[联合翻译]【09.11.5 The Atlantic】The Nine Nations of China

和解团结

【原文链接】http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200911u/china-nine-nations
【作者】Patrick Chovanec
【日期】2009-11-5
【英文标题】The Nine Nations of China
【说明】
作者是清华大学经济管理学院的教授。他在World Press上写有自己的博客（chovanec.wordpress.com）。这篇文章他在自己的博客上还另写了一篇说明，Investing In China: Why The Nine Nations Matters（原文需要翻墙看，我在三楼全文转载了）。Atlantic这篇文章转载的时候有些单词黏在一起了。
【原文】

1、
This week, President Obama makes his first state visit to China.What kind of country will he find there? We tend to imagine China as amonolith: 1.3 billion people sharing the same language, history, andculture. The truth is far more interesting. China is a mosaic of several distinct regions, each with its own resources, dynamics, andhistorical character.

As a traveler, teacher, and professional investor who has been exploring China since 1986, I’ve come to think of these regions as the Nine Nations of China (inspired, in part, by Joel Garreau’s Nine Nations of North America). Taken individually, these “nations” would account for eight of the 20 most populous countries in the world.

As China’s economy becomes more integrated, these regional differences are taking on greater importance than ever before. Each of the Nine Nations faces a unique set of challenges and opportunities incarving out its own competitive niche. Anyone who wants to do businessin China, make policy towards China, or simply comprehend the dramaticchanges happening there should understand the Nine Nations and the role each of them is playing in shaping China’s future.

2、
THE YELLOW LAND
(Beijing, Tianjin, Shandong, Hebei, Henan, Shanxi, Shaanxi)
Territory: 906,243 km2 (9% of total)
Population: 359 million (27% of total)
Per Capital GDP: $3,855
Exports as % of GDP:  16%

China was born on the banks of the Yellow River, where the silt-ladenwater, rich alluvial soil, and the harvested wheat all share the same yellow hue. This is China’s breadbasket where buns, dumplings, andnoodles, rather than rice, are standard fare. But the fertile Yellow Land is vulnerable to droughts and floods, as well as jealous invaders.Since ancient times, its inhabitants have turned to a strong centralgovernment to keep them safe behind high walls and embankments. Inancient times, the emperor’s yellow robes symbolized his absolute command over the natural forces—earth, water, grain—that ensure life.

Ruling the Yellow Land is a delicate balancing act. On its own, theYellow Land would rank as the second most populous nation on earth,with more people than the United States packed into less than one tenththe territory. Its resources, while plentiful, are stretched to thelimit. The Yellow Land produces huge quantities of basic staples likewheat, cotton, and peanuts, but is rapidly running short of water. Ithas rich energy reserves, but over-dependence on coal accounts for someof the world’s worst air pollution.

One resource this “nation” never lacks is clout. For most of China’shistory, the Yellow Land has been the center of political power. It canattract talent on a massive scale, giving it immense influence. China’sleaders hope these advantages can turn Beijing into a high-techresearch hub and transform a select handful of state-sponsoredcompanies like Lenovo and Haier into “national champions” that candominate global markets. But the heavy hand of the government can bestifling here. Can the Yellow Land leverage its power to open up newopportunities? Or will a region that fears innovation inevitably fallbehind?


3、
THE BACK DOOR
(Hong Kong, Macau, Guangdong, Hainan)
Territory: 231,963 km2 (2% of total)
Population: 112 million (8% of total)
Per Capita GDP: $6,910
Exports as % of GDP:  82%

In Chinese, the “back door” refers to a way of doing business outsidethe normal, approved channels. The South Sea coast is China’s BackDoor, far enough from the centers of power that nobody will notice ifyou bend a few rules. As locals put it, “The sky is broad and theemperor is far away.” Officials who were exiled to Yueh, as this landwas once known, found it a fearful place whose inhabitants spokestrange dialects—Cantonese, mainly—and feasted on snakes, cats, andmonkeys. But its clan-based villages, lush jungles, and rocky inletsoffered ideal shelter for smugglers and secret societies to flourish.Unlike their staid northern cousins, these freebooters learned to takerisks and profit from them. Other Chinese regard southerners as clever,sharp, and a bit slippery. But as rebels and renegades, emigrants andentrepreneurs, they infuse much needed flexibility and creativity intoan otherwise rigid system.

The Back Door might be troublesome to China’s rulers, but it has alsobeen useful. When China was closed to the outside world, enclaves likeCanton, Macau, and Hong Kong offered safely removed points of contactand exchange. So when Deng Xiaoping wanted to open China’s economy totrade and investment, the Back Door offered an ideal laboratory. Ifreforms failed, they could be disowned and contained withoutcontaminating the rest of China. In fact, they succeeded beyondanyone’s wildest expectations, transforming the region into an exportjuggernaut and a model for the rest of China.

