美国梦在中国延续着
2019-10-15 20:24 作者:阿煌看什么 我要评论(0)
核心提示:中国人民现在对自己国家的自豪感让我感到震惊。 作为一个美国人,这种感觉对我来说很陌生——就像我在20世纪60年代人们谈论进入太空,或者在911事件之前谈论美国时,所体会到的那种感觉。坐在我父亲的车里,我有点嫉妒,然后开始怀念我小时候经历过的一些事情。
美国梦在中国延续着
The American Dream Is Alive In China
译文简介:去年3月,当我走出上海浦东国际机场时,感觉有些不一样。尽管我做好了面对不可避免的混乱的准备,但想象中的这种混乱没有发生。那一年我去过的城市有:上海、武汉和襄阳——都非常干净,车辆井然有序,甚至人们也更安静了。
译文来源原文地址:https://palladiummag.com/2019/10/11/the-american-dream-is-alive-in-china/
正文翻译原创翻译:龙腾网 http://www.ltaaa.com
翻译:阿煌看什么
As soon as I walked out of Shanghai’s Pudong International Airport last March, something felt different. But although I braced myself for the unavoidable chaos, it never came. The cities I visited that year—Shanghai, Wuhan, and Xiangyang—were unrecognizably clean. The cars were orderly. Even the people were quieter.
去年3月,当我走出上海浦东国际机场时,感觉有些不一样。尽管我做好了面对不可避免的混乱的准备,但想象中的这种混乱没有发生。那一年我去过的城市有:上海、武汉和襄阳——都非常干净,车辆井然有序,甚至人们也更安静了。
I go to China every year for a few weeks to visit family. In previous trips, I’d been impressed by China’s pace of development. But each year, it was always clear that despite the country’s rapid modernization, China still lagged far behind the U.S.—at least in terms of quality of life.
我每年都会去中国呆几个星期看望家人。在以前来中国的时候,我对中国的发展速度印象深刻。 但是,每年人们都清楚地明白,尽管中国实现了快速的现代化,但中国仍然远远落后于美国,至少在生活质量方面是如此。
Chinese Growth In The 2010s
本世纪10年代中国的经济增长
In China, the pace of change is on everyone’s mind. Last March, my cousin was marveling to me how quickly items could be delivered to her house: with same-day delivery on clothing ordered from Taobao (the world’s biggest e-commerce website), for example, and with takeout often being delivered within ten minutes of ordering food via smartphone. Meanwhile, my grandpa proudly noted that the government had reduced or eliminated entrance fees to many national parks, and was also in the process of significantly reducing university tuition for students over the next couple of years. My dad, on a drive between Hangzhou and Shanghai, said that the government was planning to test a ban on the production and sale of non-electric cars in certain cities by the early 2020s, as well as figuring out when to institute a more general ban.
在中国,每个人都在关注变化的步伐。去年3月,我的表妹对我惊讶地说,她的东西这么快就送到她家了:例如,从淘宝(全球最大的电子商务网站)订购的服装可以当天送到,而且外卖通常在通过手机下单后,10分钟内就可以送到。与此同时,我爷爷很自豪地指出,政府已经减少或取消了许多国家公园的入园费,并且在接下来的几年里大幅降低了学生的大学学费。在往返杭州和上海之间开车的父亲表示,政府正计划在本世纪20年代初,在某些城市试行非电动汽车的生产和销售禁令,并考虑何时变更为全面的禁令。
I was struck by the pride Chinese people now have in their country. As an American, it felt foreign to me—the sort of thing I’d seen when people talked about going to space in the 1960s, or when they talked about the U.S. before 9/11. In my father’s car, I felt a bit of envy and then nostalgia for something that I experienced only briefly as a child.
中国人民现在对自己国家的自豪感让我感到震惊。 作为一个美国人,这种感觉对我来说很陌生——就像我在20世纪60年代人们谈论进入太空,或者在911事件之前谈论美国时,所体会到的那种感觉。坐在我父亲的车里,我有点嫉妒,然后开始怀念我小时候经历过的一些事情。
People were also much less afraid of petty theft and told me they felt increasingly safe. Why? Well, the government can now often find and retrieve your stolen phone, since it has video cameras monitoring every public—for better or worse.
