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….

还是祖国山水好
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122106 Time Cover

Originally uploaded by WorkingMan.

大概是近代史上受到的屈辱太多，我们这个民族对于国家的荣誉和自尊总是有那么一点过分的敏感，而GDP的增长给了我们这样一个机会，“为中华民族的伟大复兴”。只是这种建立在数字和物质成就上的自信总是显得中气不足，否则我们也不会以酸葡萄的心理来揣度奥斯卡和诺贝尔：我们需要外部来证明自己。如果真的把中国看作一个大国，那么他缺乏的不只那种应有的傲气，最重要的是她还没有实现“最大多数的人的最大幸福”。

Title: China: A Giant Power or Not
Written by Frank Dai (undersound)
Originally posted on Global Voices Online
Copyright: Creative Commons, Attribution

China used to be one of the mightiest empires and oldest civilizations in the world in human history, but its modern history, starting from the middle of 19th century, was full of disgrace, disorder and chaos as perceived by Chinese people, who has aspired to revive its historical glory in decades of efforts. Only with economical boom during recent years, which was built upon a huge yet cheap labor market, did China manage to become an influential force in international playing ground. However does it mean that it is the Renaissance of Chinese Culture, consequently as a result of economical growth? Given the prevailing attitude of overheating nationalism and outspoken patriotism among Chinese people, is the resurgence of powerful Middle Kingdom a down-to-earth course we should take, or only a daydreaming public illusion?

Obviously the answer would be blowing in the wind since the changing of China is so rapidly that even the most genuine effort to foresee its future seems to be like fortune telling. Each interest group gave their version of prediction, only making the matter more confusing. Indeed no one dare to say what China is going to be exactly in next 20 or 30 years. All that we can be sure is that, this generation of Chinese, grown up in market-oriented value without threat from hunger and war, truly wished their country to be more powerful, peaceful and influential.

Recently a documentary series was aired by China Central Television, the official TV network in China, named “The Rise of Giant Power“(” 大国崛起”), which has been a key subject for discussion on the Internet and traditional media alike. The 12-episode documentary started its narration from the 15th century when the Age of Discovery brought prosperity to Spain and ended with the rising of latest modern empire: United States. With up-to-date techniques like interviews, reconstruction of historical scene and computer-generated special effect, it tried to teach China and its people, a rising nation-state, on how to learn from the experiences of has-been giants on the world. (See excerpt video here)

For those liberal-minded people, who stick to the principle that the government should take the benefits of its citizens as top priority, the true and wholehearted wishes for Great China should not be manipulated by the government as an excuse to ignore basic and fundamental rights of its people. Lianyue, one of the most popular bloggers in China, wrote a post titled “It Should be the Rising of Giant Citizen Instead“:

无论大国小国，国民的幸福感受是第一位的，把国民压到最小，把国家放到最大，这种斯巴达式帝国，早就证明了是泥足巨人，行 之不远。大国与小国并不重要，重要是要有大国民：他们的幸福是放在第一位的；他们不幸福了，就有资格抱怨、不满、用选举把做不好的人换下来。也正是因为这 点，最大多数人的最大多数幸福，才是一个政府及一个国家的最终追求。不幸福的人多了，你连存在的合法性都会受到质疑。

让国民觉得幸福，有长远的诚实方法，让他们吃得饱、穿得暖、读书看病不至于破产、有房子住、财产与生命不受威胁、思想得到 尊重、观点得以表达，那么容易满足的国民一般就会觉得幸福——至少我认为中国人会觉得满足。短视一点的做法是让人相信从吃饱穿暖到思想观点都不重要，没有 这些一样可以很幸福，不过没有被逼急的人一般不会采取这种下下之策。

中国很大，这二三十年也迅速积累了财富，这提供了足够的多面性，150万户家庭占据了中国百分之七十的财富，按每个家庭辐 射20人来统计，这三千万人多数是幸福满溢的，只看到他们的话，当然觉得中国是大国。如果想到其他十多亿人只有的那百分之三十，又觉得我们离最大多数人的 最大多数幸福还差得远，在数量庞大的贫困人口（数字从三千万到一亿，各种版本都有，不太确定）与远远超过贫富差距警戒线的基尼指数之下，谈单个国民的重要 性，谈国民的崛起（如果一定要用这个词汇的话）可能才是当务之急，不然”大国”谈得多了，云里雾里的，就会觉得拖了国家后腿的穷人们不懂事、不争气，在自 觉不自觉当中就会忽略他们以成就大国梦想，那样的大国，要来做什么

