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Chinese Whispers: The True Story Behind Britain's Hidden Army of Labour
You know the people in this book. You'll remember the harassed waitress from your local Chinese restaurant. You've noticed those builders across the street working funny hours and without helmets. You've eaten the lettuce they picked, or bought the microwave they assembled. The words 'cockle-pickers', 'Morecambe Bay', 'Chinese illegals found dead in lorry' will ring a bell. But did you know that there are hundreds of thousands of undocumented Chinese immigrants in Britain? They've travelled here because of desperate poverty, and must keep their heads down and work themselves to the bone. Hsiao-Hung Pai, the only journalist who knows this community, went undercover to hear the stories of this hidden work force. She reveals a scary, shadowy world where human beings are exploited in ways unimaginable in our civilized twenty-first century. "Chinese Whispers" exposes the truth behind the lives of a hidden work force here in Britain. You owe it to yourself, and them, to read it.
- GenresNonfictionChinaAsia
288 pages, Paperback
First published April 1, 2008
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267 people want to read
About the author
Hsiao-Hung Pai
10 books29 followersHsiao-Hung Pai is a journalist and author of Chinese Whispers: The True Story Behind Britain’s Hidden Army of Labour (2008), shortlisted for the Orwell Book Prize 2009; Scattered Sand: The Story of China’s Rural Migrants, (2012), winner of the Bread and Roses Award 2013, Invisible (2013), Angry White People (2016), Bordered Lives (2018) and Ciao Ousmane (2021). She has written for the Guardian and many Chinese publications worldwide.
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
January 12, 2019
Illuminating book by one of the Guardian's best undercover journalists. Pai goes incognito as an illegal undocumented Chinese immigrant to get an understanding of the lives of the estimated 200,000 illegal Chinese workers in the UK. A typical story of exploitation by people smugglers, employers, employment agencies, gangmasters, landlords and a whole host of other intermediaries emerges to form a sordid picture. Working under abysmal conditions, for little pay and living in below poverty line environs, the health and mentality of these workers is severely tested. That this occurred during the 2000s which was seen as a boom-time for the British economy and what should have been a period of prosperity speaks volumes, as to the lop-sided nature of growth. The official policies of the British govt helps little, except to penalise these workers when caught and to drive the whole industry further underground; the Chinese response is also punitive with returned illegals facing fines and prison time, their own government being embarassed by the phenomenon of exporting cheap labour, seeks to minimise and deny the scale of the problem, rather than address the needs of the workers.
A grim situation which shows little sign of changing since the 10 years since Pai's book was published. The only difference is the hostility to which EU migrants are subjected in a Brexit world, was foreshadowed by the treatment of Chinese workers covered in this book. The unwillingness to understand the motivations and factors which drive people to migrate, to protect workers rather than jobs, and a recourse to a xenophobic nationalism rather than social and human solidarity explain why we are where we are today.
A grim situation which shows little sign of changing since the 10 years since Pai's book was published. The only difference is the hostility to which EU migrants are subjected in a Brexit world, was foreshadowed by the treatment of Chinese workers covered in this book. The unwillingness to understand the motivations and factors which drive people to migrate, to protect workers rather than jobs, and a recourse to a xenophobic nationalism rather than social and human solidarity explain why we are where we are today.
March 17, 2014
The book: Chinese Whispers: The True Story Behind Britain's Hidden Army of Labour
The author: Hsiao-Hung Pai, investigative journalist and writer; she is originally from Taiwan, but came to the UK to study in 1991.
The subject: The exploitation of Chinese migrant workers in Britain revealed by an undercover journalist who works alongside them and exposes the injustice of their treatment.
Why I chose it: I watched Pai's documentary Sex: My British Job and greatly admired her hands-on approach to investigative journalism (she went undercover, working as a cleaner in a brothel while filming using glasses with a camera inside them, to show what goes on behind closed doors), so picked this up when I saw it in the library. Also, as I mentioned in my review of "We Need New Names", I want to learn more about the immigrant experience.
