标题: 陶杰: A Single 温 Chinese Is Enough [打印本页] 作者: 使君子 时间: 2012-5-27 00:39 标题: 陶杰: A Single 温 Chinese Is Enough .
<A Single 温 Chinese Is Enough>
By Chip Tsao (陶杰) | May 03 2012
Chinese premier 温 has surprised commentators by visiting the Auschwitz
concentration camp on his recent trip to Poland. It must have been some
kind of calculated political digression. Chinese leaders, while visiting
the west, are normally interested in car manufacturing plants or
computer factories, where they are invited to test drive the latest
Mercedes-Benz model before being lured into signing a billion-euro
contract or amused with a remote-controlled robot offering Chinese tea
whilst muttering 「您好」 in Chinese. They will then visit overseas Chinese
communities, presumably because they』ve grown tired of steaks and caviar
at state banquets and would prefer a Chinese reunion at the embassy.
This has remained a routine for more than thirty years.
温』s trip oddly took place at the same time as the defection of 陈光诚, a
blind dissident lawyer, to the US embassy in peking last week. It
further coincided with the screening of the movie 「The Shawshank
Redemption」 on CCTV, an Oscar-winning American film about two prisoners
making their escape to freedom—perhaps a coded celebration of the news
sensation. People may be wondering who is really in charge as the
defection sparks a round of embarrassing questions including: 「How on
earth could a blind man achieve the mission impossible of making it to
the land of freedom from a remote dark village in 临沂?」 「Why was there
not a troop of police cars surrounding the US embassy like in chungking
last time?」 「Would you recommend an expansion of US consulates and
embassies in China to add a few dozen guest-rooms to accommodate
uninvited Chinese guests, including heads of police, blind dissidents
and children of corrupt officials?」 If the Chinese premier』s trip turns
out to be a loss-of-face flop show, his rivals at home, now embroiled in
a new round of power struggles, will benefit. This may help to explain
why, while any traffic route in China carries a high risk of
fatality—ask the first 24 drivers of Porsches and Ferraris from Hong
Kong who made their first expeditions across the border with a ceremony
as spectacular as the Japanese Kamikaze aviators bidding farewell — 陈』s
path to the US embassy was miraculously safe and smooth.
Since 温 is reputed to be the "only closeted humanitarian" in the Chinese
top leadership, his speech in Auschwitz won some applause as he
mentioned the importance of 「remembering history,」 a coded reminder not
forget the lessons of the Cultural Revolution. But the Poland tourism
board might have reason to worry as the Premier predicted that 「I hope
more Chinese tourists will come here.」 I am not sure the souls of those
who died there would like more Chanel and LV shops and noisy fish ball
stalls to be opened outside the 「Arbeit macht frei」("工作得自由") gate. As
far as Chinese visiting Auschwitz, please, for the sake of civilization,
温(也是"one"的谐音) is enough — no big crowds.