China is also a complex which are quite difficult to penetrate single-handedly. The foreign correspondents and businessmen who are flying over Beijing and Shanghai, like Thomas Friedman, will never truly understand this country for its diversified and even conflicting moral, ethical and cultural agenda. How about the natives? Can Chinese themselves understand its homeland without barrier and prejudice? A post titled “Rising of Giant Power, Blind Men and Elephant”

不错，中国的经济数据很漂亮，而且越来越漂亮，但大家不能不看到，中国是一个奇怪的复合两面体：既是奢侈品消费力最高的国 度之一，又是少有的内需市场十年几无起色的经济快速增长国家；既是近年来法律法规出炉最多的国家，又是公认的法制建设亟待完善的国家；既是最大的高度中央 集权单一制国家，又是地方保护主义猖獗、土政策土法规多如牛毛的国家。在这个国家里，某些地区和另一些地区的发达程度差异，并不比美国与苏丹间的差异小多 少；在这个国家里，社会保障和医疗保障体系之苍白让绝大多数国民惴惴不安，城市和乡村间的户籍鸿沟至今毫无缩小的迹象；在这个国家里，一纸赞住证如老兵般 不死，一个”油改税”的改革近 20年寸步不前……中国是个大国，从来都是；但一个存在如此多问题和隐患的大国，也是前所未有。

外国观察者目光所及，通常只是这头大象的体形、外表，无法探知肌理脏腑，他们望闻问切，发表着对这头巨象得各种观感心得，但这些或铿锵、或悠扬的大哉之言，却只能是盲人摸象得来的体会罢了

As for the segment of Chinese people who has been synchronized with globalized lifestyle and enjoying their social status quo, what did they think about their homeland? Is it already giant power as our Chinese banks are breaking IPO records or Beijing will hold Olympics in 2008? Economically, yes; culturally, probably not. Wang Xiaofeng, another opinion leader in Chinese blogosphere:

现在不是大国崛起这个话题时髦么，大国乃至超级大国的标志是什么？首先你经济实力要强，国民生产总值至少要占全世界的一 半。不好说美国现在是否占到一半，但他们在最强大的时候确实超过了一半，所以对全世界经济有”控股权”，所以就有话语权，所以他们就有制定游戏规则的权 利，所以他们说宋祖英是世界音乐她就是世界音乐，说宋祖英是说唱你也得听着。这就叫霸权逻辑。

我觉得，美国那边有点什么风吹草动，我们这边都心神不宁，一个破奥斯卡，逼着张艺谋拍了一堆烂大片。一个破格莱美，也整天 让我们念念不忘。现在的中国吧，一个貌似大国却与一帮穷光蛋为伍，正卡在嫌贫爱富的裤裆上，什么判断都别别扭扭的。中国在世界上似乎有制定游戏规则的投票 权，但却又没有最终裁判权，所以我们老产生幻觉，看云的时候很近，看你的时候很远。就这样被弄得乎乎悠悠的，干什么都不那么理直气壮.

I always felt that whenever there are anything happening in USA, trivial or not, we would react sensitively and nervously. The Academy Award has impulsed Zhang Yimou to direct a bunch of B-movies. Now the Grammy Award makes us concerned. Today’s China seems to be a giant teamed up with a gang of busted losers, who is stuck into the way while despises the poor and favors the rich, with its judgment distorted. China has the vote power on world’s game but without ruling power. So illusion were always lingering on our minds and rendering us a hasty view of what is in front of us. We are fooled. We can’t do anything assure

There are two persons named Friedman in the news recently. The first Friedman is Milton Friedman, Nobel laureate and one of the key figures among the free market economists and advocates, who just died on Nov. 16th in San Francisco. Another Friedman, though less prominent in academic field but much more well-known within the circle of globalized elites and business opportunities seekers, Thomas L Friedman, New York Times Op-Ed columnist and the author of best selling non-fiction “The World Is Flat“, who is touring Chinese metropolis, giving his always-the-same talks on how the advancement in communication technologies are leveraging the playing field for people across the ocean and continents.

Photo courtesy of Keso 

Interestingly and accidentally, both of the two Friedman have visited China for several times, and both were acting as convey from the free and liberal West, persuading China, along with its immense labor and huge market, to open its border and play a key role in global competition. Their major difference is that, however, Milton Friedman came to China to talk with highest officials like Jiang Zeming and Zhao Ziyang on how to embrace the future trend, while the latter has come quietly, acting as an evangelical of Silicon Valley and receiving attention from media limelight spontaneously. How that counts? At least, it shows that the people from Great Middle Kingdom are now much familiar and welcoming the idea and life of been involved in the global playing field of business, technology and national interdependence, or the “Flattened World” as Thomas Friedman has been putting persistently in his book.   

