中国的沉默长城:正义
本杰明 哈里斯
【翻译:阚浩西(也就是本看好戏的雅名)】
1968年,美国俄亥俄州,一个十五岁的女孩被强奸并被杀害了。今天我见到华盛顿特区一个侦探谋杀案件的朋友。他告诉我说,几个星期前,他接到了俄亥俄警方的电话,问他是否愿意跟进一个嫌疑人目前无家可归但在华盛顿特区的线索。无家可归但在华盛顿特区:没有太多可以下手的。但我的朋友找到了嫌疑犯,逮捕了他,将他押送到俄亥俄州去接受审判。
这是为什么我做我所做的事情。我在北京就卞仲耘案件交谈过的每个人都问我:“为什么你要这样做?”这也是我为什么要做那件事的原因。
我不相信例外论,不管是美国例外论还是中国例外论。正义不是一种美国价值观,或者一种西方价值观,它是一种人类的价值观。
正义是哀悼加上惩罚。一种正义的惩罚不是复仇,复仇只是一种个人行为。正义的惩罚是用人民的名义,由人民的执法代表来实现的。正义重申了人民的价值。在类似于上面所提到例子的戏剧性案件中,案件得到的宣传将这种重申通过电视,收音机或报纸带入了每个人的家庭。
不管在美国还是在中国,人们说他们相信每个人类的生命是有价值的。要赋予这种信念以生命,我们。。。必须。。。行动起来。
即使一个小女孩在一个华盛顿特区侦探没有管辖权的州被强奸杀害四十年之后。
即使一个中年教师在一个我没有管辖权的国家被杀害四十二年之后。
我是本杰明 哈里斯。
原文网址:
China's Great Wall of Silence
China's Great Wall of Silence: Justice
In 1968 in the State of Ohio, U.S.A., a 15 year old girl was raped and murdered. Today I ran into a D.C. homicide detective, a friend of mine. He told me that some weeks ago he had gotten a call from the authorities in Ohio asking if he would follow up on a tip that the suspect was homeless but somewhere in D.C. Homeless and somewhere in D.C.: not much to go on. But my friend found him, arrested him and sent him back to Ohio to stand trial.
This is why I do what I do. Everyone I talked to in Beijing about Bian's case asked me, "Why are you doing this?" This is also why I do that.
I do not believe in exceptionalism, American exceptionalism or Chinese exceptionalism. Justice is not an American value, or a western value, it is a human value.
Justice is mourning + punishment. A just punishment is not vengeance, vengeance is an individual act. Just punishment is done in the name of the people, by the people's law enforcement representatives. Justice reaffirms the values of its people. In dramatic cases like the one above the publicity generated carries that reaffirmation into the homes of every person with a TV, a radio, or a newspaper.
Whether in America or China, people say that they believe that every human life is valuable. To animate that belief however, we...must...act.
Even 40 years after a young girl is raped and murdered in a state over which Washington, D.C. detectives have no jurisdiction.
Even 42 years after a middle-aged teacher is murdered in a country in which I have no jurisdiction.
I am Benjamin Harris.
- posted on 03/01/2009
中国沉默的长城:北京2008年11月(一)
【贝苏尼翻译】
China is the most continuously great of the world's civilizations.
在伟大的世界诸文明当中,中国延续最为长久。
Egypt, Greece and Rome each dominated their known worlds but thereafter fell into steep decline. China has never been the greatest civilization but it has never fallen from the top tier because of its enormous geography and immense population.
埃及、希腊、罗马都曾支配其所及的世界,然后就急剧地衰落了。中国从不是最伟大的文明,但因其广袤的土地和众多的人口,也从未被淘汰出前十名。
I took one course in Chinese history in my freshman year at college. That is the extent of my formal education on the subject. It was not a formal education that stimulated my interest in China, nor even a stirring lecturer in one class. It was the subject, for to be interested in China is to be interested in the world.
我在大一时修过中国历史课。这就是我在这个课题上的正规教育程度。促使我对中国发生兴趣的并非正规教育,甚至也不是班上的一位善于启发的讲师,而是这个课题本身。因为对中国的兴趣就是对世界的兴趣。
But it is so awfully far away and I had never seriously considered going. One Saturday evening in March 2005 my then girlfriend and I were relaxing over some drinks at her house. We began to talk about where we should go on our first big vacation together. We each nixed certain countries, I mentioned that I had always wanted to go to China.
然而,中国又是那么远不可及,我从来没有认真考虑过前往那里。2005年3月,一个星期六的晚上,我和当时的女友正在她家悠然自得地喝酒,开始盘算第一个共同度过的长假应该到哪儿去。打消了几个国家之后,我提到一直想去中国。
We had another round of drinks and got on the computer "just to see." With each drink the distance to China seemed to shorten and Sunday morning we woke up the bewildered but happy possessors of reservations for two weeks in Beijing in June.
我们又喝了几杯,上网“随便看看”,每喝一杯似乎就离中国近了一步,星期日早晨醒来,开心地意外发现我们已经订好了六月间在北京两个星期所需的一切。
I was strictly a tourist in 2005 but never got out of Beijing, not even for the de riguer trip to the Great Wall. I became obsessed with the hutongs and my girlfriend and I spent our vacation walking these mazes and photo-documenting* them before they were all destroyed.
2005年我完全是个旅游者,却从来没有走出北京(城区),甚至没有去那必“到”的长城。我被胡同迷住了,跟女友把整个假期花在这些迷宫中,抢在它们被拆毁之前照相记录。
When I got back to America I went to a bookstore to get a serious book on China. Serious was the only criterion. MacFarquhar and Schoenhals Mao's Last Revolution had recently been published and was on the bookshelf. It was a big, thick book, from which I deduced it was a serious book and so I bought it.
返回美国之后,我到书店去找一本关于中国的严肃著作。“严肃”是唯一的标准。书架上有新出版的麦克法夸尔和沈迈克合著的《毛泽东最后的革命》(Mao's Last Revolution),我从这本书的体积和重量推断它一定严肃,于是买了下来。
That was the beginning of all this.
