Economist對中國的發生的大小時間有著獨特的政治嗅覺，前因後果跟你說得頭頭是道。不得不佩服其異想天開的敏銳判斷力。但公道自在人心，請擦亮自己的眼睛去認真地看看這個中國吧！

本文選自The Economist May 19st 2018，China板塊，翻譯僅供參考，文章僅作為英語學習。

原文（手指滑動查看全文）及音頻（?The Economist）

A change of tone

China is becoming more tolerant of some regional Han languages.The Communist Party wants to be seen as a champion, not a destroyer, of traditional culture

LI SIYI tucks her hair behind her ears and takes a deep breath. The high-schooler and aspiring journalist sits in a mock television studio in a basement of China』s most prestigious broadcasting university, practising scripts of the sort that she will soon have to tackle as part of its entrance exam. When the time comes examiners will grade her poise and delivery. They will also assess the quality of herputonghua, or 「common language」, the official version of Mandarin that is supposed to represent its purest form. The pronunciation is based on the Beijing dialect, but even natives of the city, like Ms Li, find it tricky to attain the flawless accent that newsreading requires.

The languages spoken by ethnic-Han Chinese, who are more than 90% of the population, belong to half a dozen main groups (see map). Since the collapse of China』s last imperial dynasty in 1911, successive regimes have been obsessed about popularising just one of them: Mandarin. The Communist Party has been particularly zealous in its promotion of the language. In 2000 about half the population was reasonably fluent in it. The proportion is now higher than 70%, thanks partly to migration from the countryside into cities, which has compelled those moving from non-Mandarin areas into Mandarin-speaking ones to learn the official tongue. The government wants 80% to have a good command by 2020.

The problem is that China is one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world, with about 130 ethnic-minority languages as well as its Han ones. Of the Han languages, Cantonese is spoken by around 60m people in Hong Kong and neighbouring Guangdong province. Some 80m Hans speak one of the Wu languages, among them Shanghainese. Languages of the Min family are used by around 70m people along the south-eastern coast.

The mandarins』 mandate

But as officials see it, a monolingual China is more likely to be a strong and unified one. They are also reluctant to accept that Han China might be an amalgam of cultures as varied as Europe』s. They prefer to call the Han languages 「dialects」, even though some are as different from each other as Romance languages such as French and Spanish. (Chinese people, however, use the same written language, a Mandarin-based non-phonetic form that those who are literate all understand). In 2000 the country passed its first national law on standard Chinese. It said people were free to use their own languages, but it reinforced long-standing policy that Mandarin be used in schools, government offices and in the vast majority of broadcast media in Han-majority areas. (The rules for non-Han people notionally give greater protection to their minority languages.)

At the same time, however, China』s leader, Xi Jinping, also wants to boost the party』s appeal to Chinese nationalists at home and abroad by presenting the party as a champion of traditional culture—not the systematic destroyer of it, as it was in Mao』s day. Mr Xi stresses the importance of China』s ancient heritage almost as much as communism. In a speech on May 4th to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx, he said the party must not only 「imbue core socialist values」, but also promote 「fine traditional Chinese culture」.

Officials now accept that this requires showing off the country』s traditions in all their diversity. In 2015, three years after he came to power, Mr Xi visited the village in Shaanxi province where he had lived during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s. His use of local dialect to introduce villagers to his wife became headline news in China (he is the first Chinese leader since the Communists took over in 1949 whose Mandarin is unaccented).

Also in 2015 the State Language Commission launched a five-year project to record and protect China』s 「language resources」. This involves cataloguing languages used at 1,500 sites as well as online. Wang Lining of Beijing Language and Culture University says it is the biggest such survey in China for decades. It has already resulted in a 20-volume work on China』s 「linguistic culture」, published last December, complete with QR codes that readers can scan to access online audio recordings of regional tongues.

In 2020 the scheme will enter a new phase, in which researchers try to use the material they have collected to help speakers of regional languages. Ms Wang says one idea is that the data be offered to developers of local-language software for voice-controlled products. Han languages are benefiting from all this attention. Not long after Mr Xi took over in 2012, the authorities in Shanghai launched a campaign to promote their local tongue in kindergartens. Officials have encouraged a revival of regional forms of Chinese opera, performed in their original languages. This year organisers of the annual spring-festival gala on national television tried to include more southern accents in order to deflect accusations that the much-watched variety show has a northern bias.