人们也不再那么害怕小偷小摸,并告诉我他们感到越来越安全。为什么? 好吧,政府现在经常可以找回你被盗的手机了,因为有摄像头监控每一个公共场所——无论好坏。
The changes aren’t just material. I’ve found that Chinese people are also becoming more polite. During last year’s trip, I had the novel experience of waiting in line for the restroom, needing to go out and take a call, and, upon my return, having the person behind me politely ask if I wanted to get back in line in front of her. This was astonishing to me. To put this into context, Chinese people have long been notorious for “chāduì (插队),” or cutting in line. Visiting China growing up, I routinely had the experience of adults rudely pushing me out of the way.
这些变化不仅仅是物质上的。我发现中国人也变得更有礼貌了。在去年的旅行中,我经历了一次新奇的体验:在厕所排队等候,需要出去接一个电话,等我回来的时候,我身后的人礼貌地问我是否愿意排在她前面。这让我感到震惊。为了说明这一点,中国人曾长期以来以“插队”而不受欢迎。 在我成长的过程中,我经常遇到成年人粗鲁地把我推开的情况。
Given recent discord and stagnation in American life, it can be hard to imagine what China feels like right now. In many ways, China in the 2010s reminds me of what I’ve read of America in the 1950s: the country is powerful, economic development is booming, and people are optimistic about the future.
鉴于最近美国生活中的不和谐和停滞,很难想象中国现在的感受。在许多方面,本世纪10年代的中国让我想起了,我曾读过的关于20世纪50年代的美国:这个国家强大,经济发展蓬勃,人们对未来充满信心。
With this new wave of material abundance, people in China are a bit more relaxed. There is a renewed sense of hope and even pride, as people become comfortable re-embracing their Chinese heritage. They are also explicitly encouraged to do so; the Xi Jinping-endorsed “China Dream (中国梦),” for example, seeks to “restore China’s lost national greatness.” The American dream still exists. It’s just in Wuhan now.
随着物质丰富的新浪潮到来,中国人的生活变得轻松多了。随着人们重新接受自己的中国传统,他们有了新的希望甚至自豪感。他们也被明确地鼓励这样做,例如,习主席支持的“中国梦”和寻求“中华民族的伟大复兴”美国梦依然存在。只是现在在武汉。
China today feels unrecognizable compared to the China of ten years ago.
与十年前的中国相比,今天的中国已经让人感到刮目相看了。
The China of my childhood was a brutal, unforgiving world. Now, a lot of that world has faded into memory.
我童年的中国是一个残酷无情的世界。现在,那个世界的很多东西都已经消失在记忆中了。
“The government will take care of it.” This is a major component of China’s success, as well as a common refrain. In contrast with America’s company-driven innovation, in China, the state is the major driver of change.
“政府会处理好的。”这是中国成功的一个重要组成部分,也是一个常见的说法。与美国公司驱动的创新相比,在中国,政府是变革的主要驱动力。
One of the more striking things about the typical Chinese mentality towards the government, especially compared to the American expectation, is that Chinese people trust their government. A 2017 Ipsos survey of almost 20,000 people reported that 87% of respondents from China believe that the country is heading in the right direction. Compare that to 43% of respondents in the U.S. and an average of 40% among all of the countries surveyed.
中国人对政府的典型心态,尤其是与美国人的期望相比,最引人注目的一点是,中国人信任他们的政府。2017年益普索对近2万人的调查显示,87% 的中国受访者认为中国正朝着正确的方向前进。相比之下,只有43% 的美国受访者和几乎所有国家的平均40%受访者,认为自己国家朝正确的方向。
This roughly matches my experience talking with friends and family in China. With any particular issue China might be facing, the government is either already on it, or people generally expect it to get handled in the near future. So far, the decision has been to consciously steer away from these values and maintain ideological sovereignty, even as China grows in market power and becomes more interconnected with the rest of the world.
