悅讀 | 「一帶一路」讓中國再次偉大

When the Chinese president, Xi Jinping, unveiled what some call the most ambitious development plan in history, Zhou Jun decided almost immediately he should head for the hills.

國家主席宣布被一些人稱作歷史上最雄心勃勃的開發計劃時，周軍（音）立即做出決定，他要上山去。

The 45-year-old entrepreneur packed his bags and set off for one of his country』s most staggeringly beautiful corners: a sleepy, high-altitude border outpost called Tashkurgan that - at almost 5,000km (3,100 miles) from Beijing - is the most westerly settlement in China.

這名45歲的企業家收拾行裝，啟程前往這個國家最驚艷的角落之一：塔什庫爾干——寂靜、高海拔的邊疆哨所，距離北京5000公里，最西端的定居之處。

「I saw a great opportunity to turn this little town into a mid-sized city,」 Zhou explained during a tour of 『Europa Manor』, a garish roadside spa he recently opened for Chinese tourists along the Karakoram, the legendary 1,300km highway that snakes through China』s rugged western mountains towards the 4,700m-high Khunjerab Pass.

「我看到巨大的機會，這座小鎮將變成一座中型城市，」周軍在他的「歐羅巴莊園」解釋說。這是他開的一家艷俗的路邊浴所，為喀喇崑崙公路沿線的遊客服務。充滿傳奇色彩的喀喇昆崙山公路延綿1300公里，蜿蜒在西部崎嶇嶙峋的山脈間，通往海拔4700米的紅其拉甫山口。

Zhou said he was part of a wave of entrepreneurs now pouring into this isolated frontier near Pakistan, Afghanistan and Tajikistan, hoping to cash in on President Xi』s 「Belt and Road initiative」, a multi-billion dollar infrastructure campaign that looks set to transform large swaths of Asia and the world beyond.

周軍說，一波企業家正湧入與巴其斯坦、阿富汗和塔吉克交界的偏僻邊疆，希望借力習主席的「一帶一路倡議」，這是一個數百億美元的基礎設施項目，有望改觀亞洲和全世界的大片土地。

「This place is going to see big changes,」 predicted Zhou, who hails from the central city of Xi』an, as he guided his visitors through an R&R centre filled with plunge pools, wicker chaise lounges and fake plastic trees.

「這個地方將發生巨大的變化，」來自中部城市西安的周軍說。他引著到訪者穿過休閑中心，這裡有瀑布水潭、柳藤躺椅和塑料假樹。

This weekend world leaders including Russian president Vladimir Putin, Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif and Turkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan will gather in Beijing to celebrate Xi』s plan, which supporters hail as the start of a new era of globalisation but sceptics see as a strategic ploy to cement China』s position as Asia』s top dog.

本周末，包括俄羅斯總統普京、巴其斯坦總理謝里夫和土耳其總統埃爾多安在內的世界領導人將齊聚北京，慶祝這一計劃。支持者們稱這是全球化新時代的開始，可懷疑者則認為這是鞏固其亞洲頭把交椅的戰略謀划。

「The Belt and Road forum will go down as a landmark event in the history of Chinese foreign policy,」 boasted a frontpage commentary in the Communist party』s official mouthpiece, the People』s Daily, on the eve of the event, which bears the unfortunate English acronym 「BRF」.

「一帶一路國際合作論壇將成為外交史上的里程碑事件，」中共機關報《人民日報》頭版社評在會前說。不巧的是，論壇的英文縮寫是「BRF」。

As the last stop on the Karakoram before the border with Pakistan, Tashkurgan stands on the front line of one of the most ambitious components of Xi』s project: the $62bn China-Pakistan economic corridor (Cpec).

塔什庫爾干位於喀喇崑崙公路與巴其斯坦接壤的終點，雄踞在一帶一路項目最具野心的組成部分的前沿：斥資620億美元的中巴經濟走廊。

Officials in Beijing and Islamabad claim the corridor – a vast web of planned infrastructure projects running diagonally from the resource-rich region of Xinjiang in western China to the deep-water port of Gwadar on Pakistan』s Arabian coast – will spark an 「economic revolution」 in the south Asian country.

