China Road

Lucy works for a large multinational corporation. She has long dark hair and a polite, responsible air that suggests she might have been student council president of her high school. She is a study in modern urban confidence and success. She speaks excellent English and clearly thinks deeply about important subjects. “Yes, Communism collapsed in Eastern Europe, but that was because they weren’t doing it right,” she says. “I know. You Westerners think that, after capitalism, there will still be capitalism. We Chinese think that after this stage of capitalism, there might eventually be Communism.” I open my eyes wide. “Really? You really believe that.” She nods.

学生会主席……

“My grades were good. I was a responsible student. I have no regrets at all,” says Lucy. “I believe this party can bring us a stable society.”

“We need to study what the leaders are thinking,” she says. “We feel good about studying this. It’s good. And as for Communism, you should understand it in your own way. It means you should be a good and helpful member of society.”

I put it to them what the radio show host Ye Sha says, that the young generation of China is lost and confused and doesn’t know what to believe in or how to behave. “Why do you say that about China?” asks Lucy. “What about the West? Do Western people have anything to believe in? “I’m not lost,” she continues. “I don’t believe in Jesus or Buddha, but I believe in self-struggle, an effort to improve myself and my country. You don’t have to have a faith to have a meaningful life.”

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To come up with a more appropriate American comparison, you have to travel back to the 1930s and the Okies of John Steinbeck novels, fleeing westward from the Dust Bowl to California. Most road trips in China these days are still more John Steinbeck than Jack Kerouac, and in celebration of the fact, I have brought along a copy of Steinbeck’s classic The Grapes of Wrath, which is tucked into the top pocket of my backpack.

现在的中国更像斯坦贝克时代的美国而不是凯鲁亚克时代的美国。

In fact, it was China’s advancement, and the desire this created in Europeans for luxuries they so clearly lacked, that was one of the preconditions for Europe’s rise.

China was the victim, there is no doubt, and has been for too long. The Western powers and Japan are guilty as charged of terrible military aggression. But now China is becoming a Great Power. Economically, diplomatically, internationally, it is on the verge of greatness. And yet it still tends to think and speak like a victim.

受害者的口吻……不就是外交部发言人么……

“Every dynasty is the same,” he says. “It starts off well but then becomes corrupt. Everyone suffers. That’s why we need political reform.” “Otherwise?” I raise my eyebrows, surprised at his frankness. “Otherwise, the Party and the country will collapse in about ten years.” He wags his finger at me to emphasize his point.

一个投资饭店因为贪污，十万美元血本无归，骑车反腐走中国的人，认为十年党国就会终结。他太乐观了吧……

In the 1990s, the Communist Party began to abandon the farmers and ally itself with the new moneyed classes, the entrepreneurs and businessmen, the urban elite, for whom the farmers are just migrant factory fodder. Now, in the new century, even the urban taxi drivers look down on the rural people once again.

90年代开始，党丢弃了农村，和富人勾结在一块儿，毫不奇怪嘛，“三个代表”。

They were supposed to be liberated by this great experiment in social equality called Communism, but they have ended up back at the bottom of the pile. It is a betrayal of monumental proportions, considering the roots of the Communist revolution and its original aims, a betrayal that could end up having monumental consequences for the Communist Party.

耕地被政府收回卖给开发商，税收，是农民面临的两个问题。Wu Faliang就像是余华的《活着》里最后的那个老头儿，赶着水牛翻地，带着孙儿。作者立志要采访那些普通人，那么Wu Faliang就是这样子的一个普通人，而他的村子里的人因为税收太重去闹事，结果被“胡萝卜加大棒”，同意了部分要求，等事情平息领头的人就被扔进了监狱。作者在此基础上认为党应该想办法阻止可能出现的大规模起义，就像他们曾经领导过的那样。（会有可能出现么？╮(╯▽╰)╭）

First, can it improve the lot of farmers before they become too angry?……And second, can it prevent the farmers who are angry from organizing themselves and linking up with other disillusioned elements of society, such as the disaffected urban intellectuals and the laid-off factory workers?

Wu Faliang is old. He will never leave his home village now. He has seen everything: the civil war and chaos of the 1940s, when he was a boy; the hope of Communist land reform in the 1950s, dashed by collectivization; the hopes of economic reform in the 1980s, ruined by the corruption and stagnation of the early twenty-first century. His life mirrors the tumult of twentieth-century China, which after a sixty-year cycle has come to rest, in many ways, where it began. People are not starving, and that should not be forgotten, but life as a Chinese peasant is a constant struggle.

