What has it been like to watch China change so drastically in the last 10-15 years?quora網友：目睹中國過去十到十五年間的劇烈變化是什麼感覺？
quora網貼翻譯：
David Abrahamson， Across China from 2001-2011(2001-2011年間走遍中國）Below are a couple of anecdotes that come to mind when I think about my experience in China. I moved to China in 2001 and returned to the US in 2011. My first visit in 2001 was a trip to Chengdu, Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong (if that counts). I lived in Beijing for a year from the fall of 2001, from 2002 to 2006 I lived in Yunnan and from 2006 to 2011 I lived in Guangdong. My work and travels took me to other cities and the countryside, so I experienced China's growth from a couple of different angels. I agree with above comments that the rate of change, economically, culturally and politically is what made living in China during this period an exciting and dynamic experience., and is a big reason that kept me around. If I go back to my hometown of Chapel Hill one year from now, two years from now, or ten years from now, I will not expect much change. There will be some new restaurants, a new shopping mall or some expanded highways, but all in all the US is pretty static. China on the other hand, year to year, underwent dramatic changes, rendering parts of the cities I lived in completely unrecognizable from their previous self.As an example, one day in Kunming in 2004, I left my house to visit one of my favorite restaurants. Not only was my target restaurant closed down, but all of the restaurants on that bit of road for a city block were closed. They had just closed, the workers were siting on stools out in the street wondering what to do as the entire row of buildings was being demolished where only a day before was bustling activity. No winding down of activity as restaurants relocated and shuttered, no warning of demolishing in the weeks leading up to this day, but just a sudden change in the street scene. A few months later a new apartment building stood in its place. Experiences like this were a typical part of living in China the past decade. You never knew when a part of the city you knew would just be torn down and replaced with something unfamiliar.When I revisited Beijing in 2005 after leaving in 2002, the feeling was disorienting. I went to the streets I used to jog on in Chaoyang on the way to visit my old school. When I got out of the subway I wondered if I was in the right place; I didn't recognize any of the structures around me. The signs confirmed my location and I tried to find my old route, but the stalls I used to buy snacks from were nowhere to be seen, the buildings that were familiar landmarks could not be found. As I got closer to my school, walking in presumably the right direction, I spotted something I recognized, the university guesthouse. My mind bended in disorientation as I suddenly gained my bearings. I was walking down my old route alright, but everything had changed. Where previously was construction were now colorful buildings, the dilapidated alleyways I used to run down were now modern structures along newly paved roads. It was quite a strange sensation.In the countryside and in other cities, the changes were similarly dramatic. I remember a pile of rubble that stretched for a city block in Suzhou on my first trip to China in 2001. It looked like something out of a war movie, but a few years later I would feel such scenes were common place. The sleepy Chengdu I visited in 2001 no longer exists and on subsequent visits I have felt no familiar feeling of "revisiting" a place I'd been before, but instead just the unfamiliar (the Chendu food however, is still familiar and welcome).Among the people the changes have also been dramatic. How Chinese view this change can be vary markedly depending whether they were born in 1990 or 1985, or grew up in Guangzhou versus the Yunnan countryside. My students in Beijing remember what China was like in the 1980s and 1990s and witnessed a dramatic increase in wealth. By contrast some of my younger colleagues in Shenzhen had grown up in relative prosperity in one of China's most modern cities, and almost took for granted the current state of prosperity.
當我回想我在中國的經歷時，曾經的一些趣事就慢慢的浮現心頭。我2001年移居中國，2011年返回美國。如果沒記錯的話，我2001年首次訪問中國去的是成都、北京、上海和香港。從2001年秋天開始，我在北京住了一年，從2002年到2006年，我住在雲南，從2006年到2011年，我住在廣東。我在工作和旅行中去了其他一些城市和鄉村，所以我親歷了中國許多方面的成長。我同意其他評論者的看法，即在這個時期，中國的經濟、文化和政治的變化速度是令人興奮和充滿活力的。這種變化也是讓我流連忘返一個重要原因。如果一年、兩年或者十年以後我回到我的家鄉教堂山，我也不會期待有太多的改變。可能會新一些餐館，一個新的購物中心或擴展幾條高速公路，要知道在美國所有地方的所有事物都是相當靜態的。另一方面，年復一年，中國經歷著翻天覆地的變化，使得我曾經生活過的城市的很多地方變得跟原來截然不同。
