I’ve not posted any of my translations for quite some time; here’s one I did of a column written by my Newsweek Select colleague.
The Next American President in China
By Chen Xu
How will the Chinese people regard the next American president? No harm in looking back at the previous administrations.
As a child, because I had a high-bridged nose uncommon to Southern Chinese people, my neighbor used to call me “Richard Nixon.” When Chinese people use an adult’s name as a child’s nickname, it generally demonstrates respect and affirmation for the adult in question. In 1972, Richard Nixon’s visit felt like the first peaceful “dawn before the vertical drop.” In that era of preciously expensive televisions and newspapers of unified voice, the United States President was not only an aspect of an incompatible cold war form of consciousness, but also a representative of the entire Western world’s ethnicity, history, culture and way of life. In my hometown, Shanghai, the most Westernized city in China, the last time the ordinary person saw large amounts of European or Americans enter China was more than half a century ago.
When photos of Nixon and Mao’s meeting appeared in The People’s Daily, the Chinese people were unaware that, according to the American president’s request, Chinese photographers cropped out American stenographer Winston Lord. This was for the interest of the country and to act as one sees fit as head of state. Or it could be counted as “do as the Romans do.” At the time, the Chinese media’s news was widely and thoroughly reformed to meet the needs of the government. During interviews, the US president enjoyed the same treatment as Chinese leaders – well-modified news reports. This perhaps astonished Nixon. Happy with any type of special attraction, Nixon led the world’s strongest nation, but also grasped his relative limits and its constraints to power. Four months later, his attempt to more freely use power ultimately discredited his administration.
Several years later, the effort of China’s renewed entrance into the worldwide economic system has made American admirers and scholars out of American enemies. Although Beijing both advocated and repressed this type of admiration and study, Hollywood still quickly returned. (This transition doesn’t make as much sense in English?) Ronald Reagan, known to many Chinese as his previous role as an actor, and for his achievement in breaking up the welfare state, was caught in the Iran Contra Affair; few people questioned the right or wrong of it because the reformed Chinese economy had just begun to take its first steps and had not touched upon the deeper problems of the world economy. It had only an amateur awareness of how the growth of foreign economies so relied on energy.
At one time, because it was relatively sealed off, China didn’t care what an American president did in the US; China only concerned itself with what attitude the US had towards China. The Chinese understanding of American presidential policy was limited to what could be revealed and understood through the US leader’s trips to China, not what he did or said elsewhere.
So, among Chinese people, Bill Clinton received nothing short of a welcome worthy of Bill Clinton. Most Chinese remember his use in endowing China with the Most Favored Nation Status in the WTO, but few clearly understood this Democrat’s intense criticism of China’s human rights. The classic story of this White House master’s extramarital affair with a female student intern was dismissed with a laugh. However, after the 1999 NATO bombing of the Chinese embassy in Yugoslavia, students at a Shanghai university retaliated by creating a comic series detailing Clinton’s Oval Office’s sexual charade on a public bulletin board.
Gradually, the Chinese began to see the contradictions of American presidents. On one hand, the president and his leaders professed to represent and protect the entire free world; on the other hand, he was the chief executive dedicated to unity with government order – it would be impossible not to limit and even violate the freedom of citizens. It was completely opposite from a familiar old Chinese phrase. In regards to freedom, the government’s stance has always been, “Take so that you might give.” After Sept. 11, 2001, for George W. Bush, this contradiction reached a critical point. In addition to inspecting the US’s human rights from the angle of the poor-rich divide, Chinese also took notice of how overly enthusiastic environmental activists were labeled terrorists, just as J. Robert Oppenheimer was labeled a communist in 1953. During Bush’s tenure, “Air Force One” touched down in China a record number of times, but the American president shrank from shouldering the world’s will.
By regulation, this position of public employment must bear its ideal; liberalism seems to have tired of the travel. And when the American housing market collapsed and, via dense interrelated loans of redundant products, the financial markets burst, economic confidence in other domains was also badly shaken.
Very soon, the next American president will appear before a more open China that also has more initiative than ever. Differing from the past, as soon as a candidate enters the primaries, Chinese begin to try to understand him from every angle with a level of familiarity not less than an American’s. Chinese media now have the money to send journalists on transoceanic flights. Successful English-language education and the construction of Internet infrastructure have alleviated the distance between Chinese people and US party politics. China’s economy has already entered the global stage; Sino-American relations have already been extended from country’s interests to individual stakeholders. More and more Chinese have begun to pay attention to how the American president handles the US’s economic affairs, like the most diligent businessperson pays attention to his most important customer’s basic needs.
After the disintegration of the Soviet Union, the US crowned itself as the king with power far and wide. Not more than 20 years later, the USD-tagged global economic system faces a so-called test. When he met with Nixon, Mao said he could only change a few places close to Beijing. This is the cautious opinion of someone surrounded by powerful enemies. Now, Chinese are calm and composed when handling pressing affairs. They’re looking to see how the next president will change Washington, New York, and, specifically, Wall Street.