这些数据与我在中国与朋友和家人交谈的经历大致相符。对于中国可能面临的任何特定问题,政府要么已经着手处理了,要么人们普遍认为在不久的将来会得到处理。到目前为止,中国的决定是有意识地远离这些价值观,保持意识形态主权,尽管中国的市场力量在不断增强,但与世界其它国家的联系也在变得更加紧密。
Keep in mind China’s recent history: we are only 60 years out from the Great Famine of 1959–61. Many great-grandparents still remember this time, and many older parents and grandparents lived much of their lives with barely enough to eat under the rationing that followed. The hardship that Chinese people endured in the second half of the 20th century produces a great desire for stability and material wealth. It is a country that sharply remembers abject poverty, and is wary about potentially destabilizing political reforms.
请记住中国的近代史: 我们距离1959-61年的大饥荒只过60年了。许多曾祖父母仍然记得这个时候,在随后的配给制下过着几乎吃不饱的生活。中国人民在20世纪下半叶所经历的苦难,产生了对稳定和物质财富的强烈渴望。 这是一个对赤贫,记忆犹新的国家,对潜在的破坏稳定的政治改革保持警惕。
Infrastructurally, the government has been steadily revamping major cities —Beijing for the 2008 Olympics, Shanghai for the Expo 2010, Wuhan for the 2019 Military World Games.
在基础设施方面,政府一直在稳步改造主要城市——北京为2008年奥运会做准备,上海为2010年世博会做准备,武汉为2019年世界军人运动会做准备。
Economically, China reports impressive figures and is the world’s second-largest economy. It continues to run experiments in the form of special economic zones like Shenzhen. China itself is a test of a “state-owned market economy.” hard results speak for themselves in terms of shipping traffic, passenger-miles on high-speed rail, and tons of steel produced and concrete poured.
在经济方面,中国报告了令人印象深刻的数字,是世界第二大经济体。它继续以经济特区的形式进行试验,比如深圳。中国本身就是对“国有市场经济”的一次考验。从航运交通、高速铁路上的乘客里程、以及大量生产的钢铁和混凝土浇筑等方面来看,结果不言而喻。
These points make some of the recent changes I witnessed more comprehensible, and explains some of the visible changes in China’s international stance: many of these things were explicitly in their five-year plan.
这些计划让我最近目睹的一些变化,更容易理解了,并解释了中国在国际立场上的一些明显变化: 其中许多变化都明确地体现在他们的五年计划中。
The plan, as all of China’s five-year plans have been, seems extremely ambitious. It is easy for us to be skeptical of China’s ability and intentions, and dismiss plans like these as being mostly for PR. But in a unified country with a competent government at the height of its power, mobilizing a population to achieve ambitious, targeted goals is not so out of the question.
正如中国所有的五年计划一样,这个计划似乎极其雄心勃勃。 我们很容易对中国的能力和意图持怀疑态度,认为这些计划主要是为了公关。 但是,在一个统一的国家,政府正处于权力的巅峰,动员人民实现雄心勃勃、有针对性的目标并非不可能。
Impressions And Misconceptions: A Rough Timeline
印象和误解: 一个大概的时间表
Growing up in America in the early 2000s, it was distinctly uncool to be Chinese — to the point where I would avoid speaking Mandarin if I could. Americans seemed to have a bad impression of China then as well. Given that China actually wasn’t a nice place at the time, this impression makes sense to me, though it feels increasingly outdated.
If I had to describe American impressions of China over the last 20 years, I would say they went from bad, to better, to bad once more. When I was in elementary school in the early 2000s, China’s image was understandably bad due to China’s pollution, overpopulation, and poverty, as well as high-profile reports of manufacturing controversies like the milk scandal of 2008, or the deadly train accidents.
我在21世纪初的美国长大,当时作为一个中国人显然不够酷,以至于如果可以的话,我会尽量避免说普通话。当时美国人似乎对中国也有不好的印象。考虑到当时中国实际上并不是一个很好的地方,这种印象对我来说是有意义的,尽管它越来越过时了。
如果要我描述美国人在过去20年里对中国的印象,我会说,他们从坏到好,再到坏。21世纪初,我还在上小学的时候,由于中国的污染、人口过剩和贫困,以及关于制造业争议的报道,比如2008年的牛奶丑闻,或者致命的火车事故,形象不好,这是可以理解的。
The 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics was a turning point that seemed to make a positive impression on American audiences, in part due to its opening ceremony, which involved 14,000 performers. It was unanimously hailed by the press as “the best ever” and “a stunning display of China’s new-found confidence.” This event was one of the first times I saw my parents and local Chinese-American community rally around being Chinese.
