Book on Man 1

I was thinking of writing a book about Manchester. It is a novel about how non-british people learn to adapt their lives in this youthful city. The idea comes from two of my flatmates who are not very happy with their life here. They both had rather bad experiences with the locals, with which I mostly shared. I thought it would be a story about foreign students in Brtain. And now I assert my thought...The market will be basically students in Manchester. There are more than 40000 students in Uni of Man, not to mention if adding up the others. And i think a large bunch of them are from other countries.

But my plot probably will not suit the undergraduates. For postgrad the market will becomes much smaller. How about all the postgraduate in Britain? Yes...yes, that's right. It's going to be a scholarly boy's story. Or girl's? Anyway, here are several scenes i should include:

1. A intellectual yet playful discussion on everyday life philosophy. It starts in the kichen where the flatmates are cooking. Then someone initiates a moan or something upsetting. Another reacts, and people join in. What will be the issue? Hmmmm let see. Solitude? (i must refer to the chinese philosopher Yun Hoi Guang and qoute his 人生的意義) How about first starts with something lighter - brisitsh culture? Yea...from british culture to solitude. Right, and the weather, the gloomy weather. How different people perceive weather. And the imprisoning-nature of rains. And don't forget food and diet. Make a good comparison between chinese and britons. How they have lunch, breafast, dinner differently. Also the comparison btw round table and square ones. How does the table affect the social relationship. Bring in the crucial concept 'grin xi' (關係) and make a few ironies...

2. A night scene where the protagonist doubts his existence, especially when he is frustrated by his work, having no one to talk to, and speaking different languages with the flatmates just live one room next to him. More, his home is at the middle of night. His connection with his home is totally cut off. Yes, his love ones - his mother, father, brother, good friends, and.... And he goes on to meditate on the english word 'missing'. Yea, English is new to him. He has completely different view on the term.

3. A walk in the city centre. Crowd - jostling, yelling, staring, performing, giggling, begging, blocking, mutting unrecognizable words - depict the happy side and the aggressive side at the same time. Contrast the passer-by and the old woman begging with her dog who will soon starves to death. And the beggers who sell magazine but no one replies. Check out the friendly smiles on people, see if they are disguising something or tending for something else. Note the ethnicities - which colour doing which kind of jobs; which colour walking in which kind of district. Yes...and cite the crime rate in Man - suprisingly, perhaps, Whites commits more crime than Blacks, or those committed by Blacks were not discovered or intentionally covered up by the papars.

4. Sketches in the buses. How people dispose their finished apples and newspaper, how drunken men have not cleaned their body for months and stink the whole deck, how women gone crazy and staring at people, as if cursing them. And the different 'classes' of buses. See how the buses divide rich and poor people. Then move on to the dirty streets, with millions of chewing gum
engraved on the pedestrians.

5. Rubbish everywhere - but suddently i realize the place i have been talking about is mainly for students. I cannot over generalize things. I better do more research on other district and make comparison. Right, there's a middle east and indian district nearby, is that relevant to dirtiness? Not really. Let see...

Don't know why I post

Going to spend another 3 years in Manchester, so I decide to open a blog for this city. God knows why, but I hope me as well as the reader will have a better grasp of UK through a less typical metropolitan city. I think this is an more interesting way - if not the only way - to understand a country.

Hope this will not be my last post.

And, I love you dear.