【中文标题】强烈的民族主义倾向并追逐“中国梦”——中国富裕的80后价值观的转移
【原文标题】Nationalistic and Chasing the 'Chinese Dream' – Shift of Values for the Children of Post-1980 Affluent China
【登载媒体】纽约时报
【原文作者】DIDI KIRSTEN TATLOW
【原文链接】http://www.nytimes.com/2011/01/13/world/asia/13iht-letter13.html?pagewanted=1&ref=china
谁也不知道中国经济在什么时候会超过美国，但是谁也不敢否认这种可能性的存在，尤其是在去年中国经济超过日本，成为世界第二大经济体之后。
很多人希望，胡锦涛主席在准备下周到美国的国事访问将会改善双方糟糕、紧张的关系。从奥巴马总统到普通美国人都在疑惑，究竟是什么在驱动中国人的行为——尤其是那些1980年之后出生、在世界经济领头位置易主的时期即将步入有影响、手握财富的阶级的人。
中国前方的路还很长，中国的经济规模大约只相当于美国15万亿美元经济体的三分之一。但是根据中国经济强劲的增长势头，加上美国经济疲软的现状，经济学家杂志估计中国经济将在2019年超过美国。高盛对此的预测是2027年。
葛洋是优米网的编辑，这是一家位于北京的有关中国“80后”的网站，也就是那些在中国经济和社会解放后十年中出生的人。
她说，首先，大部分80后——尤其是那些在大城市中从事体面工作的人——并不羡慕美国的物质财富。
26岁的葛女士体形娇小、表情热切。她说：“美国有的东西我们这里都有，比如iPhone，这些东西真的很受欢迎。他们那里最好的产品我们都可以得到，所以这不是一个问题。
“但是我们无法像他们一样创造出一些文化方面的东西，比如《猫和老鼠》动画片、《变形金刚》、《阿凡达》、《盗梦空间》、iPhone、芭比娃娃。在文化方面，美国有一些我们真的非常喜爱的东西。”
80后是中国第一代独生子女，他们痛快地承认自己有自私的倾向。但是，从总体上来看，他们在探索一种精神和自身的历史使命，他们试图为这个国家指出一个更加光明的未来，同时摆脱意识形态的暴力和过去的贫穷。
葛女士在北京师范大学学习过中国文学。她说，人民共和国建立后的前三十年奉行的是打破一切传统的共产主义政策，后三十年则是以这个国家的环境和文化遗产为代价出现的急速经济增长。中国的年轻人在寻找价值观和道德观的意义。
她小心翼翼地措辞：“我们并不是在空想，我们爱国，我们是民族主义者。但是，谁不爱自己的国家呢？我们已经不再贫穷了，我们享受生活。我们想要一个平等的、有意义的生活，而不是像我们父母那样为工作奉献一切。”
葛女士在网站的工作让她有机会每天都接触到80后群体各种各样的想法。她预计，在下一个三十年里，中国人会开始追求“中国梦”。
她说：“在目前，这还是一个很大的话题。这个概念来源于‘美国梦’，但是有所不同。美国人说你可以从一无所有到飞黄腾达，我们则认为你会重新爱上自己的家庭和国家，回归传统文化，比如儒家。过去60年里我们失去的太多了。”作为一个国家，“我们要让自己的价值观焕发青春，找回自己的软实力。”
29岁的董木诗是北京一家国有电力公司的项目经理，他从未去过美国，但是他说他对此的态度比他的父母要积极很多。他认为自己的父母是透过政治滤镜观察事物。董这一代人的思想通常会被物质生活质量所影响，也就是他所谓的“真正的快乐”。
他在一封电子邮件中说：“我的父母说美国试图用民主思想控制全世界，我不这么认为。我不喜欢仅凭政治路线来判断一个国家，我更愿意看看人们在一个国家中生活的真实感觉。对我来说，美国是一个现代文化高度发展的国家，是一个宽容的地方。无论你来自哪里，都可以在这个国家享受到舒适的生活，我喜欢。或许是因为我没有去过美国，但我就是喜欢。”
30岁的杨丽在中国西南部城市重庆一所大学的法律系毕业，2003年离开中国，目前在一所瑞典大学中任职行政工作。她和董先生都认为美国在试图遏制中国的崛起——这是中国人的普遍观点——但是他们说这也是可以理解的。
杨女士在电子邮件中说：“他们用自己的思维模式领导西方世界，这是世界经济和政治领域中常见的手段，中国也会这样做。”
董先生说：“对任何国家来说，如果你的竞争对手发展过于迅猛，你当然要想办法阻止它。因为如果任其发展，你不知道他会对你做出什么事。我完全理解这样的行为，不认为这有什么不对。”
杨女士、董先生和葛女士都认为，中国的GDP超过美国并不意味着中国变成一个富裕的国家。中国的人口基数庞大，其人均GDP在未来很长一段时间中还要徘徊在发展国家行列中，尽管有极少数人的确握有巨大的财富。
葛女士说：“就像去年中国超过日本，我们并没有感觉到生活质量比日本高，我们的人均收入水平依然远远低于日本。”
她说，然而人们的期望也随着收入的增加而不断上升，这给政府带来了巨大的挑战。放眼未来，80后希望在政治领域有更多的发言机会。
“人们想要一个富有竞争力的政治体制，想了解领导这个国家的人群，想知道他们真的和奥巴马总统一样优秀，而不是一些我们根本不认识的官僚。
“美国也有坏事发生，但是至少还有一套机制来约束掌权人的行为。在中国，没有人做这种事。如果我们不了解政府在做什么，就会面临越来越多的挑战，比如腐败现象。结局必然是悲惨的。”
原文：
BEIJING — No one knows exactly when China’s economy might overtake that of the United States, but no one should discount the possibility that it might, after it sailed past Japan last year to become the world’s second-largest.