Milton Friedman first came to China on the eve of rising consensus of market-oriented economy and the edge of student movement, which demands democracy consequently as a result of economic growth. Wu Xiaobo, who has been blogging on Mindmeters(one of the most read group blogs in China) on history of Chinese entrepreneurs and enterprises in 80s and early 90s, has wrote a note, telling an anecdote about him:

张五常陪同1976年诺贝尔经济学奖得主米尔顿·弗里德曼访问中国，他们受到了中央领导人的接见，弗里德曼是当时国际最知名的价格理论和货币理论大师，在会谈中，一向坚持自由市场的他极力主张中央政府应该放开价格管制，他认为中国的改革到了”最后的时刻”，在四川考察时，弗里德曼对四川省长说，”如果你想把老鼠的尾巴砍断的话，不要慢慢地一截截地砍，一下砍掉就行了，长痛不如短痛。”省长请教说”教授先生，你知道我们中国的老鼠是不同的，它们有很多不同的尾巴互相纠缠在一起，您先砍哪一根？”弗里德曼耸耸肩，没有回答。事后，张教授发表文章说，”我是有答案的，但我当时没有说，我的答案是，把所有的尾巴都一同砍掉。”邓小平采用了弗教授的建议，决定物价闯关，结果天下大乱

Zhang Wuchang accompanied Nobel Prize economist winner in 1976, Milton Friedman to visit China and met with the leaders from central government. Friedman was the most renowned guru of currency and price theories. In his talks, he always insisted to his utmost that the central government abandon its price control policies from his free-market point of view. He thought that the reform in China had come to a critical “last point”. In visiting Szechuan Province he told to the provincial governor:”If you want to cut the tail of a mice, don’t cut it segment after segment. Cut it together. Growing pain must be more exhausting.” The governor replied:”Mr Professor, the Chinese mouse is much different. All their tails are tied and bundled together, which one do you want to cut at first?” Mr Friedman shrugged and did not reply. Prof. Zhang published an article afterwards, said:”I have the answer but I did not utter it. My answer is to cut the tails altogether.” Deng Xiaoping adopted the suggestion of Prof. Friedman to lift and loosen prize control, only leading into national disorder.

So, gone is the mastermind of Liberal economist and probably the person inadvertently pushing the market reform of Chinese economy, do people, specifically Chinese people, commemorate and remember him as a giant? Not so, at least for the audience of mass media, mass consumption and mass culture. For this group of people, who worked in English-speaking multinationals and killed their time on Wifi surfing in Starbuck, Thomas Friedman is the only Friedman they can recognize, because his theory represented their dream of NASDAQ listing and overnight wealth, since in the flat world you would be equally cutting-edge and competitive with your American counterparts. But, is this vision of born-all-equal real and practical, against the reality of war on terror, nuclear proliferation, Islamic extremism and growing social stratification? Zhang Liang, a journalist who has dinned with him and conducted a mini interview, wrote on his blogs about Thomas Friedman’s own concerns about side-effect of globalization:

看《世界是平的》的最大感触是，作者对于全球化的进程和结果实在过于乐观了。但无论是NB学者，如John Gray，还是参与到具体实践中，同时也是NB学者的Stiglitz，都意识到，全球化是个复杂、不容乐观，甚至也许不会有好结果的进程。

When reading “The World Is Flat” my deepest impression is that the author’s over- optimism toward the process and outcome of globalization. But a real outstanding intellectuals like John Gray or Stiglitz, with their own first-hand experience and practices, realized that the process of globalization is much complex and less optimistic, and even can end up in disaster. 

无论在演讲时，还是饭桌上，Tom都在说一个问题：世界是平的，世界是不公平的，世界是残酷的。比如，如果中国不能解决好环境问题，那么未来投资就会快速转到其他国家去。没错，过去2个世纪里，作为世界工厂的英国和美国有着漫长的时间改善自己的环境，但中国没有这个机会了——饭碗和环境必须兼得，否则就什么都没有。

Whether on the podium or dinning table, Tom is always talking about one topic: the world is flat;the world is unfair; the world is cruel. For instance, if China can’t resolve its environmental issues, the future investment would rapidly flow to other countries. Yes, it’s right. In the past two centuries, UK and US, as the former manufacturers of the world, have a lot of time to improve their environment, but China do not have such a chance: either living and environment simultaneously,  or nothing.

