美国基督教科学箴言报:今年错过的两大中国新闻

即兴随笔,无任何企图,欢迎指教。谢绝任何侮辱谩骂之词,如有发布,归发布者本人享用。
打印 被阅读次数

Two big China stories you missed this year

By Jeffrey Wasserstrom from the December 17, 2008

美国《基督教科学箴言报》昨天发表文章:《今年你错过的两大中国新闻》,作者杰弗里-瓦瑟施特伦,系加利福尼亚大学Irvine分校中国历史/>教授。他在文章开篇说道:

To say the least, 2008 has been a pivotal year for China/>/>. It was marked by tragedy (the Sichuan/>/> earthquake) and by triumph (the lavish Olympic opening ceremonies). Riots in Tibet/>, the milk scandal, and most recently, the crackdown on democratic dissent, are just three of the many China/>/> stories that captured headlines across the globe.

2008年至少可以说是中国的关键一年。这一年,中国经历了四川地震的悲剧和精彩奥运开幕式的成功。西藏骚乱、毒奶粉事件、压制民主不同政见,仅仅是成为全球头条的中国新闻的其中三条。”

他的文章的大概提要如下:
人们忽视了两条重要新闻,而每一条都能透露出有关中国的重要信息,关联着悲剧和成功的发生,预示着中国的未来。

一条是,中国的民族主义已成为一支反对力量。中国的爱国主义热情,特别是互联网所表现出来的热情,受到了很大的关注。

官员喜欢看到人们谴责奥运火炬在法国巴黎受到粗暴对待和后来法国总统萨科齐会见达赖喇嘛,报纸批评外国人不想让奥运圣火传递成为庆祝性的活动。但是,当局从未忘记,爱国主义、集体主义往往证明在中国是难以控制的。中国的精英也知道,爱国愤慨和不满官员腐败、渎职、贪婪和自私,往往驱使人们会走向街头,这是中国官员感到紧张的原因。这种情况在2008年没有发生。

另一条是,中国一位老哲学家获得了明星般的待遇,他就是孔子。孔子的复活已持续有年。尊孔的庙宇得以重建,孔子的塑像也出现了,而旨在传播中华文化的孔子学院也在国外纷纷落地。

很难说官方对于孔子的这种欢迎态度是由于真正地尊重圣贤,还是仅仅是对他的形象和遗产的利用。另一个可能的原因是国民的自豪感。不管孔子思想中有哪些优点和瑕疵,把他列入世界历史上最伟大的哲学家应该不成问题。

这两个没有获得关注的新闻,都可以使2008年成为中国人的“重要年份”。而且,它们都可以帮助我们观察2009年及以后的中国。

以下是文章的全文:

Two big China/>/> stories you missed this year

The brief yet radical shift of patriotic fervor into criticism of the government after the Sichuan/>/> earthquake and the official revival of Confucius were crucial moments in a pivotal year.

By Jeffrey Wasserstrom from the December 17, 2008 edition

To say the least, 2008 has been a pivotal year for China/>/>. It was marked by tragedy (the Sichuan/>/> earthquake) and by triumph (the lavish Olympic opening ceremonies). Riots in Tibet/>, the milk scandal, and most recently, the crackdown on democratic dissent, are just three of the many China/>/> stories that captured headlines across the globe.

Yet there are two major stories that received little notice. Each reveals important things about China/>/>. Each helps place its tragedies and triumphs into a richer context. And each presages the bigger pivots ahead in China/>/>'s course.

1. Chinese nationalism becomes an oppositional force

Chinese patriotic fervor, especially as manifested on the Net, got plenty of attention, mostly portrayed as something welcomed or even stirred up by the regime. This portrayal makes sense, up to a point.

Yes, officials liked seeing posts denouncing the French after a torchbearer was roughed up in Paris/>/>, and later, after French President Nicolas Sarkozy met the Dalai Lama. But these same authorities never forgot that patriotism has often proved notoriously difficult to control in China/>/>. Chinese elites know that the mix of patriotic outrage and frustration with official corruption, malfeasance, or selfishness has often driven people into the streets.

This didn't happen in 2008. But at one crucial moment in May, right after the earthquake, a familiar shift from outward-focused to inward-focused patriotic fervor occurred. This made Chinese officials nervous – for good reason.