The government has come to accept that support for local languages can bring political and economic rewards. It may, for example, help China』s efforts to woo overseas Chinese, says Li Wei of University College London. China』s trade in South-East Asia depends on contacts with ethnic Chinese in that region, many of whose ancestors did not speak Mandarin.

Party leaders appear to believe that China』s cultural 「soft power」, including local language, can be used to persuade members of the global Chinese diaspora to support policies that are favourable to the party, and even to win over people in Taiwan. Jason Lim of the University of Wollongong in Australia notes that the party has been dubbing propaganda videos into Hokkien, which is used in Taiwan as well as elsewhere in Asia.

But the government』s support for local languages is still tempered by a suspicion of localism and the long-term threat it might pose to national unity. In 2010 officials in Guangdong province proposed replacing some local-language broadcasts with Mandarin ones. Cantonese speakers took to the streets of the capital, Guangzhou, in protest. The authorities backed off, but in 2014 they implemented a modified version of the plan. Some people worry that for all its talk, the government wants to wipe out other Han tongues. (Don』t even ask Tibetans and Uighurs how their languages are getting on.)

For a while, the internet appeared to offer hope. But officials are stepping up efforts to suppress 「lowbrow」 material online, especially video. Local languages, which are often used in such content, have become collateral damage. Supporters of regional tongues still have to fight for small concessions such as local-language announcements on buses and trains. They have to rely on the ability of local officials to resist uniformity-demanding superiors. For most Chinese, only one way of speaking still enjoys the full backing of the law.

A change of tone腔調的改變

China is becoming more tolerant of some regional Han languages.The Communist Party wants to be seen as a champion, not a destroyer, of traditional culture.

中國對一些方言越來越寬容，party希望被看作是傳統文化的捍衛者，而不是破壞者。

LI SIYItucksher hair behind her ears and takes a deep breath. The high-schooler and aspiring journalist sits in amocktelevision studio in a basement of China』s most prestigious broadcasting university, practising scripts of the sort that she will soon have to tackle as part of its entrance exam.（李思怡把頭髮捋到耳朵後面，深深地吸了一口氣。這位高中生希望成為有抱負的記者，她正坐在中國最負盛名的廣播大學地下室的一個模擬電視演播室里，練習她即將在入學考試中必須表演的那種劇本。）When the time comes examiners will grade herpoiseand delivery. They will also assess the quality of herputonghua, or 「common language」, the official version of Mandarin that is supposed to represent its purest form.（到了考官的時候，考官將對她的儀態和發音進行評分。他們還將評估她的普通話。這種官方版本的普通話應該代表其最純正的形式。）The pronunciation is based on the Beijing dialect, but even natives of the city, like Ms Li, find it tricky to attain the flawless accent that newsreading requires.（普通話的發音是以北京方言為基礎的，但即使是像李女士這樣的北京本地人，也覺得很難達到新聞播報所要求的完美無瑕的口音。）

The languages spoken by ethnic-Han Chinese, who are more than 90% of the population, belong to half a dozen main groups (see map). Since the collapse of China』s last imperial dynasty in 1911, successive regimes have been obsessed about popularising just one of them: Mandarin.（佔總人口的90%以上的漢族人所講的語言，可分為六個主要群體(見地圖)。自1911年中國末代王朝垮台以來，歷屆政權都極力普及一種語言：普通話。）The Communist Party has been particularly zealous in its promotion of the language. In 2000 about half the population was reasonably fluent in it. The proportion is now higher than 70%, thanks partly to migration from the countryside into cities, which has compelled those moving from non-Mandarin areas into Mandarin-speaking ones to learn the official tongue. The government wants 80% to have a good command by 2020.（Party在推廣普通話方面特別熱心。2000年，大約有一半的人口可以說一口相當流利的普通話。這個比例現在已經超過了70%，部分原因是從農村居民遷移到城市後，現實生活迫使那些從非普通話地區遷移到說普通話的人學說這門語言。政府希望到2020年80%的人口都可以掌握普通話。）

The problem is that China is one of the most linguistically diverse countries in the world, with about 130 ethnic-minority languages as well as its Han ones. Of the Han languages, Cantonese is spoken by around 60m people in Hong Kong and neighbouring Guangdong province. Some 80m Hans speak one of the Wu languages, among them Shanghainese. Languages of the Min family are used by around 70m people along the south-eastern coast.（問題是，中國是世界上語言最多樣化的國家之一，有大約130種少數民族語言和漢族語言。在漢語中，香港和鄰近的廣東省約有6000萬人使用粵語。大約有8000萬漢人說一種吳語，其中包括上海話。福建地區的語言在東南沿海約有7000萬人使用。）

