大家如何看中国

What do you think about China?

你如何看中国？

以下是Quora读者的评论：

Delores Lowe

In my early teenage years, during which I first started learning things on my own through the internet, I hated China. I didn't just hate PRC and, I hated the conservative nature, traditions, culture and values of this “great civillization”. Not to mention the sense of pride when most Chinese people say “we are a 5000 year old civilizations”, without really knowing much of it. All I saw was how the Chinese were materialistic, money-driven, moral-lacking, nearsighted, and most importantly lost. None of the good wisdom and teachings seemed to have carried onto the current Chinese society.

This hate deteriorated when I was exposed to American Television in high school(I am still indulging). It was freedom, fun, sex, drugs, cars, privacy, choices, and most fundamentally - living no one, but YOUR OWN, dream.

在我十几岁第一次上网时，我讨厌中国。我讨厌中国，我也讨厌这个“伟大文明古国”的保守、传统、文化和价值观。更不用说当大多数中国人说起“我们有着5000年的文明历史”时的自豪感了，其实他们自己也只是一知半解。我眼中看到的中国人金钱至上，道德缺失，目光短浅，最重要的是迷失了自我。那些美德和教义似乎没能影响当今的中国社会。

等我上了高中，开始接触美国电视时(我现在仍然沉迷于此)，我的这种厌恶情绪更为加深了。那就是自由、乐趣、性、毒品、汽车、隐私、选择，最根本的是——不要为别人而活，要为你自己的梦想而活。

But being in the US had also allowed me to observe many things that I otherwise wouldn't have. The society is extremely money-driven and moral lacking just like back home. The astoundingly high unemployment rate, number of homeless people, racism, corporacy(legalized corruption, really), corruption, f*cked up healthcare system, a lack of tradititions/history, and if this so called freedom of speech is so important and core to the American values, why is half my heartfelt rants getting censored/collapsed on Quora nowadays.

If you ask me, every country is both great and f*cked up at the same time. It depends on how you look at it.

I looked over China once again, this time without my contacts of bias. And the thing I saw was f*cking beautiful.

但在美国的生活也让我观察到了许多我未曾看到过的东西。这里和中国一样都金钱至上，道德缺失。失业率高得惊人，许多人无家可归，种族主义泛滥，腐败严重，医疗系统岌岌可危，传统历史缺失，如果这所谓的言论自由是如此的重要，是美国价值观的核心，为什么我在Quora上辛辛苦苦写下的评论有半数都被和谐了？

如果你来问我，那么我认为每个国家都很伟大，但同时也很糟糕。这取决于你如何看待它。

现在我再次放眼中国，这一次我放下成见，看到的是中国的美。

Marco Trupiano, lives in China (2018-present)

As anybody, I have both subjective and objective views about China. The question is pretty subjective, but I believe it’s important to push out both views.

I’ll start with the objective perspective I have of the country, then continue with my subjective ones and end up with the final result.

PART I: objective analysis

China is a phoenix, rising again from her ashes.

It was a prominent cultural, economic and political center in Asia and the world for millennia. You can check yourself for how long China was the biggest economy of the world.

我和大家一样，对中国既有主观的看法，也有客观的看法。这是个很主观的问题，但我认为，两种观点都需要讨论一番。

我会从我对这个国家的客观看法开始，然后再说说我的主观看法，最后得出最终结论。

第一部分：客观分析

中国是一只凤凰，于灰烬中涅槃重生。

数千年来，它一直是亚洲和全世界著名的文化、经济和政治中心。你可以看看中国在世界最大经济体的地位上保持了多长的时间。

This is around the period in which the East was thriving and without strong Western influence. China is under the Ming dynasty.

The first period of Qing, when Russia was already invading part of the Dongbei (North-East) but Qing managed to drive them off.

Early 1800s, a bit before the begng of the century of Humiliation.

这一时期，东方处于繁荣时期，没有受到西方影响力的大量渗透。当时中国正处在明朝统治下。

清朝建立初期，俄罗斯入侵了中国东北的一部分，但清朝成功地把他们赶走了。

19世纪早期，即将进入中国的耻辱世纪。

Well into the Century of Humiliation. US economy is clearly booming but UK is not far, and considering the added power of the Commonwealth the economy of the British Empire is still far above any other.

Few years before WW2.

As you can see, countries like China and India, no matter how exploited or mismanaged they could be, always were of primary importance to the world economy.

China’s Century of Humiliation is over and, with that, China is slowly claiming her rightful place at the top.

Rightful also because China is one of the most vast countries of Earth (around the same size of the USA), and also has the biggest population out of any other nation.

China accounts for 18% of the world’s entire population.

进入耻辱的世纪。美国经济蓬勃发展，英国也不差。鉴于英联邦的加持，大英帝国的经济水平仍远高于其他任何国家。

二战前几年。

正如你所看到的，中国和印度这样的国家，无论它们被如何掠夺，如何治理不善，对世界经济依然具有举足轻重的地位。

中国长达一个世纪的屈辱结束了，正慢慢地回归其实至名归的领先地位。

说她实至名归，也是因为中国是地球上面积最辽阔的国家之一(大约和美国一样大)，还是世界上人口最多的国家。

中国人口占世界总人口的18%。

The simple fact that 1.4 billion people can only recently start to receive the attention of the rest of the world is ridiculous.

The developed countries (which count, at best, 300 million, but often 50–60 million people) have a big privilege here: while everybody knows about Canada, France, Germany, Italy or UK, countries such as Vietnam, India, Nigeria, Brazil, Pakistan or Indonesia are widely ignored. Each of the latter countries counts at least for double, if not more, of the population of a major European country.

Have you ever heard anybody speak about Indonesia as much as the Netherlands? And yet, Indonesia has both a bigger population and GDP than the Netherlands.

Going back to China, let’s not speak about her rising economy, political importance and so on. This answer would get too long.

Whether we like this country or not, we need to talk about China: our future will be shaped by her presence and her actions. Just like it happened when UK had to accept US as a growing power.

Is it a bad thing? Yes, for some, and no, for others.

中国拥有14亿人口规模这一简单事实，直到最近才开始受到世界其他地方的关注，实在是非常荒谬的。

发达国家(最多有3亿人，通常只有5000万到6000万人口)在这方面有很大的优势：虽然每个人都知道加拿大、法国、德国、意大利或英国，但越南、印度、尼日利亚、巴西、巴基斯坦或印度尼西亚等国家却被许多人忽视。但这些国家的人口至少都是单个欧洲主要国家人口的两倍。

你听过有人像谈论荷兰一样谈论印度尼西亚吗？但是印尼的人口和GDP都超过了荷兰。

让我们说回中国，我们不要谈论中国蒸蒸日上的经济发展和政治重要性之类的话题。不然，这个答案就太长了。

不管我们喜不喜欢这个国家，我们都需要谈论中国：我们的未来取决于她的存在和举动。就像英国不得不接受美国这个正在崛起的大国一样。

这是坏事吗？对一些人来说也许是，对另一些人来说却不是。

A US citizen feels threatened naturally by China, because the more powerful other countries are, the less powerful their country is. Power, just like money, is globally shared (albeit not equally, of course), which means it cannot be grown without any limits.

For this reason, there can be only one or two superpowers on Earth.

But what is the perspective of a minor nation which has to deal with the currently only superpower of the planet? Well, for them, a rising China means a decaying US, which means more autonomy as long as two things do not happen:

China gets to the influencing level of US;
US disappears into the nowhere.

Such an event, culturally, economically and politically, has no chances of happening for several decades at the very least.

美国公民自然会感到受到中国的威胁，因为其他国家越强大，他们的国家相对就不强大。权力，就像金钱一样，是全球共享的(当然是不平等的)，这意味着权力的增长不可能没有任何极限。

因此，世界上只能有一到两个超级大国。

但是，对于一个必须与目前地球上唯一的超级大国打交道的小国来说，他们的未来前景如何呢？对他们来说，中国的崛起意味着美国的衰落，这意味着更多的自主，但前提是两件事不会发生：

中国的影响力达到了美国的水平；
美国消失在历史的舞台上。

这样的事件，无论在文化上、经济上还是政治上，至少在未来几十年内都不可能发生。

US didn’t become a superpower overnight, and China won’t, either. And, of course, US won’t fade into the nothingness in a day.

What we need to consider, as Westerners, is that China’s rise means that Western culture should slowly learn about the Eastern ones, although it doesn’t mean we will have to face what we once forced them to do.

Westernization won’t be imitated by something like a Easternization.

The second thing we need to consider, as Westerners, is that our self-appointed privileges as first-class citizens of the world are a thing of the past. We cannot still cling to them and believe our cultures are superior, because we will be swept away by the East just like the Qing Empire was devastated by its own arrogance.

美国并不是在一夜之间成为超级大国的，中国也不可能。当然，美国也不会在一天之内消失在虚无之中。

作为西方人，我们需要考虑的是，中国的崛起意味着西方文化必须慢慢向东方文化学习，虽然这并不意味着我们将不得不面对我们曾强迫他们做过的事。

西方化不会被东方化之类的东西效仿。

作为西方人，我们需要考虑的第二件事是，我们自封为世界一流公民的特权已经成为历史。我们不能固守这个特权，相信我们的文化高人一等，因为我们会被东方摧毁，就像清帝国被自己的傲慢所摧毁一样。

PART II: My perspective

China is an ancient civilization with up to 5000 years of history.

When I think about it, I genuinely feel amazed and interested into learning more about it. I’ve always had a deep love for history. Now I live in the country established by the most ancient (and still living) civilization of the planet.

Every time I eat something or see a particular custom, I wonder what is its story.

Often the story behind is even more interesting than the experience in itself.

There is simply too much to experience in China. You may satisfy your thirst for knowledge, but you won’t ever manage to reach the bottom of it.

You can say you understand the Chinese culture, but not that you know all about it.

第二部分：我的看法

中国是一个拥有五千年历史的文明古国。

当我想到这一点时，深感震惊，想要了解更多跟她有关的事情。我一直对历史深深着迷。现在我就生活在这个星球上由最古老的文明建立起来的国家。

每次我吃到某种食物或看到某种习俗时，我就很想知道它背后的故事。

通常，背后的故事比经历本身更加有趣。

在中国有许多事情可以了解体验。你可以满足自己对知识的渴望，但你永远无法促及最深处。

也许你可以说你了解中国文化，但你并不能了解全部。

Even Chinese do not know all about their own civilization. It’s simply too vast.

My fascination with China is far bigger than with any other country, and the main reason about it is the same that drove me to live here without even knowing the language. From my very first impression of Shanghai, I understood that I can actually blend in Chinese society more easily than in my own country.

Of course, I didn’t know Chinese back then, and I had small notions of their history and culture. And yet, by simply observing people’s attitude and behavior I felt at ease.

I spent more and more time trying to figure out the logic behind every small action they do.

即使是中国人对他们自己的文明也无法全部了解。它实在是太渊博了。

我对中国的痴迷远比对其他任何国家都要强烈，主要也是因为这个原因，驱使我在不懂中文的情况下居住于此。从我看到上海的第一眼起，我就知道我甚至可以比在我自己的国家更加轻松地融入中国社会。

当然，当时我不懂中文，对中国的历史和文化也只是一知半解。但通过观察人们的态度和行为，我就颇感轻松。

我花了很多时间，努力弄清楚他们每一个举动背后的逻辑。

For example, knocking the table with the fingers twice to show appreciation for you while you are pouring a drink in their glasses.

What’s the story behind it?

They say it was firstly suggested being done by an Emperor who did not want anybody to know his identity while traveling around China. His companions would then use this gesture to represent a bow to thank him for pouring the tea for them.

Perhaps for you they are boring, but to me these stories are extremely enticing.

The more I learn about China, both the ancient and the modern one, the more I feel China really deserves to be at the top of the world. Not only because it has the biggest population and has an enormous territory, which are objective factors, but also because of a culture of governance based on stability and the approach of appointing well-trained officials serving the masses.

例如，当你给他们的杯子里倒饮料时，他们会用手指敲桌子两次以示感谢。

它背后有什么故事呢？

他们说，这最早是一位皇帝想出来的办法，他在微服出访时不想让别人知道他的身份，同伴就用这个手势来表示鞠躬，感谢他为他们倒茶。

也许对你来说，这些故事很无聊，但对我来说，这些故事极具吸引力。

我对中国了解得越多，无论是古代还是现代，我就越觉得中国真的应该站在世界之巅。不仅因为中国拥有最多的人口和广阔的领土，这些只是客观因素，更因为它有一种以稳定为基调、任命训练有素的官员为群众服务的文化。

译文来源：三泰虎 https://www.santaihu.com/p/51675.html 译者：Joyceliu

I personally feel that China as a world leader can be more beneficial to our planet than US. Their ideologies and governments tend to follow science and long-term-prosperity far more strictly than any other government I’ve seen in action. This means that fighting climate change, disease and overexploitation of natural resources will be perhaps easier if China becomes the leading country.

And, yet, I still prefer for nobody to take that role, and instead have a more balanced global situation, which can prevent large conflicts as well as imperialism.

I don’t expect China to attempt that now or in the near future, but who knows what will the world look like in 200, 500 or 1000 years?

For this reason, I think it is best that China keeps going with its politics of non-intervention in foreign affairs and trying to achieve always a win-win relationship with other countries.

我个人认为，比起美国，中国作为世界领袖对我们的星球益处更大。他们的意识形态和政府更遵从科学之道，着眼于长期繁荣。这意味着，如果中国成为世界领袖，对抗气候变化、疾病和自然资源过度开发的行动可能会更顺利。

但我也希望没有人扮演这个角色，让全球局势更加平衡，既可以防止大规模冲突的爆发，也可以防止帝国主义的崛起。

我不指望中国现在或不久的将来这么做，但谁知道200年、500年或1000年后世界会变成什么样子呢？

因此，我认为中国最好继续奉行不干涉别国外交事务的政策，努力与其他国家达成双赢的关系。

Part III: Conclusions

China is one of the most important nations of the world and this is not going to change. Whether we appreciate this change or not, we cannot oppose it.

I understand why some believe China’s rise endangers them, but I strongly disagree.

From my side, all I can do is to provide my knowledge and share my experience to make sure that the majority (which, like me, is neither Chinese, nor American) has more information to decide whether China is a threat or not.

As you may have understood from what I wrote, I’ve already decided to stay here for a very long time - hopefully for the rest of my days.

For me, it is the best place in the world to live, especially due to how similar my values and the values of the Chinese nation are.

I don’t say China is the best place of the world for everybody, but it’s objectively worth, for anybody, a visit or two.