A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary For Lovers

By coincidence, as I finish this book, author-director Guo Xiaolu has a new film out. She A Chinese follows Li Mei’s escape from rural poverty to the big city and finally to London’s multicultural East End. It compliments this charming book quite well.

A Concise Chinese-English Dictionary For Lovers is as good as its title. Although, that said, the title is anything but concise. Just as palindrome isnt a palindrome and abbreviation is anything but. The book follows 23 year old Zhuang, Z for short, as she moves from rural China to London to study English. She knows no one and knows little English. While there she learns about the differences between England and China, about East and West.

What charms, the broken English that slowly improves over the novel’s brief length, may frustrate some as they progress. The book shows the sexual liberalisation (as previously seen in Wei Hui’s novels) a chinese lady may encounter upon moving somewhere else. The man she falls in love with is anything but simple. A man who makes art but sees no beauty in the world. And who refuses to sell work. It is clear early on the two are heading in different directions. It made me think of how some relationships exist on a plane where both partners are trying to pull the other in a different direction. One that suits only them.

It is a good read for anyone who wants to know what it is like to be a foreigner in England, specifically someone who is Chinese. It is also good for anyone who has moved from east to west or even vice versa. As someone who has lived in Japan for a long time it’s been interesting to read about someone going the other way. The Japanese novels i’ve read have been too Japan specific. It’s nice to see Chinese literature branching out more. Even if this may cause said books to be banned at home.