I am a Chinese writer. Allow me to say a few words about my country. Everyone
knows that in the past thirty years China has built countless skyscrapers,
commissioned countless airports, and paved countless freeways. My country’
s GDP is the world’s second largest and her products are sold in every
corner of the planet. My compatriots can be seen on tour in London, New
York and Tokyo wearing expensive clothes, chattering raucously. My compatriots
also fill up casinos and line up to buy LV bags. People exclaim in amazement:
China is rising, the Chinese are rich! But behind this facade of power and
prosperity there are details of which many people are unaware, and it is
precisely these details that make my country a very strange place.
Living in China is like watching a play in a giant theatre. The plots are
absurd and the scenarios are unbelievable─so absurd, so unbelievable that
they are beyond any writer’s imagination.
My country manufactures powdered milk containing melamine, feeds fish and
shrimp contraceptive medications to enhance their growth, uses industrial
alcohol in fake wine, preserves beancurd with human excrement, and produces
“gutter oil,” the product of a notorious practice in which waste oil from
gutters outside restaurants is recycled for human consumption.
In my country, the legal system works like this: countless laws are enacted,
and then countless procedures are created, followed by countless enforcement
regulations and detailed judicial interpretations, but ultimately it is
up to the political leaders to decide who wins and who loses a case.
In my country, many cases cannot be pursued in the courts. Even if legal
action is taken, courts can refuse to hear a case. Even if the case is heard
in court, the judgement is made well before the hearing starts.
In my country, many innocent people disappear, and some people lose their
freedom without ever being sentenced by a court. Some people attempt to
have their grievances addressed at a higher level by following procedures
prescribed in law. These people are branded “petitioners.” In my country,
the word petitioner conveys the sense of a nuisance, a mentally ill person,
a terrorist. To deal with these petitioners, the government mobilises a
huge amount of resources to herd them home, jail them, and in a particularly
creative measure, incarcerate them in insane asylums.
Recently a famous petitioner, a blind lawyer called Chen Guangcheng has
attracted a lot of attention. Chen is an advocate for people’s rights and
dignity. At this very moment, he is a prisoner in his own home. Many people,
including myself, have attempted to visit Chen but all have been chased
away by government employed thugs.
In my country, there are many peculiar ways to die in detention and officials
are more creative than a novelist like me in coming up with explanations:
died playing hide-and-seek; died while dreaming; died of psychosis; died
sipping water. But in all cases the bodies of those who die in custody are
covered in bruises and wounds.
In my country, every city has demolition crews equipped with bulldozers
and truncheons. The bulldozers are for levelling people’s homes and the
truncheons are for bludgeoning stubborn homeowners. To protect their homes,
some homeowners beg on their knees, others cry, and some threaten to kill
themselves or even actually self immolate. But nothing can stand in the
way of the demolition crews and no official is ever brought to account when
demolitions result in deaths.
In my country, elections are a charade─the government decides the results
in advance. Their candidates are always elected. Very often people are asked
to elect two out of two candidates. Other times, elections even defy basic
math─three winners can be elected from two candidates. Every five years
there is a national election and the winners are called people’s representatives
but the majority of them only represent the government.
One woman in her seventies, for example, has been a people’s representative
for over fifty years and yet she has never tabled a motion, and never once
voted against a motion. Her job is simple. All she has to do is raise her
hand and she can live a comfortable life for performing this task. In recent
years some people have attempted to compete in these elections without receiving
government approval. These people almost always lose and often suffer miserably
for their actions.
In my country, government-run relief organisations engage in human trafficking;
intellectually-disabled people slave away in factories and mines; pregnant
women are coerced to have abortions and infants are taken by force to be
handed over to orphanages. These infants then are sold to other regions
and even foreign countries if their parents cannot come up with the cash
to buy them back.
In my country, the job of the press and electronic media is to promote
the government, not to report the truth. The education system is tasked
with instructing the people to be loyal to the government and keeping the
people ignorant, not with disseminating knowledge. As a result, many people
have never grown up intellectually even though they are adults. Even today,
many people in my country still are nostalgic for the catastrophic Cultural
Revolution that ended over thirty years ago and still promote the cult of
personality. Some people still deny that the unprecedented great famine of
the early 1960s ever occurred, and insist that the millions of deaths by
starvation is a fabrication.