舉個例子，2004年，昆明，有一天我離開家去了我最喜歡的一家餐館。不僅我想去的那個餐廳被關閉了，所有在這條街上的餐館都被關閉了。他們剛剛關了門，工人們坐在街邊的凳子上無所事事，整排的建築都在被拆除中，而就在一天前這裡還在熙熙攘攘的營業。餐館的搬遷和關閉，沒有任何預兆，在那天之前的幾周裡，沒有任何關於拆除的警告，然後街道上突然發生了變化。幾個月後，一幢新的公寓大樓矗立在那裡。在過去的十年裡，像這樣的經歷是過去十年來中國生活的特色之一。你永遠不會知道，你所熟悉的城市的某一部分何時會被拆毀，然後一些陌生的事物取而代之。
我2002年離開北京，當2005年再次訪問北京時，感覺迷失了方向。我去了我以前在朝陽區慢跑的街道去參觀我的老學校。當我走出地鐵時，我懷疑自己是不是去錯了地方;我不認識周圍的任何建築。指示牌確認了我的位置，我試圖找到我曾經走過的路線，但是我過去買小吃的攤位無處可尋，那些熟悉的地標建築也消失無蹤。當我走近我的學校，走在可能正確的方向上，我發現了一些我認識的東西，大學賓館。我的心裡一陣恍惚，我突然明白了方向。我沿著老路走著，但一切都變了。以前的建築現在變得五顏六色，我過去常常跑過的破舊小巷現在變成了現代化的建築群，街道也煥然一新。這真是一種奇怪的感覺。
在農村和其他城市，這些變化同樣引人注目。我記得2001年第一次去中國的時候，在蘇州的一個城市街區，有一堆瓦礫。它看起來像戰爭電影裡的東西，但幾年後我會覺得這樣的場景很常見。我2001年訪問過的那個沉寂的成都已經不復存在了，在隨後的訪問中，我再沒有了故地重遊的熟悉感，取而代之的是完全的陌生(然而，成都的食物，仍然是熟悉和受歡迎的)。
身處其中的人們，變化也很大。中國人如何看待這種變化，取決於他們是在1990年還是1985年出生的，是在廣州長大的還是在雲南農村長大的。我在北京的學生還記得上世紀80年代和90年代的中國，並目睹了財富的急劇增長。相比之下，我在深圳的一些年輕同事，在中國最現代化的城市之一，在相對富裕的環境中長大，幾乎把目前的繁榮狀態視為理所當然。
As an anecdote, a close Chinese friend of mine enrolled in a university in Kunming invited me to his humble village in rural Yunnan. To get there we changed buses twice, caught a ride in the back of truck down the dirt road to a nearby village, then walked the rest of the way to his hovel in the hills. To return days later, we had to walk a couple of miles over a hill (there were no automobiles coming or leaving the nearby village that day) and waited a couple of hours in a slightly larger hovel until a horse-drawn carriage took us to a town with buses. He was the first person from his village to attend university. I thought that he must be a hero in his village, the one who, despite all against him, worked hard and freed himself from poverty. He remarked that this was not the case, as now it is common for students from his village to attend university. Only two years later a paved road, buses and telephone line ran straight to his village.Kunming received multiple face-lifts during my time there. The biggest was probably in 2001 before I arrived, and the other biggest one occurred leading up to a summit with ASEAN nations. Perfectly fine roads were repaved, the remaining old architecture was torn down and new structures were built left and right. It was distressing in China to see such little government preservation of local heritage, and I would say to myself, at many of the places I visited "wow, if only I'd come a few years earlier I would've seen the old buildings." Photo books of old Kunming only need to look back to 2000 to show a city that still had traditional architecture. This was true in all Chinese cities I visited and during my travels in China, piles of rubble, construction, cranes and heavy machinery almost dominated the roads.Guangzhou felt "done" by comparison when I moved there in 2006. As one of the first cities to open up, its path to modernization began twenty years prior. One living in Guangzhou could feel that China was already a modern nation, with little to no evidence of the poverty that remains in parts of Guangdong just a couple of hours a way. But changes did take place. I'll never forget my plane ride into the city, a dim auburn afternoon sun stuck out from within a haze of pollution. There was seldom a true blue sky day in the city. As the factories moved further from urban Guangzhou, and environmental regulations reduced urban pollution, my days playing Frisbee and walking along the river became clearer and clearer in the following two years. There would still be days where it would be hard to see clearly across the Pearl River that bisects the city, but blue sky days did seem to increase. I'm not sure if there was some small improvement during my time there, or maybe I just became inured to the Guangdong air.So those are a couple of anecdotes. Another aspect about living in such a large, dynamic and diverse place as China is that it is difficult, at a conceptual level, to create for myself an understanding of what China meant. As a curious learner of China, this is something I and many others would naturally try to do. There's so much contradicting news about China, maybe more so before than now, and so many changes that it would be difficult to reconcile, in my head, the culture, disparities, government and rapid changes. Once I felt I had things figured out, something would happen that would put my understanding of China on its head. Now I'm older and wiser, and recognize that attempting to "understand" China is somewhat of a lost cause. While I continue to be excited to learn more about the country, the more I learn, the more I realize how much I do not understand. But I'm fascinated to see what comes next.