So as President Hu Jintao prepares to head to the United States next week for a state visit that many hope will improve badly strained ties, Americans from President Barack Obama to ordinary citizens might wonder what drives Chinese people — especially those born after 1980 who will be moving into positions of influence and wealth around the time the shift may take place.
There’s still a way to go. China’s economy is roughly a third the size of the United States’ $15 trillion. But based on high growth rates in China and low growth in the United States, The Economist magazine estimates the shift may come as early as 2019. Goldman Sachs guesses 2027.
Ge Yang is an editor at Umiwi.com, a Beijing-based Web site for and about China’s “post-’80s” generation, those born in the decade after China’s economic and social liberalization began.
First of all, she says, the majority of post-’80s — especially those in big cities and with decent jobs — don’t envy the United States its material wealth.
“We have all the material things here that America has, like iPhones, which are really, really loved here,” said Ms. Ge, a petite, eager-faced 26-year-old. “We can get the best of all their goods, so that’s not an issue.
“But we can’t do what they do culturally: produce things like Tom and Jerry cartoons, ‘Transformers,’ ‘Avatar,’ ‘Inception,’ iPhones, Barbies. America has things we really, really like, on a cultural level.”
The post-’80s are China’s first only-child generation, and they happily admit they are prone to selfishness. Yet, generally, they are also searching their souls, conscious of their historical mission in pointing their country toward a better future and away from the ideology-driven violence and poverty of the past.
After the tradition-smashing Communist politics of the first three decades of the People’s Republic, and three further decades of breakneck economic growth that has destroyed some of the country’s environment and cultural heritage, China’s young adults are searching for values and moral meaning, said Ms. Ge, who studied Chinese literature at Beijing Normal University.
“We are not ideological. We are patriotic, we are nationalistic. But then, who doesn’t love their country?” she asked rhetorically. “We’re not poor anymore, we enjoy life. We want a life with quality, with meaning, and not just a working life like our parents had.”
Ms. Ge’s work at the Web site brings her into daily contact with a broad range of opinion among the post-’80s. She predicts the next three decades will see people here pursuing the “Chinese Dream.”
“This is a big topic here right now,” she said. “It’s inspired by the American Dream, but different. Americans say you can build anything out of nothing. We believe that you can love your family and your country and return to your cultural roots, such as Confucius. So much was lost in the last 60 years.”
“We want to rejuvenate our values and find our soft power” as a nation, she said.
Dong Mushi, 29, is a project manager at a state-owned electricity company in Beijing. He’s never been to the United States but says he is far more positive about it than his parents, who, he says, see things through a political prism. Typically for his generation, his own view is shaped by quality of life issues, what he calls “true happiness.”
“My parents say the U.S. is trying to control the world with democratic ideology, but I don’t think so. I don’t like to judge any nation based only on politics. I prefer to see people’s real feelings about living in a country,” he said in an e-mail.
“To me, the U.S. is a country with the most advanced modern culture, a generous place where everyone, no matter where you’re from, can find a comfortable life, and I like that,” he said. “Maybe it’s because I’ve never been there, but I love it.”
Yang Li, 30, a law graduate from the southwestern city of Chongqing, left China in 2003 and now works in an administrative job at a Swedish university. Both she and Mr. Dong believe the United States is trying to slow or even stop China’s rise — a common belief among Chinese — but say that’s understandable.
“They’re using their ideology to lead the Western world,” Ms. Yang said in an e-mail. “That’s normal in the economy and in global politics, and China would do the same.”
Said Mr. Dong: “Any nation, if your competitor is growing so fast, of course you want to keep it down because you don’t know what it will do to you if you let it grow. I can totally understand this and don’t think they’re doing anything wrong.”
Ms. Yang, Mr. Dong and Ms. Ge all agree that just because China may overtake the United States in gross domestic product doesn’t mean it’ll feel like a rich place. China’s population is so big that they expect that on a per capita basis it will remain a developing country for a very long time, though with pockets of real wealth.
“Look at last year when China overtook Japan, it didn’t make us feel we were better than Japan. Our average income is still far below theirs,” said Ms. Ge.
Yet expectations are rising along with incomes, posing a major challenge to the government, and looking ahead, the post-’80s want more of a say in politics, she said.
“People want more competitive politics, to know something about the people who lead the country, to know that they are really excellent in quality like President Obama and not just bureaucrats whom we don’t know.
“Bad things happen in America too, but at least there is a system to supervise the people in power. Here, there is no one who can do this, and if we can’t monitor what the government is doing, there are so many challenges, like corruption, it will end badly.” |
狗仔卡
发表于 2011-1-17 12:33
提升卡
变色卡
抢沙发
千斤顶
显身卡
发表于 2011-1-17 12:53
