Living In China- Memoirs 2

住在中国的日子——回忆2

Renting An Apartment

租一套公寓

Let’s come back to our nearly forgotten topic of renting an apartment to a foreigner. Besides getting a good rent regularly, it’s a status symbol, kind of enviable achievement, something that one can wear like a badge or a medal. But there are certain requirements that the owner must meet before expecting any foreigner to hire his apartment. First of all, he/should be able to find a foreigner, which everyone in China can’t. In big cities maybe, it is not difficult to find them, at least see them on the streets or in Plazas. True, many of them maybe tourists, but in small towns like Gaogang, it is rare to find a foreigner. Those a few like me, who come here to slog, have no time to pose as tourists or go about looking for apartments to take on rent.

让我们回到我们几乎被遗忘的话题——把房子租给外国人。除了定期得到一份不错的房租，它还是一种身份的象征，一种令人羡慕的成就，一种类似于徽章或奖章的东西。但在期望任何外国人租用他的公寓之前，业主必须满足某些要求。首先，他/她得有办法找到外国人。也许在大城市，找外国人并不困难，至少在街上或广场上就能看到他们。没错，他们中的许多人可能是游客，但在像高岗这样的小城镇，很少能看到外国人。像我这样来这里辛苦劳作的少数人，没有时间假扮成游客，也没有时间去寻找出租的公寓。

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BTW, it has just occurred to me that in comparison, too few foreigners, who have come on employment, can be seen in Indian cities, other than perhaps the four Metros, Bangluru and Hydrabad. I am not sure actually, I have not travelled around in India, not much, but my impression is that mostly in India, the foreigners come for sightseeing, spiritualism and yoga.

顺便说一句，我刚刚意识到，相比之下，在印度的城市里，能找到工作的外国人太少了，除了四个大城市，班加罗尔和海得拉巴。我不太确定，我没有游遍印度，但我的印象是，在印度大部分地方，外国人来这里只是为了观光、通灵和瑜伽。

In contrast, in every city of China you can find dozens of them. That is certainly because of China’s industrial policy, of business at any cost, except a compromise on national security and integrity.

相比之下，在中国的每个城市，你都能找到几十个外国人。这当然是因为中国的产业政策，即不惜一切代价发展商业，除了在国家安全与诚信不容妥协。

But, that doesn’t make one feel stifled. It is better to have no media than to have one that churns out trash. The media that spreads hatred in society, creates atmosphere of suspicion and fears in the name of freedom of speech is like an insidious disease spreading through the unity of the nation, poisoning one cell after the other, till it kills. Here, the media plays just one song and that is of China, marching ahead. It speaks of achievements of China, of progress of China, of love for China, of beauty of China. Every frame on the T.V. inspires, motivates, love for China and every spoken word extols, praises, glorifies achievements of her people.

但是，这并不会让人感到窒息。没有媒体总比有一个制造垃圾的媒体更好。媒体以言论*由的名义在社会上传播仇恨，制造怀疑和恐惧的气氛，就像某种通过国家统一传播的阴险疾病，毒死一个又一个细胞，直至死亡。在中国，媒体只会播放一首歌，那就是《中国向前进》。它讲述了中国的成就，中国的进步，对中国的爱，中国的美。电视上的每一帧画面都在激励、激发、热爱中国，每一句话都在赞美、歌颂、颂扬中国人民的成就。

Today, China is not only making any product you name, it is also being innovative by investing in R & D. It has come to that second stage of development that Japan was in the Eighties. It is following the footsteps of Japan, it hates to be compared with. 

如今，中国不仅能生产任何你叫得出名字的产品，还通过投资研发进行创新。中国已经进入了日本上世纪80年代发展的第二阶段。它在追随日本的脚步，但不愿与之相提并论。

Finding a foreigner is not a criteria for progress though, but to a common man it is indicative of some initiative, of some development underway. Even if the slogan “Make in India” is made the central theme of industrial policy of India, to make that happen we do need the foreigners to come and set up business. And for making that happen, we need the conducive atmosphere. In a country where there is a “Bandh” (lock out) or a Hartal (Strike) every other day, for one reason or the other, and the people in their show of anger, start setting everything in sight on fire, how can we expect the foreigners to come and set up their shops?

然而，找到一个外国人并不是进步的标准，但对于一个普通人来说，这表明了某种主动性，某种正在进行的发展。即使“印度制造”的口号成为了印度产业政策的中心主题，要实现这一点，我们实际上还需要外国人来建立企业。为了实现这一目标，我们需要有利的氛围。在一个每隔一天就发生“停职”或联合休业罢工的国家，为了这样那样的原因，人民表现出的愤怒，开始燃烧一切，我们怎么能指望外国人来建立他们的商店吗?