几十年，各种风云变幻之后，一切不过还是那样子。

Now, amid the many problems of rural China, for perhaps the first time in Chinese history, peasant children in fields across China are being untethered from their ancestral homes, and from the day-to-day control of the state, and can decide for themselves what to do when they grow up. The choices are not great, the conditions are basic, but they are something. And perhaps that is the real new revolution, meager and slow though it is.

希望会在下一代吗？

However, in two areas there is no denying the overall improvements Mao made. The first was public health and life expectancy.

The second area in which Mao improved life was the status of women.

作者认为毛的两大功劳：公共卫生和妇女的地位。

And Henan’s very own Shaolin Monastery has, since the fifth century, been the center of martial arts in China. Everybody was kung-fu fighting in Henan when Europeans were still living in caves.

在河南人人都是功夫高手，那时候欧洲人还住山洞呢。哈哈……

A farmer would be taken into the blood donation van, and a needle would be placed in his arm. The extracted blood would go directly into a vat in the middle, where it would be mixed and the plasma extracted. Then, because Chinese people traditionally do not like to lose blood from their bodies, the blood would be pumped back into his arm.

这样子的么，把血浆提取出来，血再输回去……

I climb out, shake Hu Jia’s hand, and give him a hearty pat on the back. I always like seeing him. He gives me hope for China.

NGO。

He says he and his wife sold blood only three or four times in the mid-1990s, but they are both HIV-positive. “They gave us forty-five yuan [nearly $6] each time we sold blood,” he says. “That’s a lot of money.”

读到这里很胸闷……上次有这种感觉还是读徐中约的《中国近代史》的八十年代末部分和老年人政治的时候。

The local government is simply waiting for them to die, Hu says, so that they will stop causing problems and making Shangcai look bad.

英国在1215年就签订了大宪章，为什么在那么长的时间里，中国都没有大宪章出现呢？为什么这么大的一个中国非要统一在一起，在作者看来很奇怪，因为想一想罗马帝国吧，在漫长的年代里面已经分裂成了欧洲那么多的小国，而中国，从秦始皇以来就一直要统一统一统一，而它的内部有那么多的不同，方言，艺术，甚至烹调——说要一份中国口味的饭是没意义的。作者认为有几个原因：秦始皇，汉朝。秦始皇统一六国结束战国时代，汉朝独尊儒术，这种尊儒经过唐朝又加强。儒家对中国的影响：1. 精英通过考试为国家服务，这一点不像欧洲，欧洲的基督教堂独立于王权之外，对王权有监督和平衡作用，精英们不必屈尊于王权之下。2. 儒家摧毁了法律，代之以伦理，因此不是一个以法治国的国家，中国的领导人更像是“moral example”而不是“telling people what they should do”。儒家学说有什么问题呢？1. 儒家认为人心本善，每个人都是内省，自我纠正以达到更和谐，但问题在于这样子就没有权力的平衡，导致了腐败。2. 儒家的正统教条不像基督教那样在未来的某个时候有审判日，而是向后看，希望回到过去的黄金时代，这影响了中国的科技发展，李约瑟说，并不是中国人拒绝科学，而是他们不在乎。Communism打破了儒家的教条约束，然而代价却更加高，因为中国人的教条是不相信神的，“子不语”嘛，因此去除了教会，去除了儒家，剩下的就是Communist Party的极权了，这也是中国没有出现大宪章的第三个原因。为什么中国没有像欧洲那样的流传久远的城堡？就像是说中国的建筑总是用土木，不像欧洲那样用石头，作者的意见是，在中国，父亲死了，家就被平分了，防止土地集中在私人手里。因此在中国不会出现大家族。作者继续他的思路，远在边疆比如新疆和西藏的人也算是中国人么？他们不说汉语，民俗习惯完全不同。作者认同MIT的一个政治学家Lucian Pye说的，中国是一个文明却试图成为一个国家。中国是最后一个帝国，而以前的帝国们，大英帝国，法兰西帝国，奥匈帝国，苏联，统统都消失了。（美国算个帝国吗？作者觉得有待商榷）。然而把帝国凝聚在一起所采取的手段的只能是强迫。那些不同意分裂的人，比如中国人，仅仅是因为Communist Party一直是这么讲的。当《剑桥中国史》翻译到中国时，英文版的明朝地图是不包括西藏和新疆的，然而中文版把它们包含了进去。Tibet，作者打了个比喻，就像北美对印第安，英国人对澳大利亚土著，不同的是，并没有中国人说：“一个好的Tibetan是一个死的Tibetan”。作者前几年（2006年之前）去Lhasa的时候，见到Tibet的十几岁的青少年都梦想去上海打工，政治和宗教，他们并不关系。至于Dalai Lama？“I don't know much about him.” 一个喇嘛说，对于贫民，当喇嘛是接受教育的唯一方法。作者认为最后Tibet的文化将会消散掉，而宗教和民族或许会保存，最终Tibet中国化了。然而作者希望Tibet能像苏格兰和英格兰一样最终独立出来，虽然苏格兰的这一努力花费了300年。就目前来看，Tibet的文化更多是受到了全球化的影响，它不是更像中国，而是更像北美。（或许是中国受到北美文化太过于严重的影响。）河殇在88年的夏天播出，它说明了当时的社会氛围是允许知识分子探索国家的未来的，也反映出了一年后广场学生们的思想。这部纪录片并没有攻击Communist Party，然而有太多不够小心的关于中国帝国传统的批判，这些批判延伸到了Party的身上。作者认为布热津斯基关于苏联的看法对于中国也是适用的：它不可能同时是帝国和民主。对于中国的未来，所有把农民看成问题的一部分却不是解决问题的一部分的看法都是错误的，未来不是再一次像毛那样的星火燎原的农民起义，而是一点一滴的改变，就像工业革命支撑了欧洲和北美一样。如果农民继续外出打工，挣钱回来改变他们的乡村，这种生活的改变而不是所谓的知识分子最终使得中国蜕变。中国一半的问题是文化，另一半则是地理。有关地理，作者大概说的是，丝绸之路。

