38. Miss Chinatown contest 华埠小姐选美 1980

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One day Barbara asked me if I objected if she competed in the miss China town contest in London. Some people at the Burger King where she worked had suggested that to her. The first price was a fully organized trip to Hong Kong, she liked that. The winner had attend to some official meetings but there would be enough time for a holiday in Hong Kong (obviously I was not invited if she should win, she would take her mother with her). She had been asking around if she should do it and most people told her to go for it. I didn't mind. For me it was one of those Chinese things in which Barbara preferred it if I got not involved. Barbara tried to avoid me getting in contact with her Chinese life. I guess she did this to avoid the discriminating comments and also that her mother wouldn't be asked awkward questions about her daughters relation. I didn't mind not being involved as everybody would talk Chinese anyway, which was very boring for me. Sometimes some Chinese would be polite and speak English, but they nearly always end up speaking Chinese. This is not strange as I always talk Dutch to the students from the Netherlands.

Another reason why Barbara didn't want me to get in contact with the Chinese in London was that she was afraid that her mother would find out that I stayed so much time with her in London. Barbara had never told her mother that I came to see her during the week. She was to afraid that her mother would stop paying the rent and that she had to go back to Histon and commute to London. This fear of being caught by her mother gave twice a very strange situation.

The first one was on a Monday evening. I was in Barbara's room and suddenly Barbara's mother and uncle knocked on the door of her room. Someone had let them in the house. Normally Barbara would arrange to see her mother in China town, she seldom let her mother visit her in her room. There was no way out for me. Barbara didn't answer the knocking on the door and we kept as quiet as we could. Meanwhile we were trying to find a hiding place for me in that room. This was impossible of course. We tried the cupboard and behind the curtains, jumping out through the window was impossible, it was a long way down. Luckily Barbara's neighbor, a sweet German girl, who knew about our situation, came to the rescue. She told Barbara's mother that Barbara had just left. I don't think her mother believed her, but as Barbara didn't open the door, she had no choice. She gave the meal she had brought with her to the neighbor and finally left. It was a close escape. We gave the meal to the German girl being thankfull for saving us.

The second time was when came home late after being out. As we walked to Barbara's house I saw a man sitting on the stairway before the house. I thought it was her uncle waiting for Barbara. Near the house there was a group of guys sitting on a park bench. Without further thinking I went to sit next to them and acted as I knew them. Barbara was not only surprised by this strange action; she thought I had gone mad. After she convinced me that is was not her uncle, and the guys told me that it was one of their mates sitting on the stairway, I dared to go further. I wonder what those young men must have thought of this situation.

Back to the beauty contest. Barbara applied and she got invited for an interview. She was very excited about that, especially when she heard that the jury elected her for the final. The final was held in luxurious nightclub at Leicester square in London (I remember that Grace Jones had the evening show there in the weekends). Every Friday, late in the afternoon Barbara had to go there to practice. She learning how walk, how to smile, how to talk in a microphone, she learned the routine of changing clothes, paying attention to the lighting and how to behave on stage. I would be waiting for her outside the artist entrance. She never let me in.

I didn't see the show, she didn't want me to be there. I can't remember if her mother was there. It was on a Friday night. I suppose she was.

I came to London the next day. She told me that she became second, which she thought was very unfair. Especially as the girl who had won couldn't speak Chinese. She complained about it "how can someone attend formal meetings in Hong Kong if they can't speak Chinese".

That afternoon she had to go for photo shoot with the winner. The pictures taken came in nearly all the national newspapers. I still remember it. Barbara and the girl who won in traditional Chinese costumes asking a typical London policeman the way.

I don't really know what this publicity did with Barbara as a person and if it changed her ambitions. She never talked about it; neither did she keep the newspaper cuttings so far as I know. She didn't enter more beauty contests or pursuit a career as a model. Maybe it was because I didn't encourage it, I was indifferent in this. For me it wasn't important if Barbara was a beauty queen or not.

I looked all over internet to find pictures of this contest. I even went to the British library to look into the newspapers of that period. But I found nothing, and I am sure there must have been hunderds of pictures taken. I hope that one day someone who has some pictures of that beauty contest, will read this story and then publish some pictures.

Last january (2011) I went back to Belsize park nr 37 for the first time since 1983. I was pleas-antly surprised to see that the bench described in this story is still there. Looking at the garbage it is still in use as a place to hang around. The first house at the back (with the lights on) is the house where Barbara used to live.