The rating: Five out of five stars
What I thought of it: If you thought cheap labour was something that Britain only exploited abroad, think again. This book shows the extent of the cheap labour market in, focusing on undocumented Chinese immigrants as Pai is Taiwanese and could far more easily integrate into that community. Yes, she actually works alongside these people in order to learn their stories. I so admire her dedication to exposing their struggles.
The book itself is easy to read in the sense that it's well-written, as the content certainly isn't. You feel as if you are there, experiencing these injustices, which is a testament to Pai's writing and journalistic methods. She also manages to connect these lived experiences to policies and the wider picture. I don't know how many politicians and businesspeople are familiar with her work, but it surely isn't enough.
A quick aside: when people say "these people do the menial jobs that British people won't", they really ought to be saying "these people can be easily exploited to do menial jobs with ridiculous hours for far less money than they are due, which British people rightly wouldn't accept because there are laws in place to prevent that sort of thing happening to citizens". There are so many systems in place enabling businesses to profit at the expense of people who are just looking for a better life. This book was published in 2008, but I doubt much has changed in the five years since.
This is a book everyone in the UK should read, especially people who feel that immigrants are bad people who are willfully stealing jobs and making Britain a worse place to be. The only problem is that you'll come out of it with a sense of despair, because there's not much us ordinary people can do to help. Even adjusting your shopping habits is difficult when the market is dominated with the products of cheap labour. We can still call on policymakers to change things though.
Just one more thing: Sex: My British Job has been taken down from 4OD, and I'm not sure international folk can watch 4OD anyway, so here is a reupload of it on Vimeo. Let's hope it stays up!
The author: Hsiao-Hung Pai, investigative journalist and writer; she is originally from Taiwan, but came to the UK to study in 1991.
The subject: The exploitation of Chinese migrant workers in Britain revealed by an undercover journalist who works alongside them and exposes the injustice of their treatment.
Why I chose it: I watched Pai's documentary Sex: My British Job and greatly admired her hands-on approach to investigative journalism (she went undercover, working as a cleaner in a brothel while filming using glasses with a camera inside them, to show what goes on behind closed doors), so picked this up when I saw it in the library. Also, as I mentioned in my review of "We Need New Names", I want to learn more about the immigrant experience.
The rating: Five out of five stars
What I thought of it: If you thought cheap labour was something that Britain only exploited abroad, think again. This book shows the extent of the cheap labour market in, focusing on undocumented Chinese immigrants as Pai is Taiwanese and could far more easily integrate into that community. Yes, she actually works alongside these people in order to learn their stories. I so admire her dedication to exposing their struggles.
The book itself is easy to read in the sense that it's well-written, as the content certainly isn't. You feel as if you are there, experiencing these injustices, which is a testament to Pai's writing and journalistic methods. She also manages to connect these lived experiences to policies and the wider picture. I don't know how many politicians and businesspeople are familiar with her work, but it surely isn't enough.
A quick aside: when people say "these people do the menial jobs that British people won't", they really ought to be saying "these people can be easily exploited to do menial jobs with ridiculous hours for far less money than they are due, which British people rightly wouldn't accept because there are laws in place to prevent that sort of thing happening to citizens". There are so many systems in place enabling businesses to profit at the expense of people who are just looking for a better life. This book was published in 2008, but I doubt much has changed in the five years since.
This is a book everyone in the UK should read, especially people who feel that immigrants are bad people who are willfully stealing jobs and making Britain a worse place to be. The only problem is that you'll come out of it with a sense of despair, because there's not much us ordinary people can do to help. Even adjusting your shopping habits is difficult when the market is dominated with the products of cheap labour. We can still call on policymakers to change things though.
Just one more thing: Sex: My British Job has been taken down from 4OD, and I'm not sure international folk can watch 4OD anyway, so here is a reupload of it on Vimeo. Let's hope it stays up!