The Back Door’s very success, however, poses a dilemma. Now that therest of China has applied its example, is a laboratory reallynecessary? The region may have found a new purpose as a playground forChinese tourists who gamble in Macau’s casinos, frolic at Hainan’sbeach resorts, and ride the rides at Hong Kong’s new Disneyland. Butthere are others who think the experiment isn’t over, that the BackDoor still has vital lessons to teach about democracy and rule of law.Perhaps China still needs a few rebels—at a safe distance, of course.


4、
THE METROPOLIS
(Shanghai, Jiangsu, Zhejiang)
Territory: 216,008 km2 (2% of total)
Population: 147 million (11% of total)
Per Capita GDP: $6,406
Exports as % of GDP: 58%

Sleek, stylish, confident—Shanghai certainly makes an impression. Itssteel skyscrapers look like rocket ships ready to blast off into thefuture, taking China along with it. Shanghai is a very young city byChinese standards, but the Yangtze River delta—known in ancient timesas the kingdom of Wu—has always been the most commercial andcosmopolitan part of China. Like the Low Countries at the mouth of theRhine, it is a flat watery land crisscrossed by busy canals linking aconstellation of trading cities. The Back Door may succeed in breakingthe rules, but only the Metropolis has the wealth and dynamism toentirely reshape them. Its treasure fleets nearly discovered Europe acentury before Columbus sailed, and of the Nine Nations, it is the onlyone to have displaced the Yellow Land—several times—as China’spolitical capital.

The Metropolis likes to see itself as China’s bright and beckoningfuture, but the feelings it stirs in other parts of China are decidedlymixed. While its residents see themselves as adaptable andforward-thinking, to many Chinese they come across as arrogantcity-slickers—cliquish, crassly materialistic, and slavishly eager tomimic foreign ways. Shanghai had a pre-war reputation as a neon-litversion of Sodom and Gomorrah, and when China was “Red,” the Metropolispaid dearly for its “Black” capitalist past. Consigned to purgatory forover 40 years, the region bore the brunt of the Cultural Revolution andwas starved for development funds—essentially frozen in time—until theearly 1990s.

The rebirth of the Metropolis did not take place on its own terms. Itwas the result of a political decision, made in Beijing, to transformthe region into a carefully designed showcase of what China couldachieve. The state has poured tremendous resources into industrialparks, infrastructure, and Shanghai’s glittering new financialdistrict, attracting huge amounts of foreign direct investment. Butthis subsidized, scale-driven growth model—where bigger is alwaysbetter—makes for an economy dangerously prone to speculation. The besthope for the Metropolis lies not in ever-greater capacity andever-taller buildings but in smaller, nimbler, entrepreneurialenterprises that draw on the region’s distinctive flair for marketing,design, and fashion.


5、
THE REFUGE
(Sichuan, Chongqing)
Territory: 569,800 km2 (6% of total)
Population: 110 million (8% of total)
Per Capita GDP: $2,303
Exports as % of GDP: 5%

Tucked deep in China’s interior, Sichuan is a rich agricultural basinthe size of France, surrounded on all sides by a ring of nearlyimpassible mountains. These bamboo-covered slopes are home to thepanda, its last refuge from a rapidly encroaching world. For man aswell as beast, Sichuan has always been China's place of refuge.Throughout history it has served as a secure supply base for China’srulers, and a place to retreat and regroup in times of invasion andunrest. In World War II, when Japan occupied all of coastal China,loyalist forces relocated their capital to the Refuge to carry on thefight. During the Cold War, vital industries were purposely located inits remote valleys to protect them from the enemy.

The Refuge is able to perform such a strategic role because it isvirtually self-sufficient. The ancient lands of Shu (centered onChengdu, to the west) and Ba (to the east, around Chongqing) have beenblessed with every ingredient essential to Chinese life—rice, wheat,silk, tea, salt, iron, pork. Safe like a tortoise in its shell, thepopulation here prefers a relaxed way of life, composing poetry inteahouses or savoring the region’s famously spicy food. This splendidisolation has a downside: the region attracts little foreign trade andinvestment—before last year’s devastating earthquake put Sichuan in theheadlines, most people outside of China were hardly aware it existed.Brain drain is another chronic problem: the region’s most talented andmotivated young people tend to leave, seeking better opportunitieselsewhere.