講一件軼事，我的一位中國朋友在昆明讀大學，邀請我去他的老家，位於雲南農村的一個簡陋村莊。為了到達那裡，我們換了兩次公交車，搭在一輛卡車的後面，一路沿著土路來到附近的一個村莊，然後走完剩下的路到他在山裡的小屋。幾天後，我們不得不在山上走了幾英里(那天沒有汽車來或離開附近的村莊)，在一個稍微大一點的小茅屋裡等了幾個小時，直到一輛馬車載著我們來到一個有公共汽車的城鎮。他是村裡第一個上大學的人。我認為他一定是村裡的英雄，他克服了重重困難，努力工作，使自己擺脫了貧困。他說，情況並非如此，因為現在他所在的村子裡的學生上大學很常見。僅僅兩年後，一條新修的道路、公共汽車和電話線就都通到了他的村子裡。
昆明在我居住的那段時間裡經歷了多次改頭換面般的變化。最大一次變化可能是在我去那之前的2001年，而另一次最大的變化則發生在迎接東盟國家峰會那段時間。道路被完美的修復了，存留的舊建築被拆除了，新建的建築鱗次櫛比。在中國，目睹對當地古建築遺產的保護並不在意很令人痛心，在我去過的許多地方，我可能會告訴自己：“哇，如果我早幾年來，我就會看到那些古老的建築。”要想看到老昆明的樣子只需要回到2000年，就可以看到一個仍有傳統建築的城市。在我訪問過和旅行過的所有中國城市中，都是如此。在路上，成堆的瓦礫、建築、起重機和重型機械幾乎佔據了所有的道路。
相比2006年我居住的那個廣州，現在的廣州讓人感覺已經“大功告成”。作為最早開放的城市之一，它的現代化之路始於20年前。一個住在廣州的人可能會覺得中國已經是一個現代化的國家，然而有很多任何證據表明這不是真的，幾個小時車程外的廣東許多地區仍然還保持著貧困的狀態。但變化確實發生了。我永遠不會忘記我乘坐的飛機進入城市，一縷昏暗的赤褐色的午後陽光從一層汙染重重的煙靄中透了出來。在這個城市裡很少有真正的藍天。隨著工廠搬遷到離廣州市區越來越遠的地方，環保法規也有效減少了城市的汙染，在接下來的兩年裡，我玩飛盤和沿河散步的時候，天空越來越清晰。當然仍有一些時日，很難清楚地看穿穿過橫跨這座城市的珠江，但藍天的日子看起來確實在增多。我不確定我在那裡居住的那段時間裡空氣是否有了一點小小的改善，或許我已經習慣了廣東的空氣了吧。
以上是一些關於中國的軼事。另一方面，在中國這樣一個巨大、充滿活力和多樣性的地方生活，在觀念層面上，一個人很難真正理解中國到底意味著什麼。作為一個好奇的中國學習者，這是我和許多其他人自然會嘗試做的事情。關於中國的新聞有很多自相矛盾的地方，也許那時的矛盾比現在還多，而且在我的頭腦裡，文化、差異、政府和快速變化都很難調和。一旦我覺得自己有了頭緒，就會發生一些事情，讓我對中國的理解有所改觀。現在我更老了，更聰明瞭，並且認識到，試圖“理解”中國是一個註定失敗的事業。當我繼續為更多的瞭解到了這個國家而感到興奮的時候，我學到的越多，我就越意識到我對中國有多無知。但我依然很想知道接下來會發生些什麼。
Greg Burch, lawyer, "Old China Hand," amateur roboticistI first came to China in 1979.With the baseline of that original experience, seeing China's development in the last few decades has been overwhelming for me. Based on the formal education I had in the 1970s about China, I would never have imagined back then that I would be seeing what I see now in China.Sometimes I will be walking down the street or riding in a car or a train in a Chinese "tier 1" city in these days and I will remember what the same scene looked like back in 1979. There have been times when this has happened and I have literally been dumbstruck by the sheer quantity of change and development I have seen in my life. Even though I'm "used" to it now, I still have this experience fairly often.The same thing happens to me even in my present home, Hong Kong, even though HK was much more developed back in the late 1970s. The other day I was walking along the waterfront in Kowloon and I suddenly remembered that where I was standing had been in the harbor the first time I came to HK. I looked around to the north and could see the old Kowloon Walled City in my mind's eye, the big planes skimming just above the forest of television antennas on its roofs as they navigated the infamous cross-winds on the approach to Kai Tak.A few years back, I told an audience I was speaking to that "Never in human history has the economic situation of so many human beings been improved so quickly as has happened in China in the last 30 years. In a very real sense, it is by far the greatest instance of real progress in the history of the world." For me, the personal experience of this amazing story has been very real and very personal.
我第一次來中國是在1979年。
在最初的經驗基礎上，看到中國在隨後幾十年間的發展對我來說是顛覆性的。基於上世紀70年代我接受的關於中國的正規教育，我從來沒有想過我會看到現在在中國看到的東西。
有時候，我會漫步街頭，或者在中國的“一線”城市裡乘坐一輛車或一輛火車，這時我會回想起得1979年時的情景。這樣的情形發生了很多次。這些我一生中目睹的巨大變化和翻天覆地的發展，確實讓我目瞪口呆。雖然我現在已經“習慣”了，但我仍然經常有這種體驗。
即使在我現在的居住地香港，也發生了同樣的事情，儘管香港在20世紀70年代後期更加發達。有一天，我在九龍的海濱散步時，突然想起剛剛我路過的地方正是我第一次來港時站在港口的地方。我朝著北邊環視了一下，在我的腦海裡浮現出古老的九龍寨城。在接近啟德機場的時候，大飛機穿過臭名昭著的側向風掠過九龍寨城屋頂上密密麻麻的電視天線。
幾年前，我曾對一名聽眾講到，“人類歷史上從來沒有哪裡能夠像中國這樣在過去的30年間讓如此多的人的經濟條件發生如此快速的提升。”實事求是的說，這是迄今為止世界歷史上最偉大的發展實例。“對我來說，親歷這個令人驚歎的故事是非常真實和非常獨特的。
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Xihan LiuI was born in 1989 and I think the whole 1990-2010 period in China is golden.China's economy growth is about 10% annually on average at that time. It means every 7 years its economy had doubled in size.To be more intuitive, it's like every 7 years you live in a totally different country. Now think about it: when I was in elementry school, people in China were about the same rich as Laos, but by the year I went to college, the income of an average Chinese family was on par with Peru. People in big cities like Beijing or Shanghai are even better: living a standard like an average Greek person.Despite the enormous benefits we enjoyed, there are also a few problems:The knowledge/culture gap between generations is huge. For example, in the US, if you take 1990–2010 and assume this 20 years accounts for one generation, the GDP per cap increased from $23954 to $48374 (measured in current USD, according to World Bank), doubling the size. Meanwhile, China grew from $318 to $4561, which is a 14X growth. US took about 40 years/2 generations to grow from $318 to $4561. So the knowledge/culture gap between my mom/dad and me is about the same as the difference between your great grandpa who participated in WWII and the millennials who nowadays twits emojis all the time…This really creates a lot of communication problems and family issues because my parent and I simply thinks in different dimensions and a lot of times don’t even speak the same language (Soviet bureaucratic Chinese dialogue and modern cyber Chinese).