北京和伊斯蘭堡的官員稱，走廊將在這個南亞國家引發一場「經濟革命」，規劃中的基礎設施項目連接成網，從資源豐富的西部省份新疆斜插到巴其斯坦阿拉伯海岸旁的深水港瓜達爾。

The jaw-dropping landscape of glaciers and grasslands around Tashkurgan, an ancient Silk Road trading hub that is home to China』s Tajik ethnic minority, has changed little in hundreds, if not thousands, of years.

塔什庫爾干附近令人瞠目結舌的冰川和草原地貌是古絲綢之路的貿易中心，現在居住著塔吉克族；即便不是數千年，至少幾百年來也鮮有變化。

「It is worth a journey from England merely to see this place,」 the British adventurer Robert Shaw marvelledafter trekking through the region』s 「stupendous peaks」 in the late 1860s.

「從英格蘭涉遠來看看這個地方是值得的，」英國探險家羅伯特·肖於十九世紀六十年代末徒步穿行該地區「雄偉的山峰」時讚歎道。

But this obscure and secluded town is now bracing for a revolution of its own, as authorities cook up grand plans to transform it and the surrounding region.

可這個名不見經傳的偏僻城鎮正準備掀起自己的一場革命，當局烹制了大型的計劃，要改變這裡和其周邊地區。

In order to ferry people and equipment into this far-flung outpost, which is seven hours』 drive from the nearest major city, one of China』s highest altitude airports is being built just south of town on the Pamir plateau, a sparsely inhabited region previously the preserve of farmers, nomads and yaks.

為了將人和設備運到這個遙遠的哨所——這裡距離最近的主要城市也要花上7小時的車程——海拔最高的機場之一在城南建了起來，它坐落在人煙稀少的帕米爾高原上，這裡曾經是農民、牧民和氂牛的保留地。

Construction teams on both sides of the border have been rebuilding some of the mosttreacherous stretches of the Karakoram, the world』s highest transnational highway and a project that took two decades and more than 1,000 lives to build.

邊境兩邊的建築隊已經開始重建喀喇崑崙公路一些最艱險的路段，這是世界上最高的跨國公路，該項目耗時20年，1000多人在建設中犧牲。

Further ahead, there are spectacular plans to build the so-called Khunjerab railway, a high-altitude line that would run roughly alongside the Karakoram and link north-eastern Pakistan with the Chinese city of Kashgar.

下一步，還有修建所謂紅其拉甫鐵路的雄偉計劃，這條高海拔鐵路大體將沿著喀喇崑崙公路鋪設，將巴其斯坦東北部和喀什連接起來。

Such proposals are music to the ears of fortune-seekers such as Zhou who have flocked to this landlocked town to open improbably named businesses such as the Sea Front International Hotel.

這些提議讓周軍高興，他們這樣的淘金者蜂擁到這個閉鎖的內陸城鎮，建立從名字看就難以置信的買賣，例如海畔國際酒店。

「The next 10 years are going to bring tremendous change,」 Zhou boasted. He claimed, with a heavy dose of hyperbole, that the town』s future might resemble that of skyscraper-studded mega-cities such as Shanghai and Guangzhou.

「下一個十年將發生天翻地覆的變化，」周軍誇口說。他極度誇張地說，這個城鎮的未來堪比高樓林立的超級城市上海和廣州。

Muzaffar Shah, a Pakistani salesman who was passing through the Chinese city on his way back from a shopping expedition to the bazaars of Kashgar, said he also sensed change was coming.

巴其斯坦銷售員穆扎法·沙從喀什的市場趕集回來，經過這個城市時表示，他也感覺到要發生變化。

Shah remembered his first trip to Tashkurgan, in 1993, when 「it was nothing」. 「This is growing very fast [now] – very, very fast,」 he added by the Karakoram, which Chinese travellers call the China-Pakistan Friendship Highway. 「Everything has changed.」

沙記得1993年第一次去塔什庫爾干時，當時「什麼都沒有」。「發展很快，非常非常快，」他站在喀喇崑崙公路旁說，公路被旅行者成為中巴友誼公路。「一切都變了。」

Over the coming years Tashkurgan is unlikely to be the only place to feel the effects of China』s infrastructure crusade, which some compare to America』s post-war Marshall plan to rebuild Europe.

再過幾年，不可能只有塔什庫爾干感受到基礎設施躍進的影響了，有人把後者比作美國二戰後旨在重建歐洲的馬歇爾計劃。

From Mongolia to Malaysia, Thailand to Turkmenistan and Indonesia to Iran, a slew of Chinese projects, including power plants, solar farms, motorways, bridges, ports and high-speed rail links, are set to be built with support from China』s banks and work force.