Today, the barriers that have insulated the Refuge are breaking down.New ports, highways, and pipelines are connecting Sichuan to a widermarketplace, giving rise to promising new industries like natural gas,snack foods, and motorcycles, but also posing new challenges to theregion’s sheltered way of life. How its people adapt to these changeswill determine whether the Refuge prospers or becomes, like the panda,an endangered species.


iseesee认领1-5

新手报道
这个貌似没人认领 我可以试试吗 先认领1-3，如果其它没人翻译，我可以接着来
不过我的水平有限，速度可不快哦
iseesee 发表于 2009-12-2 22:22

好吧 我继续认领4-5段
iseesee 发表于 2009-12-5 12:14

和解团结

6、
THE CROSSROADS
(Anhui, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan)
Territory: 707,124 km2 (7% of total)
Population: 226 million (17% of total)
Per Capita GDP: $2,402
Exports as % of GDP: 6%

All of the dynamics driving the first four nations converge in theCrossroads. The middle stretch of the Yangtze is a naturaltransportation and communications nexus. It is the heart of China,pumping the lifeblood of men and material to every other part alongcapillaries of water, road, and rail. Interrupt this heartbeat—as afreak snowstorm did last year when it hit the Crossroads during LunarNew Year—and the entire country can grind to a halt. But the region’scentral strategic position has never translated into political power.Instead, it has always been a zone of competition among its strongerneighbors, a place for their rival armies to march and fight.

The wetlands along the Yangtze and its tributaries supply much ofChina's rice, fish and fowl, and the surrounding hills are rich inorchards above ground and minerals below. But nearly all of itsresources—the electricity generated by the Three Gorge Dam, the coppermined to make electrical wiring—flow outward to fuel China’s moredeveloped coastal provinces. The most important outflow is human. Alongwith the Refuge, the Crossroads supplies the vast majority of China’smigrant workers, a floating population of 150 million people.

Standing in the crosscurrents of so many comings and goings, theCrossroads functions not only as China’s physical heart but as itsemotional heartland as well. When migrants return home, they bring backideas and experiences from every part of China, which mix andrecirculate through the entire body. It helps that the inhabitants ofChu—as the Crossroads was called in ancient times—have long been knownfor their strong passions and fierce loyalties. It is no coincidencethat the popular uprisings that began both the Nationalist andCommunist revolutions happened here, or that many of China’s leadingreformists and revolutionaries, including Mao, rank among its nativesons. But while many things begin in the Crossroads, few ever reachtheir fruition there.


7、
SHANGRI-LA
(Yunnan, Guizhou, Guangxi)
Territory: 810,690 km2 (8% of total)
Population: 132 million (10% of total) * 30% non-Han minorities
Per Capita GDP: $1,770
Exports as % of GDP: 6%

The legend of Shangri-La tells of an isolated valley high in theHimalayas, where paradise exists on earth. Local tourism officialsclaim to have located the real Shangri-La in southwest China, andmillions of visitors every year seem to agree. This land is home tosome of China’s most iconic and inspiring landscapes: emerald riceterraces, the fairy mountains of Guilin, the raging rapids of TigerLeaping Gorge. It’s also home to a kaleidoscope of ethnic minorities,usually depicted as singing and dancing in colorful tribal costumes.Throw in a clear blue sky and some banana pancakes, and Shangri-Lamakes for a heavenly vacation.

Behind the postcard-perfect images, however, lies a darker reality. Cutoff from the outside world by jagged mountains and primitiveinfrastructure, Shangri-La is the poorest of the Nine Nations. Beforethe Revolution, the region’s main cash crop was opium. Its replacement,tobacco, turned Shangri-La into the main supplier for China’s latestdeadly addiction: cigarettes. Meanwhile, Shangri-La still bordersBurma’s infamous Golden Triangle, making it China’s primary gateway forillicit drugs and the accompanying spread of HIV/AIDS, which theregion’s overburdened health care system is unequipped to handle. Theother mainstays of the local economy—logging, strip mining, andland-intensive crops such as sugarcane and rubber—have taken a heavytoll on the environment. All in all, hardly an image of paradise.
  
Despite these grave problems, Shangri-La possesses untapped resources.Its forests are home to over half of China’s birds and mammals, as wellas thousands of rare plant species, some of which may hold the key tonew medicines. The region’s lush hills and valleys—the originalbirthplace of tea—offer ideal conditions for growing tropical fruits,coffee, and flowers. The great lifelines of East Asia—the Yangtze,Salween, Irrawaddy, Mekong, and Red Rivers—all originate in Shangri-La,ensuring a plentiful supply of water for consumption and hydropower.New transport links are being built to expand China’s burgeoning tradewith its ASEAN neighbors. None of these opportunities comes withoutchallenges. But for long-suffering Shangri-La, each step closer toheaven is one step farther from hell.