“But what if there is a woman who is eight months pregnant, and she shouldn’t be?” I ask her. “She is…” The woman makes an action with her hands in front of her stomach, an action of flushing something away. “But that’s a living child, that could be born and survive.” I gasp. The woman shrugs her shoulders and smiles faintly. “Zhong guo ren tai duo le. There are too many Chinese people.”

所以2012年的8个月引产也没什么令人惊讶的，作者沿312国道旅行的2006年基层医生就这么干了。

One Chinese official who knew the full implications of going beyond here was a man named Lin Zexu. At the foot of the majestic Jiayuguan Fort, apparently unnoticed by the Chinese tourists, is a small memorial garden with a statue in it and a poem inscribed on the stone wall beside it. The garden is a memorial to Lin, who was, says a plaque beneath the statue, “the first open-minded politician of the modern age.”

嘉峪关被流放的最出名的是林则徐……为毛我想到的是老子。。。中国历史上三次跟新疆的接触：第一次是汉武帝，抗击匈奴，第二次是唐朝，跟阿拉伯人打仗。第三次是康熙，攻下了新疆，在此之前新疆一直视为野蛮人住的地方，在此之后则称之为“维”。康熙时代并没有改变什么，他们是他们，我们是我们，只是大家在一个国境线内，是一家。之后，从1877年左宗棠开始推行汉化。建国后大批汉民迁入新疆，1949年汉民大约占整个新疆的6%，现在则是75W/192.5W。（）在教育上则是挑选出优秀的民族学生，送到东部深造，这种深造的一个后果是，more Chinese。书中所举的例子就是Rebiya（此Rebiya非彼Rebiye……），她是哈密一所高中的拔尖的学生，是属于会被深造的那一种。

What we didn’t get around to talking about was what Cisco is actually doing in Xinjiang. A whole range of projects, no doubt, assisting companies to get networked, but it is also accused by human rights groups of assisting the Chinese government to monitor the Internet for any signs of dissent. Cisco has sold several thousand routers to Beijing, equipment that human rights groups in the United States say was programmed with the help of Cisco engineers and is integral to the Great Firewall of China, which Beijing maintains around the Internet in order to control information within the country.

思科……当然思科否认了，说卖到中国来的设备和卖给其他地方的一样，都是中国人自己做的手脚。美国将一个之前人们从未听说过的East Turkestan Islamic Movement列为恐怖组织，

the U.S. move provided, and still provides, a blank check for Beijing to do what it wants in suppressing any kind of dissent in Xinjiang, under the guise of combating terrorism, without fear of any criticism from Washington.

美国开了空头支票，中国可以在Xinjiang任意suppress异议思想而无须担心华盛顿方面的批评。9/11就像是中国的一个美梦成真了，不光是因为美国的假想敌不再指向中国，布什政府把中国当作反恐伙伴，因此中国把Xinjiang当作筹码……作者去寻找了他2002年采访过的二道桥，然而那里的穆斯林市场已经被拆了，取而代之的是一个穆斯林样子的中国购物中心。中国想发展Xinjiang的动机是好的：希望那里的人能过上好生活。然而对于维族人来说，中国人（汉族人）是现代化的代表，这一点不能接受。中国人来了，维族的Bazaar不见了，代之以购物中心。这就是结症所在，这不是维族人想要的现代化。而汉族人也很委屈，他们在电视上天天看到少数族人民高高兴兴，去了却发现被冷淡，甚至敌视，为什么呢？作者走完全程后，在4824千米的里程碑处想，这感觉就像是在1890年穿越美国的西部，你并不知道这个伟大的国家的未来是什么样子的，你只看到了历史在这里搅成一团。

And whatever happens to China in the future, if I live long enough to have grandchildren and they ask me, “Were you there, Grandpa? Did you really see China rise?” I’ll tell them, “Yes. I saw it. I was there.”