The mandarins』 mandate普通話的權利

But as officials see it, a monolingual China is more likely to be a strong and unified one. They are also reluctant to accept that Han China might be anamalgamof cultures as varied as Europe』s. They prefer to call the Han languages 「dialects」, even though some are as different from each other as Romance languages such as French and Spanish.（但在官方看來，單語的中國更有可能是一個強大和統一的中國。他們也不願意接受，漢文化可能與歐洲文化一樣，是多種文化的融合。他們更喜歡把漢語言稱為「方言」，儘管有些語言並不相同，如同法語、西班牙語等羅曼語言有著很大的不同。）(Chinese people, however, use the same written language, a Mandarin-based non-phonetic form that those who are literate all understand).（中國人使用同樣的書面語言，這是一種以普通話為基礎的非語音形式的文字，那些識字的人都能理解)。）In 2000 the country passed its first national law on standard Chinese. It said people were free to use their own languages, but it reinforced long-standing policy that Mandarin be used in schools, government offices and in the vast majority of broadcast media in Han-majority areas. (The rules for non-Han people notionally give greater protection to their minority languages.)（2000年，中國通過了第一部關於標準漢語的全國性法律。它說，人們可以自由使用自己的語言，但它強化了長期的政策，即在學校、政府辦公室和大多數漢族地區廣播媒體都使用普通話。對非漢族人的規定在名義上對他們的少數民族語言給予了更大的保護。）

At the same time, however, China』s leader, Xi Jinping, also wants to boost the party』s appeal to Chinese nationalists at home and abroad by presenting the party as a champion of traditional culture—not the systematic destroyer of it, as it was in Mao』s day.（然而，與此同時，Xi Jinping也希望通過將party作為傳統文化的支持者，而不是它在Mao Zedong時代的系統破壞者，來提升party對海內外民族主義者的感召力。）Mr Xi stresses the importance of China』s ancient heritage almost as much as communism. In a speech on May 4th to mark the 200th anniversary of the birth of Karl Marx, he said the party must not only 「imbuecore socialist values」, but also promote 「fine traditional Chinese culture」.（Xi強調，中國的古代遺產與共產主義幾乎一樣重要。在5月4日馬克思誕辰200周年,的講話中，他說，party不僅要「灌輸社會主義核心價值觀」,還要弘揚「優秀的中國傳統文化」。）

Officials now accept that this requires showing off the country』s traditions in all their diversity. In 2015, three years after he came to power, Mr Xi visited the village in Shaanxi province where he had lived during the Cultural Revolution of the 1960s and 1970s.（官方現在承認，這需要以各種方式展示國家的傳統。2015年，Xi上台三年後，訪問了他在上世紀六七十年代Cultural Revolution期間曾居住的陝西省的村莊。）His use of local dialect to introduce villagers to his wife became headline news in China (he is the first Chinese leader since the Communists took over in 1949 whose Mandarin is unaccented).（他用當地方言向他的妻子介紹村民成為中國的頭條新聞(他是自1949年party執政以來第一位普通話不帶的口音的領導人)。）

Also in 2015 the State Language Commission launched a five-year project to record and protect China』s 「language resources」. This involvescataloguinglanguages used at 1,500 sites as well as online.（同樣在2015年，國家語言委員會發起了一個為期五年的項目，記錄和保護中國的「語言資源」。這包括對1500處使用的語言以及在線語言進行編目。）Wang Lining of Beijing Language and Culture University says it is the biggest such survey in China for decades. It has already resulted in a 20-volume work on China』s 「linguistic culture」, published last December, complete with QR codes that readers can scan to access online audio recordings of regional tongues.（北京語言大學的王李寧說，這是中國幾十年來規模最大的一次項目。它已經完成了20卷關於中國「語言文化」的工作，並在去年12月出版，讀者可以掃描完整的二維碼，以訪問該方言的在線錄音。）

