海归的崛起

Rise of The Sea Turtles
China‘s most modern citizens aren‘t drawing it any closer to the West.
Melinda Liu and Duncan Hewitt
NEWSWEEK
Updated: 3:16 PM ET Aug 9, 2008
Charles Zhang is practically the personification of hip,21st-century China. The flamboyant, MIT-educated entrepreneur foundedand runs one of China‘s two biggest Internet portals, Sohu.com. Lastweek he welcomed an international swarm of revelers to an Olympic bashat Beijing‘s fashionable Lan Club (décor by Philippe Starck), where heannounced his new gig during the Games: talk-show host. "I learned alot from Letterman and Leno while living in the States," he saidconfidently.
Zhang is speaking to a different audience now. He says theanti-Western backlash that erupted in China this spring—afterpro-Tibetan demonstrators disrupted the Olympic torch relay in London,Paris and San Francisco—was entirely justified. He himself called for aboycott of French goods and media after an unruly scrum broke out overthe torch in Paris. "That was the first time Chinese people as a wholestood up to the world," he says. "It‘s good for Chinese people ... Thatincident proves that when Chinese are upset, they can find their voice."
Such sentiments are common on the mainland. But people like Zhangwere supposed to be different: he‘s what Chinese call a hai gui—"seaturtle"—referring to someone who has lived overseas. (The phrase is apun on haiwai guilai, meaning "returned from overseas.") Their numbersare growing by the tens of thousands every year, and as the sons anddaughters of the elite, they have an outsize influence once they moveback to China. In the West there‘s long been an assumption that thiscohort would import Western values along with their iPods. They wereenvisioned as the bridge to a more open, liberal, Western-friendlyChina.
That daydream got a cold bath during the torch relay this spring,when furious Chinese students in the West showed they could be evenmore jingoistic than Chinese who had never left home—and good luck toanyone who dared buck the trend. One courageous Duke Universityfreshman from the coastal city of Qingdao tried to intercede in acampus confrontation between a dozen or so pro-Tibetan demonstratorsand a much larger group of pro-Beijing Chinese students. For hertrouble, she was called a "race traitor" and a "whore"; feces weredumped on her parents‘ doorstep.
Measuring attitudes among sea turtles can be difficult, especiallywith all of Chinese society changing around them. Still, some empiricaldata are beginning to emerge. Prof. David Zweig, head of the Center onChina‘s Transnational Relations at the Hong Kong University of Scienceand Technology, is directing a research project based on responses fromthousands of returnees from campuses in Canada, Japan and Europe. Thedata show they‘re "no less jingoistic than those who have never goneabroad," Zweig says. "As in, ‘My country, right or wrong‘." What‘smore, he adds: "A significant proportion of them believe that usingforce to promote China‘s national interests is acceptable." Bottomline? "It means the post-1989 policy to imbue youth with nationalismthrough ‘patriotic education‘ has succeeded," Zweig says.
China has a long tradition of chauvinism, and for some sea turtles,intimate acquaintance with Western attitudes has only intensified theirfeelings of defensiveness. Author and business consultant JimMacGregor, who deals frequently with hai gui, says, "The richest peoplehere are the most anti-Western." Even as they sip cappuccino atStarbucks or show off their new Buicks, the last thing most want is tomake over their homeland in the West‘s image. They‘re after somethingfar more ambitious: a China that lives up to their sense of nationalgreatness. The pacesetters among hai gui don‘t aspire to be "modern,"as Europeans and Americans often use the word—as a synonym for Western.Instead, prosperous young returnees tend to see themselves emphaticallyas modern Chinese.
Previous generations of sea turtles were patriotic in a differentway. A century or more ago, Chinese students were sent abroad to learnscience and technology from the West, and returned with a sense ofmission. "They felt the most important thing was to help Chineseeducation; they wanted to teach," says dissident journalist Dai Qing,who has just finished writing a book about that era.