下一位美国总统在中国
撰文 陈序
中国人会如何看待下一位美国总统？不妨回顾他的几位前任。
小时候，由于长了一个南方汉人中不常见的高鼻子，我被邻居叫做“尼克松”。中国人用一个成人的名字给孩子起绰号，通常是对那个人的尊敬和肯定。1972年2月，理查德·尼克松的到访像是以和平方式对中国进行一次“黎明前的垂直降落”。在那个电视机被珍若拱璧，报纸异口同声的年代，美利坚合众国总统不仅是冷战中势同水火的意识形态的一方，也是整个西方世界人种、历史、文化、生活方式的代表。在我的家乡，当年的上海，中国内地最西方化的城市，普通人最后一次看到欧美人大量入境还是在半个世纪以前。
尼克松与毛泽东会面的照片在《人民日报》上公开发表时，中国人不知道根据美国总统的要求，中方摄影师从合影中除掉了美方记录员温斯顿·洛德。这是为了国家利益，也为了元首便宜行事，或者也能算是入乡随俗。当时，中国媒体上的新闻照片被广泛彻底地改造以适应政治需要。在访问期间，美国总统享受到与中国领袖相同的待遇：精心修饰过的新闻报道。这可能令尼克松本人感到奇异、愉快与某种特别的吸引力，他领导着全球最强大的国家，却掌握着相对小得多的备受掣肘的权力。四个月后，他试图更自由地运用权力，结果身败名裂。
几年后，中国重新融入全球经济体系的努力使美国由被敌视者变为被羡慕者，被学习者。虽然北京对此种羡慕和学习有扬有抑，好莱坞仍然迅速地回来了，罗纳德·里根也因前明星身份为中国人所知，而其拆散福利国家的功过，陷入伊朗事件的是非则少人问津。因为改革刚刚起步的中国还触及不到市场经济的深层问题，经济增长对境外能源的依赖仅止于浅尝。
一度，由于相对封闭，中国人不在乎美国总统对美国干了什么，只在乎他对中国什么态度。由于所知有限，他们更多从美国总统的中国行程来认识他的观点，而不是他在中国之外的言行。
所以，在中国民间，比尔·克s林顿受到了不亚于比尔·盖茨的欢迎。多数中国人记住了他在中国获得永久最惠国待遇和WTO成员资格过程中的作用，却很少人清楚了解这位民主党人对中国人权状况的激烈批评。传统上敌视婚外恋的他们甚至对白宫主人与女实习生之间的风流韵事一笑置之。惟一一次小小的不宽容发生在1999年，北约轰炸中国驻南斯拉夫大使馆后，在上海一所大学的告示栏中，擅长绘画的学生把椭圆形办公室里的故事编成了连环漫画。
渐渐地，中国人发现身为美国总统的矛盾。一方面，他和他领导的国家宣称代表了并保护着整个所谓自由世界；另一方面，他是行政首长，致力于政令统一，不可避免地会限制甚至侵害公民个人自由。与中国人熟悉的一句老话正相反，对于自由，政府的立场往往是“欲予之，先取之”。在2001年9月11日后，在乔治·沃克·布什身上，这一矛盾达到了临界点。中国人从贫富分化以外的新角度来观察美国人权问题，他们注意到环境保护主义者因过激行为被贴上恐怖主义分子的标签，如同1953年J·罗伯特·奥本海默被认定为共产主义分子。在小布什任内，“空军一号”飞抵中国的次数创了纪录，而美国总统所担负的世界性角色却在退缩。作为这份公职被规定必须承担的理想，自由主义似乎已厌倦了远行，而当美国房地产市场崩盘并通过紧密关联的贷款衍生产品冲垮金融市场时，其在经济领域的信心基础也动摇了。
很快，下一位美国总统将出现在更开放更主动的中国面前。不同以往，在他刚刚参加党内预选时，中国人就开始从各个角度了解他，熟悉程度不亚于一个美国人。中国媒体有钱派记者飞赴大洋彼岸，成功的英语教育和互联网基础设施建设使中国人与美国政党政治间的距离日益缩短。中国经济已经进入全面开放阶段，中美关系已经由国家利益相关扩展至个体利益相关。越来越多的中国人开始关注美国总统如何处理本国经济事务，像一个最勤奋的商人关注他最重要的客户的饮食起居。
前苏联解体后，美国加冕为影响力无远弗届的寡人。不到二十年，以美元为核心的全球金融体系却正面临着前所未有的考验。在会见尼克松时，毛泽东说，他只能改变北京附近的几处地方。这是遭强敌环伺者审慎的见解。现在，轮到中国人好整以暇，看下一位美国总统如何改变华盛顿和纽约附近那几处地方，尤其是华尔街。
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