他的假设也许是对的，但问题是，这的确不是一个可以乐观对待的问题：想两者兼得实现软着陆，几乎是没有可能的，或者一定会带来大量的”不满”，以及接下来的连锁反应。

His hypothesis may be right. But the real question is something that can’t be sovled with too much optimism. It’s almost impossible to solve the two conflicting issues concurrently and harmlessly. Or it can bring too many dissatisfactions and chained effects.

How do such an argument can convince people of higher education to neglect the approaching reality? One of his tactics is of course, a kind of rhetorics: repeating it over and over again, as Flypigs wrote:

弗里德曼是个优秀的思想者吗？或许是的。但又或许，这很难在一天的时间内充分地体现出来。如果时隔一年依然听到他在长篇累牍并且原封不动地背诵那个“哦天呐，他在告诉我世界已经被铲平，世界是平的！”的故事，如果一个仅仅参观了上海就对中国记者们说“别再对我说中国是一个发展中国家”的美国专栏作家在回答大部分提问时几乎都在玩“太极推手”的话，你会作何感想呢？

Is Mr Friedman a really good thinker? Maybe yes. Maybe not. This is something that can not be showed sufficiently within one day. How do you think if after one year you can still hear that he repeatedly and invariably cites his representative phrase:”Oh My God! The world is flattened! The world is flat!”?  How do you think when answering question, this American columnist, who have only visited Shanghai and then told Chinese reporters not to mention “China is a developing country”, always played with Yin Yang tactics to avoid sharp questions?

但不论是在《世界是平的》或者这一天的两场讲演中，找到这些痕迹似乎对于我这种粗枝大叶的家伙来说都是件并不轻松的任务。这一天最大的收获，大约就是学到了表达“Oh my god!”的n种表达方式 

Whether from his book “The World is Flat” or his speech during the two days, it is not an easy job for negligent people like me to find some hints. What I learned at that day is the numerous way to express “Oh My God!”.

Another interesting point is how Thomas Friedman, as a columnist, was received  by his Chinese counterparts? Obviously beside the greeting from NASDAQ-dreaming, tech-savvy and business-starting guys, this mumbling American was naturally suspected by serious writers, who worried that China’s problems can not be solved in such a single-directed way. Xu Zhiyuan, journalist and columnist for Financial Times Chinese website rebuked on FTChinese.com:

这个上海沉睡了四十年，苏醒过来，并因新力量的到来带上了新的色彩。尽管夸耀自己是一座典型的商业城市，但政治的色彩却无处不在。在过去的两个月中，一桩本地政府的丑闻暴露了权力与金钱的结合与相互利用是多么的显著。这座超过1300万人口的城市，也因为政治的压力，而没有一家值得尊敬的新闻机构，电视网络、报纸、杂志是用来传播时尚、消费、衣着、流行话语的所用的，它们热衷于评选女性化的美男子，举办浮华却空洞的 “风尚大典”，夜色下的黄埔江行驶的是架着巨大广告牌的游船，它和两岸的各种闪耀的霓虹灯光的商标牌一样，既诉说这座城市的自认的骄傲，也刺激着更多的人加入这场游戏——这座城市总是需要这样的强心剂，更昂贵的房价，更多的消费品，和类似的世界博览会这样的浩大行为。

Shanghai had been sleeping for forty years and waked up, stained with new color leading from the emergence of new power. Though claiming to be a typical commercial city, the hue of politics is everywhere. In a past two months, a scandal about the local government broke out, which showed how notable the connection between political power and money is. There is no respectable news organizations in this city with more than 13 million population because of political pressure. The TV networks, newspaper and magazines are all for the purpose of spreading fashion, consumption, clothing and pop culture. They are busy holding talent show for feminine boys and dashing but empty fad shows. Yachts are cruising on the Huang Pu River during the night, with its advertising billboard dazzling same as the neon lights along the river bank. They are telling self-pride of this city while stimulating more people to take part in the game. After all, this city always needs such strong catalyzer, more expensive house price, more consumer commodities and carnivals like World Expo.