In my country, every academic undertaking must serve the interests of the
government. Academics must fabricate history in accordance with the government’
s political interests. Economists must develop economic theories to support
the government’s political agenda. In my country, leaders invent truths
and their pronouncements are applied to every field of human endeavor, be
it political, economic, cultural, or even animal husbandry.
In my country, the government claims to have eradicated classes, but in
reality, class divisions are glaringly obvious. The highest class enjoys
exclusively produced foods while the lower classes are left to consume contaminated
and dangerous products. Children of the dominant class study at opulent
private schools, while children of the second-class study at ordinary schools.
The third class attend shabby schools for migrant workers and the fourth
class, well, they don’t get to go to school at all.
My county takes delight importing the latest jet airplanes and providing
aid to foreign countries, despite destitute beggars roaming the land at
home, despite many of her people being unable to afford medical care, despite
many children being too poor to go to school and despite a huge number of
people living in poverty.
In my country, informing on others is encouraged. The government has a
secret dossier on every single citizen which records everything about us
until the day we die─from innocent remarks about us to unsubstantiated
accusations as well as many things we don’t even know about ourselves.
Secret agents in factories, schools and residential neighbourhoods covertly
record everything people say and do. The atmosphere is oppressive─people
do not trust the government, employees do not trust employers, students
don’t trust teachers, and wives do not trust husbands.
In my country, there is a strange system that rewards liars, and with the
passage of time, people have become accustomed to lying. People lie as naturally
as they breathe, to the point that lying has become a virtue.
In my country, writing is a dangerous occupation. People are sent to prison
for writing essays, or saying a few words of truth. Writers are not allowed
to talk about history, or to criticise the present, let alone fantasise
about the future. Many words cannot be written, many things cannot be spoken,
and many issues cannot be mentioned. Every book has to go through a rigid
censorship regime before it can be published. Many books are banned in my
country, and then become bestsellers overseas.
My country is capable of launching a satellite into space but not of building
a safe bridge across a river. My country is capable of building palatial
government offices yet condemns children to substandard schoolhouses. My
country provides millions of luxury cars to government official yet few
safe school buses for children. Only two days ago in Gansu province in China’
s northwest, 64 children were crammed into a nine-seat school bus. Then
there was an accident and nineteen of them died. Most of these children
came from poor families. They had never been to a Mcdonald’s, a KFC, or
a zoo. Their lives ended tragically before they even started.
In my country, extravagant structures have been built one after another
to host one extravagant event after another. However, many citizens considered
“dangerous elements” are forced to leave their own homes in tears whenever
such an event is held. Yet, government officials insist that these people
leave their homes voluntarily.
My country has one of the largest bureaucracies in the world. Most of these
bureaucrats are either bribing or taking bribes. Power is being abused in
every way imaginable and turned into a money-generating tool. According
to publicly available reports, enormous amounts of public funds are wasted
on sumptuous banquets, luxury trips and expensive cars provided to these
bureaucrats. We are talking about 900 billion yuan or over US$140 billion
a year. Some may ask: Why don’t the taxpayers say no to this practice?
I’m sorry, the concept of taxpayers’ rights doesn’t exist in my country.
All we have is the term “the people.”
Some may say, well, this is nothing to get excited about, because corruption
exists in every country, at any time. I agree. But still, I want to say
that if there were degrees to measure the rampancy of corruption, then the
difference between five degrees and a hundred degrees is not merely a difference
in readings─the former shows minor defects, but my country’s rampant corruption
means disaster. I also want to add: It’s wrong to suggest my compatriots
should put up with corruption simply because corruption exists elsewhere.
Chinese people don't deserve a better life because “the quality of the
Chinese people” is low. Believe me, people who say this are themselves
of low quality. The Chinese people should not be given too much freedom
due to China’s “unique situation.” Believe me, people who say this are
themselves perpetuating China’s “unique situation”. Stability is what
China needs the most, not freedom, not human rights. Believe me, people
who say this are themselves contributing to instability.
At the end of 2009 I infiltrated a gang of pyramid scammers. After spending
some time living with them, I realised that the world of pyramid selling
is Chinese society in miniature. A Chinese scholar once defined this kind
of society as being in a “primitive state,” a society that is comprised
of three kinds of people: liars, the deaf and the mutes. The good news is
that Chinese society is moving forward ─now there are more and more liars
and we’re running out of the deaf and the mute.