從蒙古到馬來西亞，從泰國到土庫曼，從印尼到伊朗，在的銀行和工人的支持下，電廠、光伏場、公路、橋樑、港口和高速鐵路等一批工程將被修建起來。

According to some estimates, China will bankroll some $150bn of infrastructure projects each year in countries that embrace Xi』s signature foreign policy initiative.

根據某個預測，每年將投資1500億美元，在接受這一外交政策倡議的國家進行基礎設施建設。

Tom Miller, the author of a recent book about Xi』s Asian infrastructure blitz, said the Belt and Road schemes were part of a vast wave of Chinese capital that was now 「washing over the world」.

湯姆·米勒最近在寫一本亞洲基礎設施閃電戰的書，他說一帶一路計劃是資本的巨流「泛濫世界」的組成部分。

So many economic and geo-political goals lay behind the program that it defied one simple definition but essentially it was Xi』s answer to Donald Trump』s #MAGA: 「Let』s Make China Great Again」.

計劃身後有很多經濟的和地緣政治目標，很難簡單歸納之，可最核心的是對川普「讓美國再次偉大」的翻版：「讓再次偉大。」

「China』s greatest strengths are financial – it has enormous economic muscle – and building infrastructure. So it is putting those things together and using its economic diplomacy to build roads, railways, ports, powerlines [that will help] integrate Asia [and] puts China at the centre of Asia.」

「的最大優勢是有錢，它有巨大的經濟能力，可以修建基礎設施。於是把這些整合起來，運用經濟外交手段，修建公路、鐵路、港口和輸電網，可以將亞洲連接為一體，讓處於亞洲的中心。」

「It is very significant because China is the only country that has the capacity to build infrastructure like this and the only country that is willing to do it,」 Miller added.

「這非常重要，因為是唯一有能力修建如此規模基礎設施的國家，也是唯一願意這樣做的國家。」

「You can be very sceptical about what the Belt and Road itself means … but nobody doubts that China is lending a lot of money and building a lot of stuff.」

「你可以對一帶一路本身意味著什麼深表懷疑……但沒人懷疑借出很多錢，建了很多東西。」

The winds of change have already been blowing in Tashkurgan and affecting its 40,000-strong population.

變化之風已經吹了塔什庫爾干，影響了這裡的四萬人口。

Physically and culturally, the town, which is the main home of the Sarikoli-speaking Tajik minority, is about as far from Beijing as you can get.

這裡居住著說色勒庫爾語的塔吉克民族，無論從地理上還是文化上都距離北京很遙遠。

An exhibit at the local government museum, the Tajik Folk Culture Exhibition Hall, describes its natives as having 「typical features of Caucasian race, with light skin coloration, golden yellow or dark brown hair, dark blue or gray brown eyes, thin lip, high nose, not high cheekbone, developed body hair and beard.」

當地政府博物館中的塔吉克民俗展廳里介紹說，當地人有著「典型的高加索人特徵，膚色淺，有金黃或深棕色的頭髮，深藍色或棕灰色的眼睛，唇扁，高鼻樑，顴骨不高，剃毛鬍鬚重。」

Slowly, however, the make-up of the population is changing. Locals say the last decade has seen a major influx of Mandarin-speaking immigrants from China』s ethnic Han majority after the government began trying to boost the local economy by turning the picturesque border town into a tourist destination.

然而，人口的結構正慢慢發生著變化。當地人說，過去十年政府通過把風景優美的邊疆城鎮建設成旅遊區來促進當地經濟，於是來了大量說普通話的漢族移民。

Miller said one of the Belt and Road initiative』s key aims was to bring development and stability to China』s deprived periphery by linking such regions with overseas markets.

米勒表示，一帶一路倡議的重要目標之一是，通過把貧困的邊緣地帶與海外市場連接起來，給那裡帶來發展和穩定。

「Particularly in Xinjiang, China believes that economic development can help solve some of the security questions with its own militant Muslim minority and Islamist problems over the borders. They think that if you give people jobs and economic hope then perhaps they will be less inclined to foment insurgencies and other things,」 he said.