在那个下午，我突然感觉到站在讲台上的托马斯·弗里德曼与上海在气质上是如此的相配。这位《纽约时报》的专栏作家的著作像是一本广告语大全，“Dos资本主义”、“凌志汽车与橄榄树”、“全球化3.0 ”，他迷恋于简化世界，用一种浅薄物质需求来取代人类内心深刻的生活意义的需求。

At that afternoon, I suddenly felt that Thomas Friedman, standing on the podium was so suitable for the temperament of Shanghai. This NYT columnist’s book is replete with ad slogans: “Dos Capitalism”,  “Lexus and oliver trees” “Globalization 3.0″. He was fascinated with the simplified world, substituting the needs for people to find profound meaning of life with superficial needs for material. 

At last, as a long time best-selling author, we should take a look at his book. Though we have known his agenda and argument already from his speech since his speeches around the world tend to be summarizing his whole book. Raymond Zhou, senior columnist and editor at China Daily wrote a book review on his blog:

对我来说，该书的前三分之二基本上属于老生常谈，如果你平时阅读主流媒体，里面的例子许多都上过封面故事。至于理论，也没有超出微观经济学+对外贸易基础课的范畴。简而言之，科技的迅速发展和经济全球化，消除了经济活动中的种种壁垒，使得世界趋于“平坦”……

For me, the first two third of this book is barely home truth. If you read mainstream media regularly, many examples presented in the book have been on cover stories. For the theoretical part it did not exceed the scope of Microeconomics and International Trade lessons. In short, the development of technologies and globalization of economy have removed the various barriers for business activities, thus flattening the World…….   

另一句咱们领导人会觉得很中听的，是引述《共产党宣言》中的一大段，是一位哈佛政治理论教授告诉弗里德曼的。书中引用了大约一页。令人惊讶的是，马克思和恩格斯在这一页的篇幅中，把弗里德曼花了两三百页才讲完的内容概括了起来，而且说得极为精彩。这篇1848年出版的文章，只要把“资产阶级”改成“企业家”，完全适用于当今世界。真是神人！

Another thing that will content our Dear Leaders is that his citation of Communist Manifesto, which was told by a Harvard professor of politic theory to Friedman. There is about one entire page in the book dedicated to citing it. Amazingly Marx and Engels have put their ideas so concise and splendid in this one page while Friedman takes 2 or 3 hundred pages to describe these ideas. This articles published in year 1848 was completely suitable for today’s world by substituting “capitalist” with “entrepreneurs”. How genius they are!

ZH.Wikipedia exceed 100,000 entries

Originally uploaded by undersound.

ZH wikipedia exceed more than 100, 000 entries today!!! Bravo!!!! Head on!!!!!

Free hugs in Beijing

Originally uploaded by redredpei.

Free Hug

So gorgeous!!!

以许知远为代表的知识分子的悲观主义，虽然不普遍倒是很典型，因为他们代表了在这个资本消费世界中非大众文化如何被粉碎和被市场的力量所消解，从而感到自我失落的心态。是啊，他们忧心忡忡，忧国忧民，富于思考力，只是这些词汇本身的褒贬却被这个社会所疑问，因为除了NASDAQ股价和SK-2是否重新上市以外，我们并不关心我们的过去和将来。只有现在而已。

Title: My Country My People
Source:FTChinese.com
Copyright: Copyrighted source material. Not eligible for republication and any other commercial usages.
Translated by: Frank Dai

我在书桌前，坐立不安，头脑中被杂乱的碎片所充斥。我要开始为金融时报FT中文网写一组专栏，主题是年轻的知识分子如何看待中国。我今年正好30岁，出生的1976年普遍被视作中国历史的分水岭之一，中华人民共和国的奠基人毛泽东、周恩来与朱德都在那年去世，十年文化大革命结束了，中国处于崩溃的边缘和新生的前夜。

I am sitting down by my desk in a fidget. My mind is replete with scrap and fragments. I am going to write a column for FTChinese.com, on the topic of how the young intellectuals are perceiving China. I am at the age of 30 this year. The year 1976 in which I was born is generally regarded as the dividing line of Chinese history. The founders of the republic were gone in that year: Mao Zedong, Zhou Enlai and Zhu Dei. The decade of Cultural Revolution was ended. China was on the edge of collapse and eve of reborn. 

我的个人经历在某个浅薄的程度折射了这三十年中国的变化。我出生在江苏北部一个小乡村，父亲那时是铁道兵一名连级干部，在中国革命的发源地之一的吕梁山区修建铁路。他的运气不够好，尽管在县城里成绩优异，却无缘上大学，当兵是这些农家孩子摆脱出身的唯一出路，在彼时，解放军是国家的骄傲，不管是保卫边疆，还是在山沟里铺设铁轨。

My personal experience can to some minor degree reflected the changes in China during past three decades. I was born in a small village in the north of Jiangsu Province. My father was a military officer of company level, building railway at the womb of revolutionaries: Lv Liang Range. He was not lucky enough. Though he got high marks on county’s exam, he was rejected by university. The only way the children from the countryside can get rid of their rural identities is to join in the army. At that time it is a national pride to be a member of PLA , whether his job is to guard the national board or build railway in the valley.