The English scholar Henry Maine refers to the transition from individuals
bound by social status or belonging to traditional social castes, to a modern
world where people are independent entities free to make contracts on their
own, as the progression of "from status to contract." If this progression
is the benchmark for entering a modern civilised society, then China is
still a nation in a primitive state.
My country was entirely a status-oriented society just over twenty years
ago. What a person could do depended not on that person’s intelligence
and competency. Rather, it depended on who that person’s father was. During
the Cultural Revolution, if someone was deemed a “son of a bitch,” then
his son would be deemed a “son of a bitch,” and many years later his grandson
would also be deemed a “son of a bitch.”
在二十多年之后,情况有了什么变化?我要说,有所进步,可是进步不大。
Twenty years on, is there any progress? Yes, there is, but not much.
In my country, the sons and grandsons of officials are still officials
while second and third generation migrant workers are still migrant workers.
All power, all business and all resources are monopolised. There is almost
no hope for the sons of ordinary citizens to move up. There is no possibility
of them ever becoming an Obama or a Steve Jobs.
In my country, just striving for a normal life is difficult. In fact, in
recent years life has become much harder for the urban population due to
the heavy tax burden, exorbitant housing prices, high inflation and low
wages. Driving a taxi previously provided a good income, but a taxi driver
recently told me he had not eaten meat for several months. He sighed as
we passed a luxury residential estate. “More and more skyscrapers are going
up,” the driver said. “But why is my life getting harder and harder?”
My country has become the world’s largest consumer of luxury goods. And
now, even living and dying in my country have become a luxury. A popular
song encapsulates people’s anxieties:
Can’t afford to have children─caesarians cost five thousand and more
Can’t afford to go to school─a good school costs at least thirty K Can’
t afford an apartment─more than ten thousand for a meter of floor Can’
t afford to get married─no house, no car, no wedding, she’ll say Can’
t afford to get sick─medicine costs an arm and a leg
Can’t afford to die─cremation costs are through the sky
Creativity never flourishes in a status-driven society. That’s why in
every field of endeavor─industry, agriculture, commerce and culture─my
country contributes few innovations and new ideas, but excels at counterfeits
and imitations. I believe that without reforming this rotten system, China
will continue to be a nation that contributes few innovations and new ideas
to mankind. It may have a lot of money but there won’t be much
8
culture left. It may become a mighty military power but it will still be
incapable of making its people feel secure.
People in China have come up with a multitude of explanations for my country’
s numerous problems. Those who want to hold onto power say China has problems
because the Chinese are just a “low quality people.” Therefore, they have
to be controlled and managed. Conservatives say China’s current problems
result from the Chinese people abandoning traditional moral values. Some
religious groups say China’s problems result from the Chinese not having
any faith, and consequently commit evil because they do not fear the wrath
of god.
In my view, everything stems from the rotten system. A system with no restraints
on power can only lead to corruption; a system in which the law exists in
name only turns the law into a deadly weapon high officials use to oppress
the citizenry. In this system, the primary purpose of the police and the
military is to maintain the political rulers in power and inspire terror,
not for making people feel secure. In this system, no one takes responsibility
for the past, present and future.
In this system, people only care about short-term profits. In this system,
not following the rules is the rule, and unscrupulous means are the only
means in government and business so only the dirtiest players emerge victorious.
In this system, everyone is a criminal so no one needs to repent. In this
system, humiliation is felt by everyone, so no matter how much a “harmonious
society” is promoted, the majority of people dream of escaping to a safe
place.
This rotten system is the mongrel of Stalinist-Maoism and Imperial Chinese
political culture, a cross-breed of the rule of the jungle with traditional
Chinese trickery andcommunism. Decades later, this creature now has become
a monster. This monster is vain, tyrannical and arrogant. It never admits
to mistakes. It destroys people in the name of justice and rehabilitates
them, also in the name of justice. It takes credit for everything positive,
and blames others for all failures. It wants to lord over everything and
only tolerates one faith, faith in itself. This monster only allows praise
to one thing, praise to itself. It owns every newspaper, every school, and
every temple. Without its permission, even flowers may not bloom.
This monster may be frail, but it is still resilient. It is terminally
ill, yet it still possesses lethal power. It is dumb yet is also extremely
sensitive─the slightest breeze can set off anxiety attacks, trivial matters
can ignite a towering rage. This rotten system is like a festering tumor
that is poisoning every drop of blood and every nerve cell of my country,
and will ultimately drag the entire nation towards catastrophe.