我出生於1989年，我認為整個1990-2010年的中國都是黃金時期。
中國年均經濟增長率約為10%。這意味著每7年經濟規模就翻倍。
更直觀的說，這就像每過7年你就會生活在一個完全不同的國家。現在想想看:當我在小學的時候，中國人的收入跟老撾差不多，但是到我上大學的時候，一個普通中國家庭的收入與秘魯相當。像北京或上海這樣的大城市的人甚至更好:像一般的希臘人那樣生活。
儘管我們享受到巨大的益處，但也存在一些問題:
兩代人之間的知識/文化差異巨大。例如，在美國，如果你以1990-2010年為例，假設這20年為一代人，那麼人均GDP從23954美元增加到48374美元(根據世界銀行的數據，按當前美元計算)，這一數字翻了一番。與此同時，中國從318美元增長到4561美元，這是14倍的增長。我們花了大約40年/2代，從318美元增長到4561美元。所以我和我的媽媽/爸爸之間的知識/文化差異跟你參加過二戰的曾祖父和如今用表情符號交流的千禧一代的差距差不多…這真的創造了很多溝通問題和家庭問題,因為我的父母和我在不同的維度思考,很多時候甚至不講同一種語言(蘇聯官僚式中國話和現代網絡中國話)。
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Julian Mintzis, Education and Business Professional.Having lived, worked and traveled around china for the past six years, I do have a strong grasp for what goes on, especially as I have been to some of the most remote places in the country as well as the big cities that many non-Chinese seem to go to.The massive development is quite amazing. Beijing, for example, is based on highways called ring roads that circle around the city and there are local roads and highways in between each ring road. All of them surround Tian’anmen Square, the largest square in the world, at the center.Officials have announced in the local papers that the seventh ring road will be built and will connect three provinces. This ring road will be less square-like; however, it will be 950 kilometers long. When I arrived in Beijing they were just finishing the fifth ring road.The expansion of the subway system is another amazing project. When I arrived in Beijing, there was lines 1, and 2, half of line 10, line 4, and 13. The 10 and 4 had just opened. Now there are lines that will be connecting the far reaching points of the city, making it fast and convenient to travel within the city’s outer and inner limits.The fare remains consistent at 2 rmb per journey; however, officials have been talking about raising the fare for a while to that of other cities that have subway systems to be based on the actual distance traveled.Life in the big cities such as Beijing, Shanghai, and Guangzhou, can be as international or as local as you want it to be. I think that many non-Chinese live a mix of both. There are some things that they are willing to pay a premium to have which they cannot live without and there are other aspects of life that they are either willing to live without or can live with ‘good enough.’ Mostly this is relating to personal preference. With this said, there are people that live on the extremes too - a completely internationalized life as they would in their home country or that live a completely Chinese life.Insurance does depend on what you are insuring. Chinese in many situations must purchase travel medical insurance for their international trips and many hold some sort of life insurance policy; however, due to the relatively low costs of medical care, most Chinese do not have medical insurance. If you purchase a property, often times insurance policies do not cover all what is covered in western countries.All of this said, much of the future of China has yet to be determined because many things are still new and developing.
在過去的六年裡，我一直在中國生活、工作和旅行，我對在那裡發生的事情很瞭解，尤其是我既去過中國最偏遠的一些地方，也去過許多外國人喜歡去的大城市。
巨大的發展令人歎為觀止。以北京為例，北京是基於一圈圈環繞著整個城市的高速公路建設的，這些高速公路被稱為“環路”，各個環路之間都穿插著當地的街道和高速公路。所有的環路都以天安門廣場為中心環繞伸展，這是世界上最大的廣場。
官員們在當地報紙上宣佈，七環路將被修建，並將連接三個省份。這條環路會比較窄;然而，它將有950公里長。我剛北京的時候，他們剛剛完工五環路。
地鐵系統的擴建是另一個令人側目的項目。當我到達北京的時候，只有一號線，二號線，十號線的一半，四號線，十三號線地鐵運營。其中10號線和4號線剛剛開通。現在的線路將城市的各個角落連接了起來，使得在城市內外範圍內旅行變得快速便捷。
票價保持不變，每次2元;然而，官員們一直在談論提高票價，希望像其他城市的地鐵系統那樣以實際行駛距離為基礎收費。
北京、上海、廣州等大城市的生活可以像你希望的那樣國際化或本土化。我認為許多非中國人都是兩者兼而有之。有些事情是他們生活中必不可少的需寧願多付些錢也要獲得，而另外一些方面，他們要麼寧願生活中沒有這些，要麼能夠與之相處得足夠好。大多數情況下，這與個人偏好有關。當然，也有些人生活在極端的情況下——他們過著完全國際化的生活，如同在自己的國家裡生活一樣，或者過著完全跟中國人一樣的生活。
保險取決於你投保什麼險。在許多情況下，中國人必須購買旅行醫療保險來進行國際旅行，許多人持有某種壽險保單;然而，由於醫療費用相對較低，大多數中國人沒有醫療保險。如果你購買房產，通常情況下，保險政策不會涵蓋西方國家所有的保險。
所有這一切都表明，中國的未來大部分還有待確定，因為許多事情都還是新鮮事物，都還在發展之中
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Jie WangI was born in the beginning of the 90’s, so not only did I witnessed this dramatic change, as many of my peers, my family was part of it. In addition to much improved living conditions, education opportunities etc. the most impressive thing to me is the inspiring and up-going spirit in the society. Everyone is thriving to get better lives, and their efforts paid off quickly. I got this so deep in my mind that I sometimes felt a little bit anxious and guilty for not working hard as others.During the 90s and 00s we felt the gradual, quiet but never-stopping change in our lives, and people believed deeply that their efforts really can make a difference. Both of my parents are the first college graduates in their families, and I saw how knowledge changed their lives, and how their hard work could provide for us. My mom used to mention that in her 20s (1980s), her wish was to have a TV. Never could she imagine that she could have her own furnished apartment and car later. Now we are so used to the rapid changes, I worry easily for any slowing down, and that I might not be able to make much improvement for my own family like my parents did for theirs.