我在1983年来到北京。在邓小平决定裁减的100万军队中，铁道兵首当其冲，父亲脱下军装，成了铁道部的一员，幸运地分配到了首都。我对于八十年代中国的记忆甚少，印象里那是个充满着朝气的年代，女排获得世界冠军，知识分子在《河殇》里探讨中国命运，而街上则有了红裙子与牛仔裤，农民获得了在自己的土地上种什么庄稼和怎么种的权力，没人怀疑执政党， “小康社会”比起昔日伟大的革命理想，更令人憧憬……

I came to Beijing in 1983. In Deng Xiaoping’s disarmament plan, the railway army was the among the first targets. My father was retired and assigned to an position at the Department of Railway Transportation in the Capital. My memory for the 80s was far-between. In my impression it was an era of youthful spirit. The female volleyball has won a world champion. The intellectuals were discussing the fate of China on the TV series “Cry At The River”. There were jeans and red skirts on the streets. The countrymen were granted with the right to decide what and how to grow their crops. Nobody was suspecting the ruling party. The “well-off society” was much more appealing than yesterday’s vision for great revolution…….

1989年5月时，我恰好住在长安街旁，整天为能否考上重点中学忧心忡忡。电视里不断播放军车被烧、学生占据天安门的报道。我记得班里的一名女生，住在长安街的另一边，为了让她正常上学，两名男生每天去接他，他们三人都看到了长安街上燃烧的火堆。在我的青春期，政治的冷漠是社会的普遍情绪。1995年进入北京大学时，蔡元培时代的兼容并包早已是昔日的传奇，甚至八十年代的浪漫主义气质也消失殆尽。大学正变成了一个流水线式的加工厂。我们被教育成一个讨人喜欢的工作者，年轻人对诗歌、理想失去了兴趣，IBM与宝洁公司招聘会上人头攒动。大学不再是新思想的实验场，而是工作前的培训中心。

In the May of 1989 I happened to live by the Changan Street, worrying about entering the first-rated high schools. The TV is on live with reports on how the military vehicles were burn and the square was occupied by the students. I still remembered that a girl in my class, who lived in another end of Changan Street, was picked up by two of my boy classmates in order to make her attendance regular. All of them witnessed the inflaming fire near the Changan Street. In my adolescence the indifference toward politics was normal and prevailing. When I entered Bejing University in 1995, the principle of “Diversity and Tolerance” in Cai Yuanpei’s era was only the legend of yesterday. Even the romantic blood of 80s was gone too. The university was becoming more of a factory with assemble line. We are educated on how to be a popular workers. The youth lost their interests in poems and ideals. Instead, the job fair of IBM and P&G was crowded. The university is no longer the place where new thinking can play around, but a training center for pre-work drill.

告别大学生活前，一场dot.com席卷了中国城市，它可能是我这一代人最浪漫的经历。硅谷的技术天才正像是鲍勃·迪伦与麦克卢汉的继承人，《连线》则是新时代的《滚石》，他们都把旧世界撕开了一道裂缝。我们都是全球化毫不保留的拥护者，我们理解的全球化就是美国化，且颇为自得的认定,我们与那种浅薄的美国推崇者不同，它不仅是麦当劳、可口可乐与好莱坞电影，更重要的是，它有林肯的政治理想、爱默生的个人主义和哈佛大学的自由教育。

Before waving goodbye to college life, the wave of .com swept all Chinese cities. That’s the probably the most romantic experience of our generation. The geeks of silicon valley were endowed with the genius of Bob Dylan and Mcluhan. Wired Magazine is the Rolling Stone of the new era. They ripped a crack on the Old World. We were the firmest advocates of globalization, which in our viewpoint equals to Americanization, and we were so self-righteous that we thought ourselves to be distinct with superficial adorers of America. It did not only mean McDonald, Coca Cola and Hollywood to us but the most important thing is that they owns the political ambitions of Lincoln, individualism of Emerson and free education in Harvard University.