Wars and man-made catastrophes over thousands of years have taught people
one thing: Power is a monster that kills. Therefore, it must be caged. But
rather than striving for a better system, many Chinese people are still
dreaming of a wise and kind-hearted ruler─a not-so-vicious monster. I believe
this dream will remain a dream because a monster will attack as long as
it is not caged─it is the nature of the beast.
When this powerful monster roars, people become timid. They are content
to be mute as long as they can survive. They neglect their own rights, and
the rights of others. They stand by idly when their neighbour’s home is
bulldozed. When their own homes are bulldozed, other people stand by idly.
In a speech I delivered a month ago I spoke about the responsibilities
of the Chinese people. I said: As citizens of our country, we must know
that every one of us is an owner of our country. We are responsible for
both its goodness and its flaws. We must not pretend we have nothing to
do with China’s problems. We all live on the same planet and no one can
stand by idly. When one person’s freedom is deprived, no one is free; when
one person’s safety is jeopardised, no one is safe. Some people say China
is a nation that behaves as if it doesn’t have a bottom line. I disagree.
I believe there is a bottom line─we are the bottom line. This rotten system
persists because we all have contributed to it, in one way or another─
we are the system. If the system improves, that’s because we have worked
on it. If the system gets worse, that’s also because we have contributed.
To make this country a better country, we first must make ourselves better.
A group of slaves can never build a great nation, but modern citizens can─
citizens who are intelligent and responsible. They not only love themselves,
but also their country. They not only care about their own rights but also
the rights of others; they not only defend their own freedom, but also the
freedom of others; they not only defend their houses, but also their neighbour’
s houses. They will never evade their responsibilities and will speak out
when everyone else is silenced; they will never stop advancing when everyone
else halts in hesitation. To make ourselves better is an honourable process
and we are bound to encounter setbacks and hardship. Despite hardship, more
and more Chinese people now are aware of their responsibilities. They break
the silence, speak the truth, and calmly make suggestions. Some are suffering
for their actions but refuse to be cowered or silenced.
Over two thousand years ago, Confucius said one should only serve the state
if it is righteous, otherwise one should eschew serving the state. However,
to become citizens of a modern society, I say we should criticize the government
if it does not do the right thing, and we should also keep an eye on the
government even if it is already doing the right thing. This is my belief
and this is what will I do for the rest of my life.
Finally, I hope you believe me that I am not a class enemy, nor an over-thrower
of governments. All I want is to cage the monster. Yes, I am criticizing
my country, but that doesn’t mean I hate my country. Rather, I love my
country. I love her splendid mountains and rivers and her great civilization.
I appreciate the suffering she has experienced. In fact, I love my country
even more because of the suffering she has been through. Yes, I am criticizing
her rotten system, but I do not want to see bloodshed while my country is
improving herself. I hope the system will improve gracefully. I hope in
the near future, in my country, flowers of freedom will blossom and children
will smile without fear. I hope in the near future, my country, an ancient
civilization, a land of suffering, will become a nation of prosperity, peace
and freedom, for all.作者: 格丘山 时间: 2011-11-19 12:21 请老海挑挑翻译的毛病，我也可以从中学习作者: 冬雪儿 时间: 2011-11-22 03:43 好的演讲词！
“一个人的不自由则是人人的不自由，一个人的不安全则是人人的不安全。”是这样的。我就说过，我们每个人都是潜在的受难者。如果这个国家如此腐烂下去！
“用大粪熏制的臭豆腐,还有着名的地沟油,这是一种从下水道中提炼出的食用
油,它出现在每个家庭的餐桌上。”——好象这儿有点瑕疵：如“大粪熏制的臭豆腐”，应该不是事实。用的一种对人体有毒的化学品（忘了是一种什么化学品），而不是大粪。再则，地沟油进入每个家庭的餐桌，有点夸张。比如我们（有相当一部分的家庭）用的食用油，都是在正规超市买品牌食用油。当然，我不敢保证我自己没有吃过地沟油。因我去酒店、餐馆吃过饭。好多酒店就是用地沟油。
但瑕不掩瑜。作者: xyy 时间: 2011-11-22 16:08 把怪物關進籠子裡後，如再遇到尼克松（政治寡婦）和基辛格（政治妓女）搭檔，又放出來怎麼辦？