Now the business opportunities available on the mainland are atleast as big a draw for returnees. But even someone like Dai, whoserved a term in prison for opposing the 1989 Tiananmen crackdown, saysshe feels the tug of the motherland. She‘s just returned from herfourth stint overseas—a year at Australian National University studying"relations between dictatorships and individuals." When she first leftthe country in 1991 for a Nieman Fellowship at Harvard, manyacquaintances mistakenly assumed she‘d never go home. "People say, ‘DaiQing‘s stupid—after 20 years of going overseas she doesn‘t even have agreen card‘," she says with a laugh.
Many sea turtles have their own theories about why Chinese overseasmight show a hostile streak. For one thing, they run out of patiencewith Westerners‘ ignorance. "To be honest, when we go abroad we do findpeople asking strange questions, like whether China has modernbuildings or cars," says Danny Huang, who lived in Canada and theUnited States for more than a decade before returning to run aneducational charity in Shanghai. "Sometimes it‘s hard not to feel theyhave some bias." For others, anger against the West can ease the pangsof homesickness, suggests Shanghai University film teacher Shu Haolun."They need a bond to their motherland," says Shu, who studied cinemaand photography at Southern Illinois University before returning toChina in 2003. "They‘re being anti-Western to feel attached to theirown country."
Some of the nationalism exhibited by Chinese living abroad mightalso be sustained, rather than diluted, by the Internet. "As soon asthey get online they can be totally immersed in a Chinese environment,"says Zhao Chuan, a novelist who lived in Australia from 1987 to 2000before coming home to write about Shanghai. "When we were studyingabroad ... occasionally you went to Chinatown to read a Chinese paper.Now if you‘re in the U.K. you can easily not read English papers orwatch English TV."
Others say the returnees‘ driving force isn‘t exactly nationalism.Instead, they argue, it reflects the extraordinary assertiveness ofyoung urban Chinese. Decades of strict one-child family-planningpolicies have produced a generation of only-children—"little emperors,"the Chinese call them. "Young Chinese feel they have the right to speakout about anything," says Victor Yuan, who studied for a year atHarvard‘s Kennedy School and now heads Horizon, a market surveyconsultancy. Some rebel against both Chinese and Western norms—likearchitect Ma Yansong, who apprenticed under Zaha Hadid in London and isfamous for his designs mocking the regime‘s obsession with huge,imposing buildings. "This generation doesn‘t want to accept anyideological message, whether it‘s from the Communist Party or Voice ofAmerica," says Yuan.
The power of hai gui is visibly growing. Two of China‘s cabinetministers earned their doctorates at universities outside the country,and approximately 100 officials at the level of vice governor or higherhave studied overseas for at least a year, according to Zweig‘sfigures. Patriotism notwithstanding, he says his research suggests thatas Chinese spend more time outside the country, their thinking becomesmore nuanced and internationalist: "They don‘t want to see China pushedaround but are smart enough to know China makes mistakes." At the LanClub last week, Zhang said it‘s time for China to prove it can dothings right. "After suffering for hundreds of years and then for 30years scrambling to get things right, now China‘s getting the respectof the world," he said. "Chinese are gaining more self-respect, too, sothey should become more responsible." With luck, that means becomingmore responsible to the world, not just to China.
