Navneet回忆在中国的日子, 租一套公寓

Living In China- Memoirs 2

住在中国的日子——回忆2

 

Renting An Apartment

租一套公寓

Let’s come back to our nearly forgotten topic of renting an apartment to a foreigner. Besides getting a good rent regularly, it’s a status symbol, kind of enviable achievement, something that one can wear like a badge or a medal. But there are certain requirements that the owner must meet before expecting any foreigner to hire his apartment. First of all, he/should be able to find a foreigner, which everyone in China can’t. In big cities maybe, it is not difficult to find them, at least see them on the streets or in Plazas. True, many of them maybe tourists, but in small towns like Gaogang, it is rare to find a foreigner. Those a few like me, who come here to slog, have no time to pose as tourists or go about looking for apartments to take on rent.

让我们回到我们几乎被遗忘的话题——把房子租给外国人。除了定期得到一份不错的房租，它还是一种身份的象征，一种令人羡慕的成就，一种类似于徽章或奖章的东西。但在期望任何外国人租用他的公寓之前，业主必须满足某些要求。首先，他/她得有办法找到外国人。也许在大城市，找外国人并不困难，至少在街上或广场上就能看到他们。没错，他们中的许多人可能是游客，但在像高岗这样的小城镇，很少能看到外国人。像我这样来这里辛苦劳作的少数人，没有时间假扮成游客，也没有时间去寻找出租的公寓。

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BTW, it has just occurred to me that in comparison, too few foreigners, who have come on employment, can be seen in Indian cities, other than perhaps the four Metros, Bangluru and Hydrabad. I am not sure actually, I have not travelled around in India, not much, but my impression is that mostly in India, the foreigners come for sightseeing, spiritualism and yoga.

顺便说一句，我刚刚意识到，相比之下，在印度的城市里，能找到工作的外国人太少了，除了四个大城市，班加罗尔和海得拉巴。我不太确定，我没有游遍印度，但我的印象是，在印度大部分地方，外国人来这里只是为了观光、通灵和瑜伽。

In contrast, in every city of China you can find dozens of them. That is certainly because of China’s industrial policy, of business at any cost, except a compromise on national security and integrity.

相比之下，在中国的每个城市，你都能找到几十个外国人。这当然是因为中国的产业政策，即不惜一切代价发展商业，除了在国家安全与诚信不容妥协。

But, that doesn’t make one feel stifled. It is better to have no media than to have one that churns out trash. The media that spreads hatred in society, creates atmosphere of suspicion and fears in the name of freedom of speech is like an insidious disease spreading through the unity of the nation, poisoning one cell after the other, till it kills. Here, the media plays just one song and that is of China, marching ahead. It speaks of achievements of China, of progress of China, of love for China, of beauty of China. Every frame on the T.V. inspires, motivates, love for China and every spoken word extols, praises, glorifies achievements of her people.

但是，这并不会让人感到窒息。没有媒体总比有一个制造垃圾的媒体更好。媒体以言论自由的名义在社会上传播仇恨，制造怀疑和恐惧的气氛，就像某种通过国家统一传播的阴险疾病，毒死一个又一个细胞，直至死亡。在中国，媒体只会播放一首歌，那就是《中国向前进》。它讲述了中国的成就，中国的进步，对中国的爱，中国的美。电视上的每一帧画面都在激励、激发、热爱中国，每一句话都在赞美、歌颂、颂扬中国人民的成就。

Today, China is not only making any product you name, it is also being innovative by investing in R & D. It has come to that second stage of development that Japan was in the Eighties. It is following the footsteps of Japan, it hates to be compared with. 

如今，中国不仅能生产任何你叫得出名字的产品，还通过投资研发进行创新。中国已经进入了日本上世纪80年代发展的第二阶段。它在追随日本的脚步，但不愿与之相提并论。

Finding a foreigner is not a criteria for progress though, but to a common man it is indicative of some initiative, of some development underway. Even if the slogan “Make in India” is made the central theme of industrial policy of India, to make that happen we do need the foreigners to come and set up business. And for making that happen, we need the conducive atmosphere. In a country where there is a “Bandh” (lock out) or a Hartal (Strike) every other day, for one reason or the other, and the people in their show of anger, start setting everything in sight on fire, how can we expect the foreigners to come and set up their shops?

