Chinese Whispers: The True Story Behind Britain's Hidden Army of Labour

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Binding: Paperback EAN: 9780141035680 ISBN: 0141035684 Label: Penguin Number Of Pages: 288 Publication Date: 2008-04-23 Publisher: Penguin Studio: Penguin
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Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Read this book! Comment: An eye-opener. What kind of country do we live in- a shiny one of shopkeeps and suits and bureaucrats- a capitalist success that somehow runs without much in the way of labour? Or a country whose very bedrock is exploitation, that we all take advantage of? I had previously thought that such exploitation was confined to western companies- our Nestles and Mars bars etc- going abroad for cheap slave labour- which is of course an abomination. Before reading this book I hadn't given a thought to the exploitative work that goes on just out of eyesight- in kitchens and industrial estates we drive past to get to our office jobs. It seems staggering after reading this- did I ever really believe that our food/clothes/electronics/*everything* just came from nowhere? I can't help but look at the country and New Labour differently- and I also can't help but feel that if there was a God, we'd have been Great Flooded by now. Fantastically effective. I'd recommend to anyone, this isn't a preaching to the choir book for Marxists. It's for everyone- should be required reading in school! All you wanting legitimate reasons to hate New Labour- right here (not that the Tories or the Libs are at all different)! Customer Rating: Summary: Broadens your horizons Comment: "Chinese Whispers" broadens your horizons: not by whisking you off to some far flung place but by opening your eyes to Britain. It exposes the terror our society inflicts on those people who desperately turn to us for a better life. It tells a story of Britain through the eyes of "illegal" workers and Hsiao-Hung Pai, an ex-Guardian reporter. Hsiao-Hung, who has been classed as equal enough to live in Britain legally, has documented the lives of those immigrants we class as sub-human, sub-Britain and therefore "illegal". The resulting stories show the injustice, near slavery, extreme poverty and cruelty that would be classed as human rights violations worthy of war if they happened anywhere but Britain. Hsiao-Hung worked undercover in massage parlours, factories and on farms as an "illegal" worker. She recorded the exploitation and abuse that followed. An "illegal" who she lived with in Norfolk said: "The first few nights I was just crying in bed. Working like a machine, getting bullied by the agency people, the factory supervisors, coming home every day just to sleep and get ready for the next day's work... It's like being a robot. I ask myself, what will all this bring?" It sounds like the maltreatment of a time long gone in Europe or the experiences of a worker in a less "developed" country than today's left-wing Britain. In fact, this is the story of a man who's sought refuge in our rich, "civilised" country, paid a heavy penalty to get here, and works to support our economy suffering back-breaking pain and finally gets nothing from us Brits except exploitation. The book shows the life, dignity and resilience of the people who we classify using the dehumanising term: "illegal" and it forces us to remember that the "illegals" are illegal second and human first. It is a relief and a pleasure to read a book that refuses to bow to the majority rule that economic considerations take precedence. Instead the author treats humans as primary and economics as secondary. This way of working fosters a depth of feeling and understanding that news reporting aims to cut out of each of us. Customer Rating: Summary: The real story behind the headlines Comment: Hsiao Hung Pai's book is fantastic. Investigative work which accurately details working life for those living on the radar. A compulsive and important work. Read it! Customer Rating: Summary: I know these people! Comment: This book is something very special for me. I am a UK resident of Chinese origin. Those people and their stories in Pai's book reminded me of my friends from that 'status-less' part of the world in UK, my hairdressers, porters at Chinese grocery stores I've visited etc. They give their blood to this country's economy every day. They've been treated hostily in return. I've heard so many times that my local (UK) friends and colleagues complainting about these people wasting NHS money. Do you have any idea that out of the 170k to 200k Chinese illeagal immigrants probably less than 0.01% of them would ever dare to come into light and expose themselves in the NHS system in fear of deportation. (I know this for a fact because I work as a freelance interpreter in the public sector.) Majority of them are forced to be invisible. They work commonly around 12 hours a day and 6 to 7 days a week with no holiday pays. My friend Mrs Zou's husband was not even allowed to take a day off when she was delivering a baby. They actually have work permit but UK government's plicy about work permit means they are equally open to be exploited by their employer. (The reasons are explained very clearly in Pai's extrodinary book.) The common view about human rights in China has always been that when the American's talk about human rights they are using it against China but when the Europeans (especially the British) talk about human rights with China they mean it. But I am a bit disillusioned now. What I see here is that we have double standands. We only respect the basic human rights if the people in question have proper documents. Why does it take 5 or even 10 years to consider someone's asylum seeking case? Is the government conveniently slowing down the process to ensure Britain having a steady pool of cheap labour whose lives are cheaper than ours and whose rights can be ignored. The thought of this is frightening! If you have ever bought a pack of salad at supermarket then you owe these people to read this book. If you care about justice and lives of others you need to read this book. You will get angry about what you are about to discover and you might even want to do something. You definitely will from now on look at these odd and peasant-behaved people on the street in the shops with different eyes. A big thank you to the author Hsiao-Hung Pai. Customer Rating: Summary: Brilliant Comment: Well researched and deeply moving. I hope some change in government legislation can become of this. My hat goes off to the Hsiao-Hung Pai for not only the undercover work but the voice she has given these people who live beneath our noses and are in so much need. We are listening...

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