我出生於90年代初，所以我不僅目睹了這一巨大的變化，我的許多同齡人，我的家庭也都參與其中。除了生活條件、教育機會等方面的改善，對我來說最令人印象深刻的是社會上鼓舞人心和積極向上的精神。每個人都在茁壯成長，以獲得更好的生活，他們的努力很快得到了回報。我在心裡深深地感到，我有時會因為不像別人那樣努力工作而感到焦慮和內疚。
在90年代和00年代，我們感受到了生活中逐漸的、悄無聲息但從未停止的變化，人們深信他們的努力確實能帶來改變。我的父母都是家裡第一個大學畢業生，我目睹了知識是如何改變了他們的生活，以及他們的辛勤工作能為我們提供什麼。我媽媽曾經提到，在她20多歲的時候，她的願望是有一臺電視機。她從來沒有想到她會有自己的傢俱和汽車。現在我們已經習慣了快速的變化，我很容易對任何的緩慢感到焦慮，而且我可能無法像我的父母那樣為自己的家庭做出很大的改善。
Mark Warholak, 洋鬼子（自稱）The bicycles are all gone. Rush hour is just not the same anymore.
自行車都不見了。高峰時刻也跟以前不一樣了。--------------------Ryan WangIf you live in a country where everyting changes drastically in 10-20 years, you basically think the whole world is just like that. You may not realise those changes until you get asked about. Still, you are going to be pissed off on things that didn't change much. Knowing relatively stagnant deveplopment of somewhere else can be a comfort
如果你生活在一個每10-20年發生鉅變的國家，你基本上會認為整個世界都是這樣的。在被問及之前，你可能不會意識到這些變化。儘管如此，你還是會對那些沒什麼變化的事情感到生氣。知道其他地方相對停滯的發展可以是一種安慰。
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Joseph WangIt's been tremendously frightening and awe inspiring. You have to understand that my parents grew up in a China that was broken and defeated, and to get China to the point that it has gotten was something that would have beyond their imagination. Though out the last few decades, you had people saying, "well next year is the year that China will fall apart" and it didn't happen to the point that if China now has economic difficulties, they will be seen as a temporary setback.The question that everyone is now thinking about is now "will China make it?" but "what will China do now that it has reached this level of development?" and that is someone that no one quite has the answer to. The thing that is most scary is that people have assumed that Chinese development is going to hit a wall, but while there are dozens of challenges, there is no obvious wall ahead.The thing that I keep thinking about is the end of 2001: A Space OdysseyThen he waited, marshaling his thoughts and brooding over his still untested powers. For though he was master of the world, he was not quite sure what to do next. But he would think of somethingThat's the phase that we are in right now. The chapter of Chinese history in which my parents grew up in has ended, and we are in the start of the next chapter, and no one knows what that is going to look like.
這是非常可怕和令人敬畏的。你必須明白，我的父母是在一個支離破碎、失敗的中國長大的，中國需要明白，它的發展已經超出了人們的想象。雖然在過去的幾十年裡，總有人說，“明年是中國崩潰的一年”，但這並沒有發生，如果中國現在有經濟困難，那將會被視為一個暫時的挫折。
現在每個人都在思考的問題是:“中國能做到嗎?”但是，“中國現在已經達到了這樣的發展水平，接下來要做什麼呢?”這是一個沒有人能回答的問題。最讓人害怕的是，人們想當然地認為中國的發展將會碰壁，事實上儘管有許多挑戰，但前方並沒有明顯的障礙。
2001年底我一直在想的事情是:一場太空漫遊。
然後他等待著，整理著他的思緒，想著他仍未測驗的力量。雖然他是世界的主人，但他不知道下一步該做什麼。但他終歸會考慮一些事情。
這就是我們現在所處的階段。中國歷史上我父母成長的那一章已經結束，我們正處於下一章的開始，沒有人知道接下來會是什麼樣子。
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Alfred W Croucher, has lived and worked in China since 1978. His post-graduate thesis was on GPCR.I came to China on September 3, 1978 as an exchange student who had complete a post-graduate thesis on the Cultural Revolution, but who had not done much advanced Chinese studies. A couple of intensive courses and one year at Sydney Uni. So my obxt was to get up to speed on Chinese and then complete my academic studies. But life rarely goes the way we expect and I struggled with Chinese and in 1980 took a job running the Beijing office of an an Australian trade consultancy. I have been living and working in China ever since.In the first few years China was still a typical poor socialist country albeit in which social and work relations had been poisoned by the Cultural Revolution during which most had reported on each other doing their best to see that they, or at least their children survived. The emphasis on survival in China seems to be a natural result of five thousand years of war, famine, political strife, poor government, and frequent economic failures. When I spoke to people about socialism or Marxism they looked at me and patiently explained they were only interested one "ism" - survivalism.A young Marxist, I looked in vain for anyone who had been taught it as an intellectual discipline. Nobody was interested in politics per se, but they were interested in being seen to be politically correct so that when I tried to discuss