一切就这样开始了。
When I went back to Beijing in November 2008 I had a new girlfriend and a little knowledge of the Cultural Revolution. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing and the urge to generalize from the specific is powerful. I was mindful of this danger with every sentence that I wrote here. Generalizations and speculation are clearly identified rather than presented ambiguously as if they might be fact. When my observations are consistent with those made by others I note that consistency. When I make a general statement it is only when I am sure in my own mind of its correctness.
当我在2008年11月再次来到北京,我有了个对文化大革命略有所知的新女友。“略有所知”是一种危险的东西,以偏概全的冲动非常强而有力。我在这里写每一句话都时刻警惕着这种危险。大而化之和臆测显然是一回事,而不能含糊其词地把它们当作有可能是事实。当我的观察与其他人一致的时候,我将指出其一致。只有当我肯定其正确性的时候,才会做出一个一般性的陈述。
We stayed in a five star hotel on the outskirts of Beijing. The cool November air suited me much better than the June heat of my first visit. Though November, our room was warm so we called the front desk. They promptly sent someone up. We told him the problem; he didn’t understand. We took him over to the thermostat and pointed. He examined it, moved the switch and turned to us with a look that said, “There’s nothing wrong with it.” We mimed.
我们住在北京城外的一家五星级宾馆。十一月清冷的气温远比上次六月的暑热让我舒服。尽管已经是十一月,房间里还是很热,于是给前台打电话。他们马上派了个人来。我们告诉他问题所在,他不懂。我们引他到恒温器前指给他看。他检查了,转动开关,转向我们,那表情是说,“没有坏呀”。
We fanned our faces with our hands; we pulled on our shirts. He studied us intently but still could not grasp the nettle. Carmen took a bottle of water out of the refrigerator, put her hands around it and sighed with relief. The man’s face lit up. Carmen and I looked at each other and smiled at our communications skill. With purpose, the man walked across the room to the window and cranked it open. He turned to us and smiled and then strode out of the room with a look of satisfaction on his face at a job well done.
我们做样子,用手扇脸,抖汗衫。他认真看着我们,可还是不明白。卡门从冰箱里拿出一瓶水,将手按在上面松了一口气。那人的脸色开朗了。卡门和我相视而笑,为自己的交流技巧而得意。那人有意穿过房间,打开窗户。他转身对我们微笑了一下,然后心满意足地走出房门——他的任务完成了。
I spoke to seven people for approximately twenty-five hours in total. Five of those individuals were formally interviewed in seven sessions of about thirteen hours in all. Six of those sessions were at least partially tape-recorded. There are approximately eight hours of tape. There was additional informal discussion in restaurants and the like.
我在约25个小时里共和7个人谈话。其中5个在约13个小时里接受了7次正式采访。6次采访有录音,至少部分录音。共有约8小时的录音带。还有在餐馆之类地方的非正式补充讨论。
When the tapes are properly formatted I will make them available in their entirety by posting a link here. I am also having verbatim written transcripts prepared of some of the formal interviews. I will also post a link to them.
这些录音带适当格式化之后我将把它们上传,并把链接贴在这里。还有部分正式采访的逐字记录链接也将贴在这里。
Everyone who I formally interviewed asked me a question: “Why are you doing this?,” and my answer was also the basis for my questions of them. Bian Zhongyun’s murder is historically significant in China, but I would not have become involved had not so many Red Guards, including, Song Binbin and Liu Tingting, immigrated to the United States. That turned the murder from a purely internal Chinese matter into one of proper to concern to Americans, or at least to this American.
每一个接受采访的人都提出同样的问题:“你为什么要做这个?”我的回答也是提问的基础。卞仲耘遇害事件对中国具有历史意义,然而,如果不是那么多红卫兵,包括宋彬彬和刘婷婷已经移民美国,将这件凶杀案从纯粹的中国内部事务变为美国人,至少我这个美国人的份内该管之事,我是不会参与的。
The murder was also of professional interest since I am an American-trained lawyer and one whose entire career has been spent prosecuting murder cases. I could call on my professional experience in reading, researching, interviewing, understanding, comparing.
因为我是受美式训练的法律工作者,一生的事业就是起诉凶杀案,这件凶杀案也具有专业的意义。在阅读、研究、访谈、理解、比较的时候,我的职业经验也得到运用。
I can safely generalize about this: there is Chinese criminal law, there is American criminal law, and the differences between the two are profound. The American focuses on the individual: individual protection, individual responsibility. The most important goal in is that no innocent person ever be charged with a crime in the first place; second that that no person ever be convicted unless with overwhelming evidence and third, that the individual perpetrator(s) be identified and punished.
我可以负责任地进行以下概括:中国有中国的刑法,美国有美国的刑法,二者之间有着深刻的区别。美国刑法专注于个体:个体保护和个体责任。其最重要的目标是,首先,不让任何无辜的人受到犯罪指控;其次,除非证据确凿不能判刑;再次,个体罪犯(们)得到确认并受到惩罚。
The Chinese government has never arrested anyone for the murder of Bian Zhongyun, nor was the case ever investigated to my knowledge. Yet the circumstances of the murder would have made for an easy prosecution. The murder occurred in broad daylight and over a period of hours, affording witnesses an ideal set of conditions to make accurate identifications of the perpetrators. In addition, witnesses knew the perpetrator(s), and there would have been dozens of eyewitnesses.
中国政府从未逮捕过任一杀害卞仲耘的罪犯,就我所知,这个案子也从未经过审理。然而,这件凶杀案其实是易于审理的。这件凶杀案发生在光天化日之下,持续几个小时之久,为证人指认凶手提供了理想的条件。此外,目击者认识凶手(们),应该有几十个目击者。
Thus, no evidentiary obstacle stood in the way of arrests. Rather, arrests were not made because the Chinese government ruled that the murder occurred in the context of a mass movement; therefore no individual persons were responsible. Only society was responsible.