8、
THE RUST BELT
(Liaoning, Jilin, Heilongjiang)
Territory: 801,553 km2 (8% of total)
Population: 109 million (8% of total)
Per Capita GDP: $3,724
Exports as % of GDP:  15%

Just over a century ago, northeast China—known to the outside world asManchuria—was a wilderness of dark forests and frigid snow-sweptplains. Its only inhabitants were a few hunting and fishing tribes. Theforemost of these was the Manchu, which conquered and ruled China asits last imperial dynasty. The arrival of the Trans-Siberian Railroadin 1898 changed everything, unleashing a flood of migrants and pittingRussia against Japan in a battle to dominate the region. The Japaneseprevailed, and in 1931, they made Manchuria part of their empire. Theyintroduced industrial-scale farming and built mines, steel mills, andfactories.

After the war, the Northeast (Dongbei inChinese) was the first of the Nine Nations captured by the Communists,and the region became a bastion of state-owned heavy industry. Itsworkers were the socialist elite, enjoying cradle-to-grave benefits andan “iron rice bowl”—jobs guaranteed for life. But in the 1990s, marketreform cut the legs out from under the planned economy. Obsolete,inefficient factories were forced to close, throwing 30 millionblue-collar workers out in the cold. Once-proud Dongbei became the Chinese version of Flint, Michigan: a  Rust Belt of decaying industries with no future.

The central government has launched a campaign to “Revive theNortheast,” but it will take more than ambitious blueprints to bringthe Rust Belt back to life. The prospect of an implosion in neighboringNorth Korea is just one of many uncertainties clouding the region’sfuture. But the people here are survivors. Famous for their rusticmanners and boisterous camaraderie—washed down with 120-proof grainalcohol—they embody the fiery spirit of the Dongbeihu,the Siberian tiger. Adapting that spirit to the 21st Century willrequire new ways of thinking. The port city of Dalian, for instance, isemerging as a business process outsourcing center aimed at the Japanesemarket. If Rust Belt residents notice the irony of inviting Japaneseinvestors back to revive their former colony, they’re not saying it outloud.



9、
THE FRONTIER
(Inner Mongolia, Ningxia, Gansu, Qinghai, Xinjiang, Tibet)
Territory: 5,205,114 km2 (54% of total)
Population: 86 million (6% of total)   * 30% non-Han minorities
Per Capita GDP: $2,928
Exports as % of GDP: 9%

The land beyond the Great Wall has long captivated the Chinese with itsaura of danger and romance. Wild Mongol horsemen, silk-laden caravans,and the inaccessible mysteries of Tibet offer a thrilling contrast tothe regulated confines of Chinese life. But what really set this regionapart are its vast open spaces. The Frontier comprises over half ofChina’s territory and just 6 percent of its population—a landmass andpopulation density similar to the continental United States west of theMississippi. Its desolate plateaus, scorching deserts, and snow-cappedmountains resemble Nevada or Wyoming more than Beijing.

China’s frontier with Inner Asia has always had enormous strategicsignificance. For centuries, its overland caravan routes—the famousSilk Road—provided China’s richest trade link to the outside world,while its marauding nomads posed an ever-present threat to the MiddleKingdom. To secure control, China developed an extensive network ofmilitary colonies and prison work camps, not unlike Siberia’s gulagarchipelago. The region’s trackless wastes hide many of China’s mostsensitive military facilities. But the Frontier’s greatest strategicvalue lies in its largely untapped natural resources: oil and gas fromthe Tarim Basin and neighboring Central Asia; rich veins of nickel,copper, and coal; dairy and wind farms on the vast open grasslands; andvineyards that may someday produce world-class wines.

The key to unlocking these resources is the railroad. By bringing insettlers and connecting them with markets back east, the railroad istransforming China’s frontier beyond recognition. But like America’sManifest Destiny, China’s “Go West” has a dark side. The natives ofChina’s frontier—the Mongols, Tibetans, and Muslim Uighurs—see theirland and ways of life being swept away by a flood of Han Chineseimmigrants. When their anger boils over into violence, as it did lastyear in Lhasa and this summer in Urumqi, the response is invariablyswift and brutal. China’s West is being won, but what will be lost inthe process?



10、
THE STRAITS
(Fujian, Taiwan)
Territory: 160,313 km2 (2% of total)
Population: 59 million (4% of total)
Per Capita GDP: $9,432
Exports as % of GDP: 30%

The 110-mile strait separating Taiwan from China's mainland is one ofthe world's great flashpoints. So it may seem surprising that the twoprovinces on either side comprise a single “nation.” In fact, Fujianand Taiwan are like twins separated at birth—linked by heritage,divided by destiny. Fujian has always looked to the sea. Like theancient Greeks, its inhabitants turned their backs on their rocky soil,venturing out to fish and trade with distant shores. They establishedcolonies all over Southeast Asia, a far-flung network based on dialectand kinship that thrives to this day. Since such voyages were oftenprohibited by the emperor, the region’s mariners became skilledsmugglers. Today, Fujian remains the center of a worldwide traffic insmuggled Chinese immigrants.