然而，找到一个外国人并不是进步的标准，但对于一个普通人来说，这表明了某种主动性，某种正在进行的发展。即使“印度制造”的口号成为了印度产业政策的中心主题，要实现这一点，我们实际上还需要外国人来建立企业。为了实现这一目标，我们需要有利的氛围。在一个每隔一天就发生“停职”或联合休业罢工的国家，为了这样那样的原因，人民表现出的愤怒，开始燃烧一切，我们怎么能指望外国人来建立他们的商店吗?

If we are going to make concessions on the grounds of caste and religion and play politics with every situation, then we must also replace the Tiger (mascot in Make in India) with a Cat. If we are going to continue to promote the undeserving, even if they come from the so called Creamy Layer of the classes that enjoy the quota benefits, just because their ancestors were prejudiced against, then the nation will continue to bleed talent and the likes of Trump will have no compunction in barking about “Theft of Intellectual Property”.

如果我们要在种姓和宗教的基础上做出让步，在各种情况下玩弄政治，那么我们还必须用一只猫来取代老虎(印度制造的吉祥物)。如果我们要继续提拔那些不够格的人，即使他们来自所谓的精英层，享受预留制的好处，也只是因为他们的祖先被人歧视，那么国家将继续流失人才，特朗普的支持者也不会因声讨“侵犯知识产权”而良心不安。

Second thing that we need to have in our country is Ease of Business, in reality and for that, we have to bring in Transparency and a corruption free environment. The people who were demanding money for pushing files are a disgruntled lot now. Where ever you have tried to introduce your E-business model for ease of work, there are glitches and snags there. The person standing at the window to convince the disinterested clerk of his existence could might as well be dead, if he/she can't prove that he is alive, by providing a bunch of documents required to be attached with the application.

我们国家需要的第二件事是商业的便利，事实上，为此，我们必须引入透明度和无腐败的环境。如果你想引入电子商务模式以方便工作时，总会遇到一些问题和障碍。站在窗口向冷漠的办事人员证明他的存在的人，如果他/她不能证明他是活着的，那他就是死人一个，他必须通过提交一堆文件来证明他是活着的。

来源：三泰虎   http://www.santaihu.com/46041.html       译者：Joyceliu

They think they do you a favour. They have every right of asking the people for all the documents, relevant or irrelevant, because they are going by the procedure and they want to stick to the procedures because there is no incentive in bypassing those and there is no monetary gain in sight against the risk their job entails. It all translates in to one thing- harassment. Harass the bloody client till he dies on the road near a huge signboard bearing portrait of a beaming leader with folded hands and a crude couplet created by a disinterested bureaucrat written on it-

他们觉得自己帮了你的忙。他们完全有权利要求民众提供所有的文件，无论相关还是不相关，因为他们要走流程，他们想要坚持程序，因为他们没有动力避开这些文件，拿不到没有金钱上的好处而拿自己的工作冒险。这一切都转化成了一件事——骚扰。骚扰血淋淋的客户，直到他死在路上，路旁立着个巨大的招牌，上面画着一个笑容满面的领导人，双手合十，上面写着一个廉政的官僚编写的没啥文笔的对句

(The Government gave the slogan

Serving every citizen is our first duty)

(政府给出了口号

为每个公民服务是我们的第一要务。

Getting a Foreigner for hiring the apartment

找个外国人来租房子

Thirdly the apartment should be well furnished. There should be a hot and cold running water in the bathrooms and kitchen and the bathroom should have a heater ( a must from my wife's point of view). There should be an A/C at least in one bedroom and one in the living room and above all there must be a WIFI connection. Besides good upholstery, furniture, utensils and crockery in the kitchen, a Washing machine, Water filter/dispenser are some other desirable things which attract the foreigners are bare minimum essentials. Some kind of direct to home Satellite TV service is also a pre-requisite, though I doubt if uncensored TV access is made officially available to the foreigners.

第三，公寓应该有很好的家具。浴室和厨房里应该有冷热水，浴室应该有热水器(从我妻子的观点来看，这是必须的)。至少一间卧室和客厅应该有空调，最重要的是必须有WIFI连接。除了好的室内装潢、家具、厨具和餐具外，洗衣机、滤水器和饮水机也是吸引外国人的其他一些必需品。某种形式的直接家庭卫星电视服务也是一个先决条件，尽管我怀疑未经审查的电视频道是否对外国人正式开放。

I am talking from our point of view or of the foreigners, who can afford to pay a better rent than most people in the neighbourhood are willing to shell out. Good rent also is a subjective thing. In big cities like Shanghai and Beijing, whereas you can get only a modest two room accommodation for 6-7000 RMB, in small places like Gaogang, one can get a good, spacious three bedroom flat for under 3000 Yuan.

