chinese Merchant and the Disappeared Seamen

利大英教授阿公虛構傳記
譜寫上世紀初中國海員流散英國嘅傳奇故事
粵英雙語對照版本

「中國商人」陳泉利喺1910年代初離開廣東，前往英國。佢喺英國經歷住1920、1930年代嘅反華種族主義，喺二次大戰期間，開咗間咖啡店兼賭館，當時嘅中國海員經常前去光顧。因着海員嘅愛國情緒，佢利用賭館為中國嘅抗日戰爭籌集資金。1945至1946年間，當時嘅英國工黨政府、內政部、特警、地方警察部隊同埋一間輪船公司聯合行動，強迫遣返所有喺英國嘅中國海員。呢次嘅反華行動一直被掩藏，五十年來未見天日。利大英根據佢阿公陳泉利既個人記憶，加上呢次遣返行動嘅政府資料，創作咗呢本自傳式嘅小說。喺小說入面，佢挑動讀者去思考，喺英國入面流散中國人長年遭忽視嘅歷史。

A biographical novella of Prof Gregory B. Lee’s grandfather
A dramatic story of Chinese seamen at the turn of the 20th century
Cantonese-English bilingual version

Chan Chin Lee, a ‘Chinese merchant’, left Canton in the early 1910s for the United Kingdom. Having traversed the anti-Chinese racism of 1920s and 1930s Britain, during World War Two he would open a café-cum-gambling house frequented by Chinese sailors. Counting on the seamen’s patriotism, he collected funds through the gambling house to support the anti-Japanese war effort back in China. In 1945–1946, a combined operation of the then Labour government, the Home Office, the police force and a shipping company sought to forcefully repatriate all Chinese seamen from the UK. This anti-Chinese action was concealed for over half a century. Based on personal memories of his grandfather Chan Chin Lee and relying on government documents relating to the repatriation, Gregory Lee raises provocative questions in this biographical novella about the long-neglected history of the diasporic Chinese in the UK.