毕业前，我成为了一名dot.comer，第一个月的工资相当于我母亲一年的收入。网络泡沫破灭了，我又成了一名新闻记者，中国的出版物不再仅由官方控制，一些以市场基础的报纸、杂志，正学习用《纽约时报》、《商业周刊》的口吻报道中国。在1999年至2003年的几年中，我被一种强烈的乐观情绪左右着。

Before graduation I became a dot.comer. My salary in the first month equals to my mother’s income in one year. When the bubble was busted I became a journalist then. The Chinese publications were no longer controlled by government. Some market-oriented newspapers and magazines are learning to report news in a New York Times and Business Week styles. Between 1999 and 2003 I was dominated by strong sense of optimism.

中国正在成为世界最伟大的故事，它保持了四分之一世纪的高速经济增长；全球化与信息革命使得我毫不怀疑自己正与纽约、伦敦、东京的青年站在同一个起跑线上，我们听同样的音乐、看同样的电影，用同一种Windows操作系统；市民空间日益扩大，新兴的中产阶级可能将最终导致一个民主中国的出现……我相信，中国必然将成为世界的一部分，成为类似美国那样的国家，以至于1999年中国驻南斯拉夫使馆被轰炸时，我没有太多愤怒，并且怀疑游行的队伍的真诚性——我知道我的同学们都在拼命获得前往美国的签证。

The China itself is becoming the most wonderful narratives on the world. Its economy kept booming at fast pace within a quarter of century; globalization and info tech make me firmly believed that we are on the same starting line with youngsters from New York, London and Yokyo alike. We are listening to the same music, watching the same movies and using the same Windows operating system; the ever expansion of civil sphere and rising of middle class would eventually lead to the birth of democracy in China. I believed that China would be integrated as a part of the world and become countries like America. So when Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia was bombed I was not so much angry and begin to suspect how genuine they were–I knew that all my classmates were striving for American visa.

我不清楚到底是什么原因促使了这种乐观情绪的消失。过去20年中，中国的知识分子迷信过各种东西，我们迷恋过市场，迷恋过技术，互联网将导致信息的自由流通，将打破政治权力对信息的垄断；迷恋过消费主义，它将消解极权主义……

I don’t know what has prompted the disappearance of such optimism on me. In the past 20 years the Chinese intellectuals have been superstitious with various kind of stuff: we had been fascinated with the market and technology, believing that the free flow of information would break up the political power’s monopoly against information.  

但是，一切的结果都与我们最初想象的不同。一个外来者与生活其中的人对一个社会的感受是截然不同的。我对于中国的乐观情绪，很大程度受西方报道影响。那些跨国公司的首席执行官，《时代》的记者和到访的政要，他们住在北京、上海的五星级酒店里，看到新建的高楼大厦里、宽阔的公路，交谈的则是一小群中国的全球化了的精英，他们总是在谈论中国庞大的市场、令人惊讶的劳动力储备，中国的官员们的效率体验在对经济增长的迷恋。他们面对的是一个商业力量从所有的伦理、政治、文化束缚中摆脱出来的中国，一个不顾一切要生产与消费的中国。

However everything tends to be different from our initial imagination. The perception of a society for an outsider and insider are totally different. My optimism for China was largely influenced by the reports on China from foreign media. The CEO of multinationals, journalists from Time Magazine and visiting leaders are people who lived in the five-starred hotel, seeing the newly established skyscrapers and broad boulevard, chatting with a few of globalized elites in China. They were always talking about huge Chinese market and amazing labour reservation. The Chinese officials are fascinated with economical growth and efficient productivity. The country they are dealing with wants to get rid of all boundaries of ethnics, politics and culture by manipulating the power of commerce, who want to produce and consume regardless of any obstacles.

但是，生活在这个社会中的人却必须承担另一些东西。中国已成为一个价值失衡、庸俗、焦虑的社会。为中国人提供内心安定感的因素大都已消失，传统早已失效，不管是儒家思想，还是共产主义理想。但新的价值观则迟迟未来，北京街头与华北乡村的墙壁上，粉刷着各种新标语招贴，让人想起文革时的口号，往往成为人们嘲讽的对象。知识分子则在过去十年的社会变革中，彻底失语了，政治上冷感，更无力应对市场变革与大众文化的兴起。就像托马斯·卡莱尔所说的，金钱是这个社会唯一的连接点，更糟的是，金钱还并非是那种”利润面前人人平等的金钱”，在大部分时刻，它与政治权力紧密相联。

But other people living in the same society must bear something else. China is becoming the country in which a lack of balanced value, general philistinism and anxiety is widely popular. The factors contributing to stable state of mind of Chinese are gone. The tradition is out of date, whether it’s Confucius or communism, without new values looming at large. The walls painted with all kinds of slogan, which can be found in the rural area of Beijing and North China, were usually the targets for satire and irony. The intellectuals are completely out of words in the social changes during the last decade, who can not cope with the social revolutions and rising of mass culture. Money is the only node connecting the society as said by Thomas Carlyle. The worst of it is that the money is not the one presented in sayings such as “money is equal to all men” but closely connected to political power.

