悲哀之城:被霧霾窒息了的"中國夢"

One of the most popular iPad apps in Beijing at present is China Air Pollution Index. The app is both addictive and disturbing. When I checked into a Beijing hotel recently, I found that – even from the 40th floor – I couldn't see further than one block because of the grey smog enveloping the city. So I checked the numbers and discovered that the AQ level, which measures fine particulates that are especially dangerous, was 250 – about five times the level deemed safe.

目前在北京最受歡迎的一款iPad應用是"中國空氣污染指數"。這款應用既令人着迷，又令人不安。最近，我在入住北京一家賓館時發現，即便站在40層樓上，也無法看清一個街區以外的地方，因爲這座城市已被灰色的霧霾包裹住了。於是我查看了一下數據，發現空氣污染水平（衡量尤爲危險的細微顆粒）是250，約爲安全水平的5倍。

A few weeks earlier I had experienced Beijing at 350, a level that made my eyes sting and lungs ache, even inside a car. Back in January it went as high as 1,000, at which point the US embassy urges people to remain indoors with the windows shut.

幾周前，我還在北京體驗過350的污染水平——即便坐在車裏，也感覺眼疼肺痛。而更早一些，今年1月份北京的空氣污染水平曾達1000，當時美國使館敦促人們留在室內，關緊窗戶。

In fairness, when the wind blows the pollution away from Beijing, the sky can be blue and it is suddenly a pleasure to walk around. But a good day in Beijing is often a bad day elsewhere in the country.

公平地說，當大風吹走霧霾時，北京的天空還是一片湛藍的，忽然之間，出外散步變成了一件愉悅的事。但北京天氣好起來時，中國其他地方的天氣往往很惡劣。

Pollution in China is now so bad that it threatens to obscure the vision being laid out by Xi Jinping, the new president. Mr Xi has popularised the idea of a "Chinese dream", an obvious foil to the American dream. His dream seems to involve increasing wealth at home and increasing power abroad.

如今，中國的污染如此嚴重，很可能會遮蔽住新任國家主席習近平規劃的願景。習近平大力倡導"中國夢"，顯然是爲了對抗美國夢。他的夢想似乎是要對內增加財富，對外增強國力。

But the choking smog suggests that the leadership needs to rethink its national goals. After all, what is the point of rapid economic growth if it creates cities in which it is dangerous to breathe?
但令人窒息的霧霾表明，中國領導層需要重新思考其國家目標。畢竟，如果經濟快速增長的後果是把城市變得連呼吸都危險了，那麼經濟增長又有什麼意義？
One study, published in The Lancet medical journal last year, suggested that air pollution might have caused about 1.2m premature deaths in China in 2010 alone – a considerable figure even for a country of 1.3bn people. Beijing has registered a 60 per cent rise in lung cancer cases in the past decade.
醫學雜誌《柳葉刀》(Lancet)去年發佈的一項研究指出，僅2010年，中國空氣污染就可能導致約120萬人過早死亡，即便對於一個擁有13億人口的國家而言，這一數字也相當高了。過去10年間，北京肺癌發病率增長了60%。
With pollution that bad, otherwise innocent sights take on a sinister aspect. Ma Jun, a prominent environmental activist, says that on days when the smog envelops the city he winces when he sees children playing football outdoors. Indeed many schools, foreign and Chinese, now forbid kids from playing outside on bad days.
污染如此嚴重，原本無害的景色也顯得邪惡起來。著名環保活動人士馬軍表示，在霧霾包裹北京城的日子裏，他看到孩子們在室外踢足球會感到痛苦。確實，很多學校（不管是面向外國人還是中國人的），如今都禁止孩子在污染嚴重的天氣裏到室外玩耍。
The pollution in Beijing is also an international embarrassment. The government went to great lengths to show the city off at its best during the 2008 Olympics, yet now the first thing any foreign visitor wants to talk about is the pollution, and many expats talk about leaving.
北京的污染也讓中國政府在國際上處境尷尬。2008年奧運會期間，中國政府不遺餘力地展現這座城市最美好的一面，然而現在，外國遊客談論的第一件事就是污染，很多在華外籍人士正在考慮回國。
Even allowing for the installation of air filters in official residences, China's leaders have to breathe the same air as their citizens. So one might expect them to make pollution their top priority. But the signs are that rapid growth remains goal number one.
即便考慮到中國領導人的官邸安裝空氣過濾器，但他們也得與公民呼吸同樣的空氣。於是，人們期望領導者把治污當成重中之重。然而種種跡象顯示，經濟高速增長依然是首要目標。
That is partly because, in recent decades, the government has derived its legitimacy from growth. Officials speak with justifiable pride about the hundreds of millions of people who have been lifted out of poverty. Influential pro-government academics, such as Shanghai's Zhang Weiwei, argue that the one-party system does not need a democratic mandate because it has "performance legitimacy", derived from improving the lot of ordinary people.
這在一定程度是因爲，過去幾十年來，中國政府的執政合法性一直源於經濟增長。官員不無自豪地談論着，中國數億人已擺脫了貧困。如上海的張維爲等富有影響力、支持政府的學者辯稱，一黨制不需要民主授權，因爲這一制度了改善普通大衆的命運，便從中獲得了"績效合法性"。