Yes. I saw it, and I supported it.作者说他想离开中国的时候，他的编辑问他想不想去耶路撒冷，他考虑了之后拒绝了，说耶路撒冷就像是一个圈，问题不过是重复了又重复，而中国是线性的，你永远不知道未来是什么。然而行走了国道312之后，他说，其实中国也是一个圈，不过只是这个圈大了而已，不是以年和月为周期，而是几十年甚至世纪为单位，不过还是统一分裂统一分裂，王朝兴替而已。现在的Communist Party放弃了农民，腐败如同1930年代40年代他们反对过的国民党，这只是一个圈。可能有一些因素使得未来或许不重蹈过去的覆辙，作者强调这不过是可能。第一个就是，这个国家更强壮了。312国道只是一个部分，然而没有哪一个朝代，能像现在这样统治这么大的一片区域，这意味着农民起义很难成功了。第二个是现如今的统治者是中国人，而不是满族或者其他少数民族。因此这会带给中国一种骄傲和凝聚力。第三个是经济，虽然腐败以及贫富分化在加深，但是经济一片繁荣。农民进城做危险的肮脏的活，在狄更斯式的工厂里，然而他们一个月赚的比一年还多。国道以及其他公路就像是压力锅的减压通道。经济繁荣带来了中产阶级。政府能否使得中产阶级happy是未来的决定性因素。最后一个，是中国经历了精神革命，他们不再向内看，向后看，而是向外看，向前看，科技置于信仰之上。家庭也变了，传统的父子关系次于了夫妻关系，个人比集体重要。然而将这一切变为负面的是中国的leader们并没有变。一个变动的21世纪的社会被一个1950年代的政治系统所束缚。Chinese leaders希望能像新加坡那样，有效统治但是又不是西方那一套政治体系。一些西方观察家称之为“协商式列宁主义”，政府想强化统治同时又不激起政治上的反弹。然而新加坡只有309W人，让这些人富裕，不关心什么政治体系比较容易。这300W人不过是中国一个中小城市，中国是一个大陆，更不要说中国并没有新加坡那一套透明的英国模式的立法体系和国民待遇。中国的国防科技落后美国30到40年，中国没有空中运输机，中国的海军横跨太平洋只有几次，就做到这些还有困难。当你问中国人的时候他们总是哲学式的说，我们不是侵略性的人，我们筑起墙来把别人挡在外面，我们不会侵略他人。作者说他不相信中国会完全和平，历史上也没有哪个工业力量是和平崛起的。如果中国的leader们能把中国统到一块，如果中国经济持续繁荣，那么有可能中国的新民族主义会给临近国家比如日本带来麻烦。但是现在，作者说他不相信中国的leader早上醒来会想，我们该威胁那个地区呢？他说他更相信这些leader早上醒来想，我们到底该怎么办才能把这个国家统到一起？作者怀疑，这些leader们更多的在想一个统一的中国，而不是一个改变的中国。而这是很危险的，作者甚至说，I am rather fearful。前面的路将是崎岖的，每一次进步都会付出昂贵的代价。

China was the victim, there is no doubt, and has been for too long. ... But now China is becoming a Great Poser. Economically, diplomatically, internationally, it is on the verge of greatness. And yet it still tends to think and speak like a victim. I don't know what will change that. What does it take to change your psychological identity as a nation, when for so long you have been a loser and then suddenly you become a winner?

中国需要找到正确的自我定位。 世界也需要对此作出正确的回应。 这是一个硬币的两面。

To my mind, though, one of the key things is choice. Whatever our own prejudices, we simply cannot deny that there is more choice in China now than there used to be. And I am of the opinion that where there is choice, there is often change for the better, and that includes the possibility of political change. You can now choose where you work in China, You can choose whom you marry. You can choose paper or plastic to wrap your groceries, full fat or skim for your cappuccino. It's not happening tomorrow, but I think that once you allow people to choose their pizza toppings, sooner or later they are going to want to choose their political leaders.

作者在这一段里充满乐观主义的展望。 既然我们常说经济基础决定上层建筑，那么这种物质生活的丰富多彩何时才能引出上层建筑构建的多元化呢？sooner or later?