2008年北京夏季奥运会是一个转折点,似乎给美国观众留下了积极的印象,部分原因是它的开幕式有14000名表演者参加。它被媒体一致称赞为“有史以来最好的”和“中国的新信心和惊人展示” 这次运动会,是我第一次看到我的父母和当地的华裔社区作为中国人团结在一起。
Since 2008, however, as China has become increasingly powerful, Americans have trended towards thinking of China as bad in a new way. We have increasingly seen China as a threat. This has been exacerbated as China and the U.S. begin to engage in a trade war and contest more aggressively over soft power.
然而,自2008年以来,随着中国变得越来越强大,美国人倾向于以一种新的方式来看待中国,认为是坏的。我们越来越多地将中国视为一种威胁。随着中国和美国开始参与贸易战,并在软实力问题上展开更为激烈的争夺,这种情况愈演愈烈。
On the other hand, I would characterize the typical Chinese relation to the U.S. in the 1990s and early 2000s as thinking of America as “the best thing ever,” with an unabashed admiration that some Americans found cringe-worthy. Even in 2017, Foreign Policy reported that “China’s Youth Admire America Far More Than We Knew.” Sometime in the mid-2000s or early 2010s, as China developed in a way that started palpably producing quality-of-life upgrades like cleaner air, huge amounts of wealth, and more orderly cities, the unrestrained admiration gave way to a diligent national intention to learn from America where America was superior —and it was recognized that America was still better in many ways.
另一方面,在20世纪90年代和21世纪初期典型的中美关系中,我会认为美国是“有史以来最好的事物” ,带着毫不掩饰的钦佩。早在2017年,《外交政策》就报道称,“中国青年对美国的钦佩程度远超我们的想象。”在2000s或者2010s某个时候,随着中国开始以一种很明显的方式提升生活质量,比如更清洁的空气、巨额财富和更有秩序的城市,这种毫不掩饰的钦佩加深了这个勤奋民族的意愿,即向美国学习,因为美国在很多方面更胜一筹。人们认识到,美国在很多方面仍然更强。
Comparing my experience talking to people in the U.S. to people in China, I’m keenly aware that Chinese people understand us a lot better than we typically understand them. Perhaps this is in part because of historical American preeminence: everyone likes a strong horse.
将我与美国人交谈的经历与中国人交谈的经历相比,我强烈地意识到,中国人对我们的理解远远超过我们通常对他们的理解。也许部分原因是因为美国历史上的卓越:毕竟每个人都更喜欢强壮的马。
Perhaps Not A Bad Place To Live
也许这是一个适宜生活的地方
I’ve since reflected on the idea of living in China. I think that these days, if you’re a normal person living a normal life, or even an ambitious entrepreneur, China is a good place to be. Cities are clean and convenient. Life is exciting and fast-paced. Opportunities are plentiful.
自那以后,我一直在思考在中国生活的想法。我认为如今,如果你是一个过着正常生活的普通人,甚至是一个雄心勃勃的企业家,中国是一个很好的去处。城市如此干净和方便。生活令人兴奋和快节奏。机会很多。
I wouldn’t have ever considered this if I hadn’t seen China first-hand. After all, if I’d been relying on the news, I would have mostly encountered Chinese authoritarianism. Western media’s focus on this is understandable. But at the same time, it’s not clear that we understand the factors informing the choices we’ve seen the Chinese government make.
如果我没有亲眼看到中国,我根本不会考虑这个问题。 毕竟,如果我一直依赖西方媒体,我会看到介绍中国的威权主义。西方媒体对此的关注是可以理解的。但与此同时,我们并不清楚我们是否了解中国政府所做选择背后的原因。
For people interested in making an impact on the trajectory of our civilization, there is another reason to be in America right now. China, for better or worse, is solidly on its current track, wherever that will take it. Maybe it will collapse from the pressure America exerts on it, or maybe it will succeed at becoming a stable superpower. Either way, outsiders, myself included, won’t be able to do much to make it better or worse. America, on the other hand, is approaching a crisis of structural and ideological uncertainty. This is something to be worried about, but it also represents a time of opportunity. The right ideas and the right efforts could have a very large effect on America in the coming years.