Yet the pollution problem suggests the leadership needs urgently to adopt a "greener" measure of "performance". It is not just the air. The rivers are often polluted by industrial waste, and the country has had a series of food-safety scandals.
然而污染問題表明，領導層需要迫切採取"更綠色"的"績效"措施。受到污染的不只是空氣。中國的河流也往往受到工業廢水的污染，而且中國已經爆出一連串食品安全醜聞。
Local leaders and businesspeople also need to change direction. For the past 30 years, every provincial governor with an eye on a big job in Beijing knew that they would be judged by the local growth rate. Persuading them that they should now care as much about their city's air quality will be difficult when their personal and political fortunes are still tied to increasing the rate of economic expansion.
地方領導人以及商人也需要改變方向。過去30年間，每一位希望在北京謀求高位的省長都知道，當地經濟增長率是評判他們表現如何的標準。在其個人及政治前途仍然繫於經濟擴張的速度之際，想要說服他們對空氣質量予以同等關注是很困難的。
Some of the necessary environmental measures are fairly obvious. Insisting on cleaner fuel for cars and stricter emission standards for factories and power stations is crucial. But enforcing those rules will involve facing down powerful interests in the state-owned energy and power companies.
中國顯然必須採取某些環保措施。要求汽車採用更清潔的燃油，在電廠以及工廠執行更嚴格的排放標準，都是十分關鍵的。但執行這些規章則必須降服國有能源及電力企業強大的既得利益。
If nothing is done, the problem will certainly worsen. Coal-fired power stations continue to open at a great pace and the number of cars on the roads is projected to quadruple by 2030. The latter is, of course, part of the Chinese dream of rising affluence. But personal fulfilment threatens to create a collective nightmare.
如果無所作爲，問題肯定會惡化。中國各地大量新增燃煤發電廠繼續迅速投入使用，路上行駛的車輛預計到2030年增加3倍。當然，擁有汽車是日益富裕的中國夢的一個組成部分。但個人成就可能創造出集體夢魘。
China can take some comfort from the fact that notoriously polluted cities elsewhere, such as London and Los Angeles, have been cleaned up. But the task for Beijing will be particularly tough. Mr Ma, the environmentalist, says: "London's problem was coal and LA's problem was cars. We have both."
世界其他地區以污染嚴重著稱的城市（例如倫敦和洛杉磯）最終都治理乾淨了，可以讓中國從中感到一絲慰藉。但北京的任務異常艱鉅。環保鬥士馬軍表示："倫敦的問題是煤炭，洛杉磯的問題是汽車。而兩個問題在我們這裏同時存在。"
The fact that environmental activists are allowed to speak out, however, may be a sign that the government wants to act and is willing to encourage a public debate. The air-quality readings for Beijing used to be released only by the US embassy. Now the government releases its own figures in real time, which people can check on their phones as they move around the city.
但環保活動人士被允許發聲，或許就表明，政府希望採取行動，也願意鼓勵公衆參與討論。以前只有美國使館發佈北京的空氣污染指數。如今中國政府也實時發佈自己的數據，人們在市區往來時，可以用手機查看這些數據。
Mr Xi has made clear that he wants to restore Chinese greatness. But greatness can be defined in many ways. The country can now take rising affluence and international respect for granted. The next dream for China should be cleaner air and water – and an open debate about how to get there.
習近平明確表示，他想實現中國的偉大復興。但偉大的定義有很多種。如今中國可以把國家日益富裕、贏得國際尊敬視爲理所當然。中國的下一個夢想應該是更清潔的空氣和水——以及公開討論如何實現這一目標。