The tone of the Chinese blogosphere suddenly changed, with posts criticizing foreigners for being unwilling to let the Olympic torch relay be a celebratory event disappearing. In their place came posts chiding the government for continuing to run upbeat stories about the torch.

How, some bloggers asked, could official news agencies be so self-absorbed and callous as to focus on the torch when the citizens of Sichuan/>/> were suffering? Rulers who truly care about the people, they insisted, should have a clearer sense of priorities during national crises.

This whiplash could have led to large-scale street actions that made headlines, but it didn't. That's partly because China/>/>'s leaders, who keep a close eye on the Web as a barometer of popular sentiment, called on the media to take a more somber tone in torch stories – and then even suspended the relay for a time.

This didn't completely defuse discontent at a precarious moment. There were still small gatherings in Sichuan/>/> villages and towns, often linked to anger at shoddily constructed school buildings that collapsed while nearby structures remained standing. And it didn't put an end to all expressions of outrage on the Web, as some bloggers picked up on the school collapses, claiming in posts that corrupt deals struck between developers and local officials were to blame for the large number of children left dead or injured in earthquake zones. Still, the about-face on the relay limited the extent of these sorts of dissent.

The government realizes that few Chinese now have any faith left in the formal ideologies espoused by Chinese leaders Mao Zedong, Deng Xiaoping, and their successors. It also knows that the Communist Party is perceived as being riddled with out-of-touch officials who care only about lining their pockets.

One response to this long-term legitimacy crisis has been a new emphasis on social welfare and social harmony in propaganda, mixed in with a drumbeat of references to the Communist Party's role in returning China/>/> to a position of global importance.

When the tenor of blog posts shifted in May, the regime concluded quickly that business as usual regarding the torch was making its talk of striving to create a "harmonious society" (President Hu Jintao's mantra) ring even more hollow than usual – and the result could be dangerous. This was probably the right conclusion to draw.

2. An old Chinese philosopher gets the star treatment

The philosopher at the center of this second overlooked story is Confucius, who has been making an extraordinary comeback in a land where, within living memory, he was officially excoriated as a retrograde thinker.

As recently as the early 1970s, the Communist Party still held to the Marxist dictate that progress tended to comes as the result of struggle and conflict (whereas Confucius celebrated harmony), and Chairman Mao insisted that old modes of thought that venerated the past and prized social hierarchies (as Confucianism did) had to be uprooted once and for all for China to advance toward utopia.

In addition, Mao's longtime archrival, the Nationalist leader Chiang Kai-shek, had praised Confucius as China/>/>'s greatest thinker – another point against the sage in the eyes of the Communist Party of the Cultural Revolution era, when mass rallies denouncing him were held.

The revival of Confucius has been going on for years. It has been linked at the popular level to a general loss of faith in Marxism and Maoism, which has led to an interest in reappraising many once-discredited belief systems. And recently, thanks to how nicely Confucian bromides fit in with talk of a "harmonious society," the sage has gotten official support. Old temples honoring him have been rebuilt, new statues of him have gone up, and "Confucius Institutes," devoted to spreading Chinese culture, have been set up in foreign countries.

It is hard to tell whether this official embrace of Confucius expresses a genuine renewed admiration for the sage within the leadership, or is merely a cynical use of his image and legacy. It may be a bit of both. Another factor behind the popular official revival alike may simply be national pride. Whatever strengths or weaknesses may be in the man's ideas, there is no question that he ranks as among the most famous philosophers in world history.

This revival reached new heights during the torch run, when the flame's arrival in Qufu, the sage's hometown, was celebrated lavishly. It was then taken to an even higher crescendo during the Opening Ceremony, when Confucius was quoted as Hu and other leaders looked on with approval. Then 3,000 actors took the stage at the Bird's Nest, dressed up to represent a massive contingent of the sage's disciplines.

The prominent Confucian sayings and symbols played in the opening ceremonies were treated in a surprisingly matter-of-fact way, as though Confucius had never ceased being a revered figure and positive symbol of China/>/>'s long history.