因此,并不存在妨碍逮捕的证据不足问题。毋宁说,没有逮捕是因为中国政府裁定该凶杀案发生在群众运动条件下,因此没有应对其负责的个体,而只应由社会负责。
The Chinese government made this ruling in a suit brought by Wang Jinyao, Bian’s widower. It reached a similar verdict on the Cultural Revolution generally: it was the greatest catastrophe in the history of the Chinese Communist Party, and was instituted by Mao Zedong. Significantly, this verdict was made in 1981, five years after Mao’s death. Thus not even Mao could be held responsible.
中国政府的这个裁决是针对卞仲耘的丈夫王晶垚提出的诉讼所做的。关于文化大革命的审判书也大同小异:那是毛泽东发动和领导的,中国共产党历史上最大的一场浩劫。耐人寻味的是,这份审判书写于1981年,毛死后5年。因此,甚至毛也不可能承担责任。
Long before going back to Beijing I had encountered this philosophical difference between the two systems many times in my reading and communication with others. The people whom I interviewed taught me a great deal more about this difference.
远在重访北京之前,我就在阅读和交谈中多次遇到了(美中两国)制度之间的这个哲学差异,接受访谈的人们则教给了我更多。 - posted on 03/01/2009
中国沉默的长城:北京2008年11月(二)
【贝苏尼翻译】
My first interview was with Mr. Wang Jinyao, the widower of Bian Zhongyun. I believe that I am the first foreigner with whom he has spoken about the case. I was deeply honored that he had agreed to meet with me and discuss Bian’s murder. He is a courageous man and I admire him greatly. He has stood up for the truth since the day that his wife was murdered. He bought a camera and documented the injuries on Bian’s body, an excruciating act of devotion. For forty-two years he has kept the dress that Bian wore that day in a suitcase under his bed, along with her wrist watch, the photographs, and evidence, such as the document given him as formal acknowledgment of Bian’s “death,” signed by, among others, Song Binbin.
我的第一个采访对象是王晶垚先生,卞仲耘的丈夫。我大概是跟他谈这件案子的第一个外国人。他同意见我并讨论卞仲耘案,使我深感荣幸。他很勇敢,我非常赞赏他。他从妻子被害那天起就一直站起来要求真相。他买了一架相机,拍摄了卞仲耘遍布鳞伤的遗体,一个痛苦的深情举动。在42年里,他一直在床下箱子里珍藏着卞仲耘的血衣,还有她破碎的手表,照片,还有证据,例如作为正式文件给他的卞仲耘“死了”的证明,签字人当中有——宋彬彬。
In the cab ride over to the meeting I was pre-occupied and a little tense. I had come all this way and had this one chance to talk to him. Ma Jisen, an author and former foreign service official had graciously agreed to host the meeting and serve as our interpreter.
乘出租车去会见的路上,我心事重重,还有些紧张。我不远万里而来只有这一个机会跟他谈。马继森,曾在外交部工作过的作家,慷慨地同意安排这次会见并为我们担任翻译。
Ma greeted us warmly at the door. Carmen and I gave her a basket of flowers as a small gift of appreciation. Ma said that Mr. Wang was already there and led us the few steps around the corner into the living room. Mr. Wang was sitting in an easy chair at the opposite end of the room. He rose slowly and with a wide smile. I hurried to help and got to him just as he was straightening up. We shook hands warmly and, instinctively, I hugged him.
马继森在门口热情地欢迎我们。卡门和我送了她一只花篮来表示感谢。马继森说王先生已经来了,让我们走几步拐到客厅。王先生坐在房间另一边的沙发里,他微笑着缓缓站起身来,我赶紧上前扶住他,我们热烈地握手,不由自主地,我拥抱了他。
I had brought him a gift too, one suggested by Youqin Wang, a statue of Justice. It was the perfect suggestion. I had thought of some brief prefatory remarks before giving Mr. Wang the statue. I was pleased with what I had come up with.
我给他也带来了一件礼物,王友琴提议的正义女神像。那真是个好主意。在把雕像交给王先生之前,我想好了几句自鸣得意的开场白。
I told Mr. Wang that as a prosecutor, I have no client other than justice. I told him that I admired President John F. Kennedy and that President Kennedy had once said that when one man is denied justice, all men are denied justice. It gave me particular pleasure, I said, to present him with this statue of Justice on the forty-fifth anniversary of the president’s assassination. At which time my Cuban girlfriend, my Chinese hostess, and my Chinese interlocutor all simultaneously corrected me: tomorrow was November 22.
我告诉王先生,我是检察官,我没有别的当事人只有正义。我告诉他,我欣赏肯尼迪总统说过的一句话,一个人的正义得不到伸张,所有人的正义也得不到伸张。所以,在这位总统遇刺45周年的日子能给他这件礼物,尤其恰当。这个时候,我的古巴女友,中国女主人,以及中国采访对象异口同声地纠正我:明天才是11月22日。
I explained to Mr. Wang the meaning of the statue. Justice was blindfolded to show her impartiality to both sides. The scales she held high in her left hand were to weigh the evidence of each side. She held the sword of punishment in her right hand, but down at her side, symbolic of the presumption of innocence, and of caution, that no one is punished unless proven guilty.
我向王先生解释雕像的意义。正义女神蒙住眼睛,表示对双方公正;她左手举的天平用来衡量双方的证据;她右手所持的惩罚之剑下垂,象征无罪推定和谨慎,除非被证明有罪,不受惩罚。
Very quickly I came to like Mr. Wang immensely. I enjoyed his company, our conversation, his personality. The meeting lasted five hours.
很快我就跟王先生熟起来,我喜欢他,喜欢我们的对话,他的性格。会见持续了5个小时。
I prepared for all of the interviews in the same way I do in my job as prosecutor. I make notes of the subjects that I want to inquire about but I keep the interview free form so that it can develop naturally. The answers that I get and how the person answers them will change what and how I ask succeeding questions. I try to gain insight into the person by observing body language and facial expressions.