一种讥讽一切的犬儒主义已盛行，人们不愿意严肃地谈论任何话题。在谈论中国社会旺盛的生命力时，我们会发现，这种生命力中缺乏生气勃勃的成分，更多是一种没任何禁忌的嚣张。

A kind of cynicism is prevailing, which tried to sneer at almost everything. People are reluctant to talk about any serious topics. When talking about the vitality of Chinese society, we can find out that there is a lack of thriving nutrition in such vitality. Rather, it’s a hubris without any taboo.

整个20世纪，国人用各种主义、各种理论解释中国。但中国人的真实生活总是被这些抽象的主义所吞噬。历史的连续性、日常生活的细微性、个人的命运，总是被历史洪流冲刷。以至于，作为一个30岁自认为是知识分子的青年人来说，谈起自己国家时倒像个陌生人。我经常怀疑，我对大英博物馆对面那几家小书店的熟悉程度，可能要超过我对北京南城的理解。

During the whole 20th century the Chinese tried to interpret China from various theories and -ism, but the real life of Chinese are always swallowed by such abstract -ism. The continuity of history, the subtlety of daily life and fate of individuals were washed out by the wave of history. For me, a thirty-something who claimed to be a young intellectual, to talk about my homeland is to feel like a stranger. I often suspected that I was more familiar with some book stores in opposite to British Museum than with the south of Beijing city.

但的确到了这样一个时刻， 中国青年知识分子必须从他们的角度来描述与解释自己所生活的国家，这种描述与解释正是这个社会目前最匮乏，因为对自己从哪里来，又将到哪里去深感迷惘，中国社会正陷入一种深重的焦虑中，对于物质的崇拜难以长期充当这种缺乏价值的替代物。

But it came to a critical moment in which Chinese young intellectuals must describe and interpret the country they are living in. That’s the thing in scarcity in this society because they are bewildered with where they came from and where they are going. Chinese society was thrown into deep anxiety because the worship against money can not substitute the value for long time.

“当今中国最重要的事件之一，是中国青年知识分子正在重新认识自己的国家。” 在介绍林语堂1935年出版的《吾国吾民》中，美国作家赛珍珠写道。整整七十年过去了，我们不仅没有进步，甚至大步后退了。整整七十年中，仍没有人比林语堂更从容、有趣、兴致昂然的描绘了中国的过去与未来。

“The most important current event in China is that the Chinese young intellectuals must re-recongnize his country.” American writer Pearl Buck wrote on her introduction to the book “My Country, My People” by Lin Yutang. Seventy years have been passed and we did not make any progress, or even go backward in great stride. For seventy years nobody other than Lin Yutang has depicted the past and future of China in such a leisured, interesting and cheering way.

我无意成为严格意义上的专栏作家，告诉你中国现状如何，有何种解决方案。以后的专栏系列，更像是一种个人的经历、经验加上观察，它激起的头脑风暴可能比它提供的清晰分析更多。但它的确是一个年轻知识分子看待自己国家的真实努力，尽管这种努力困难重重并可能注定失败。但每个社会乃至每位个人，不都是在对自身命运与境况的探讨中，获得生活之意义吗？

I don’t want to be columnist in strict sense, telling you the current situation of China and coming up with the ideas to solve its problems. This column would be more of personal experience and observation. The brainstorm it triggered off would provide more than what it will analyze. But it’s the genuine effort by a young Chinese intellectual to perceive his own country, which might fail in spite of all difficulties. But should every society and every men derive the meaning of life from the discussion of their own situation and destiny?

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Originally uploaded by Aether Woo.

On the panel “From China To World, From World to China”, in Chinese Blogger Conference, Oct 28th, Hangzhou.

Panelists(from right to left): Rebecca, Issac, me, John Kennday, Chow Sze Cheng and Portnoy.
See Rebecca’s post
Video Recording(partial) of the session

IE鸟枪换炮啦，竞争对手还在不慌不忙，这场战争谁胜谁负，还要拭目以待。