对于那些想要对我们的文明轨迹产生影响的人来说,现在来到美国还有另外一个原因。无论是好是坏,中国都坚定地走在当前的道路上,不管这条道路将走向何方。也许它会在美国施加的压力下崩溃,也许它会成为一个稳定的超级大国。不管怎样,局外人,包括我自己,都不能做多少事情来改善或者恶化这种状况。另一方面,美国正面临一场结构性和意识形态不确定性的危机。这是值得担心的事情,但它也代表着一个充满机遇的时刻。正确的想法和正确的努力方向,可能在未来几年对美国产生非常大的影响。
China is an emerging superpower; we cannot simply avoid it. If we become increasingly unable or unwilling to understand China, we might take a more adversarial stance than is advisable or necessary. We risk escalating hostilities. This is already happening.
中国是一个正在崛起的超级大国,我们不能简单地回避它。如果我们越来越不能或者不愿意理解中国,我们可能会采取一种更具对抗性的姿态。我们要冒着敌意升级的风险。 但这已经在发生了。
There will always be elements of adversariality in any interaction between sovereign powers. As countries pursue growth, there will be conflicts over geopolitical positioning and the exertion of soft power in each other’s spheres of influence. We are far, however, from being able to conclude that more positive interactions with China are not possible.
在主权国家之间的任何互动中,总会有敌视的因素。随着各国追求经济增长,在地缘政治定位和相互影响范围内,软实力的发挥方面将会产生冲突。 然而,我们还远未能得出结论,认为与中国进行更积极的互动是不可能的。
We don’t need to be close friends with China, but we do need to coordinate well enough that we don’t miss or bungle major opportunities to work together on critical problems—climate change, AI risk, and so on.
我们不需要与中国保持密切的朋友关系,但我们确实需要进行足够好的平衡,以免错过或搞砸在关键问题上合作的重大机会——气候变化、人工智能等等。
In an ideal world, we would also take the opportunity to learn from each other.
在一个理想的世界里,我们也会利用这个机会互相学习。
If I’m being honest, China’s success scares me. There is something deeply disconcerting about watching China surpass America in the ways it is. China is transforming fishing villages into major industrial cities, while we fail to build high-speed rail or new housing. How are we going to catch up?
说实话,中国的成功让我害怕。看着中国以现在的方式超越美国,令人深感不安。中国正在把渔村改造成主要的工业城市,而我们却没有建设高速铁路或新的住房。我们怎么才能赶上呢?
But if we’re going to build a good society in America, we have to face these things head-on.
但是,如果我们要在美国建立一个良好的社会,我们必须正视这些问题。
In the U.S., we face an ongoing crisis of governance. We need to understand our own failures, and we need to grapple with unexpected demonstrations of success.
在美国,我们面临着持续的治理危机。我们需要明白自己的失败之处,我们需要努力应对意料之外的成功示范。
请支持独立网站,转载请注明本文链接:http://fm.m4.cn/2019-10/1358632.shtml
文章来源:龙腾网 | 责任编辑:东方
- 中国科技超越韩国 未来核心科技差距更大
- 克里米亚回归俄罗斯10周年
- 网友讨论:日本经济给人的警示
- 美国会发生社会主义革命吗?
- 日媒:绿色氢能,美国想与中企竞争
- 阿桑奇的引渡将表明西方是否存在"自由"
- 看美国脸色,韩国企业正错失中国市场
- 没有中国参与 新能源转型将额外支出20%
- 突发!全美再度疯狂裁员
- 红海危机表明中国的"一带一路"至关重要
- 美国"印太经济框架"正在失去吸引力
- 反驳"中国经济见顶" 陆克文点出三件事
- 美国发明了购物中心 但中国人谱写新篇章
- 2024全球选举年:是政治转变的一年?
- 中国多部畅销小说今年将与俄读者见面
- 2023年的政治事件:乌克兰、加沙、金砖国家
- 韩媒:中国的未来没有这"三个东西"
- Ian|2024年,澳洲要降息!