我按照检察官的工作方法事先对所有访谈进行了准备。我写下所有准备提的问题但是将访谈保持自由的形式以便自然发展。我得到的回答和回答的方式将改变我如何下一步提问。我试图通过观察身体语言和表情深入访谈对象的内心。
When asking questions I change subjects frequently rather than take a linear or chronological approach. Some questions I ask in an open-ended manner—“Tell me about such-and-such.,”—some call for a specific piece of information—“What did so-and-so say to you?” I will ask the same question in both ways. Some questions I write out verbatim because I want to ask them in just such a way. These are common, and commonsensical, techniques to direct the interview and to try to get accurate and truthful answers.
提问的时候我经常改换话题,而不是依照时间的直线顺序。有些问题是以开放式提出的,“请讲讲什么什么,”——另一些则是为获得特定信息——“你那时怎样?”同一个问题用两种方式提出。有些问题我逐字写下来,因为我就是想用这样的方式来问。这些都是普通常识性的引导访谈并获得准确真实回答的技巧。
I decided to ask Mr. Wang in our first meeting, “Whom do you hold responsible for your wife’s murder?” I wanted to see his reaction to such a blunt question. I wanted the question to be personal: “you,” “your wife.” I chose “hold responsible” rather than “Who kicked, punched?” “Hold responsible” because I wanted him to think about general responsibility and answer based on everything that he knew, thought and suspected. I could then follow up with more specific questions to see if there was sufficient basis for his judgment. Not “Who kicked, punched?” because many lay people, both in China and America, think that a person can not be held “responsible” without personally striking a blow. Also because Mr. Wang did not witness the crime, so a perfectly honest answer would have been, “I don’t know.”
我决定在初次见到王先生的时候单刀直入:“您认为谁应该为杀害您的妻子承担负责?”我想看到他对这个笼统问题的反应。这个问题很个人化,“您”,“您的妻子”。我选择“承担责任”,而不是“谁踢的,谁打的?”“承担责任”是因为我想让他考虑一般性的责任,并根据他所知,所思,所疑来回答。然后我可以提出更具体的问题,看他的判断是否有充足的根据。不问“谁踢,谁打?”是因为美中两国都有许多外行认为,没有亲自动手的人就不能承担“责任”。而且,王先生并没有目击那次犯罪,这样,完全诚实的回答应该是,“我不知道”。
I asked the question. Without hesitating, and pointing for emphasis, he replied, “Mao.”
我提出了问题,他不假思索地回答道,“毛泽东”。 - posted on 03/01/2009
中国沉默的长城:北京2008年11月(三)
【贝苏尼翻译】
"Mao." Mr. Wang had rendered the same verdict in his wife's murder as had the Chinese government: individual actors were not responsible.
“毛泽东”,王先生对妻子命案的解释跟中国政府的判决一样:个体行为者没有责任。
Mr. Wang seemed to enjoy our conversation too and at his suggestion we met on two other occasions. The length and ease of our conversations allowed me to learn more about the concept of individual responsibility in Bian’s murder. By talking with Mr. Wang I could examine the concept as it applied to the perpetrators and the things they did and didn't do, and also as applied to Bian and Mr. Wang, and what each of them did and did not do.
王先生似乎很喜欢跟我们的谈话,根据他的提议我们又见了两次面。充裕的时间和轻松的气氛让我更深入地了解杀害卞仲耘凶手的个体责任观念。我可以通过和王先生谈话来审视这个观念,当它应用到凶手身上,看她们做了什么,没有做什么,也应用到卞仲耘和王先生身上,看做了什么,没有做什么。
In the war against the Japanese the Chinese communists were renowned for fighting when captured. Handcuffed, they would kick. Fully restrained, they would spit and curse. Even when being led to their execution they would resist however they could. Bian Zhongyun went to school on August 5, 1966 knowing that she was going to be killed. The Chinese soldiers resisted the invader to the death but Bian was facing execution by her own people and passively obeyed their judgment.
抗日战争期间,中共党员因被捕后继续斗争而闻名,手被铐住了就用脚踢,全身不能动弹就吐吐沫和破口大骂,即便在走向刑场的途中也要尽力反抗。1966年8月5日,卞仲耘在去学校的时候知道自己将被打死。中国军人抵抗侵略者至死不屈,但卞仲芸面临本国本族人的处决时只是被动地服从她们的审判。
I knew what Mr. Wang did and did not do that summer as the danger to Bian escalated from my reading and especially from Hu Jie’s film Though I am Gone. However I wanted to see and hear Mr. Wang tell it because I wanted the horrific facts to be in his mind when I asked the next series of questions: why he had done certain things and not others. What follows is what he said in narrative form but he did not narrate. I asked specific questions and he gave specific answers.
我从阅读,尤其是从胡杰的电影《我虽死去》中知道,王先生在那个夏天,当卞仲耘面临的危险急剧增加时做了什么和没有做什么。然而我还是想看和听王先生讲,我想知道他心灵中那些可怕的事实,我于是提出了下面的问题:他为什么做了某些事而没有做另一些事。下面就是他用叙述的形式所说的,但他没有(独自)讲述,而是针对我所提出的特定问题而给出的特定答案。
Mr. Wang told me that Bian was first “struggled” against on June 23, 1966. Posters had been put up on the walls and doors of the flat where he and Bian and their children lived. These posters contained crude insults and threats of violence. He showed me the photographs. Bian was beaten again on August 4. He told me she took a bath that night because she wanted her body to be clean when she was killed. He said that the next morning they said goodbye to each other by shaking hands. He told me that he watched Bian walk to the school until she disappeared from sight. In the evening he was informed that she had been killed. He showed me a picture of the body.