For centuries, Chinese seafarers largely ignored Taiwan, whose fetidrainforests seemed to harbor little more than headhunters and piratelairs. But a major rebellion persuaded Chinese officials to annex theisland in 1683. Settlers from Fujian cleared the jungle to plant rice,sugar, and tea in the fertile volcanic soil, bringing their Min dialectand their worship of Matsu, goddess of the sea. But unity with Chinawas not to last. In 1895, a resource-hungry Japan seized Taiwan as acolony. It was returned after the World War II, only to be cut off onceagain by the tides of revolution.

The Cold War is over, but the Straits remain divided, perhaps more thanever before. Recent democratic reforms have awakened a new sense ofidentity among the Taiwanese, many of whom desire completeindependence. China has made it clear that such a move would mean awar. But China’s efforts to attract Taiwanese investment, to Fujian inparticular, have not gone unrewarded. The Straits may be the smallestof the Nine Nations, but this region is the richest in China, and itstwo economies have grown increasingly intertwined. Like magnets, Fujianand Taiwan alternately attract and repel each other, pulled together byeconomic opportunity, pushed apart by identity and ideology. Which ofthese trends will prevail remains to be seen, but the answer will havea profound impact on China’s future.


   Patrick Chovanec is an associate professor at Tsinghua University’s School of Economics and Management in Beijing, China.

和解团结

【原文标题】Investing in China: Why the Nine Nations Matter
【作者】Patrick Chovanec
【原文链接】http://chovanec.wordpress.com/2009/11/24/why-the-nine-nations-matter/
【日期】Nov 24 2009


[size=1em]Last week I published an interactive feature at The Atlantic online called “The Nine Nations of China.”  In it, I described how we should look at China, not as a single homogeneous entity, but as a mosaic of nine distinct regions.  Many readers commented that they found it a useful primer for understanding this complex and often overwhelming country.  But the Nine Nations framework is more than an antidote to cultural curiosity; I believe it offers an essential practical tool for anyone – investors, CEOs, policy-makers – who need to think strategically about China.  To understand why the Nine Nations matter, it helps to know how and why I came up with this framework in the first place.

[size=1em]In 2004, I was working in Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, for a private equity fund focused on small-medium enterprises (SMEs).  Most people are surprised to hear that there actually is a PE fund in Sichuan, which is part of the region I call “The Refuge,” insulated deep in China’s interior.  Given the unfamiliar and rather undeveloped business environment, we had to figure out an investment strategy that made sense.  What was Sichuan good at?  What resources did it possess?  Out of all the different investment opportunities we were being presented with, which would enjoy a sustainable competitive advantage as China’s economy developed, particularly against rivals from more advanced parts of China?

[size=1em]Next to my desk was a copy of China’s annual statistical yearbook, and I also had access to similar but more extensive data online.  To help guide our efforts, I began an extensive project of “industry mapping,” comparing provincial and other data on crops, minerals, and industrial output to identify regional patterns and relationships.  Because I had traveled widely throughout China over the years, I already had a sort of “mental map” of the country based upon what I had seen.  But the statistics I analyzed opened up a whole new window on China’s economy.  They revealed, for instance, how the area I would come to think of as “The Yellow Land” accounts for over 60% of China’s wheat production – an output equivalent to the entire United States – more than 80% of its apples, and roughly half of its coal reserves; that “Shangri-La” in the southwest accounts for nearly 90% of China’s tin output and 70% of its sugarcane; and that “The Back Door” produces virtually all of its radios and stereos.

[size=1em]By themselves, these figures seem almost trivial; taken together, they began to paint a picture of nine distinct regions – the Nine Nations I presented in The Atlantic.  Moreover, as I researched them further, these “nations” appeared to have consistent historical identities that reached back thousands of years.  It was only several years later, when I joined another private equity fund in Hong Kong and had shared this framework with one of the partners, David Bussmann, that he introduced me to the research of William Skinner and other academics who had written on regionalism in China.  Although my conclusions in some ways differed from theirs, the fact that people in other fields, focused on different concerns and using different methodologies, had arrived at findings that were quite similar – at times strikingly so – to my own made me think I might be on to something real.

[size=1em]My own discoveries coincided with a dawning realization among other people doing business in China that this huge country was turning out to be more complicated than it looked.  In 2005,Businessweek observed that:

[size=1em]GM isn’t alone in discovering that China is not a monolithic market. The country, with 1.3 billion citizens speaking more than 100 dialects, is wildly diverse. What people eat, wear, and drive differs greatly from north to south, east to west, rich to poor, young to old, city to countryside. Urumqi in the northwest is further from Guangzhou in the southeast than Oslo is from Rome, and the desires and needs of people who have benefited from the economic changes of the past two decades barely resemble those of individuals who have been left behind. “It’s clear that you can’t treat China as just one country,” says Glenn Murphy, managing director of ACNielsen China in Shanghai.