我说的是我们或外国人的观点，他们付得起比附近大多数人愿意支付的更高的租金。好的租金也是一件主观的事情。在上海和北京这样的大城市，你花6-7000元只能租到一套普通的两间房，而在高岗这样的小地方，你花3000元就可以租到一套宽敞的三间房。

Going back to the novels of Peter Hessler, he, I read was living on a paltry allowance he was getting from “Peace Corps” and later from the foreign media houses for which he was working as a freelance reporter. If I remember correctly, somewhere in the book, he wrote about making do with some 2000 dollars a month. This is not a good amount for living comfortably in big cities in China.

回到彼得·赫斯勒的小说，我读到的他靠从“和平队”得到的微薄津贴生活，后来又从他作为自由撰稿记者工作的外国媒体公司那里过活。如果我没记错的话，在书的某个地方，他写过一个月能挣2000美元。这些钱对于在中国大城市舒适地生活可不太够。

Our previous landlord, couldn’t speak a word of English (nor the one in whose flat we shifted in Jan 2017 could), but for us, after having lived in China for so many years this was not an impediment. We knew so many people who could speak for us. Communication has become so easy since the advent of smartphone and now with big strides being made in the field of AA (artificial intelligence), the day is not far when ringing up a friend for helping out won’t be necessary. But often I wonder where is it all this leading us to? Now a days, it is not uncommon to see all members of the family sitting quietly at home, busy with their smartphones.

我们以前的房东不会说英语(我们在2017年1月搬入的那套公寓的房东也不会)，但对我们来说，在中国生活了这么多年，这并不是什么障碍。我们认识很多可以帮我们沟通的人。自从智能手机问世以来，交流变得如此容易，如今在人工智能领域取得了长足的进步，没必要再给朋友打电话求助了。但我常常想，这一切会把我们引向何方?如今，我们经常会看到家里所有的人都安静地坐在家里，忙着玩智能手机。

All communication, all human interaction, that was the soul of the family, the extended family of relatives, friends, the social circle, the banter with the neighbours, has all been replaced by the friends in the virtual world, who we know by their Avtar names or the camouflaged IDs. We don’t know about their backgrounds, their gender, their sexual orientations, weirdness, habits and traits, but yet we so passionately long for their approvals, the thumbs up for every act of ours, for every thought that comes to us.

所有的交流，所有的人际交往，这些都是家庭的灵魂，亲戚朋友的大家庭，社交圈，和邻居的玩笑，都被虚拟世界里的朋友所取代，我们知道他们的名字或者伪装的id。我们不了解他们的背景、他们的性别、他们的性取向、怪癖、习惯和特征，但我们强烈渴望他们的认可，对我们的一举一动点赞，对我们的每一个想法点赞。

In this world full of people, we have lost the feel of a real touch, of hug and embrace, we have lost the feel of a smile on the others face. We have lost the art of sharing the laughter and the excitement of sharing the stories, full of embellishment, exaggeration and hyperbole.  From the real world of touch and feel, we have got transported in to a virtual world of imagination and artificiality.

在这个人山人海的世界里，我们已经失去了真正触摸的感觉，失去了拥抱的感觉，我们已经失去了别人脸上带着微笑的感觉。我们已经失去了分享欢乐的艺术和分享故事的兴奋，到处都是粉饰和夸张。我们已经从触摸和感受的现实世界，被送到了充满想象和不自然的虚拟世界。

 

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Navneet和读者的讨论

 

Prasad ganti

Navneetji, good description. China is realy doing well.

Naveet先生，说得真好。中国确实做的很不错。

 

suchisreesreekumar

Dear NNavneet,

Two extremes of freedom We in India go a step above the extreme pulling us back

High time to draw a line

这是自由的两个极端，我们印度太过自由了，得把我们拉回来一步

现在是划清界限的时候了

 

navneet

No Suchisree- I don't call them as two extremes of freedom but limited freedom and unreasonable excess of it. See, the difference in the pace of progress. Do you think, we are happier than them

不，我不认为它们是自由的两个极端，而是有限的自由和不合理的过度。看，不同的进步速度。你认为我们比他们更幸福吗?

 

Suresh

Navneet

A significant observation of mine in just the last 4-yrs... a few big Desi (very much Indian) industrialists have looted Indian banks and have gone abroad now with their loot. With such money they can now get foreign citizenship if they want! I am sure you know their names!

In the same period a few foreigners have come in to do small scale startups putting up their own hard earned money, especially in the health care sector. Many of them are doing quite well; such small scale startups started by foreigners have been backed by Desi and Videshi capitalists. You can know their names too if interested.