February 19, 2012
I came across this book while I was looking for books on Chinatown at work. I started reading the first few pages and got sucked it. It is a journalistic account of the lives of different illegal immigrants in England. Each chapter tells a different story about someone working in a different industry, farms, factories, Chinese restaurants, brothels, selling illegal dvds. It was written in 2007 and it's just appaling to read and know that this is going on. People seem to be aware of the terrible wages and conditions of people working in China but I don't think many people realise that it's going on here too. People paying tens of thousands of pounds to get here, then working 12 hour shifts 6 days a week and making £130 a week, living in tiny accomadation (which they have to pay 24-40 a week) and barely having enough food. I'm afraid I just can't accept the excuse that "well their here illegaly so they shouldn't be treated well" argument. These are humans trying to suport their families. They are working for companies that we use, all the major grocery stores were mentioned. It made me never want to eat in Chinatown again having read how they treat their employees. There was a brothel mentioned in Archway and I wondered if it was that "Thai massage" place down the road from us. It was such an eyeopening book.
I remember a few years ago watching the amazing film about the cocklers at Morecambe Bay. Called Ghosts http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ghosts-DVD-Ai... this book was like that but more so. I want to know what's changed in the past 5 years. I checked amazon and saw that the author has a new book out this summer about Chinese migrant labour, both in China and abroad. Which I will definitely have to read.
Everyone should read this book.
I remember a few years ago watching the amazing film about the cocklers at Morecambe Bay. Called Ghosts http://www.amazon.co.uk/Ghosts-DVD-Ai... this book was like that but more so. I want to know what's changed in the past 5 years. I checked amazon and saw that the author has a new book out this summer about Chinese migrant labour, both in China and abroad. Which I will definitely have to read.
Everyone should read this book.
August 3, 2024
Hsiao-Hung Pai came to the UK from Taiwan and begins with a short account of her experience as a newcomer in Britain. Working as a waitress serving cream teas in Devon after completing a Masters degree at Cardiff, dressed in Victorian frills, she found herself conspicuous, 'being the only Chinese looking housemaid in the teashop'. Whispers about her accent and speed of taking orders. Dismissal, 'This teashop needs fast native speakers.' Casual but hinting at something more...
She moves to a description of hearing about 58 Chinese illegal migrants suffocated to death amidst crates of tomatoes in the back of a lorry. The Home Secretary, Jack Straw, used it as a 'warning' of the dangers of people smugglers. 23 Chinese Cockle-pickers drowning on the beach. Flashes in the pan of day to day drudgery and exploitation of an 'illegal' underclass, not entitled to protections.
Pai's argument is that we all benefit from this economy, a bite to eat at a Restaurant in Chinatown after a night in the West End, a bag of mixed leaves at a supermarket, a bunch of cheap. flowers, the door of a microwave. A hidden, forgotten, economy.
Sexual exploitation, women who cannot report the crimes because of their 'illegal' status; desperate to send money home to China for their young children. The racism merges into this too: 'One Chinese girl was driven by a ‘respectable looking man’ to the beach, made to strip to a pair of black stockings and walk up and down in the cold for an hour, ‘nothing but a piece of oriental flesh to him’, when he finally felt satisfied he drove her back to his house.’ Another woman: 'Looked tiny and thin. In the dim orange light, she displayed herself like an ornament, with a tired smile under her high cheekbones. I was so overwhelmed by the emptiness of her watery eyes that I forgot what to say to the customer.' Pai was infiltrating this world for much of the book.
This bubbles under the surface of the contemporary economy. One of the biggest sources of anger in British politics at the moment, seems to be around this idea of 'illegals' - but the ones being used are the undocumented migrants and those British going into 'parlours' or enjoying fruits of exploited labour appear to be the same who are so angry at those stumbling onto the beaches.
She moves to a description of hearing about 58 Chinese illegal migrants suffocated to death amidst crates of tomatoes in the back of a lorry. The Home Secretary, Jack Straw, used it as a 'warning' of the dangers of people smugglers. 23 Chinese Cockle-pickers drowning on the beach. Flashes in the pan of day to day drudgery and exploitation of an 'illegal' underclass, not entitled to protections.
