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紐約時報文章:忠誠的中國青年.
我們看看西方人是怎麼評論中國年輕人,怎麼評論中國年輕人這次的怒吼的.
China¹s Loyal Youth
忠誠的中國青年
本文由 lanchang 在 2008-4-16 13:23 發表於: 倍可親.美國 ( backchina.com )
Source: NYT (4/13/08):
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/opinion/13forney.html
Op-Ed: China¹s Loyal Youth
By MATTHEW FORNEY
MANY sympathetic Westerners view Chinese society along the lines of what
they saw in the waning days of the Soviet Union: a repressive government
backed by old hard-liners losing its grip to a new generation of
well-educated, liberal-leaning sophisticates. As pleasant as this outlook
may be, it¹s naïve. Educated young Chinese, far from being embarrassed or
upset by their government¹s human-rights record, rank among the most
patriotic, establishment-supporting people you¹ll meet.
在很多有同情心的西方人看來,中國就如同進入衰落期的蘇聯:老一輩強硬派支持的高壓政策逐漸失去控制,受到良好教育,有自由傾向的現代派即將掌握權力.這種展望天真幼稚.受過教育的中國年輕人不僅不對政府的人權記錄感到不安或煩惱,反而是你能遇見的最愛國,最支持政府的人群之一.
As is clear to anyone who lives here, most young ethnic Chinese strongly
support their government¹s suppression of the recent Tibetan uprising. One
Chinese friend who has a degree from a European university described the
conflict to me as ³a clash between the commercial world and an old
aboriginal society.² She even praised her government for treating Tibetans
better than New World settlers treated Native Americans.
多數中國年輕人堅決支持政府鎮壓西藏動亂,對此,在這裡生活的人都很清楚.一位有歐洲大學學歷的中國朋友對我說,這場院衝突是"商業世界和古老土著社會之間的衝突."
It¹s a rare person in China who considers the desires of the Tibetans
themselves. ³Young Chinese have no sympathy for Tibet,² a Beijing
human-rights lawyer named Teng Biao told me. Mr. Teng ‹ a Han Chinese who
has offered to defend Tibetan monks caught up in police dragnets ‹ feels
very alone these days. Most people in their 20s, he says, ³believe the Dalai
Lama is trying to split China.²
北京的一位人權律師告訴我,20多歲的人大都"認為達賴喇嘛試圖分裂中國""
Educated young people are usually the best positioned in society to bridge
cultures, so it¹s important to examine the thinking of those in China. The
most striking thing is that, almost without exception, they feel rightfully
proud of their country¹s accomplishments in the three decades since economic
reforms began. And their pride and patriotism often find expression in an
unquestioning support of their government, especially regarding Tibet.
受過教育的年輕人通常是社會中最有條件在不同文化之間搭建橋樑的人,因此考察他們的思想很重要.最令人驚異的是,他們幾乎無例外對中國30年來改革開放取得的成就理直氣壯地感到驕傲.他們的愛國心和自豪感常常表現為絕對支持政府,在西藏問題上尤其如此.
The most obvious explanation for this is the education system, which can
accurately be described as indoctrination. Textbooks dwell on China¹s
humiliations at the hands of foreign powers in the 19th century as if they
took place yesterday, yet skim over the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and
¹70s as if it were ancient history. Students learn the neat calculation that
Chairman Mao¹s tyranny was ³30 percent wrong,² then the subject is declared
closed. The uprising in Tibet in the late 1950s, and the invasion that
quashed it, are discussed just long enough to lay blame on the ³Dalai
clique,² a pejorative reference to the circle of advisers around Tibet¹s
spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama.
Then there¹s life experience ‹ or the lack of it ‹ that might otherwise help
young Chinese to gain a perspective outside the government¹s viewpoint.
Young urban Chinese study hard and that¹s pretty much it. Volunteer work,
sports, church groups, debate teams, musical skills and other
extracurricular activities don¹t factor into college admission, so few
participate. And the government¹s control of society means there aren¹t many
non-state-run groups to join anyway. Even the most basic American
introduction to real life ‹ the summer job ‹ rarely exists for urban
students in China.
Recent Chinese college graduates are an optimistic group. And why not? The
economy has grown at a double-digit rate for as long as they can remember.
Those who speak English are guaranteed good jobs. Their families own homes.
They¹ll soon own one themselves, and probably a car too. A cellphone, an
iPod, holidays ‹ no problem. Small wonder the Pew Research Center in
Washington described the Chinese in 2005 as ³world leaders in optimism.²
近幾年畢業的中國大學生是樂觀的一群.為什麼不呢?在他們的記憶里,中國經濟一直保持兩位數增長.會講英語的人保證能找到好工作.他們的家庭有住房.他們很快也會有自己的房子,甚至汽車.手機,IPod,度假,這些更不用說了.難怪華盛頓皮尤研究中心2005年把中國描述成"全世界最樂觀的人之一."
As for political repression, few young Chinese experience it. Most are too
young to remember the Tiananmen massacre of 1989 and probably nobody has
told them stories. China doesn¹t feel like a police state, and the people
young Chinese read about who do suffer injustices tend to be poor ‹ those
who lost homes to government-linked property developers without fair
compensation or whose crops failed when state-supported factories polluted
their fields.
Educated young Chinese are therefore the biggest beneficiaries of policies
that have brought China more peace and prosperity than at any time in the
past thousand years. They can¹t imagine why Tibetans would turn up their
noses at rising incomes and the promise of a more prosperous future. The
loss of a homeland just doesn¹t compute as a valid concern.
受過教育的中國年輕人是中國現行政策的最大受益者----這些政策給中國帶來的和平與繁榮幾千年來前所未有.他們無法想像藏人為什麼對不斷增加的收入和更繁榮的未來嗤之以鼻.
Of course, the nationalism of young Chinese may soften over time. As college
graduates enter the work force and experience their country¹s corruption and
inefficiency, they often grow more critical. It is received wisdom in China
that people in their 40s are the most willing to challenge their government,
and the Tibet crisis bears out that observation. Of the 29 ethnic-Chinese
intellectuals who last month signed a widely publicized petition urging the
government to show restraint in the crackdown, not one was under 30.
Barring major changes in China¹s education system or economy, Westerners are
not going to find allies among the vast majority of Chinese on key issues
like Tibet, Darfur and the environment for some time. If the debate over
Tibet turns this summer¹s contests in Beijing into the Human Rights Games,
as seems inevitable, Western ticket-holders expecting to find Chinese angry
at their government will instead find Chinese angry at them.
除非中國的教育制度或經濟出現重大變化,否則在一段時間內,西方人在絕大多數中國人里找不到西藏,達爾富爾和環境問題的盟友.如果有關西藏的爭論把今年夏天的奧運會變成人權運動會,以為中國人會對政府發怒的西方人最後會發現,中國人發怒的對象是他們.
Matthew Forney, a former Beijing bureau chief for Time, is writing a book
about raising his family in China.
[ 本帖最後由 天翼大家 於 2008-4-16 17:51 編輯 ] |
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