王先生告诉我,卞仲耘在1966年6月23日第一次遭到“斗争。他和卞仲耘以及孩子们住处的墙上门上到处贴满了大字报。这些大字报充满蛮横的侮辱和暴力威胁。他给我看(当时拍摄的)照片。8月4日卞仲耘再次挨打。他告诉我,那天晚上她洗了个澡,因为她想干干净净地死去。他说,第二天早晨,他们握手道别,他目送着卞仲耘向学校走去直到从视野消失。当天晚上,他得知她已经遇害。他给我看遗体的照片。
This is what Mr. Wang had told Hu Jie also. In Though I am Gone, Hu Jie filmed Mr. Wang standing in the spot where he stood and watched Bian walk away and the corner she turned when he saw her saw her for the last time. As I watched this painful segment the question paramount in my mind, then and ever since, was why he had let her go.
王先生也是这样跟胡杰说的。在影片《我虽死去》当中,胡杰拍摄了王先生站在他当年目送卞仲耘远去的地方,当她转过街角,那是他最后一次见到她。当我看到影片中这痛苦的场面,脑海中浮现一个问题,从那时到现在:他为什么让她走?
It’s an insensitive question and I would have felt badly if Mr. Wang had been offended. But I asked it, with many questions, because it was crucial.
这是个不近人情的问题,如果得罪了王先生我会非常羞愧,但我还是连同其他很多问题一起问了,因为它至关重要。
I asked why the family hadn’t moved away after Bian had been beaten on June 23. Mr. Wang told me that that was impossible because the government controlled who could go where, which was consistent with what I had learned elsewhere.
我问,卞仲耘在6月23日挨打之后,全家为什么不搬走。王先生告诉我那是不可能的,政府控制着每个人的动向,我从其他地方了解到的一致。
I asked what would have happened if he had gone to the school with Bian, he said that he would not have been permitted to accompany her.
我问,如果他陪卞仲耘去学校将会怎样,他说,不允许陪她。
I asked him directly why he hadn’t fought back, he said because he, his children and his relatives might have been killed. That was also consistent with what I had read.
我直接问他为什么不反抗,他说,因为(这样)他本人,孩子,以及其他亲属也会被打死。这一点也和我读到的一致。
Mr. Wang had not been offended and answered with no apparent shame. I think now that guilt or shame could not have occurred in Maoist China in 1966 because of the degree of state coercion and brainwashing. I think I think that now but I am not sure, but I did not think that after this first meeting with Mr. Wang.
王先生没有生气,回答时没有明显的羞愧。我现在认为,由于高压政治和洗脑,在1966年毛泽东时代的中国没有罪恶感或羞耻感的位置。我现在不能十分肯定,但是在第一次会见王先生的时候却不是这样。 - posted on 03/01/2009
中国沉默的长城:北京,2008年11月(四)
【贝苏尼翻译】
During the cab ride back to the hotel after my first meeting with Mr. Wang I wondered out loud to Carmen that I couldn’t understand how someone could let a loved one be harmed, or killed, without intervening in some way. The more I talked the more incomprehensible it seemed. “I don’t care how oppressive the society I wouldn’t have let my wife go. I would have fought back.” (I was building up a good head of steam) “These were GIRLS for Christ's sake! Teenage girls beat Bian to death! A few men could have gone over there and sent those dainties squealing back to their classrooms and prevented this!” (The prosecutor had convinced his jury: himself).
和王先生第一次见面后乘出租车回宾馆的路上,我不由自主地对卡门说,我不能理解,人怎么能眼看着心爱的人受到伤害或被杀死,而不采取某种干涉行动。谈话越深入越显得不可理解。“不管社会压力多大我也不会让我的妻子出门。我会反击。”(热气冲上我的脑门)“那是些女孩呀,耶稣基督!青少年女孩打死了卞仲耘!只要几个男人走过去就可以让那些娇滴滴的小姐们尖叫着回到教室,防止这件事发生!”(检察官说服了陪审团:他自己有这个本事)。
Wearily, Carmen responded that that’s not the way it is in a country like China, to a lesser extent that is not the way it was in her home country, Cuba. I had no way of understanding that, she said, because I had been spoiled living all my life in America. I huffed with typical American male indignation.
卡门无精打采地回答道,在中国不是这样,她的祖国——古巴也不完全是这样。我无法理解。她说,因为我在美国一辈子惯坏了。我在夸张典型美国男性的愤怒。
I spoke to an American woman on the plane back to the U.S. (She said that she had enjoyed her stay in China but, unprompted, stated, “Our hotel was so stuffy and there was no air conditioning!”) She had been in a city south of Beijing where her daughter went to school. She told me that her daughter had been out walking when she saw a man beating his wife. He knocked her to the ground. Several people were standing around watching, not stepping between them, not saying anything. The young American woman instinctively ran to the man’s wife and shielded her. The wife was bleeding profusely and several of her teeth had been knocked out. She shouted, in Chinese, “Why aren’t you doing anything? Call the police!” No one in the crowd said anything. The young woman called the police herself.
我在返回美国的飞机上跟一位美国妇女说了(这件事)。(她说在中国期间很愉快,但是,不由自主地说道,“我们住的宾馆那么闷热,还没有空调!”)她到过北京以南,她女儿上学的一座城市。她告诉我,她女儿曾在街上看到一个男人在打老婆。他把她打倒在地。一些人在围观,一言不发,都不去劝解拉开她们。这位年轻的美国妇女本能地冲上前去,护住那男人的老婆。挨打的老婆血流如注,好几颗牙都被打掉了。她大声喊,用中文,“你们为什么站着不动?叫警察!”人群中没有人搭腔。这青年妇女自己叫来了警察。
All human behavior exists on a continuum between the poles of the ideal and the taboo.
一切人类行为存在于理想和禁忌两极之间的连续区。
A society's choice of the ideal and the taboo establishes its value system. Bian Zhongyun’s murder is of historical importance. It was at the very beginning of the Cultural Revolution and the “Red Terror” violence of August 1966. It is also historically significant because the leader of the school at the time of the murder, Song Binbin, became famous thirteen days later when she pinned a Red Guard armband onto Mao Zedong, thus signifying Mao’s approval of the Red Terror.
一个社会对理想和禁忌的选择构成其价值体系。卞仲耘凶杀案具有历史的重要性。它发生在文化大革命刚刚开始,在“红色恐怖”暴力泛滥的1966年8月。它也因该凶杀案发生时的学校领导——宋彬彬在13天之后给毛泽东戴上红卫兵袖章,表示毛赞成“红色恐怖”——而具备历史价值。
But the importance of the murder is only partly historical. The murder continues to haunt that generation of Chinese, especially women, because it broke taboos. Teachers hold a special place of reverence for Chinese. The Girls' Middle School was a preparatory school for those who wished to become teachers. Yet it was a teacher, the principal of the school, who was killed. And it was an elite school: the children of some of the highest-ranking officials in the Chinese Communist Party attended, Deng Xiaoping’s daughter and Liu Shaoqi’s daughter most prominently. “Daughters”: girls had committed this murder, “good” girls.
但是,历史意义仅仅是这件凶杀案重要性的一部分。这件凶杀案仍然在纠缠着那一代中国人,尤其是女性,因为它打破了禁忌。尊师是中国人的传统。(卞仲耘担任校长的)女子中学附属于师范大学。然而,恰恰是一位老师,那所学校的校长被打死。那是一所精英学校:中国共产党最高层官员的孩子在那里就读,其中最著名的是邓小平和刘少奇的女儿。“女儿们”,女孩们,“乖”女孩们,犯下了这桩凶杀案。
Throughout his reign Mao Zedong attempted to change the ancient Chinese value system. In breaking taboos, he attempted to break the most fundamental societal ties that create taboos. During the Great Leap Forward he attempted to replace the nuclear family with the commune. Loyalty to the party was decreed the highest loyalty, over the loyalty of parent to child, husband to wife, pupil to student. He attempted to replace personal names with numbers. As the cult of Mao developed, love for Mao became the highest form of love.
毛泽东在其整个统治期间都试图改变古老的中国价值体系。通过打破禁忌,他试图扯断构成禁忌的最基本的社会纽带。“大跃进”期间他试图用公社取代核心家庭。忠于党被颁布为最高的忠诚,高于父母对子女,丈夫对妻子,学生对老师的忠诚。他试图用号码取代人的姓名。随着毛泽东崇拜的发展,热爱毛主席成为爱的最高形式。
Mao once sanguinely contemplated a world after a full-scale nuclear war with the comment that if one-third of mankind would be killed, the other two-thirds would be socialist. He attempted to redefine the value of individual human life.
毛曾经冷酷地思考过全面核战之后的世界,死掉三分之一的人类,剩下的三分之二将是社会主义者。他试图重新定义人类个体生命的价值。
The decisions of the party were right because the party made the decisions. He attempted to redefine right and wrong.
党的决定是正确的,因为是党作出的决定。他试图重新定义是与非。
When we got back to the hotel we had a message from Ye Youyi that Mr. Wang wanted to meet with me again. I was very excited. However Carmen was not. She pointed out that I had gotten absolutely no information from five hours of conversation that day with Mr. Wang on the identities of those involved in Bian's murder. I was deflated but she was right. She thought that Mr. Wang wanted to chit-chat, not provide information.
回到宾馆,收到叶维佑的留言说王先生想再见见我。我很兴奋,卡门却不然。她指出,那天跟王先生谈了5个小时,没得到半点打死卞仲耘凶手身份的任何信息。我顿时泄了气,她是对的。她认为王先生只想聊闲天,不打算提供信息。
At 9:30 Ye called again. I answered and she told me that Mr. Wang wanted to meet again because "has something to tell you." We agreed on a date and time. I got off the phone and was elated. What could that mean except that he was now willing to name names? Carmen didn't believe it. There would just be more chit-chat. If Mr. Wang knew anything, he was not going to tell me. "They don't care about it," she said, referring to Chinese generally. "If they don't care about it, why do you?" I felt foolish, but again it was a valid point.
九点半叶维佑又来了电话。我接听的,她告诉我,王先生想再见我,“有话要说。”我们约定了时间。我放下电话,又鼓足了劲。除非他现在要提供(凶手)姓名了,还能是别的什么意思?卡门不相信,再见面还是闲聊,即便王先生知情也不会告诉我。“他们根本不在乎,”她说,泛指中国人。“既然他们不在乎,你为什么要管?”我觉得自己很傻,但她还是对的。
After forty-two years if Mr. Wang truly did not know the identities of even one of the several people who had actually struck Bian, it seemed foolish to believe that I, a foreigner, could learn their identifies. And if Mr. Wang did know, he hadn't told me after five hours of conversation.
四十二年之后,如果王先生真的不知道那些参与打卞仲耘的人当中哪怕一个人的身份,却相信我一个外国人居然能确认她们的身份,确实显得很傻。如果王先生知道(凶手身份),他却在5小时的谈话中没有告诉我。
As Carmen and I were talking I remembered something else that Mr. Wang had said. Song Binbin and Liu Jin had come to Mr. Wang's flat to give him the official document on Bian's "death." I had asked him if he had ever, then or since, asked who had done what to his wife. He said that he hadn't asked. That reinforced all that Carmen had said (but of course I didn't tell her that).
我一边跟卡门谈话,一边却想起王先生说过的另一件事情。宋彬彬和刘进曾来到王先生住的单元,交给他卞仲耘“死了”的正式文件。我问过他,他当时或以后是否了解过,谁对他的妻子做了什么。他说,没有问过。证明卡门说的都是对的(当然我没跟她说)。 - posted on 03/01/2009
中国沉默的长城:北京,2008年11月(五)
【贝苏尼翻译】
I couldn't meet again with Mr Wang until November 27 because I had already booked up earlier days other interviews and activities.
11月27日之前已经约满了访谈和活动,我不可能在此之前再见王先生。
I interviewed Ye Youyi on November 22 in her apartment and on November 24 in her ex-husband's apartment. I learned that Ms. Ye is the cousin of Weili Ye, an American academic and friend of Song Binbin and Liu Jin. Weili appeared in Morning Sun, has written a personal memoir and an article entitled The Death of Bian Zhongyun for a scholarly journal.