Pai's argument is that we all benefit from this economy, a bite to eat at a Restaurant in Chinatown after a night in the West End, a bag of mixed leaves at a supermarket, a bunch of cheap. flowers, the door of a microwave. A hidden, forgotten, economy.
Sexual exploitation, women who cannot report the crimes because of their 'illegal' status; desperate to send money home to China for their young children. The racism merges into this too: 'One Chinese girl was driven by a ‘respectable looking man’ to the beach, made to strip to a pair of black stockings and walk up and down in the cold for an hour, ‘nothing but a piece of oriental flesh to him’, when he finally felt satisfied he drove her back to his house.’ Another woman: 'Looked tiny and thin. In the dim orange light, she displayed herself like an ornament, with a tired smile under her high cheekbones. I was so overwhelmed by the emptiness of her watery eyes that I forgot what to say to the customer.' Pai was infiltrating this world for much of the book.
This bubbles under the surface of the contemporary economy. One of the biggest sources of anger in British politics at the moment, seems to be around this idea of 'illegals' - but the ones being used are the undocumented migrants and those British going into 'parlours' or enjoying fruits of exploited labour appear to be the same who are so angry at those stumbling onto the beaches.
September 5, 2019
This is about illegal Chinese immigrants and their lives in the UK. They are generally employed in low-level jobs in catering, in factories, and in agriculture, and are paid below the minimum wage. The author posed as one of these immigrants to research this book, so she worked in Chinese restaurants, in factories, and so on. Some of these stories are tremendously sad. People abandon their families and country to travel to the other side of the world in a crazy and demented wild-goose chase, where they don't know the language, where they are mistreated. They have to pay the smugglers what to them is a colossal sum of money, which they have to pay off by slogging away at their jobs for years. This action, in my opinion, is the stupidest thing a human being can do – and it is modernity that enables something like this to happen.
August 4, 2015
It was in October last year that I read this book. Now I look back after almost a year, the hidden world revealed in this book seems so distant, just as invisible as the people described within. They might shortly stop by your side in Loon Fung supermarket of Chinatown, or sit right opposite to you on the underground. However, to be honest, I can barely feel their existence right now.
Power from individual is usually weak, will the collectives be better? It reminds me of the empathy library project. It sounds impossible, but how to let you feel as close as possible to what the other mind feels, by creating experiences at carefully chose spaces, building up speculative prototypes or any other forms?
Power from individual is usually weak, will the collectives be better? It reminds me of the empathy library project. It sounds impossible, but how to let you feel as close as possible to what the other mind feels, by creating experiences at carefully chose spaces, building up speculative prototypes or any other forms?
July 8, 2010
I read this because i was shocked by the lack of reaction to the death of 25 Chinese cockle pickers in Morecambe four years, it seemed to pass with barely a shrug, can you imagine if it had been British citizens abroad. This book does a great job in highlighting the degradation and exploitation of undocumented Chinese workers in Britain, and why it is convenient for this to continue as a source of cheap and exploitable labour and thus increased profits. It'll make you angry.
March 21, 2011
This book is essential reading for everyone living in Britain--you have to know what is going on.
Whilst a lot of the information is known, put together in this book related to the individuals who were victims it gives real insight into slavery in our country. Reading this book and thinking about the individual stories I wanted to shout at everyone to read this be aware and do something about it.
Well researched and stories told by courageous people.
Whilst a lot of the information is known, put together in this book related to the individuals who were victims it gives real insight into slavery in our country. Reading this book and thinking about the individual stories I wanted to shout at everyone to read this be aware and do something about it.
Well researched and stories told by courageous people.
October 4, 2011
The inside story of the army of illegal workers who labour in secret in the UK: picking leeks, picking cockles, selling dodgy DVDs. Moving, eye opening, shocking.
June 6, 2013
Kind of taken the shine off Chinatown. People caught in the middle: we use their cheap labour yet they have no rights here. It's wrong.
June 13, 2014
A haunting evocative piece of investigative journalism. A story that must be read.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews