美国普通人都是如何看待今天的中国的?
2021-06-09 翻译熊 35886
正文翻译

What do average Americans think of today's China?

美国普通人都是如何看待今天的中国的?

评论翻译
John Sullivan, studied at Econimics and Statistics
The answer to this is dependently largely on the ethnicity and social class of the American.
You have to remember that in America, Chinese Americans are, on average, more well off than most other groups. So how you view Chinese people often says more about your own social class. As someone who grew up in a mixed social class environment, I feel I have a unique view on this.
Among educated, upper-middle and wealthy Americans, the Chinese are often admired. My mother, who deals with both Chinese and Japanese in business relations, has often compared Chinese culture, work ethic, and value placed on technical education in a favorable light compared to "fat, lazy" American culture. She views Chinese people in the same favorable light as her own parents, who were extremely hardworking and raised 7 children on a shoestring budget, somehow managing to send all of them to college. She is more comfortable around Chinese Americans than she would be around your average blue collar white or hispanic American, who values education less.

John Sullivan, 学过经济学和统计学
这个问题的答案很大程度上取决于美国人的种族和社会阶层。
你必须记住,在美国,华裔美国人的平均生活比大多数其他群体都要富裕。所以,你如何看待中国人通常更多地反映了你自己的社会阶层。作为一个在混合社会阶层环境中长大的人,我觉得我对此有独特的看法。
在受过良好教育、中上阶层和富有的美国人中,中国人常常受到赞赏。我的母亲在商业关系中同时与中国人和日本人打交道,她经常把中国文化、职业道德和对技术教育的重视与“肥胖、懒惰”的美国文化相比。她对中国人的看法和她自己的父母一样好,她的父母非常努力,用很少的预算抚养了7个孩子,以某种方式,设法送他们所有人上大学。她和华裔美国人在一起比和普通蓝领白人或西班牙裔美国人在一起更自在,后者不太看重教育。

Among the more blue-collar part of my family, the views on Chinese are different, and definitely more bigoted. In the small cruddy east coast city I grew up around, the Chinese are viewed as "snobby" and "cheap" by almost all working class people. Part of this is good ol fashioned American racism, but there are other elements are play here. In this city there is a large population of Laotian and Cambodian immigrants, who tend to be much poorer and place less value on education. I've noted that among working class people around the world, racism is often a bonding tool between 2 different groups. The white and hispanic working class people will bond over disparaging the "lazy" blacks. Or the black and hispanic people will bond over how "ignorant" and "stupid" white people are. Most of the time, this racism is relatively harmless, and confronted with an actual person of the "other" group, most racists will actually give that individual a chance. In this case, the Laotian/Cambodian community already has a good deal of anti-Chinese sentiment. Both they and their white/hispanic neighbors tend to be poorer than the Chinese. So you can see how this leads to anti-Chinese sentiment, as the two groups bond over shared jealousy and bigotry. But, when confronted with a Chinese person in the flesh, they will often reverse their stance. It's human nature to "otherize" a group, but it's also human nature to have difficulty "otherizing" a single individual.
Outside of the coastal areas of the country, there are fewer Chinese. My midwestern cousins live in a rural area where the only other group besides white people are American Indians, who appear fairly caucasian looking for the most part. I do not think they have any opinions of Chinese people whatsoever, except maybe a bit of the "good" stereotype (which can of course be harmful).
It's also worth mentioning that much of our views on China are shaped by the Chinese Americans views. There are certain aspects of Chinese society and culture that are often disparaged by Chinese Americans. So other Americans will gladly adopt these views, since it makes them feel better about their own country.

在我的家庭中,蓝领阶层对中国人的看法是不同的,而且肯定更偏颇。在我从小长大的那个脏兮兮的东海岸小城,几乎所有的工人阶级都认为中国人“势利”、“廉价”。 部分原因是传统的美国种族主义,但也有其他因素在起作用。在这个城市有大量的老挝和柬埔寨移民人口,他们往往更贫穷,不重视教育。我注意到,在世界各地的工人阶级中,种族主义通常是两个不同群体之间的纽带。白人和西班牙裔工人阶级将通过贬低“懒惰的”黑人而团结起来。或者黑人和西班牙裔会因为白人的“无知”和“愚蠢”而联系在一起。大多数时候,这种种族主义是相对无害的,当面对“其他”群体中的一个实际的人时,大多数种族主义者实际上会给那个人一个机会。在这种情况下,老挝/柬埔寨社区已经有大量的反华情绪。他们和他们的白人/西班牙裔邻居往往比中国人更穷。所以你可以看到这是如何导致反华情绪的,因为这两个群体因共同的嫉妒和偏执而联系在一起。但是,当面对一个中国人本人时,他们往往会改变立场。将一个群体“他化”是人类的天性,但很难将一个个体“他化”也是人类的天性。
在沿海地区以外,中国人很少。我在中西部的表亲们住在一个农村地区,除了白人之外,那里唯一的另一个群体是美国印第安人,他们看起来大部分都很像白人。我不认为他们对中国人有任何看法,除了可能有一点“好的”刻板印象(这当然是有害的)。
值得一提的是,我们对中国的很多看法都是由对华裔美国人的看法形成的。中国社会和文化的某些方面经常受到美籍华人的蔑视。所以其他美国人会很乐意接受这些观点,因为这会让他们对自己的国家感觉更好。

Nina Crespi
Chinese being more well off can't be emphasized enough. I know of two Northeast neighborhoods where they move in and don't buy private homes but entire apt buildings.

中国人更富裕再强调也不为过。我知道有两个东北的邻居,他们搬进来后不买私人住宅,而是买整栋公寓。

John Sullivan
Wealthy foreigners often invest in US real estate, the laws here are a bit more forgiving and historically it tends to be a good investment more often than not. There are high rises in my city where a decent chunk of the condos are owned by Chinese investors who have barely set foot in the US.

富有的外国人经常投资美国房地产,这里的法律更宽容一些,从历史上看,这往往是一项不错的投资。
在我所在的城市,有一些高层建筑,其中相当大一部分公寓为几乎没有踏足美国的中国投资者所有。

Nina Crespi
The question was not why Chinese buy real estate, or if they live in it or not, abundantly but what do Americans think of them which I answered in my 1st sentence, then followed by real estate to back it up.

问题不是为什么中国人买房地产,或者他们是否大量居住在那里,而是美国人对他们的看法,这是我在第一句话中回答的,然后是房地产作为理由支撑。

Thomas Pauken II, B.A. from Thomas More College of Liberal Arts (1999)
BEIJING: Although I have lived and worked in China since October 2010, I am a native of Dallas, TX USA, born and raised there while I spent some time in the East Coast pf US, Washington DC, New York City and New Hampshire. So I have some familiarity about how average Americans think of China.
I was anti-China person myself until after moving to the Asian continent in South Korea from 2001 to 2007. At the time, I was just an ESL (English as a Second-language) teacher and not doing anything remarkable with my life. When I decided to move to Seoul, I was struggling professional career wise after graduating from college with a B.A. degree in Political Science.
I learned the hard way that when studying at a Liberal Arts’ school and deciding not to pursue a career path as professor or lawyer you will likely confront many challenges finding a stable and high-paying job.
Despite my love for reading Shakespeare, Aristotle and Tolstoy, it’s not easy persuading potential employees that my passion for reading the Western Classics should should place me as top priority in the hiring process.
But I have lived and learned from it and moved on. Nonetheless, I felt more comfortable among Asians as many of them are eager to learn, hard working and ambitious.

Thomas Pauken II, 托马斯·莫尔文学院文学学士学位(1999)
虽然我从2010年10月开始在中国生活和工作,但我是美国德克萨斯州达拉斯人,在那里出生和长大,我在美国东海岸、华盛顿特区、纽约市和新罕布什尔州呆过一段时间。所以我对普通美国人是如何看待中国有些了解。
在2001年到2007年搬到亚洲大陆的韩国之前,我一直是一个反华人士。那时候,我只是一个ESL(英语为第二语言)的老师,没有做过任何了不起的事情。当我决定搬到首尔时,我正为政治科学学士学位毕业后的职业发展而苦苦挣扎。
当我在文理学院学习时,当你决定不追求教授或律师的职业道路时,要找到一份稳定的高薪工作,你很可能会面临许多挑战。尽管我喜欢阅读莎士比亚、亚里士多德和托尔斯泰的著作,但要说服潜在的员工相信,我对西方经典著作的热爱应该让我在招聘过程中成为重中之重,这并不容易。
但我活了下来,从中吸取了教训,并继续前行。尽管如此,我还是觉得和亚洲人在一起比较自在,因为他们中很多人都渴望学习,努力工作,雄心勃勃。

But there was a harder edge to life in South Korea than I had anticipated. It was my experience that many South Koreans were perfectionists, quick tempered and impatient.
But when people ask me why I chose to move to Korea back then it was simple. I wanted to try a new adventure and loved to travel. When reviewing job ads, there was a message about teaching English in South Korea and it captured my curiosity but to be honest I was not interested in teaching just wanted to try something new.
So I called up the recruiter and two weeks later I was on a plane to work there. If the job ad said teach English in Japan, Vietnam, China or any other Asia-Pacific country I would have gone there without pondering the differences among Asian nations.
I mention this story to explain the notable ignorance on foreign affairs among average Americans. I was anti-China but I went to school, read books and most Americans I spoke to had hated China. I was young and never visited China so I made the logical conclusion that China is bad because most of my fellow Americans thank that’s true.

但韩国的生活比我预想的要艰难。根据我的经验,许多韩国人都是完美主义者,脾气暴躁,没有耐心。但当人们问我为什么选择搬到韩国时,我的回答很简单。我想尝试新的冒险,我喜欢旅行。
在浏览招聘广告时,有一条关于在韩国教英语的信息,这引起了我的好奇心,但说实话,我对教学不感兴趣,只是想尝试一些新的东西。
所以我打电话给招聘人员,两周后我坐上了飞往工作地的飞机。如果招聘广告上说在日本、越南、中国或任何其他亚太国家教英语,我就会去那里,而不会去考虑亚洲国家之间的差异。
我提到这个故事是为了解释普通美国人对外交事务的明显无知。我曾是反华的,但我上学,读书。和我交谈过的大多数美国人都讨厌中国。我很年轻,从来没有去过中国,所以我得出了一个合乎逻辑的结论,中国不好,因为我的大多数美国同胞感谢这是真的。

My perspective had changed dramatically after moving to South Korea and meeting local businessmen who told me they loved making trips to China and said the country was much better than what many others were saying.
I took a weekend trip to Shanghai in 2005 and discovered the Chinese were not brainless Marxists, fanatical political zealots or ideologues, they were regular people and loved to enjoy life just like average Americans. The trip opened my eyes and knew I could feel comfortable in China if I choose to move there.
And that’s what happened. I came to Beijing over 10 years ago and have stayed here. I point out that average Americans are not hearing the real story about China.
Many scholars with fancy titles and prestigious academic resumes are claiming to be ‘China experts,’ but they do nothing more than spew China hate. Their only expertise is knowing how to criticize China and sound convincing to others.
My recommendation for average Americans would be to encourage you to visit China and check it out for yourself.

搬到韩国后,我的看法发生了巨大的变化,我遇到了当地的商人,他们告诉我,他们喜欢到中国旅行,说这个国家比很多人说的要好得多。2005年的一个周末,我去了上海,发现中国人不是没有头脑的马克思主义者、政治狂热者或空想家,他们是普通人,喜欢像普通美国人一样享受生活。这次旅行开阔了我的眼界,我知道如果我选择移居中国,我在中国会感觉很舒服。
这就是所发生的。十多年前我来到北京,一直住在这里。我指出,普通美国人并没有听到关于中国的真实故事。许多拥有花哨头衔和著名学术简历的学者都自称是“中国专家”,但他们只不过是在喷吐对中国的仇恨。他们唯一的专长就是知道如何批评中国,让别人听起来有说服力。
我对普通美国人的建议是鼓励你去中国,自己去看看。

Johannes Sulistyo
My experience is about the same as yours.
I used to be very anti-China (the mainland). A visit to Japan, changed me. Yep, it was a visit to China's neighbouring countries, just like your visit to Korea that changed my perspective. We read quite a lot about anti-Japanese sentiment in China and anti-China sentiment in Japan. But in everyday Tokyo life, they looked like passing media buzz.
These loyal US allies turned out to have a much more positive views about China, and let alone their historical ties, which is still pretty much very celebrated there. There are direct flights between Tokyo Haneda to Beijing Capital and Seoul Gimpo, connecting there East Asian nation's closer to capital downtown airports. Not to mention other direct flight between smaller Chinese / Korean / Japanese cities, like Dalian, Busan, Shizuoka, Fukuoka, Xiamen, and so on.

我的经历和你的差不多。
我过去非常反华(大陆)。一次日本之行,改变了我。是的,是一次对中国邻国的访问,就像你的韩国之行改变了你的看法一样。我们了解了很多关于中国的反日情绪和日本的反华情绪。但在东京的日常生活中,它们看起来就像媒体炒作。
事实证明,这些忠实的美国盟友对中国的看法要积极得多,更不用说他们的历史关系了,这在中国仍然非常受欢迎。东京羽田到北京和首尔之间有直飞航班,通过这些首都航班,这几个东亚国家之间的距离更近了。更不用说大连、釜山、静冈县、福冈、厦门等中国、韩国、日本小城市之间的直飞航班了。

Carl Johnson
Yes I had the same experience. Thought I knew China because I read news articles and listened to Fox News. When I arrived in 2011 the reality literally turned my world view upside down. I have been in China since.

我有同样的经历。我曾以为我了解中国,因为我读新闻文章,听福克斯新闻。
当我2011年来到这里的时候,现实彻底颠覆了我的世界观。从那以后我一直在中国。

Willy Gramm
That is the perfect remedy for unbridled anti-China rhetoric, to just go over there and see for yourself what the country and the people are like.
Problem is, few people are going to make it over, or anywhere far away for that matter, whether it’s Europe, Japan, India, or China.
I think the best thing is if writers like you, who can speak from long experience (and 10 years in China is a LOT of experience, especially compared to most Americans who speak on the matter) write pieces in mainstream US newspapers and magazines. Doesn’t have to a national publication, and quite frankly they’d probably be hostile to your opinion, as it goes against officially-sanctioned ideas. But regional and local papers, perhaps your hometown’s paper, would likely be more amenable to publishing your pieces. If only because most regional/local papers have little interesting news to report on, and the opinions often come from people with decidedly limited experiences. Your views would stand out, would be almost be exotic, and I think they would garner a healthy following.
The other thing is local papers like people who have moved away to share their experiences. It’s sort of the “our kid done good” sort of thing. Wherever you’re originally from, I think they’d love to know what worldly experiences you’ve had living away. This goes not just for you, Mr. Pauken, but everyone else who’s lived abroad.

对于那些肆无忌惮的反华言论,去看看那个国家和人民是什么样子,这是最好的补救办法。
但问题是,很少有人能去,或者去很远的地方,不管是欧洲、日本、印度还是中国。
我认为最好的是,像你这样有丰富经验的作家能够在美国主流报纸和杂志上写文章(在中国10年的经验已经很丰富了,尤其是与大多数美国人相比),不需要全国性的出版物。坦率地说,他们可能会对你的观点持敌对态度,因为它与官方认可的观点相悖。但是地方报纸,比如你家乡的报纸,可能更愿意发表你的文章——因为大多数地区/地方报纸可能没有什么有趣的新闻报道,而且这些观点往往来自经验有限的人。你的观点会引人注目,几乎是异国情调的,而且我认为他们会获得健康的追随者。
另一件事是地方报纸分享那些搬走的人分享的他们的经历。这是"我们的孩子做了好事"之类的。无论你来自哪里,我想他们都很想知道你在那里的生活经历。不仅是你,答主先生,所有在国外生活过的人都是这样。

Maxine Hatton
So nice that you have clarified things for the haters. I was there as a Tourist from Canada with no preconceived bias and thought it was an amazing country and the people were pleasant and very helpful.

你为那些讨厌中国的人澄清了事情,这很棒。我是一名来自加拿大的游客,没有任何先入之见,我认为这是一个神奇的国家,人们很友好,也很乐于助人。

PP Carr
This is a nice descxtion of the typical American idiosyncrasy. This sounds remarkably the same as the view Americans have on Mexico, and what actual Americans living in Mexico think of Mexico: totally opposed points of views.

这是对典型美国人性格的很好的描述。这听起来和美国人对墨西哥的看法,以及真正生活在墨西哥的美国人对墨西哥的看法非常相似:完全相反的观点。

TS Chu
That indicates the propaganda power & effectiveness of the western mass media in keeping the American citizens ignorant of the world. As a result the average American who had never left their homeland always think that America is the greatest country on earth. I
Would Those “expert academics” on China care to list the criteria in what way America is the greatest country on earth?

这表明了西方大众媒体在保持美国公民对世界的无知方面的宣传力量和有效性。
因此,没有离开过祖国的普通美国人总是认为美国是地球上最伟大的国家。那些研究中国的“专家学者”是否愿意列出美国在哪些方面是世界上最伟大的国家吗?

PP Carr
I wonder about the same issue. I think there are no academicians defending that view. Instead I think it it is the less educated part of their society who hold that view, however, some of the best educated part (those who only care visiting Europe or the like) may also hold that view. what is their base? Just prejudices!

我也同样好奇这个问题。我认为没有学者能为这个观点辩护。相反,我认为是社会上受教育程度较低的人持有这种观点。
然而,一些受过最好教育的人(那些只关心去欧洲或类似地方旅游的人)也可能持有这种观点。

T Zhao
If there are more Americans like you, this planet and humanity can move forward on to more productive agenda.

如果有更多像你一样的美国人,这个星球和人类就能向前推进,进入更有成效的议程。

Daniel Martínez
To be honest, I didn't have an opinion on China before I visited it for the first time back in 2016. And my first impression wasn't great either,since I got stucked inside the airplane for two hours after landing in Beijing, which made me lose my connection flight to Guangzhou. Meanwhile, my luggage got lost and nobody could explain to me where it was. Also, because I came from Europe, I had to do the whole check in process again, endure long lasting lines to finally be send to Guangzhou 10 hours later. The lady in Air China wasn't the charmest either…but lesson learned: no more Air China and no more transferring inside of China. Also, the first time I got to experience Guangzhou, being used to Japan, I was overwhelmed by the huge amounts of people, the competition to get a seat in the public transportation, people jumping the lines, etc…but even after the initial shock, China grew on me and I started to enjoy the amazing food, the curiosity and warmth of its people, the endless possibilities for traveling and business and an endless list of things that made me fall in love with it. Actually I have visited China 8 times ever since and every time I learn and enjoy it more.

说实话,在我2016年第一次访问中国之前,我对中国没有什么看法。而且我的第一印象也不是很好,因为我在北京降落后被困在飞机里两个小时,导致我失去了去广州的转机航班。与此同时,我的行李丢了,没人能向我解释它在哪里。而且,因为我来自欧洲,我不得不再次完成整个登记流程,忍受漫长的排队,最后在10小时后被送到广州。
中国国际航空公司的那位女士也不是特别的迷人,我们得到了一个教训:不要再乘坐中国国际航空公司的飞机了,不要再在中国境内转机了。此外,我第一次去广州,就像在日本一样,我被大量的人淹没了,在公共交通中抢座位的竞争,人们插队,等等
但即使在最初的震惊之后,中国还是越来越吸引我,我开始享受令人惊叹的食物、中国人的好奇心和热情、旅行和商业的无限可能性,以及无数让我爱上它的事情。事实上,从那以后我去过中国8次,每次我都更喜欢中国。

TS Chu
I had a brother in Tianjin. because of him we travelled china several times since 1998 & each time we visited a different place. Except for tibet we have visited nearly all of China and all sort of places; including the poorest place in Gansu after the great earthquake in Sichuan . I can testify that the West has got China totally wrong. Instead of bashing China, the west should follow china in its national reconstruction programme ..China has literally progressed and still is progressing in leaps & bounds; especially in solving its poverty problems. Today, one cannot see homelessness in rural china as you see those in California!! To me that is the most important indication of how China looks after its citizens. Credit must be given when credit is due. This is one of the “miracles” of modern China which no country can boost about. There are many more such “miracles” by the government of China. Go and see it for yourself if you have done so yet.Dont worry, it is perfectly safe touring China. AS a Chinese, that is the safest place on earth right now;especially during this pandemic! There is no bashing of any race in China like you have in America!

我有一个兄弟在天津。因为他,我们从1998年开始在中国旅行了好几次,每次都是不同的地方。除了西藏,我们几乎参观了中国的所有地方,包括四川大地震后最贫困的甘肃。
我可以证明西方对中国理解完全是错误的。西方不应该抨击中国,而是应该效仿中国的国家重建计划,中国确实取得了进步,而且仍在突飞猛进;特别是在解决贫困问题方面。今天,在中国的农村地区,你看不到像在加州那样的无家可归者!
在我看来,这是中国如何照顾其公民的最重要表现。荣誉应该给予那些值得这些荣誉的国家。这是现代中国的“奇迹”之一,是任何国家都无法撼动的。中国还有很多这样的“奇迹”。如果你已经来到中国了,你自己去看看吧。别担心,在中国旅行绝对安全。
作为一个中国人,那是现在地球上最安全的地方,特别是在这场疫情期间!中国没有像你在美国那样抨击任何种族!

Daniel Martínez
Hi! Well, I'm not american nor living in America either, so I may be out of topic, since the question that iniciated the debate was how americans see China, so I don't really belong to this debate. Having said that, I think you said some truths about chinese political system, but I highly doubt it can be exported to any other country without strong resistance from its population, since it's basically a dictatorship, although I'd say I very functional one and with some good atributes that made it more successful than many democracies (Singapur could be another example of a successful dictatorship). About homeless, not many but I've seen a few in Guangzhou, particularly near Kecun metro station, but still it doesn't decrat from the fact that China has made giant progress and has taken milllions out of poverty. That's all from my side. See you!

你好,我不是美国人,也不住在美国,所以我可能跑题了,因为引发这场辩论的问题是美国人如何看待中国。
话虽如此,我认为你道出了一些关于中国政治制度的真相,但我高度怀疑它能否在没有受到其人民强烈抵制的情况下输出到任何其他国家……尽管我想说我是一个非常实用的人,并且承认它比许多民主国家更成功。
关于无家可归者,虽然不多,但我在广州看到过一些,尤其是在Kecun地铁站附近,但这不能否认中国取得了巨大进步,让数以百万计的人摆脱了贫困的事实。
这就是我的看法,后会有期!

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