- 美国政客为什么害怕中国大蒜?
- 美国电动汽车市场凉了?
- 1乌克兰AV女优竟与乌军伤残士兵拍摄合照
- 2俄罗斯公民在驻华使馆前排长队等待投票
- 3"不坏金身"告破!"光辉"战机坠毁令印度尴尬
- 4英媒爆以军虐待加沙医务人员 "酷刑"令人发
- 5火星上巨型火山:海拔9022米、宽450公里
- 6胡懋仁|表面上张牙舞爪,实际上色厉内荏
- 7国家安全部发文解读《网络安全法》四大亮点
- 8美国警告欧盟:若重启对美诉讼,别怪我…
- 9中国科技超越韩国 未来核心科技差距更大
- 10特朗普:乌克兰必须是一个“小骰子”
- 11意外长丨北约向乌派兵或引发第三次世界大战
- 12申鹏|波音烂透了,就像美国烂透了一样
- 13美军公布:六代机最新进展……
- 14中伊俄"安全纽带-2024"联合演习圆满结束
- 15上合秘书长认为俄罗斯大选举将是公平和独立
- 16俄军战机例行巡航波罗的海与里海
- 17白俄罗斯重装部队部署边界并警告北约
- 18苹果支付4.9亿美元 就隐瞒需求下降诉讼和解
- 19媒体:以色列对叙利亚南部发动空袭
- 20特朗普:如果我没能当选 那将是对美国的屠
- 1许多人曾崇拜西方价值观,但现在幻想破灭…
- 2申鹏|这岛上,又岂止“三害”?
- 3远航|台独是美国豢养的一条狗
- 4亨利·曼斯|美国面临的危险程度远超俄罗斯
- 5震撼!俄军毁灭性燃烧炸弹打击瞬间
- 6加沙大饥荒背景下 以军用丰盛食物庆祝斋月
- 7林爱玥|你被“爱国生意”伤害情感了吗?
- 8CIA局长鼓吹这是在给中国“发信号”……
- 9突发!俄罗斯多地遭袭
- 10枢密院十号|美军一精锐部队关键战力暴露了
- 11华章|中欧班列成为东西方贸易的"生命线"?
- 12余云辉|论美国霸权软肋和"七寸"是什么?
- 13拜登政府被警告!"避免灾难的时间不多了"
- 14132年来首次!"令人恐惧的白宫决斗开始"
- 15胡懋仁|反对和平演变的斗争时刻不能松懈
- 16西方国家在遗憾没有早点承认克里米亚公投
- 17卡尔森:谷歌和脸书对美国人的监视远超TikT
- 18张文木 | 政治的膨胀与政治的文本——历史
- 19乌克兰AV女优竟与乌军伤残士兵拍摄合照
- 20梅德韦杰夫嘲笑法国总统马克龙是懦夫
- 1潘妮妮|中国抵御了"文化冲击" 现在轮到他
- 2夜央 占豪|央视“国骂”令万千网友“破防
- 3许多人曾崇拜西方价值观,但现在幻想破灭…
- 4黄庭民|短评西方战争的特点和危害
- 5王毅驳斥所谓中国在南海咄咄逼人谬论
- 6胡懋仁|兰德公司的两份报告
- 7戴旭丨很多国人不知反毛背后的大阴谋,令人
- 8肖志夫|美发射6颗卫星 对付中国超高音速导
- 9张志坤|讨美国喜欢,恐难以搞好中美关系
- 10占豪丨国台办释放重大信号!台湾不肖子等着
- 11张文木:所谓"民企" 它与"小农"一样从来不
- 12占豪丨5艘航母,美国开始介入!中国发出最
- 13李瑞昌|对毛主席最好的纪念是什么?
- 14牧心 占豪|中美同时拒签 这一默契将引发重
- 15金灿荣|大陆海警重拳反击 台湾问题快要解
- 16司马南|美国为什么怕中国汽车?
- 17科罗廖夫|温压弹能让敌人缺氧而死 谣传!
- 18牛弹琴|这两个最新动向,让人瞠目结舌
- 19张文木丨德国宣战后 苏军上报斯大林的报告
- 20罗思义|美国耗费巨资试图说服中国内部各种
网友评论