Despite its incredible pace of change, China continues to carry echoes of its
past.
尽管中国巨变的步伐令人难以置信，但它依
然负载着对自身以往历史的回应。
And yet, the difficulty of drawing any
direct links between its past and present
is demonstrated by the fact that any topic
can shift in perspective depending on
where you enter China’s vast chronology.
然而，将过去与当前直接挂�... See more Despite its incredible pace of change, China continues to carry echoes of its
past.
尽管中国巨变的步伐令人难以置信，但它依
然负载着对自身以往历史的回应。
And yet, the difficulty of drawing any
direct links between its past and present
is demonstrated by the fact that any topic
can shift in perspective depending on
where you enter China’s vast chronology.
然而，将过去与当前直接挂起钩来也相当困
难，这体现在如下事实之中：即涉足中国庞
大纪年的起点不同，则主题也会相应地发生
改变。
What constitutes political stability, for
example, has varied dramatically across
almost four millennia, and in different
periods it has been defined in relation to
the greatness of leaders, the peacefulness
of imperial successions, the suppression
of peasant rebellions, and the handling of
foreign incursions—whether religions,
technologies, or troops.
比如，在近四千年的历史中，关于何者构成
政治稳定的要素，一直众说不一、变来变去。
在不同的时期，人们将此或者归因于领袖的
伟大、或者定义为王朝更迭的和平进行、或
者看成是对外来入侵——不管是宗教、技术
抑或是军事——的成功解决。
Our appreciation of China’s economic
growth will veer erratically, depending on
whether we concentrate on specie and
banking, the formation of cities, the
creation of trade hubs, or advances in
transportation and communication.
我们对于中国经济成长的理解也莫衷一是，
这取决于我们是将注意力放在货币及银行、
城市建设、贸易网的创建还是交通通信事业
的发展上。
Our current fascination with high-tech
dynamism could be tied to an equally
wide range of variants, designed to give
China an aura of either preeminence or
stagnation.
而我们目前对高科技推动力的痴迷同样会
将我们带入漫无边际的分歧之中，既可以给
中国戴上卓越不凡的光环，也可以把它说成
是停滞不前的样板。
Rarely has China been so weak as when
the emperor’s ill-equipped army did battle
with British forces during the Opium Wars
in the mid-19th century.
装备落后的中国军队在19世纪中叶与英国
进行鸦片战争时十分虚弱无力，但这种情形
在中国并不多见。
And yet, the sophistication of the Song
dynasty’s metallurgy or the imposing
power of the Ming dynasty’s fleets made
China a potential global leader long
before the competition among states was
considered in these terms.
而宋朝冶炼技术的成熟或明朝舰队的强大
威力曾使中国早在世界列强按此一标准展
开竞争之前就成为一个潜在的全球领袖。
But today, relations among states are
discussed very much like a competition or
race, and few have run it as well as China
in the modern era.
今天，对国家关系的讨论非常类似于一场竞
争或赛跑，而当代没有几个国家能象中国那
样表现出色。
Indeed, the prospect of China’s rise has
become a source of endless speculation
and debate.
实际上，中国崛起的前景已经成为无休止猜
测或争辩的话题。
To speak of China’s “rise” is to suggest its
reemergence.
但是，谈及中国的“崛起”就是在暗示它的复
兴。
It can also imply a recovery from some
kind of slump or period of quietude.
或可意指从某种衰退或沉寂期中复苏。
But “rise” can also mean that a change is
being made at someone else’s expense.
不过“崛起”也可意味着某种人为鱼肉、我为
刀俎的变化正在发生。
Must a fall always accompany a rise?
衰落肯定会与崛起相伴相依吗？
If so, then a conflict will occur almost by
definition.
如果是这样，则冲突就会不折不扣地发生。
These are difficult questions made all the
more so by the fact that a country as vast
and complex as China makes up at least
half of the equation.