Moral of story is, if the investors (Desi or Videshi) have street smartness to do business in places like India, China... they can succeed and they do!

在过去的4年里，我观察到一个重要的发现……一些大商人(主要是印度人)洗劫了印度的银行，现在带着他们的战利品出国了。有了这些钱，如果他们愿意，他们可以获得外国公民身份!我肯定你知道他们的名字!

与此同时，一些外国人也开始拿出自己的血汗钱，涉足小型初创企业，尤其是在医疗保健领域。他们中的许多人做得很好；这些由外国人创办的小型初创企业得到了资本家的支持。如果你感兴趣的话，你也可以查到他们的名字。

故事的寓意是，如果投资者有在印度、中国等地做生意的街头智慧……他们会成功的，他们确实也做到了!

 

navneet

Being street smart is essential for being successful in business anywhere Sureshji, but besides that for being successful in India, you have to be prepared for delays, lock-outs and unexpected problems cropping up because of religio-social conflicts, political activism or other strange reason against which you are fairly secured abroad.

在任何地方，要想在商业上取得成功，精明的街头智慧是必不可少的。但要想在印度取得成功，你还必须准备好应对由于宗教-社会冲突、政治激进主义或其他你在国外没遇到过的奇怪原因而导致的耽搁、禁闭和意外问题。

 

Suresh

To be successful in India you really do not need an MBA or IAS or anything like that today.

Those with business acumen and street smartness are doing quite well in India Navneet. I am sure you have come across them in every field today.

要想在印度取得成功，你真的不需要MBA或IAS之类的学位。

那些有商业头脑和街头智慧的人在印度的表现相当不错。我相信你今天在各个领域都遇到过他们。

 

Charumati Ramdas

Have sent mail abt Ministry...

Have a nice day,

Charumati

我已经发了邮件…

祝你有美好的一天，

Charumati

 

Geeta Kashyap

Navneetji,

Very valid and interesting observations and opinions.

这是非常有效和有趣的观察和意见。

 

navneet

These are my observations Geeta. Maybe, everyone doesn't think like me. There are people who have become millionaires with in a few years. How would that have been possible had not it been easy to do business in India? So, I think, I should modify my statement and say that It is not difficult to do business in India, provided you know the right way and have the right contacts. 

这是我的观察结果。也许，每个人的想法跟我不一样。有些人在几年内就成了百万富翁。如果在印度做生意没那么容易，这怎么可能呢?因此，我认为，我应该修改我的声明，应该说在印度做生意并不困难，只要你知道正确的方式，有合适的关系。

 

navneet

Sorry Felix- I have read your comment after a very long time. I was surprised to see the popularity of Indian movies with the Chinese. Somewhere they strike a chord and while I was there, I observed that we are very similar in respect to family values, social values and religion. Perhaps, the movies can bring us closer. It's great to know that you want to visit India. You can read many of my articles here or get the links for them from many other fans to whom, I can help you get acquainted to, if you are willing. You can give me your Wechat ID, I will ask my friends to add you to their group. I have many plans to compile all my experiences in the shape of a book and bring them to my readers. Let's see when can I do that. One attempt was made by a Chinese publisher but, there wasn't much success, perhaps, we lacked the professional know-how that is required to make a book sell, but anyway- I haven't stopped writing yet, so I am hopeful that someday, I will succeed. Stay in touch

对不起，菲利克斯，我看了你的评论很久了。看到印度电影在中国大受欢迎，我很惊讶。当我在中国的时候，我发现我们在家庭价值观、社会价值观和宗教信仰方面非常相似。也许，电影能拉近我们的距离。很高兴知道你想去印度。你可以在这里阅读我的很多文章，或者从其他粉丝那里得到链接，如果你愿意，我可以帮助你认识他们。你可以给我你的微信号，我会让我的朋友把你加入他们的组。我有很多计划把我所有的经历写成一本书，并把它们带给我的读者。我看看什么时候能实现。一个中国出版商尝试过，但是没有取得多大的成功，也许，我们缺少专业知识，这是使一本书畅销所需要的，但无论如何，我还没有停止写作，所以我希望有一天，我会成功。保持联系

 

navneet

Hello Felix,

It's so nice to read a comment from a Chinese reader after a long long time. This site is not very popular and I haven't really decided what to do with my links with China and the Chinese yet, but there are many articles on China that I have posted here before. You can search for them and read if interested. Are you living in China or you are working in India? Which is your home town? You can join a Wechat group "Friends of India" and meet many other Chinese who have made contacts with me because if my blogging activity

很高兴能在很长一段时间后读到中国读者的评论。这个网站不是很受欢迎，我还没有决定如何处理我与中国和中国人的联系，但有很多关于中国的文章，我以前在这里贴过。你可以搜索它们，如果感兴趣的话可以阅读。你是住在中国还是在印度工作?你的家乡在哪儿?你可以加入微信的“印度朋友”小组，认识很多和我有联系的中国人。

 

Felix

I'm glad to see your reply. I can not join the WeChat group, there should be someone to add me in.