URL:http://www.newsweek.com/id/151730
为何最西化的中国人反而不喜欢西方？
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
多维社    2008-08-17 12:31:39
今年春天，在奥运火炬全球接力过程中的一系列事件发生后，生活在西方国家的愤怒的中国留学生用行动证明，比起从未出过国的中国学生，留学生甚至可能表现出更为过激的爱国热情，似乎越西化的中国年轻人反而不喜欢西方，这也使得一些分析人士关于中国留学生对中国社会和政治影响的假设，似乎不再站得住脚。最新出版的新闻周刊有一篇他们的驻华记者的新闻分析，试图分析这种想象。
新闻周刊刊登的这篇文章题为"海归的崛起"（Rise of The Sea Turtles），作者是刘美远（Melinda Liu）和邓肯休伊特（Duncan Hewitt）。
文章开头说，21世纪的中国青年时尚潮流的代表，张朝阳（英文名查尔斯张）实际上是一个。这位爱炫耀的、曾在麻省理工大学留学的企业家，创办和管理着中国两大互联网门户网站之一的搜狐网站（sohu.com）。上周，在北京由菲利普斯塔克公司装饰的、时尚的兰会所（LanClub），他主持欢迎一批趁北京奥运来狂欢的外国人，在那里，他宣布奥运期间他的新角色：脱口秀节目的主持人。他自信满满地说："我在美国的时候，从莱特曼（Letterman）和里诺（Leno）那里学到了很多东西。"
现在，张朝阳是在面对这一批与众不同的来自西方国家的听众。他说，今年春天在中国爆发的反西方的浪潮，是完全有道理的。在亲西藏示威者破坏了在伦敦，巴黎和旧金山的奥运会火炬接力活动后，他本人还亲自呼吁抵制法国商品和媒体。"这是中国人第一次作为一个总体，在全世界面前站了起来，"他说，"它对中国人民是一件好事...这件事证明，当中国感到不安时，他们会发出他们的声音。"
这种情绪在中国大陆司空见惯，但是，发生在张朝阳身上，就有些稀罕了，在一般人看来，张朝阳本来不应当会有这种反应：他属于中国人所说的所谓"海归"，他在西方国家呆过的。如今中国的"海归"们的数量越来越多，每年新增数以万计。作为中华儿女精英，他们一旦迁回中国，就带回外部世界的影响。在西方国家，长时间以来，人们有一种假设：这个队伍在把西方流行的iPod带回国的同时，也将把西方的价值观带回国。他们将作为一座桥梁，促使中国走向一个更开放，更自由，对西方友好的未来。
但是，在今年春天，在奥运火炬接力事件发生后，这种假设变成了一场白日梦。这些生活在西方国家的愤怒的中国学生的行动表明，比起从未出过国的中国学生，留学生甚至可能表现出更为过激的民族主义。而且他们的运气也比任何敢于阻挡这股民族主义潮流的人更好。在杜克大学，一名来自中国沿海城市青岛的勇敢的大一学生，试图缓解在校园内举行亲西藏示威者和一个更大的群体的亲北京的中国学生群体之间的对抗，结果麻烦上身。她被称为"民族叛徒"和"妓女"，她父母的家门口被人放置粪便。
测量海归们的态度可能很困难，尤其是当他们生活在中国社会，周围的所有事物都在改变之际。不过，仍有一些实证数据开始显现。香港科技大学中国跨国关系研究中心主任崔大伟（DavidZweig）目前正负责一个项目。他们收集和研究是根据从加拿大，日本和欧洲获得的成千上万的信息回馈数据。根据资料显示，他们的民族主义情绪反应程度"不不逊于那些从来没有出过国的人，"崔大伟说，他们认为"不管做得对或错，中国都是我的国家。"而且，崔大伟补充说："有相当比例的人相信，以用武力来促进中国的国家利益，是可以接受的。"这意味着什么？"这意味着89年后的政策，通过‘爱国主义教育‘，向青年灌输民族主义的做法已经已经获得了成功，"崔大伟说。