my superficial understanding of Chinese politics, especially the recent past, they would either shy away or repeat orthodoxy. I was fortunate in those days to have a local roommate, a practice the school abandoned after a while due mainly I think to cultural problems. Of course coming to the school as a graduate in Chinese politics it was thought naturally I must be a government agent (indeed the local students were told we were all government agents) so they gave me the leader of the school's youth group as a companion.Due to natural inhibition on my part however we rarely if ever discussed politics. Perhaps he made it plain from the beginning. I forget. We did talk a lot, mostly about aspects of Chinese social life, particularly the sex life at the time. My letters were full of fascinating anecdotes of Chinese life at the time which occasionally got him into trouble. ("Don't worry, they're not reading your letters!")Our school, the Beijing Language Institute (now the Beijing University of Language and Culture) was a pretty simple place with unlined concrete cells big enough for two beds, two small wardrobes and a two desks. Well warned, I brought an electric blanket with me which I used in defiance of the dorm regulations against any electrical appliances after 9pm. The two bar wall heater was turned off at 9pm nd the temperature often dropped to -10 Deg C in winter evenings.We had four hours of classes each morning and the afternoons were free for study and exercise. We ate in one of two canteens, one for the foreign students, and one for the locals. The local canteen was much cheaper so I saved a lot of my generous allowance from the Chinese government (yuan 110pm) eating corn congee in the morning and rice with cabbage for lunch. We tended to eat out in the evenings. I lost about 10kg in the eighteen months I was there and learned to sleep after lunch.At the end of the first semester I ran in the inter-school 10,000 metre race and placed about halfway down the field. Not too bad for a 30year old. In the winter however the pollution from burning coal dust briquets cause me to develop asthma as I ran so I had to give it up.At the end of 1979 I was recruited to run the Beijing office of the Australian trade consultancy so I moved to the Beijing hotel, the most luxurious hotel in China at the time. I lived there for over four years before moving down to Hong Kong in order for my new born son to live in a healthier environment. Pollution levels then were very high and health consciousness very low even in hospitals.So I can say I have seen Chinese change from a poor, backward socialist country, into a mid-range developing country in just thirty four years. The difference is profound. The socials ills of the time were healed, but new ones have arisen. The standard of living is incomparable. People who would be complaining then about their 50 square metre rented apartments are now living in apartments three times the size which they own. Where they complained about being stuck in one job for life then; they sometimes change their jobs every year now; where they could never travel overseas before, they now routinely send their children overseas for study and go on overseas trips themselves.I am so humble to have been here and seen the Chinese people, given the opportunity to enrich themselves, put their heads down, work hard, and in the process begin the process of returning China to being the greatest nation on Earth, which is was for nearly two thousand years.
1978年9月3日，我作為交換生來到中國，完成了一篇關於文化大革命的研究生畢業論文，但我當時並沒有修太多的中國預修課。只是在悉尼大學花了一年時間修了兩門密集的課程。所以我的目標是快速提高漢語水平，然後完成我的學術研究。但生活很少像我們所期待的那樣，後來我一直在和中國人打交道，1980年，我在一家澳大利亞貿易諮詢公司的北京辦事處工作。從那以後，我一直在中國生活和工作。
在最初的幾年裡，中國仍然是一個典型的貧窮的社會主義國家，社會和工作關係因文化大革命而受到毒害，大多數人都竭盡全力互相告發說，為了保全自身，或者至少保全他們的孩子。在中國對生存的看重似乎是五千年的戰爭、饑荒、政治鬥爭、貧窮和頻繁的經濟失敗的自然結果。當我和人們談論社會主義或馬克思主義時，他們看著我，耐心地解釋他們只關心一種“主義”——生存主義。
作為一名年輕的馬克思主義者，我徒勞地尋找那些作為知識分子接受了馬克思主義思想教育的人。然而沒有人對政治感興趣，他們感興趣的是讓自己看起來被認為是政治正確的，所以當我試圖討論我對中國政治的膚淺瞭解時，特別是最近的過去，他們要麼迴避，要麼重複正統的答案。當時我很幸運有了一個當地的室友，一段時間後學校就放棄這種安排，我覺得主要是因為文化問題。當然，作為一名中國政治專業的畢業生，大家想當然的認為我會成為一名政府的代理人(事實上，當地的學生都被告知我們這些交換生都是外國政府的代理人)，所以他們給我安排了學校青年團的領袖作為室友。
由於自然的抑制，我們很少討論政治。也許他從一開始就解釋得很清楚了。我忘了。我們談了很多，主要是關於中國社會生活的方方面面，尤其是當時的性生活。我的信中充滿了當時中國生活的趣聞軼事，偶爾也會給他帶來麻煩。(“別擔心，他們沒在讀你的信!”)