I live in Fuzhou - a seaside city. I'm an IT engineer. The first Indian I met was at a technical conference, and several Indian experts gave us some speeches. They are very knowledgeable and friendly.

I like Aamir Khan very much. He is popular in China. I like his professionalism and his efforts to make India better. I also like the recent film "Bajrangi Bhaijaan", I believe that after many years, no longer have the "country", all human beings are family.

China has its shortcomings and advantages. Thank you for your fair assessment of China. I also want to know more about India from your article. India is a great ancient country too. I also want to travel to India if I have the chance.

I hope both China and India will be getting better and better

很高兴看到你的回复。我无法加入微信组，应该有人把我拉进去才行。

我住在海滨城市福州。我是一名IT工程师。我遇到的第一个印度人是在一个技术会议上，几个印度专家给我们做了一些演讲。他们非常博学和友好。

我非常喜欢阿米尔汗。他在中国很受欢迎。我喜欢他的专业精神和他让印度变得更好的努力。我也很喜欢最近的电影《八面玲珑》，我相信多年以后，不再有“国”，所有的人都是一家人。

中国有它的缺点和优势。感谢您对中国的公正评价。我也想从你的文章中了解更多关于印度的事情。印度也是一个古老的大国。如果有机会，我还想去印度旅游。

我希望中国和印度都能越来越好

 

Felix

hi,Navneet. I'm Chinese.

I'm glad to see your article. China and India are many close in many place. I really hope that Chinese and Indians can get along with each other all the time.

Many Indians do not know the real China, so do Chinese... I'd like to have firends from India. It would be very nice

I'm sorry My english is pretty poor

你好。我是中国人。

我很高兴读到你的文章。中国和印度在很多地方都很接近。我真的希望中国人和印度人可以一直相处下去。

很多印度人不了解真正的中国，中国人也一样。我希望有来自印度的朋友。那就太好了。

对不起，我的英语很差

 

navneet

Sorry Geeta, for not giving the conversion rate. Chinese Yuan is equal to ten Indian rupees and 6.3 Yuans is about a US dollar

不好意思，Geeta，没给出汇率。人民币相当于10印度卢比，6.3元相当于1美元

 

navneet

Thanks Sureshji- I am full of praise for the dedication and focus of the Chinese, but then they are working in a conducive environment, where there is no other motivation besides money and there is nothing to distract the people, to discourage and slow them down. It's absolutely peaceful state where people are all fired up solely for material gains.

谢谢Sureshji-我对中国人的奉献精神和专注力赞不绝口，但他们在一个有利的环境中工作，那里除了钱没有其他动机，没有什么可以分散人们的注意力，让他们灰心丧气，放慢脚步。这是一个绝对和平的国家，所有的人都为了物质利益而干劲十足。

 

Charumati Ramdas

What happened Navneetji???

I am sure you are working on the project(s)....

Good luck...

Your Memoirs are , let them reach people.

Navneetji发生了什么事? ? ?

我相信你正忙于项目的事....

祝你好运…

 

navneet

Hello Charumatiji- It's sad that I know that my days get wasted in useless pursuits and still I can't do much about it. It seems, I lack the zeal to pursue, something that is dear to my heart. My sister has come back and I have spoken to her about the project but let's see when I finally sit down to give shape to my plans but at this pace, the stories from China will have to wait for ages. Maybe, if I get some motivators like you at my back, I might be encouraged to speed up. Thanks for your keen interest and encouragement.

你好，Charumatiji——很遗憾，我知道我的时间都浪费在无用的追求上，但我还是无能为力。看来，我缺乏追求的热情，这是我内心最珍爱的东西。我姐姐回来了,我跟她讲过那些项目，但让我们拭目以待，看看我何时才会坐下来让我的计划成形，但按照这个速度，关于中国的故事得等上几年时间了。也许，如果我获得一些激励因素，就像有你的支持，我可能会加快速度。谢谢你的热情和鼓励。