For the historically minded, the effect was shocking. It was similar to what a sports fan might have experienced if a man who had won a gold medal as a sprinter at the Rome Olympics in 1960, then disappeared from the track scene, suddenly took the lead in the finals for the 100-meter dash in the 2008 Games – and the commentator simply said: "Gee, we always knew he was fast!"

Each of these under-the-radar stories played a role in making 2008 a/> Chinese "year of great significance" – to borrow a phrase my colleagues and I use in the title of a forthcoming anthology.

And each gives us a sense of things to watch for in 2009 and beyond, as the Communist Party continues to try to ride out still longer the legitimacy crisis it has faced ever since the faith in Maoism as a creed dissipated decades ago. In struggling to come up with novel ways to remake their image and stay in power as a ruling group, China/>/>'s leaders will very probably continue to play the nationalism card and rev up still further the uses of Confucius.

We should be ready for these developments. We should also watch for moments when, as happened briefly last May, patriotic fervor morphs into antigovernment backlashes, and officially sponsored Confucian-sounding calls for pursuit of a "harmonious society" are attacked by the public as nothing more than window dressing for a ruling group most of whose member care above all simply about keeping hold of the reins of power.

JeffreyWasserstrom, a professor of Chinese History at University of California, Irvine, is the author of the just-published "Global Shanghai, 1850-2010: A History in Fragments," and a co-editor of "China/>/> in 2008: A Year of Great Significance," forthcoming in March.

(转贴此文,不代表本人任何立场和观点,仅供阅读参考。欢迎评论指教,谢绝侮辱谩骂,所有侮辱谩骂之语言,隶属于发布者自己享用,恕不回复。谢谢大家!)



《美国娘儿们倒了霉 网上言论自由再审视(组图》
《海外华人充分享受着自由民主和福利?别逗了!(组图》
《老美哭了华人笑了 金融危机下两位豪宅太太(图)》
《跟华尔街叫板:不把中国人玩儿进去你们心不甘(组图》
《房价跌了美女栽了 辛苦十几年一夜回到解放前(组图》


《言论不自由?最大“反动”“色情”网站在中国(组图)》
《俺博文上了内地办刊 谁说海外网站发动不堪?(组图)》
《太平洋两岸博文个空交火 战火蔓延人民网(组图)》


《裸体美女上头版 言论自由何时穿上比基尼?(组图)》
《人民币升值了 钱怎么越来越不值钱了?(组图)》
《年终奖知多少?华尔街祸害全球高管良心发现(图)》
《美国人越穷越“幸福” 这就是美国市场经济 (组图)》


《网络批评各“阶级”分析 你是哪个“阶级”?(视频)》
《有感富太太的牙刷:到了美国才学会了刷牙(18+)》
《看看人家美国人是如何保护总统的(组图)》
《总统与民同庆:美国独立日名人名车大游行(组图)》
《美国独一无二:如花似玉第一夫人的白宫宝宝(组图)》


《可知北美下雪最多的地方:你见过冰雪城墙吗?(组图)》
《国内友人访美感慨:原来你们过着穷酸的日子(组图)》
《震撼:有一种眼泪叫无奈 有一种裸体叫辛酸(组图)》
《惊艳:无与伦比天仙美女 公然裸躺北美大地(组图)》


我的更多搏文〉〉〉(点击直接进入,欢迎光临寒舍,恭候批评指教)
害客 发表评论于
中国崩溃论恐怕是要象圣诞歌曲一样一年年地唱下去了。所不同的是今年唱其来尤为“小曲好唱口难开”,看看自己那个样子,还要论拿出一付意识形态优越感的老调,脸不红吗?
gifox 发表评论于
形式主义不可取. 你要真的尊孔就让学生们多学习孔学经典.起码不要比课本里面老毛或者鲁迅的文章少.也要多宣传孔子的哲学和治国思想. 搞什么拜拜,庙宇塑像的是舍本逐末.
POWEROVERGAMEC 发表评论于
Factual but also very ideological, this article has the old post-cold-war assumption that any non-western political system will not function, thus the Chinese communist government must continue to "struggle" to find a source for legitamcy. This, in my opinion, is just bullshit.
sevenfish 发表评论于
孔子是今年才流行?我记得孔庙祭祀都好多年了。还有什么皇帝,炎帝,玉皇大帝
登录后才可评论.