「尤其在新疆，相信經濟發展有助於解決安全問題，有自己的穆斯林好戰分子和邊疆地區的伊斯蘭問題。他們認為，如果你讓人民有工作，有致富希望，他們可能就不願意煽動暴亂了。」

「I think they are mistaken there … but that is how they think,」 Miller added.

「雖說我認為事情並非如此……可他們就是這麼想的。」

Asked how they felt about the town』s future, locals firmly stuck to the party line and said they were hopeful Xi』s project would inject new life into the area.

被問及他們怎麼看城鎮的未來，當地人堅定地支持黨的路線，希望項目能給當地注入新生機。

「We fully support the Belt and Road initiative,」 beamed Narzi Baygim, a 23-year-old Tajik tour guide who said she hoped it would bring more tourists to the region.

「我們堅決支持一帶一路倡議，」23歲的塔吉克想到納爾茲·巴依吉姆說，她說她希望當地有更多的旅遊者。

「I think it will help connect China to other countries and to promote friendship.」

Rebiya, a 22-year-old interpreter, said she was glad to have been born and raised in such a scenic and pristine corner of China. 「Living here is like living in heaven,」 she said.

「我想它有助於把和其他國家連接起來並增進友誼，」一位22歲的翻譯說。她說出生並成長在這個優美天然的地方，心裡感到很高興。「住在這裡就像住在天堂。」她說。

But development was welcome, she said, shrugging off the suggestion that Tajik traditions might be diluted by the influx of outsiders.

可她說自己希望發展，塔吉克傳統被外來人沖淡，她對這種說法不屑一顧。

「[Our culture] has been passed down over the past 2,000 years and has become part of our DNA,」 she said. 「I don』t think it will vanish just because of economic development.」

「傳承了兩千年，已經成為我們的基因了。我不認為經濟發展了，就消失了。」

While business people are banking on the transformation of the region around Tashkurgan, not everyone is convinced the reality will live up to Xi』s grand vision.

儘管商人指望著塔什庫爾干發生轉變，也不是所有人認為事實會和偉大願景的一樣美好。

Some point out that since the Belt and Road initiative began in 2013 trade between Xinjiang and foreign countries has actually fallen.

有人指出，自2013年一帶一路倡議提出后，新疆和外國的貿易實際上在下降。

Rahber Khan, the owner of a Pakistani restaurant near the town』s main square, said he feared most Chinese investment was destined for the strategic port of Gwadar, not the impoverished region where his family lived.

城市中心廣場的巴其斯坦餐館老闆拉合伯·汗說，他擔心大多數投資都流向戰略意義重要的瓜達爾港，而不是他家所在的貧困地區。

「Maybe in the future we are growing but right now we don』t see anything good in front of us,」 said Khan, 39, who is originally from Ghulkin, a village just over the border.

「可能未來我們會有所發展，可現下我們看不到什麼好處，」39歲的汗來自邊境另一側的Ghulkin村。

「I』m not sure if it』s coming or not,」 he said of plans to connect Pakistan and China with the Khunjerab railway, adding: 「It』s just talking.」

「我不知道到底有還是沒有，」他說道連接巴其斯坦和的紅其拉甫鐵路時說。「只是在說。」

Before this weekend』s summit in Beijing, China has trumpeted its commitment to the 「game-changing」 initiative in a barrage of state-sponsored propaganda.

本周末北京峰會召開前，的國家媒體大規模宣傳致力於這一「改變格局」的倡議。

「At a time when certain western powers are retreating into protectionism and isolation, China has been promoting the globalisation of the economy in a spirit of openness and inclusiveness,」 the official news agency Xinhua declared.

「當某些西方大國退回到保守主義和孤立主義時，秉著開放和包容的精神推進經濟全球化。」國家通訊社新華社宣布。

The English-language China Daily newspaper described the drive as 「one of the most important public goods China offers the world」.

英文報紙《日報》將這一進程形容為「提供給世界最重要的公共產品之一」。

Outside Khan』s restaurant, the government has also set out its stall, stamping its message onto a giant red billboard that towers over Tashkurgan』s main square.

在汗的餐館外，政府也擺了個攤，把大紅標語掛在塔什庫爾干的廣場上。

「Build a beautiful Xinjiang!」 the sign reads. 「Make a Chinese dream come true!」

「建設美麗新疆，實現夢想」。

觀世界，學英文

《英文聯播》新聞精讀課程

準備開始學習之旅

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