象中国这样一个幅员辽阔、情况复杂的国家
占据着至少一半的变数，种种难题皆由此而
产生。
One arena, however, in which China’s
past can serve as a useful prologue to the
present, can be found in looking at how
its territorial extent has evolved over
time.
不过，看一下中国的疆域在历史上是如何演
变的，或可知道中国的过去对于它的现状不
无裨益。
This approach can show both how China
has come to be the size it is, and
perhaps—although this is a more
contentious area—how China might
change again in the future.
这一视角既可揭示中国是如何达致当前这
种规模的，又可（虽然较前者不无争议）推
测中国在未来还会做何等改变。
Although relations between China and the
United States may be of vital importance
to both, from the Chinese perspective, the
relationship has been extremely brief.
虽然中美关系对于双方至关重要，但从中国
的角度看，这一关系是极为短暂的。
Indeed, there wasn’t even a United States
for China to have relations with until late
into the reign of the Chinese Emperor
Qianlong, arguably one of the greatest
leaders of the last Chinese dynasty.
实际上，对中国来说，直到乾隆皇帝统治末
期中美发生关系时止，美国就根本就不存
在。
When relations were established,
Americans sometimes behaved admirably.
当双边关系建立后，美国人有时令人钦佩。
Other times, they were a nuisance, or
worse, a menace.
而有时则招人讨厌，或更糟，象个克星。
Again, it depends who you are and where
you settle your gaze.
而且，美国的形象取决于你是谁以及你关注
什么。
You can see the United States as
benevolent in its development of Chinese
hospitals and modern medicine.
你可以因为美国帮助发展了中国的医疗事
业和现代医学而将它看成是个大慈善家。
You can see it as destructive in its
dissemination of partisan religious tracts
by American evangelists to such people as
the leader of the Taiping Rebellion.
也可以因为它向诸如太平天国领导人之类
的反叛分子分发美国福音派人士写的带有
派系色彩的宗教小册子而将它当成是种破
坏性力量。
Or, you can see it as thoroughly
ambiguous in the 1900s, when U.S.
leaders urged the Chinese toward a more
republican form of government, which
quickly descended into warlordism.
或者把美国在20世纪头十年的表现看成是
纯粹首鼠两端的，因为当时的美国领导人敦
促中国转向更共和一点的政府形式，却使这
一政府迅速地落到了军阀手里。
To be sure, the Chinese have these
images, and many more, in mind when
they think about their relations with the
United States.
的确，当中国人思考他们与美国的关系时，
以上各种乃至更多的形象都会浮现在他们
脑海里。
These are the memories and the
territorial histories that China has to
juggle as it embarks on its myriad new
challenges and opportunities:
这些就是中国在把握当下这些数不胜数的
机遇和挑战时，它不得不予以粉饰和篡改的
回忆和领土史。
as the defender of an apparently
irrelevant revolutionary ideology, as a
new kind of regional powerhouse, as the
ambiguous heart of a global diaspora, as
one of the world’s major new competitors
for shrinking supplies of fossil fuels, and
as the present guardian of an
unprecedented amount of foreign
exchange and investment.
作为一种显然无关宏旨的革命意识形态的
捍卫者、作为新兴的地区大国、作为全球华
侨模棱两可的心脏、作为供应日渐萎缩的矿
物燃料的世界主要后起竞争者、以及作为史
无前例的庞大外汇和投资的现场管理人。
Some of these phenomena can also be
tracked through the historian’s lens, but
some are, I believe, genuinely new.
这里某些现象固然可以透过历史学者的洞
察追根溯源，但我相信其中一些是全新的。
Just why that should be is itself part of
the story.
它们恰恰因此而成为历史的一部分。
Jonathan D. Spence is Sterling professor
of history at Yale University
Jonathan D. Spence是耶鲁大学货币史教授
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这是我为某个新闻网站翻译的文章，也许我对英语的把握不是很到位，感觉不能把文中的意思准确地表达出来。想请大家帮我分析一下里面存在的问题。谢谢！ ▲ Collapse
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