我們的學校，北京語言學院(現在是北京語言文化大學)是一個非常簡單的地方，有沒有內襯的混凝土，大到可以容納兩張床，兩個小衣櫥和兩張桌子。我帶了一條電熱毯，雖然宿舍規章規定晚上9點以後不能使用任何電器，我還是無視規定的使用。晚上9點牆邊的兩個暖氣片會被關停，在冬天的晚上，溫度經常下降到零下10攝氏度。
我們每天早上有四個小時的課，下午可以自由學習和鍛鍊。我們在兩個食堂裡吃飯，一個給外國學生，一個給當地人。當地的食堂更便宜，早上吃玉米粥，午餐吃米飯，所以我省下了很多中國贊助的慷慨補貼。我們往往在晚上出去吃飯。我在那裡的18個月裡瘦了10公斤，還學會了午飯後睡午覺。
在第一學期結束的時候，我參加了校內一萬米長跑比賽，並在球場的半路上跑了下來。對一個30歲的人來說這不算太壞。然而冬天燃燒煤塵帶來的汙染使我在跑步時患上了哮喘，所以我不得不放棄了。1979年底，我被聘運營澳大利亞貿易諮詢公司的北京辦事處，所以我搬到了當時中國最豪華的北京飯店。我在那裡住了四年多，後來才搬到香港，為的是讓我的新出生的兒子生活在一個更健康的環境中。當時的汙染水平很高，即使在醫院裡，健康意識也很低。
因此，我可以說，我看到了中國從一個貧窮落後的社會主義國家，在僅僅34年的時間裡，變成了一箇中等規模的發展中國家。這些變化意義深遠。當時社會的弊病已被治癒，但新的弊端已經出現。生活的標準不可同日而語。那些會抱怨他們租住的50平米公寓的人現在住的公寓的面積是當初的三倍。他們那時抱怨自己被困在一份工作中;如今他們有時每年都換工作;他們以前從未到過海外旅行，現在他們經常把孩子送到國外學習，自己出國旅行。
我很謙卑地來到這裡，親眼目睹中國人民，抓住機會充實自己，低下頭，努力工作，在這個過程中開始了中國成為世界上最偉大的國家的進程，而這個最偉大的位置，他們曾經保持了近兩千年。
Chris Hemmings, works at Five Trillion TreesInteresting to have gone from megaconsumer to megaproducer country and for us to hear how China has the consumption bug, too!Me, I want environmental repair now as in Five Trillion Trees to be planted to bring marginal land back into an active ecosystem, capture carbon and rescue biodiversity. A whole host of reasons, in fact.The work does go on but it's too slow and too rare. However, my researches show that top of the league by far is China, where a respectable 49 billion trees have been planted over the last 20 - 30 years. This is more than the rest of the world all put together! I'm working to come and view all this in twelve months time but, before then, I am researching further and will try to learn some Mandarin.
有趣的是，中國從消費型國家變成生產型國家，同時，我們也可以聽到中國的消費行為造成的錯誤!
我希望現在的環境得到修復，在“五萬億棵樹”項目下進行種植，以將邊際土地重新變成一個活躍的生態系統，捕捉碳元素並拯救生物多樣性。事實上，還有一系列的原因。
工作還在繼續，但是太慢了，太少了。然而，我的研究顯示，到目前為止，中國是這個聯盟裡的第一名，在過去的20 - 30年間，中國已經種植了490億棵樹。這比世界上其他地方的總和還要多!在12個月的時間裡，我一直在努力考察學習這一切，在此之前，我在做進一步的研究，並嘗試學習一些普通話。
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Robert Delaney, works at The Globe and MailI lived in China from 1992 to 2007. I went back in 2009 as part of the press corps covering Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper's state visit and again last month to escort good friends from Philadelphia, whohad always wanted to see Beijing. During the most recent visit, I had a drink with my friends at a Beijing Park Hyatt bar overlooking the city.I told my friends that I was going to use the gents, but found a dark corner of the bar instead because I was a bit overwhelmed and couldn't explain to them what was going through my head.Over the next few days, as I shuttled my charges around town... Forbidden City, Silk Market, Summer Palace, Panjiayuan, etc., I thought about what happened to me at the bar.As part of a group of friends that included a mix of "expats" and local Mainland Chinese, I felt connected to whatever was happening in town,whether it was good, (China's appointment as an Olympic host city), bad,(SARS), or ugly, (China's failure to score a goal in the World Cup). I either had first-hand knowledge as part of my work as a journalist, or one of my friends would be involved somehow with whatever people were buzzing about.During last month's trip, though, it was clear from day one that my presence in the city was completely insignificant. Maybe it always was, but I never felt like that when I lived there. Anyway, I looked down from the Hyatt to see that my old neighborhood, an ordinary residential district "just outside the downtown area" while I lived there, had developed intoa new part of the downtown that seemed just as big as the city I grew up in –– Philadelphia. Not only that, the architecture as well as the shopping and dining options suggested a leap in sophistication that probably took decades to achieve in Philly.That comparison troubled me. I gave up Philadelphia to live in China. After so many years in China, I considered it more or less my home. Now neither place is my home.