In 2020 the scheme will enter a new phase, in which researchers try to use the material they have collected to help speakers of regional languages. Ms Wang says one idea is that the data be offered to developers of local-language software for voice-controlled products. Han languages are benefiting from all this attention.（在2020年，該計劃將進入一個新的階段，在這個階段中，研究人員試圖利用他們收集到的材料來幫助講方言的人。王女士說，一個想法是將數據提供給語音控制產品中方言軟體的開發人員。漢語正從所有這些關注中受益。）Not long after Mr Xi took over in 2012, the authorities in Shanghai launched a campaign to promote their local tongue in kindergartens. Officials have encouraged a revival of regional forms of Chinese opera, performed in their original languages. This year organisers of the annual spring-festival gala on national television tried to include more southern accents in order todeflectaccusations that the much-watched variety show has a northern bias.（Xi於2012年上任不久，上海發起了一項活動，在幼兒園推廣他們的方言。官方鼓勵以他們原來的語言來表演地方形式的中國歌劇。今年，一年一度的央視春節聯歡晚會的組織者們上試圖加入更多的南方口音，以轉移人們對這個備受關注的節目有北方口音偏見的指責。）

The government has come to accept that support for local languages can bring political and economic rewards. It may, for example, help China』s efforts towoooverseas Chinese, says Li Wei of University College London. China』s trade in South-East Asia depends on contacts with ethnic Chinese in that region, many of whose ancestors did not speak Mandarin.（政府已開始接受對方言的支持，可以帶來政治和經濟回報。例如，倫敦大學學院的李偉說，它可以幫助中國爭取海外中國人的支持。中國在東南亞的貿易取決於與該地區華人的聯繫，其中許多人的祖先並不有說普通話。）

Party leaders appear to believe that China』s cultural 「soft power」, including local language, can be used to persuade members of the global Chinesediasporato support policies that are favourable to the party, and even to win over people in Taiwan. Jason Lim of the University of Wollongong in Australia notes that the party has beendubbing propagandavideos intoHokkien,which is used in Taiwan as well as elsewhere in Asia.（party的領導人似乎相信，中國的文化「軟實力」，包括方言，可以被用來說服全球華人僑民支持有利於中國party的政策，甚至是爭取Taiwan民眾的支持。澳大利亞伍倫貢大學大學的Jason Lim指出，該party一直在把宣傳視頻配上福建話版本，在台灣以及亞洲其他地方進行傳播。）

But the government』s support for local languages is still tempered by a suspicion of localism and the long-term threat it might pose to national unity. In 2010 officials in Guangdong province proposed replacing some local-language broadcasts with Mandarin ones. Cantonese speakers took to the streets of the capital, Guangzhou, in protest.（但是，zf對方言的熱度，仍然受到一種對地方主義的懷疑及方言對國家統一的長期威脅而「降溫」。2010年，廣東省官方提議用普通話取代一些方言的廣播。講廣東話的人則走上省會廣州街頭抗議）The authorities backed off, but in 2014 they implemented a modified version of the plan. Some people worry that for all its talk, the government wants to wipe out other Han tongues. (Don』t even ask Tibetans and Uighurs how their languages are getting on.)（當局退讓了，但在2014年他們實施了修改版的計劃。有些人擔心，儘管政府說了這麼多話，但政府還是想要淡化其他漢語言。更不要說西藏人和維吾爾人他們的語言已經發展到什麼地步了。）

For a while, the internet appeared to offer hope. But officials are stepping up efforts to suppress 「lowbrow」 material online, especially video. Local languages, which are often used in such content, have becomecollateraldamage. Supporters of regional tongues still have to fight for smallconcessionssuch as local-language announcements on buses and trains.（一段時間以來，互聯網似乎帶來了希望，但官方正努力抵制網上「低俗」的內容，特別是視頻。這些視頻常常帶有方言，已成為附帶的危害。方言的支持者仍不得不爭取一些小的讓步，例如公共汽車和火車上的方言公告。）They have to rely on the ability of local officials to resist uniformity-demanding superiors. For most Chinese, only one way of speaking still enjoys the full backing of the law.（他們必須依靠地方官員的力量去抵制「統一要求」的領導。對大多數中國人來說，只有一種說話方式得到法律的充分支持。）

單詞積累

tuck|t?k| [動詞 + 名詞短語 + 副詞或介詞短語]to put sth into a small space, especially to hide it or keep it safe or comfortable 把…塞進狹窄的空間；把…藏入；收藏

amalgam|??m?lg?m|[可數名詞, 常用單數形式] ~ (of sth) (formal) a mixture or combination of things 混合物；綜合體

woo|wu:|[動詞 + 名詞短語]to try to get the support of sb 爭取…的支持；尋求…的贊同

dub|d?b|(-bb-)[動詞 + 名詞短語] ~ sth (into sth) to replace the original speech in a film/movie or television programme with words in another language 為（影片或電視節目）配音；譯制

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