[size=1em]That same year, in his book “One Billion Customers,” China veteran James McGregor advised readers that it was essential to understand that “China is not one market but a collection of many local markets, each with its own practices, traditions and methods of local protectionism.”  In fact, such observations have become standard fare at China conferences.

[size=1em]Once the point is inevitably raised, however, discussion trails off, leaving the obvious questions unanswered:  What exactly are those markets?  How are they different?  Why do those differences matter?  The importance of these issues is widely recognized, but for the most part, we have lacked a vocabulary for talking about them in a meaningful way.  Even professional marketing studies—where people presumably pay good money for insights into such patterns—tend to lump provinces into ad hoc directional groupings (southeast, southwest, central) with little regard for shared history or business trends.

[size=1em]The default solution has been to rely on broad dichotomies between urban and rural, coast and interior, and leave it at that.  In response to my feature in The Atlantic, Dan Harris ofwww.chinalawblog.com commented that he finds these distinctions more useful than regional ones:

[size=1em]My problem I see with this map is that it is exactly that. A map. And as a map, it distinguishes among regions geographically and that is not how I view many aspects of China. Just by way of an example, I see Beijing having commonalities with Shanghai just because they are two powerful and relatively sophisticated big cities. Different as these two cities are (and they are plenty different, in their cultures, in their attitudes and even in their languages), they still share many commonalities in terms of business.

[size=1em]On an operational level, I agree.  The day-to-day realities of business – quality of infrastructure, prevailing wages, education levels, land prices — almost certainly vary more between urban and rural areas than among the nine “nations.”  But on a strategic level, I could not disagree more.  If you are thinking about where to invest in what industries, where to set up a sales office or factory, or what trends will shape the Chinese market over time, then I believe you ignore the Nine Nations at your peril.

[size=1em]A rural Chinese village in 1980 might have looked and felt the same whether it was located in the Back Door, the Metropolis, the Crossroads, the Rust Belt, or the Refuge.  But today, that village in the Back Door is a thriving factory town, whose young female workers send their paychecks back to the village they left behind in the Crossroads.  Their male counterparts are migrant laborers busy transforming that village in the Metropolis into a luxury condo community, while the town in the Rust Belt serves as a dumping ground for unemployed workers from nearby state-owned steel mills, and the one in the Refuge remains as quiet as it ever was, except for one family who made a fortune selling animal feed to local farmers.  I’ve seen these changes with my own eyes, and the differences among the Nine Nations are critical to explaining how and why they happened, and what changes we can expect in the future.

[size=1em]As that Businessweek article I quoted points out, China is a land the size of Europe, and I would argue that the comparative advantages between different regions of China are as important as the comparative advantages between actual nations.  This is something that Chinese leaders themselves have been slow to comprehend.  When I travel all over China, I frequently meet with mayors and provincial governors, and hear them describe their economic plans.  For the most part, all of them want to develop the same “pillar industries”: automobiles, information technology, clean energy, pharmaceuticals – and maybe, if they’re really ambitious, financial services.  All of them are striving to imitate Shanghai and Beijing.  But the fact is, hundreds of cities are not all going to succeed in becoming the “car capital” or “IT capital” of China.  I hardly hear anyone asking the really essential questions, the ones we had to ask in Sichuan:  What makes this place special?  What is it better at than anywhere else?  What competitive niche can it fill in the broader Chinese economy?

[size=1em]To be sure, there are other factors that matter.  Generation gaps, urban and rural disparities, ethnic and religious differences, and shared cultural values often cut across regional lines and play important roles.  But in my experience, China can seem so large, so overwhelming – such a jumble of conflicting images — that just breaking it down into a handful of smaller, more digestible pieces can make even those factors easier to comprehend.

[size=1em]When someone mentions Miami or Milan, Los Angeles or London, Detroit or Dublin, their names evoke certain associations in our minds.  Even if we’ve never been there, we immediately think of beaches or fashion, actors or bankers, automobiles or pubs.  These images don’t tell us everything we need to know, but they give us a starting point.  But when someone mentions Changsha, Chongqing, or Changchun, our impressions – if any – are likely to be vague.  Even if you have been there, it may not be entirely evident how they fit into the bigger picture.  The Nine Nations framework tries to provide that context.  Simply by knowing that Changsha is in the Crossroads, Chongqing is in the Refuge, and Changchun is in the Rust Belt, you already know something useful about them – not everything, but a good starting point.