我從1992年到2007年一直住在中國。2009年，我作為記者團的一員，採訪了加拿大總理史蒂芬·哈珀(Stephen Harper)的國事訪問，並在上個月再次接待了來自費城的好朋友，他們一直想看看北京。在最近的一次接待中，我和我的朋友們在北京柏悅酒店喝了一杯，俯瞰著這座城市。我告訴我的朋友們我要去上廁所，但卻被朋友們在酒吧的一個黑暗角落裡發現了我，我有點喝蒙了，無法向他們解釋我腦子裡想的是什麼。
在接下來的幾天裡，當我計算旅遊花費時。。故宮、絲綢市場、頤和園、潘家園等等，我回想了一下在酒吧發生的事。
作為一群“外籍人士”和中國本土華人 的朋友，我覺得自己與城裡發生的一切有關，不管是好是壞(中國被任命為奧運主辦城市)、糟糕的(SARS)，還是醜陋的(中國未能在世界盃上打入一球)。我要麼作為一名記者獲取第一手的資料，要麼作為我的朋友中的一員，大家無論何時何地都在忙忙碌碌。
然而，在上個月的旅行中，從第一天起我就清楚地知道，我在這個城市的存在是完全無關緊要的。也許一直都是這樣，但當我住在那裡時，我從來沒有這樣的感覺。無論如何，我從凱悅酒店往下看，看到我住在那裡的老街坊，一個普通的住宅區，當初我住在那裡時，那裡“就在市中心的外面”，如今已經發展成了市中心的一個新的部分，這裡看起來就像我長大的那個城市費城一樣大。不僅如此，建築以及購物和用餐的選擇都暗示了一種複雜的飛躍，這些可能需要幾十年的時間才能在費城實現。
這種比較令我感到困惑。我放棄了費城，住在中國。在中國呆了這麼多年後，我認為它或多或少是我的家。現在這兩個地方都不是我的家。
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David ParmerI think the problem is lots of people HAVEN'T been watching China change in the last 10 - 15 years. They have been watching their own movie. And the movie seems to be a weird version of a North Korean May Day parade.Modern China is stunning. Amazing. But you can't see it if you are looking in the rear view mirror or at that DPRK May Day parade in your head.Recently CNN's program "On China" had China Internet as a topic, and the only thing the presenter and two of the panelists could talk about was "censorship." Yes, there is the Great Firewall. OK, but there is also an AMAZING Chinese Internet out there with the likes of Jack Ma, Pony Ma, Robin Li, etc. etc. And scores of other players and innovaters. AND an amazing e-commerce infrastructure. The only panelist who had any insight or logic was SINOCISM's Bill Bishop.If you want your mind sufficiently blown, do some research on the Pearl River Delta, one of the greatest mega-cities on Earth. (And there is another coming in the Beijing-Tianjin area) Check out the Bohai Sea economic zone.Holy Moly! Amazing stuff is happening in China, and will continue to happen.Finally someone (And I think it was photographer Chase Jarvis) said"Every American should go to Shanghai and look across the river at Pudong."Indeed.
我認為問題是很多人在過去的10 - 15年裡沒有看到中國的變化。他們一直在看自己的電影。他們看的電影似乎是朝鮮五一遊行的怪異版本。
現代中國令人歎為觀止。令人驚歎。但如果你一直盯著後視鏡或者盯著你腦海中浮現的朝鮮五一遊行，你是看不到這種變化的。
最近CNN的節目“在中國”把中國互聯網作為一個話題，主持人和兩個小組成員唯一可以談論的事情就是“審查”。“是的，有防火長城。”好的，但是還是有一個很棒的中國互聯網，那裡有馬雲，馬化騰，李彥宏等等，還有很多其他的玩家和創新者。還有一個驚人的電子商務架構。唯一具有洞察力或邏輯性的專家是SINOCISM的比爾•畢曉普。
如果你真的想大開眼界，那就做一些關於珠江三角洲的研究，這是地球上最大的巨型城市群之一。(京津地區還有另一個巨型城市群)再研究一下環渤海經濟帶。
天吶!中國正在發生令人驚奇的變化，並將繼續發生。終於有人(我想是攝影師蔡斯·賈維斯)說。“每個美國人都應該去上海，看看浦東的對岸。”
確實如此。
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Suresh BalchandaniChinese miracle has been possible due to a central governments over the last 60 years that have been dedicated to uplift the Chinese people and gain a stature of a great nation for China. These governments have gone about relentlessly putting systems and processes in place to achieve these goals while all along, firmly dealing with any internal and external opposition to their policies. The world may criticize cultural revolution, mass trials, one child policies, pollution and other draconian policies but the results are there for everyone to see. During a certain 15 year period Chinese lifted 200 million people out of poverty that took Europe 200 years to do. Chinese have become a giant manufacturing machinery of the world providing high quality affordable products to the world. It is heading to be a leader in green technology. For a controlled experiment over the last 60 years, please look at next door India, where poverty, corruption, pollution, chaos and overall helplessness of the common man seems to be the norm due to a string of incompetent, self centered, lacking in vision, backward looking, parochial and enormously corrupt & criminal governments. I have visited many many countries but have never been to a country that is so difficult on your eyes and senses as India and it's because of the poor governance at every level. In conclusion, I would say that the recent Chinese governments may be considered the best ever governments in entire human existence based on their achievements that have never been accomplished by any other governments due to the enormous magnitude of their achievements, the huge number of people it's affected within their borders and it's impact worldwide.
在過去的60年裡，中國一直致力於提升中國人民的生活水平，併為中國贏得了一個偉大國家的地位，這是中國的奇蹟。中國一直都在不遺餘力地為實現這些目標而建立系統和程序，堅決處理任何內部和外部對其政策的反對。世界可能會批評文化大革命、大規模審判、一孩政策、汙染和其他嚴厲的政策，但結果卻是每個人都能看到的。在短短15年的時間裡，中國讓2億人擺脫了貧困，而歐洲為此花了200年的時間。中國已經成為一個巨大的製造機械，為世界提供高質量的可負擔產品。它將成為綠色科技的領導者。作為在過去60年裡的一個對照試驗,請看看隔壁印度,那裡貧窮、腐敗、汙染、混亂和整體無助的普通人似乎歸咎於一連串的無能,以自我為中心,缺乏遠見,倒退,狹隘和巨大的政府腐敗和犯罪。我曾遊歷過許多國家，但從未到過像印度這樣令人無論觀、感都很糟糕的國家，因為每一層面的治理都很糟糕。總之,我想說,從來沒有任何其他政府能夠取得如他們所取得的成就，由於他們的成就規模如此巨大,在其境內影響到的人口數量如此眾多,以及它的世界性影響，最近的中國可能會被視為整個人類史上最好的政府。
轉自西諾網