If we are going to make concessions on the grounds of caste and religion and play politics with every situation, then we must also replace the Tiger (mascot in Make in India) with a Cat. If we are going to continue to promote the undeserving, even if they come from the so called Creamy Layer of the classes that enjoy the quota benefits, just because their ancestors were prejudiced against, then the nation will continue to bleed talent and the likes of Trump will have no compunction in barking about “Theft of Intellectual Property”.

如果我们要在种姓和宗教的基础上做出让步，在各种情况下玩弄政治，那么我们还必须用一只猫来取代老虎(印度制造的吉祥物)。如果我们要继续提拔那些不够格的人，即使他们来自所谓的精英层，享受预留制的好处，也只是因为他们的祖先被人歧视，那么国家将继续流失人才，特朗普的支持者也不会因声讨“侵犯知识产权”而良心不安。

Second thing that we need to have in our country is Ease of Business, in reality and for that, we have to bring in Transparency and a corruption free environment. The people who were demanding money for pushing files are a disgruntled lot now. Where ever you have tried to introduce your E-business model for ease of work, there are glitches and snags there. The person standing at the window to convince the disinterested clerk of his exstence could might as well be dead, if he/she can't prove that he is alive, by providing a bunch of documents required to be attached with the application.

我们国家需要的第二件事是商业的便利，事实上，为此，我们必须引入透明度和无腐败的环境。如果你想引入电子商务模式以方便工作时，总会遇到一些问题和障碍。站在窗口向冷漠的办事人员证明他的存在的人，如果他/她不能证明他是活着的，那他就是死人一个，他必须通过提交一堆文件来证明他是活着的。

来源：三泰虎   http://www.santaihu.com/46041.html       译者：Joyceliu

They think they do you a favour. They have every right of asking the people for all the documents, relevant or irrelevant, because they are going by the procedure and they want to stick to the procedures because there is no incentive in bypassing those and there is no monetary gain in sight against the risk their job entails. It all translates in to one thing- harassment. Harass the bloody client till he dies on the road near a huge signboard bearing portrait of a beaming leader with folded hands and a crude couplet created by a disinterested bureaucrat written on it-

他们觉得自己帮了你的忙。他们完全有权利要求民众提供所有的文件，无论相关还是不相关，因为他们要走流程，他们想要坚持程序，因为他们没有动力避开这些文件，拿不到没有金钱上的好处而拿自己的工作冒险。这一切都转化成了一件事——骚扰。骚扰血淋淋的客户，直到他死在路上，路旁立着个巨大的招牌，上面画着一个笑容满面的领导人，双手合十，上面写着一个廉政的官僚编写的没啥文笔的对句

(The Government gave the slogan

Serving every citizen is our first duty)

(政府给出了口号

为每个公民服务是我们的第一要务。

Getting a Foreigner for hiring the apartment

找个外国人来租房子

Thirdly the apartment should be well furnished. There should be a hot and cold running water in the bathrooms and kitchen and the bathroom should have a heater ( a must from my wife's point of view). There should be an A/C at least in one bedroom and one in the living room and above all there must be a WIFI connection. Besides good upholstery, furniture, utensils and crockery in the kitchen, a Washing machine, Water filter/dispenser are some other desirable things which attract the foreigners are bare minimum essentials. Some kind of direct to home Satellite TV service is also a pre-requisite, though I doubt if uncensored TV access is made officially available to the foreigners.

第三，公寓应该有很好的家具。浴室和厨房里应该有冷热水，浴室应该有热水器(从我妻子的观点来看，这是必须的)。至少一间卧室和客厅应该有空调，最重要的是必须有WIFI连接。除了好的室内装潢、家具、厨具和餐具外，洗衣机、滤水器和饮水机也是吸引外国人的其他一些必需品。某种形式的直接家庭卫星电视服务也是一个先决条件，尽管我怀疑未经审查的电视频道是否对外国人正式开放。

I am talking from our point of view or of the foreigners, who can afford to pay a better rent than most people in the neighbourhood are willing to shell out. Good rent also is a subjective thing. In big cities like Shanghai and Beiing, whereas you can get only a modest two room accommodation for 6-7000 RMB, in small places like Gaogang, one can get a good, spacious three bedroom flat for under 3000 Yuan.

我说的是我们或外国人的观点，他们付得起比附近大多数人愿意支付的更高的租金。好的租金也是一件主观的事情。在上海和北京这样的大城市，你花6-7000元只能租到一套普通的两间房，而在高岗这样的小地方，你花3000元就可以租到一套宽敞的三间房。