Danwei.org passes on a thoughtful piece in the Wall Street Journal today about China's hostility towards its own diaspora:
今天，单位网给华尔街日报传递了一篇很有内容的文章，有关中国对自己移民的敌意：
Chinese living and working abroad have played an enormous role in the country's economic boom. For years, they have sent money back and offered hope to those at home during periods of calamity and chaos.
生活和工作在海外的中国人在这个国家的经济腾飞中扮演了重要角色。年复一年，他们把钱寄回来，给那些在国内处于灾难和混乱期间的人提供了希望。
Yet holding a foreign passport doesn't make these expatriates any less Chinese. Of all people, they are expected to be most attuned to the complex realities of life in China. When they fall short, they are treated with official suspicion and individual disdain.
然而拿着外国护照并没有使这些移民不像中国人。在所有人中，他们被期待是最能迎合中国生活的复杂现实的人。当他们无法达到标准的时候，人们常以官方的怀疑和个人的鄙夷来对待他们。
Being an American-born Chinese, I can't claim to be one of those expats the Journal's talking about. But I'm every bit a part of the larger diaspora, and my own experiences in China reflect some of the same cultural friction. In conversations with mainland Chinese, I've often found myself at a loss when the topic of my origins comes up.
作为一名生在美国的中国人，我不能说自己是日报所提到的那些移民中的一个。然而我感觉确实是移民中的一部分，而我自己在中国的经历反映了相同的文化摩擦的一部分。在和中国大陆人的交谈中，在提到我的血统的话题时，我总是感到很困惑。
The question seems straightforward enough in English: "Are you American?" On the face of it, the phrase is simply a reference to citizenship or nationality (with perhaps some veiled reference to consumer values). In China, however, the term meiguoren can carry a kind of weight that wouldn't necessarily be apparent to first-time visitors -- especially if the person claiming to be American happens to look Chinese. Using the loaded term is a surefire way for a Chinese-American to get judged, one way or another. And when you're a Chinese-American living in China, you find yourself in conversations about your home at least three times a day.
这个问题用英文来说可能已经足够直接了：“你是美国人吗？”表面上，这个句子指的只是公民身份或者国籍（当然也可能含蓄地提到了消费观念）。然而，在中国，meiguoren（此为文章原文，“美国人”的拼音）这个词带着一种重量，这种重量对于初次到访者可能并不明显——尤其是当这个声称自己是美国人的人正好长得像中国人的话。使用这一有重量的词语是一名华裔美国人被评判的绝对标准，不管怎样。而当你是住在中国的华裔美国人，你会发现一天里至少有三次关于你家乡的交谈。
I had two equally bad responses prepared when it came to answering the question about my roots. The first was, "Yes, I'm American." Answering in the affirmative would generally elicit the kind of reaction that white students in China get all the time: Oh, your Chinese is so good! How long have you been studying? Occasionally, though, I'd get an odder reply: But... but you look Chinese!
当我要回答这个关于我的根的问题的时候，我有两个同样糟糕的回答。第一个是，“是的，我是美国人。”以肯定方式回答一般会引起在中国的白人学生经常会得到的反应：“哦，你的中文太好了！你学了多久？”然而，偶尔我会得到一个更奇怪的回应：“但是……你看起来很像中国人！”
It was that second reaction that got me thinking. By declaring myself an American in the national sense, I was inadvertently declaring myself not-Chinese in an ethnic sense. And that bothered a lot of people. I was living up to all the stereotypes mainlanders had about the Chinese diaspora -- that I had lost my Chinese-ness as a result of being born someplace else.
使我思考的是第二种反应。我在国籍方面宣称自己是美国人，而这意味着我在无意中宣称了自己在民族方面不是中国人。这困扰了很多人。我遵守了所有大陆人对中国移民的刻板印象——这就是我因为出生在别的地方而丧失了中国特征。
My other answer, "no," was just as bad. I became rightfully Chinese, but my foreign hairstyle and mannerisms prompted my conversation partners to assume I came from somewhere deep in the interior. The follow-up questions became more pointed. What province are you from? I don't recognize your accent. (For the record, I have no accent. I speak neutral Chinese. But in a country where regional accents are pervasive, not having one makes you stick out like a sore thumb. Imagine if the entire United States spoke only in New York and Texan accents, and someone from Kansas showed up.)
我的另一个回答，“不是”，一样糟糕。我成为了正当的中国人，但我的外国发型和特殊习惯使和我谈话的人假定我来自地球深处的什么地方。接下来的问题就会变得更尖锐。你来自哪个省？我听不出你的口音。（正式声明，我没有口音。我讲普通话。然而在一个地方口音非常普遍的国家，没有口音使你十分引人注目。想像一下如果全美国都说纽约和德克萨斯口音，而一个从堪萨斯来的人出现了的样子。）
Eventually, I started telling people that I was "only" ethnically Chinese. My partners would give a grunt and nod in a knowing manner, as if I were admitting fault or a deficiency of some kind. I got over it and moved on, but the ambiguity surrounding nationality and ethnicity remains horribly complex in China.
最终，我开始告诉人们我“只是”民族上是中国人。我的交谈对象会发出咕哝声，并像明白了什么一样点点头，仿佛我在承认一种错误或者缺陷一样。我克服了它并继续前进，然而围绕在国籍和民族方面的含糊不清在中国仍然保持着可怕的复杂性。
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发表于 2012-1-19 18:15
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