11月22日,我在叶维佑住的单元采访了她,11月24日在她前夫的单元再次采访了她。我了解到叶女士是叶维丽的堂姐,叶维丽是美国学者,宋彬彬和刘进的朋友,出现在纪录片《八九点钟的太阳》里,她写过一本个人回忆录,并为一学术刊物写过题为“卞仲耘之死”的文章。
Ms. Ye had a fundamental goodness about her that was apparent at first meeting. She felt morality at a visceral level. Right and wrong were clear moral values to her, not intellectually complex concepts, as they were to her cousin and the Red Guards and the Chinese government. Ms. Ye has written movingly of how she once loved and idolized Mao, and of how she came to be disenchanted. Her account has been reprinted here.
一见到叶女士就可以明显地感到她的善良,内心的道德形之于外。对她来说,是与非是清楚的道德价值,而不是复杂的心智概念,像她的堂妹,红卫兵和中国政府认为的那样。叶女士写过她曾经如何将毛泽东当作偶像来崇拜和热爱,又如何解魅的感人故事。她的作品也转贴在这里。
One exchange with Ms. Ye particularly touched me. She asked about divorce law in America. I explained that most states had what are called "no-fault" laws, meaning that there does not have to be an allegation of wrong-doing by one party of the other. A simple declaration of "irreconcilable differences" suffices. With a sincerity on her face that was so natural with her, she asked, "Ben, is that law available to all classes in America?"
和叶女士交谈中的一个话题尤其触动了我。她问美国的离婚法。我解释道,多数州有所谓“无过失法”,即一方无需指控另一方的过失,只要简单宣布“矛盾不可调和”就足以离婚。她带着再自然不过的诚恳表情问道,“本,法律是否适用于美国所有的阶级?”
I explained that the laws in America applied to everyone equally. What I thought, but didn't say because I didn't want to get off on an entirely different topic, was "She thinks there are classes in America."
我解释道,在美国,法律面前人人平等。我心里想却没有说的是,我不想跳到一个完全不同的话题,她认为美国有阶级。
The following paragraph is a combination of personal opinion and fact, labeled as such. The personal opinions are vigorously disputed by others.
下面一段是个人意见和事实的结合,分别加以标明。个人意见都遭到其他人的激烈反驳。
There are classes in America, of course, but not in the way that Ms. Ye used the term. (opinion) The observations of Tocqueville down to present day survey research have uncovered the American's belief in class fluidity. (fact) That is, "Today's pauper can be tomorrow's millionaire;" "Anyone can grow up to be president." (fact as to the belief; opinion as to the reality) Americans do not believe that the classes in America are immutable. (fact) Most Americans, do not resent the rich, for tomorrow, or in the next generation, one or one's offspring could be the rich. (fact as to the belief) For this reason, class appeals are not often successful in American politics. (fact) The rich are admired for their achievements, not resented for their privilege. (as a very general statement, fact) The American's belief in opportunity could not be sustained if there were laws, de jure or de facto, that applied to different classes, as Ms. Ye thought. (opinion; many argue that the laws are de facto different for different classes or interests)
美国当然有阶级,但不是叶女士所说的那种。(意见)从托克维尔的观察(19世纪——译者)到今天的研究,都揭示了美国人坚信阶级间的流动。(事实)即“今天的穷光蛋明天可以成为百万富翁”,“任何人都可以当总统”。(对信念来说是事实,对现实来说是意见)美国人不相信,美国的阶级不可改变。(事实)多数美国人不嫉妒富人,因为明天,或者下一代,本人或后代会发财。(对信念来说是事实)因此,阶级诉求在美国政治中经常不那么成功。(事实)富人们因其成就而得到尊崇,而不是因其特权而遭到愤恨。(作为一般性陈述,事实)美国人相信,如果有司法的或事实的法律应用于不同的阶级,如叶女士所认为的那样,(个人发展的)机会就不能持久。(意见。许多人争辩道,不同阶级或利益群体在法律面前事实不平等)
Ye's personal story of devotion and disenchantment is consistent with that of many other memoirs that have been published. Mao was loved by many ordinary Chinese. His policies were supported by many ordinary Chinese. That love and support were drummed into the people daily. To express even tepid enthusiasm for Mao was dangerous. But there was still genuine love, personally felt, admixed with that fostered by state coercion.
叶的献身与解魅的个人故事与许多已出版的回忆录一致。毛泽东受到许多普通中国人的爱戴。他的政策得到许多普通中国人的拥护。爱戴和拥护深入到人们的日常生活,表现出对毛缺乏热情相当危险。然而那时还是有真诚的热爱,混合着高压政治和个人感情的热爱。
The perpetrators of Red Terror violence were not forced to beat and murder. Mao created the Cultural Revolution, he encouraged revolution in the schools, he validated it after it had begun, but he and the state did not force the students to be violent. The Red Guards were created by the students themselves, not by the state. The students as individuals, and self-led groups of individuals, committed violent acts that they, individually and in self-led groups, chose of their own free will.
“ 红色恐怖”期间的凶手们并非被迫使去打人杀人。毛泽东发动了文化大革命,他支持支持学生造反,然后给以肯定,但他本人和政府都没有强迫学生武斗。红卫兵是学生自己创建的,不是官办的。学生们作为个体和自己领导的群体中的个体所采取的暴力行动,是他们个体和在自己领导的群体中,出于自由意志的选择。
The government, the aging Red Guards who committed violence, and their supporters, exonerate the perpetrators as having no individual responsibility because the Cultural Revolution was a mass movement; the perpetrators did not have the free will to act otherwise.