新闻周刊的这篇文章认为，中国拥有悠久的沙文主义的传统，对一些海归而言，与西方的亲密接触只是加剧了他们的戒备心理。经常与海归打交道的作家兼商务顾问吉姆麦格雷戈（JimMacGregor）说："在这里最富有的人是最反西方的。"尽管他们在星巴克里品着意大利式的泡沫咖啡，或在炫耀自己的美国产新别克轿车，但是他们是死也不想让自己的祖国变得像西方国家一样的。他们的追求的目标更加雄心勃勃：一个达到了他们心目中伟大国家理想的中国。
海归中的先驱者并不希望成为欧洲人和美国人经常形容的那种"现代"西方人类。相反，事业有成的海归青年往往希望强调他们是现代中国人。
前几代的海归们爱国主义的表现方式不同于当今。一个世纪或更久远前，中国留学生被派出国学习西方的科学技术，然后带着使命感返回中国。"他们认为，最重要的事情是帮助提高中国的教育事业，"持不同政见的记者戴晴说，她刚刚完成一本关于那个时代的新著。戴晴因为1989年反对天安门镇压被判入狱过。
对海归来说，如今中国大陆的可以抓住的商机，至少就像一次大抽奖。不过，即使是像戴晴这样的人也说，她觉得她的根在中国，她的事业在中国。
她在澳大利亚堪培拉国立大学进行了为期一年的关于"独裁和个人的关系"的学术研究，刚刚返回中国。当她第一次离开中国是在1991年，获得尼曼奖学金资助，在哈佛大学做研究，当时许多熟人都错误地假设，她再也不会回国。"人们说，‘戴晴真蠢，出国20年了，连绿卡也没有，‘"戴晴笑着说。
新闻周刊的这篇文章说，至于为什么海外华人可能会对西方显示出一种敌意呢，许多海归有自己的解释。
一个方面是，他们无法忍受西方人对中国的无知。"老实说，我们在国外时，我们确实碰到有人老问一些奇怪的问题，比如问中国有没有现代的建筑或汽车，" 丹尼黄说，他在加拿大和美国生活了十年以上，然后返回上海办一家教育慈善机构。"有时很难认为，他们是没有一些偏见的。"丹尼黄说。
而对另外一些人来说，对西方发怒的好处是，有助于他们缓解乡愁。2003年回到中国的上海大学电影专业的老师舒豪伦（ShuHaolun，音译），曾经在美国南伊利诺伊大学学习过，他这样分析说，"他们需要一种和祖国的联系，他们通过反西方，会感觉到与自己的国家联在一起了。"
居住海外的一些中国人所具有的民族主义，也因为有了互联网的存在，变得更加持续，而不会淡化。因为"他们一上网，就可以完全沉浸在一个中国的环境里了，"小说家赵传（ZhaoChuan）说。他从1987年至2000年住在澳洲居住，以后回到了上海。他说："当我们在国外学习时...只有偶尔到唐人街才能买到一份中文报纸来看。如今你生活在英国，可以完全不看英文报纸或英语电视。"
有人说，海归的动力不完全是来自爱国主义，还因为他们认为，它也反映了中国城市里的年轻人非凡的自信。几十年的严格的一胎化计划生育政策已经产生了一代被称为"小皇帝"的青年人。"中国年轻人觉得他们有权利对任何问题发表意见。"维克托袁说。他曾在哈佛大学的肯尼迪政治学院进修一年，现在是市场调查咨询公司－Horizon公司负责人。
而一些反叛型的青年则既反对继承中国的规范，也反对学习西方的价值观，目前在伦敦的ZahaHadid建筑设计公司实习的建筑师马岩松（MaYansong，音译），以设计嘲弄政府巨型的，强加性的建筑痴迷而著称。他说："这一代人不希望接受任何意识形态的讯息，不管它是来自共产党，还是来自美国之音。"
海归的在政治上的权力也在显著增加。根据崔大伟的统计，中国政府中，有两个部长是在国外获得他们的博士学位，大约100名副省长或更高级别的官员，也至少在海外进修过一年。
文章最后说，尽管他们怀抱爱国主义，崔大伟说，他的研究表明，因为中国人出国和留学的更多了，他们的思想也随之变得更加多样化和国际化。"他们不希望看到中国被人摆布，但同时他们也够聪明，知道中国会犯错误"。上周在兰会所，张朝阳说，现在是中国以证明它可以把事情做好的时候了。"经过了几百年之后的痛苦之后，接着是用30年努力把事情做好。现在全世界对中国日益尊重，"他说。"中国正也在争取更多的自尊，所以他们应该更负责任。"如果幸运的话，那么，这也意味着要对世界更为负责任，而不仅仅对中国负责任。