[size=1em]Let me just close by sharing just one concrete example of how differences among the Nine Nations can matter, even in an operational business context.  When the Sichuan SME Fund was first set up, the managing director – an American friend of mine – wanted to hire a Chinese investment team with the relevant training and experience in private equity.  As I mentioned inThe Atlantic article, The Metropolis (the region centered on Shanghai) tends to be the most cosmopolitan and sophisticated region in China, so most of the qualified candidates he initially hired came from there.  He soon found out, though, that they were ill-suited to the task.  None of them could speak the local dialect, and they looked down on the entrepreneurs we were working with as country yokels.  The entrepreneurs, in turn, distrusted the Metropolitans, suspecting they were fast-talking city-slickers out to rip them off.  Eventually, my friend had to replace the entire team with locals from The Refuge.  Their financial skills were not always fully up to speed, but they were infinitely better at identifying promising opportunities and establishing trust and rapport with potential partners.  True, people from Sichuan and Chongqing – the two provinces that make up The Refuge — sometimes display a kind of homespun, town-next-door rivalry, but compared to other parts of China, they share a similar outlook, values, and mannerisms.  If we had recognized this – if we been aware of the Nine Nations of China and how they could impact our business – we might have saved ourselves a lot of headaches.

xiaotian_ljh

原作者深懂和谐之真谛

敏感地区分的可能不准但很仔细

遥远的冬天

好长啊。。。。看得我头晕眼花。会有人翻这篇吗？好难哦。

和解团结

好长啊。。。。看得我头晕眼花。会有人翻这篇吗？好难哦。
遥远的冬天 发表于 2009-11-27 22:11

Atlantic和New Yorker上的文章一般都很长，但也往往水平很高

渔音谦谦

Atlantic和New Yorker上的文章一般都很长，但也往往水平很高
和解团结 发表于 2009-11-27 23:24

建议联合翻译。已经帮划分了部分，愿意联翻的TX跟帖即可了^^

和解团结

貌似对这个感兴趣的不多，我承认我也是没看完就转贴了

iseesee

新手报道
这个貌似没人认领 我可以试试吗 先认领1-3，如果其它没人翻译，我可以接着来
不过我的水平有限，速度可不快哦

iseesee

中华九“国”
1.
本周奥马马总统对中国进行了他的首次国事访问，在那里他会发现一个什么的国家呢？我们倾向于把中国看作铁板一块：拥有相同的语言、历史和文化的13亿人口。但事实比这个有趣的多：中国一个由几个风格迥异的地区组成的结合体，每个地区都有自己的资源、动力和历史特征。
作为一个从1986年起就在中国探索的旅行者、教师和职业投资者，我把这些地区看作中国内部的九个“国家”（这个灵感部分是来源于Joel Garreau的《北美九国》）。单独看起来，这些“国家”也有八个可以跻身世界上人口最多的前二十名国家之列了。
随着中国的经济变得越来越综合化，这些地区的差异比以往变得更加重要。这九个“国家”在谋求自身竞争地位时都面临着独特的挑战和机遇。任何人想要在中国做生意、制定对华政策、或仅仅想理解那里正在发生的巨大变化，都应当了解这九个“国家”以及它们各自在中国文化构成中扮演的角色。

iseesee

2
黄土地
（北京 天津 山东 河北 河南 山西 陕西）
领土面积：906,243 平方公里（占全国总面积9%）
人口：3亿5千9百万（占全国人口27%）
人均GDP：3855美元
出口额占GDP百分比：16%

中国诞生于黄河两岸，在那里，充满着淤泥的河水、富饶的冲积土壤和收割完的小麦都具有同样的黄色调。这里是中国的面包篮，馒头、饺子和面条――而不是大米――是这里人们的标准主食。但是，肥沃的黄土地很容易遭受干旱、洪水以及眼红的侵略者的袭击。自古以来，这里的居民建立了一个强大中央政府，用高墙和堤防保证他们的安全。在古代，皇帝的黄色龙袍象征着他对保证生命的自然资源――土壤、水和谷物的绝对控制。

统治黄土地是一项精细的平衡工作。黄土地本身相当于地球上人口第二多的国家，拥有比美国更多的人口，面积却还不到美国的十分之一。它本身尽管资源丰富，却被利用到极限。黄土地产出大量基本作物，如小麦、棉花和花生，但是却以极快的速度变得越来越缺水。它拥有富饶的矿藏，但过度依赖煤炭却导致这里在一定程度上成为世界上空气污染最严重的地区。

这个“国家”有一个从不缺乏的资源，那就是权势。在中国大部分的历史时期，黄土地地区都是政治力量的中心。它能够大范围的吸引人才，给予自身无限的影响。

中国的领导人希望这些优势可以把北京变成一个高科技研发中心，并把少数几个被选中的得到国家资助的公司――如联想和海尔――变成可以支配全球市场的“世界冠军”，但政府过多的管制也会令这里缺乏活力。黄土地能运用自身的力量开拓新的机遇吗？还是会变成一个害怕创新的地区而不可避免的落后？

silencer

编译同学辛苦了,给你们加油.