2011年1月我自1983后首次回到Belsize公园。 我惊喜地发现本故事里提到的长椅还在原处。在停车场后面的左边，人们还会在这里闲坐。 后面一排房子的第一座（开着灯的）就是Barbara原来的家。

华埠小姐选美

一天Barbara问我我会不会反对她参加伦敦华埠小姐选美。 她打工的汉堡王店里的同事提议她去参加。第一名的奖品是一次香港旅游的机会，她很喜欢这个奖品。尽管冠军需要参加一些正式的会议，但应该有足够的时间在香港度个假（我明显是不会被邀请的，她会带她母亲去的。）她问了周围很多人是不是要参加这个比赛，大多数人鼓励她去。我也不介意她参加。对我而言，这件事情是Barbara更希望我置身事外的一些中国人的活动之一。Barbara尽量避免让我接触她的中国部分的生活。我猜她是为了避免听到那些歧视性的评论，另外她的母亲也会被人问到关于女儿男朋友的难堪的问题。我并不介意不参与这些事，因为他们每个人总是讲中文的，我也会感到非常无聊的。有时候一些人出于礼貌会讲英文，但是几乎每次都会转到讲中文的。这不奇怪，我和认识的荷兰学生在一起，也总是讲荷兰语的。

另外一个Barbara不希望我接触伦敦中国人圈子的理由是她担心母亲会发现我很多时间在伦敦和Barbara在一起。Barbara从来没有告诉妈妈我每周到伦敦去看她。她担心妈妈会停付她的房租，那她就得搬回Histon，每天往返到伦敦。这种担心被抓的恐惧导致过两次怪事情：有一个周一晚上，我正在Barbara的房间里，突然她的母亲和舅舅来敲门。有人放他们进了公寓楼。通常Barbara安排在唐人街和母亲见面，很少让她到她的房间来的。那种情况下我是无处可逃了。Barbara没有应门，我们尽量保持安静。同时在房间里找我可以藏身的地方，当然这是没有可能的。我们试了柜子和窗帘背后。由于窗子很高，跳出去也是不可能的。幸运的是Barbara的邻居，一个可爱的德国女孩子，了解我们的情况，出来拯救了我们。她告诉妈妈Barbara刚刚出去。我觉得她母亲并没相信，但Barbara一直不开门，她也没其他的办法。她把带来的晚餐交给这个邻居终于离开了。这次真是差一点被捉住了。我们把那个晚餐送给了德国女孩作为感谢她救我们的礼物。

另外一次是我们出去回来晚了。我们正朝她家走去，我看见有个人坐在他们家门口的台阶上，我以为是Barbara的舅舅。 在房子前面的长椅上坐着几个人。我想也没想就一下子坐在他们边上，假装我认识他们。Barbara不仅仅是觉得奇怪，她以为我发疯了。直到她告诉我那不是她舅舅，边上的那几个人也告诉我坐在台阶上的是和他们一伙的，我才敢走。 我总想那几个年轻人会怎么看那种情况呢。

回到说选美的事情。Barbara申请参赛也应邀参加了面试。她很兴奋，尤其是当她听说评审团选她进入决赛。总决赛在雷塞斯特广场（Leicester square）的一个豪华夜总会举行（我记得Grace Jones在那里举办过周末表演）。每个周五下午Barbara都得去那里训练。她学习如何走路，微笑，用麦克风说话，学习了换服装流程，灯光位置以及舞台举止。我在艺人入口处外边等她。 她没让我进去过。我也没有看到决赛表演。她不希望我出现在那里。 我记得她的母亲出席了。比赛是在一个周五的晚上。

赛后第二天我来了伦敦。Barbara告诉我他得了第二名，她觉得很不公平。尤其是的冠军的女孩不会讲中文。她抱怨说如果不会讲中文，怎么能够出席香港的会议呢。

那个下午她被安排和冠军一起拍照。这些照片几乎在全部全国性的报纸上刊登了。我还记得有一张是Barbara和最佳中装着装奖的女孩向一个伦敦警察问路的照片。我不知道这次在媒体上露面对Barbara个人有多少影响，是否改变了她的梦想与追求。她几乎没有谈过这些事，我也没有见过她收藏剪报什么的。她也没有再去参加其他的选美比赛或是去做模特。也许是因为我没有鼓励她去做吧。在这方面我无所谓的。Barbara是不是成为选美皇后对我而言一点也不重要。

(Thanks to Natalie for the translation)