中国政府,曾经犯下暴力罪行正在步入老年的红卫兵及其支持者,为这些凶手辩白说,因为文革是群众运动,所以没有个人责任;这些凶手没有选择相反行动的自由意志。
Many, many students never committed any acts of violence, however. Rongfen Wang did not committ any violent acts, Youqin Wang did not commit any violent acts. Jang Chung did not committ any violent acts. Contrary to what Song Binbin said in Morning Sun, her presence on the rostrum of the Forbidden City on August 18 was not happenstance. She had chosen to become a Red Guard, she proudly wore its armband and ecstatically fastened a Red Guard armband onto Mao.
然而,很多学生根本没有犯下暴力罪行,王容芬没有,王友琴没有,张戎也没有。和宋彬彬在《八九点钟的太阳》里说的相反,她在“八一八”登上天安门城楼并非偶然。她选择成为红卫兵,她骄傲地戴着红卫兵袖章,并且心醉神迷地给毛泽东戴上红卫兵袖章。
The government, the former Red Guards, and their supporters do not claim that the violence was right, they claim that the wrongs are not the responsibility of individuals.
中国政府,老红卫兵及其支持者并没有主张暴力是对的,他们主张这些错误不是个体责任。
This is a crucial point because it acknowledges that the perpetrators still knew the difference between right and wrong. In societies governed by laws a person cannot be held responsible for a crime if he or she did not know the difference between right and wrong. The Red Guards knew that hurting and killing people was wrong. Still, they made the personal choice to hurt and kill.
这一点正是关键所在,因为它承认了凶手们仍然知道对与错的区别。在法治社会里,一个人不能为一桩他或她不了解对与错区别的罪行负责。红卫兵们当时就知道打人杀人是错的,但他们仍然做出了打人杀人的个人选择。
In societies governed by laws participating in a violent mass movement is called a riot; it is not a defense to individual acts of violence. Nor does state coercion exonerate an individual who has committed violent acts. The Nazis defense at Nuremberg, of having "just followed orders" was rejected. The Chinese government rejected this defense in the "Gang of Four" trial. Jiang Jing defended herself as having just followed orders: "I was Chairman Mao's dog. I bit whoever he told me to bite."
在法治社会里,参加暴力群众运动叫做“骚乱”,它不能成为个人暴力行为的辩护理由。高压政治也不能洗刷个人犯下的暴力罪行。纳粹分子在纽伦堡审判时所作的“ 执行命令”辩护被(法庭)驳回。中国政府也在审判四人帮的时候也驳回了这种辩护。江青曾用“执行命令”进行自我辩护,“我是主席的一条狗,让我咬谁就咬谁。”
On the day between the two interviews of Ye Youyi we went to the Forbidden City. In the Imperial Garden two smiling Chinese women approached us with a camera. Of course we would take their picture. But their actions indicated that there was some misunderstanding. After several seconds of hand-gesture communication we understood that they wanted to take a picture of us. They wanted a picture of the foreigners as a memento and to show their friends.
叶维佑两次访谈之间的那天我们去了紫禁城。在御花园里,两个中国妇女手拿相机微笑着向我们走来。我们当然愿意给她们照相,但她们的动作表示出现了误会。通过打手势,几秒钟之后我们明白了,她们要给我们照相。她们想要一张外国人的照片作纪念品给朋友们看。
I remembered that a similar thing had occurred in Tiananmen Square when I visited in 2005. We noticed a woman taking a picture of these unusual looking foreigners, the tall man and the blonde woman. We smiled at her and she smiled back, a little sheepishly.
记得我在2005年也在天安门广场碰到类似的情况。我们注意到一个女人在拍摄相貌特别的外国人,高个子男人和金发碧眼的女人。我们对她微笑,她也有点不好意思地微笑了一下。
Perhaps they were not unsophisticated Chinese photographing the exotic. Perhaps they were undercover state security officials who were photographing any and all foreigners.
也许,他们并不是拍摄异国情调的粗鲁中国人。也许,她们是拍摄任何,所有外国人的便衣国安警察。
However it was, the idea of The Foreigner has always been prominent in China's relationship with the rest of the world. Non-Chinese indeed would have been a startling sight worth documenting inside the Forbidden City in imperial times. China was a walled country, Beijing a walled city, the Imperial compound a walled section of that city.
不管怎样,“外国人”永远是中国和世界其他地方关系的重中之重。皇帝时代非中国人看上去令人惊讶,值得在紫禁城内记录下来。中国是墙之国,北京是墙之城,皇城是城中之城,墙圈起来的一部份。
All of those physical walls have come down now but there are still psychological walls. China's Great Wall of Silence refers to these barriers. I remember a conversation with a Chinese emigree who was reluctant to speak with me. He said that he had casually told an American colleague of the Red Guard background of a fellow Chinese, also living and teaching in the U.S. Word had gotten back to the former Red Guard and he had warned against saying such things in the future to "white people."
所有这些物理的围墙现在已经倒下,但心理之墙仍然存在。“中国沉默的长城”就是指这些障碍。我记得跟一位不太情愿的中国移民的谈话。他曾经随口告诉美国同事一位也在美国教书的同胞有红卫兵背景。这些话传到老红卫兵的耳朵里,他警告说,以后不要跟“白人”说这些事情。
On the morning of the 25th, we tried again with the air conditioning. The hotel had assigned a personal representative to us. Whenever we needed anything we had our own contact person. We called Summer. She came up to our room. She spoke perfect English. We explained to Summer that we needed a little winter. She asked us if we were leaving and if so when we were coming back because she was going to have an engineer look into the problem. We had a full day planned and told her the room would be empty. Summer said it would be taken care of by the time we returned.
25 日上午,我们又试着解决空调问题。宾馆派来一位员工代表,不管遇到什么问题都可以跟她联系。我们叫她“夏”。她上楼来到我们的房间,英语无懈可击。我们对夏说,需要一点冬天。她问,我们是否马上要出门,什么时候回来,她可以去找个技术人员来检查。我们一整天都排满了,就告诉她房间是空的。夏说等我们回来就能修好。 - Re: 本杰明 哈里斯:中国的沉默长城:正义posted on 03/02/2009
谢谢。
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