iseesee

3.
THE BACK DOOR
(Hong Kong, Macau, Guangdong, Hainan)
Territory: 231,963 km2 (2% of total)
Population: 112 million (8% of total)
Per Capita GDP: $6,910
Exports as % of GDP:  82%

In Chinese, the “back door” refers to a way of doing business outsidethe normal, approved channels. The South Sea coast is China’s BackDoor, far enough from the centers of power that nobody will notice ifyou bend a few rules. As locals put it, “The sky is broad and theemperor is far away.” Officials who were exiled to Yueh, as this landwas once known, found it a fearful place whose inhabitants spokestrange dialects—Cantonese, mainly—and feasted on snakes, cats, andmonkeys. But its clan-based villages, lush jungles, and rocky inletsoffered ideal shelter for smugglers and secret societies to flourish.Unlike their staid northern cousins, these freebooters learned to takerisks and profit from them. Other Chinese regard southerners as clever,sharp, and a bit slippery. But as rebels and renegades, emigrants andentrepreneurs, they infuse much needed flexibility and creativity intoan otherwise rigid system.
The Back Door might be troublesome to China’s rulers, but it has alsobeen useful. When China was closed to the outside world, enclaves likeCanton, Macau, and Hong Kong offered safely removed points of contactand exchange. So when Deng Xiaoping wanted to open China’s economy totrade and investment, the Back Door offered an ideal laboratory. Ifreforms failed, they could be disowned and contained withoutcontaminating the rest of China. In fact, they succeeded beyondanyone’s wildest expectations, transforming the region into an exportjuggernaut and a model for the rest of China.
The Back Door’s very success, however, poses a dilemma. Now that therest of China has applied its example, is a laboratory reallynecessary? The region may have found a new purpose as a playground forChinese tourists who gamble in Macau’s casinos, frolic at Hainan’sbeach resorts, and ride the rides at Hong Kong’s new Disneyland. Butthere are others who think the experiment isn’t over, that the BackDoor still has vital lessons to teach about democracy and rule of law.Perhaps China still needs a few rebels—at a safe distance, of course.
后门
（香港 澳门 广东 海南）
领土面积：231,963  平方公里（占全国总面积2%）
人口：1亿1千2百万（占全国人口8%）
人均GDP：6910美元
出口额占GDP百分比：82%
在中国，“后门”是指一种不按正常和许可的途径做生意的方式。南海海岸是中国的后门，这里远离权力中心，你就算做了一些通融也没人会注意到。当地有句话叫“天高皇帝远”，过去被流放到粤（这个地区以前的名字）的官员发现这里是个可怕的地方，当地人说着广东话这种奇怪的方言，大吃以蛇、猫和猴子为主的食物。这里以氏族为基础的村庄、茂密的丛林、遍布岩礁的水湾为走私者和秘密帮会的繁荣提供了理想的庇护所。与他们个性认真呆板的北方弟兄不同，这里的海盗们学会冒险并从中获益。其它地方的中国人认为南方人聪明、敏锐而且有些圆滑，但作为反叛者、移民和企业家，他们为刻板的制度注入了急需的灵活性和创造性。
对中国的统治者来说，后门地区是个麻烦，但也很有用。当中国闭关锁国时，广东、澳门和香港这样的领土为接触和交流提供了一个安全的远端地点。所以，当邓小平想要开放中国经贸投资时，后门地区提供了一个理想的实验室。如果改革失败了，可以将它们否定，而不会影响到中国其它地区。事实上，改革取得的成功大大出乎所有人的预料，这使得这个地区成为出口典范，并成为中国其它地区的榜样。
后门地区非常成功，但也面临着一个窘境，既然中国其它地区已采用其样板，那还需要这个实验室吗？这个地区可能已经找到一个新目标，就是做中国旅游者的游乐场。人们在澳门的赌场赌博、在海南的海滩圣地嬉戏、在香港新建的迪斯尼乐园骑旋转玩具。但有些人认为实验还没有结束，后门地区仍然需要教导民主和法治的重要课程。也许中国还需要几次反叛――当然是在安全距离以外。

iseesee

好吧 我继续认领4-5段

fusang12

我想认领7、8两段。。第6段跑哪去了？

rhapsody

我想认领7、8两段。。第6段跑哪去了？
fusang12 发表于 2010-7-30 14:40

是2楼里边的标号搞错了，已修改。楼上想认领的7、8两段实际就是6、7两段。欢迎认领O(∩_∩)O~

千年明月

好文，收藏了

严景天

我认领最后两段，也就是边疆和海峡部分。

严景天

此文作者果然是高手！

严景天

我去！居然是09年发的文章？居然到现在还没认领完？{:soso_e114:}