【卫报】世界上最大的建设项目旨在让中国重回巅峰 [英国媒体]

World's biggest building project aims tomake China great again

世界上最大的建设项目旨在让中国重回巅峰

The ‘Belt and Road initiative’ could seehundreds of billions spent from Mongolia to Malaysia, Thailand to Turkmenistanand Indonesia to Iran

“一带一路计划”将数千亿资金投向海外，受益区域横跨蒙古、马来西亚、泰国、土耳其、印度尼西亚、伊朗等国。

by Tom Phillips inTashkurgan

汤姆·菲利普报道于塔什库尔干

When the Chinese president, Xi Jinping,unveiled what some call themost ambitious development plan in history, Zhou Jun decided almostimmediately he should head for the hills.

当中国宣布一项被称为史上最野心勃勃的开发计划之后，周军（音）决定马上向崇山峻岭出发。

The 45-year-old entrepreneur packed hisbags and set off for one of his country’s most staggeringly beautiful corners:a sleepy, high-altitude border outpost called Tashkurgan that - at almost5,000km (3,100 miles) from Beijing - is the most westerly settlement in China.

这位45岁的企业家打好行囊，奔向他的祖国最美的角落之一——一座沉睡中的名叫塔什库尔干的高海拔小城。这里距离北京大约5000公里，是中国最西端的城镇。

“I saw a great opportunity to turn this littletown into a mid-sized city,” Zhou explained during a tour of ‘Europa Manor’, agarish roadside spa he recently opened for Chinese tourists along theKarakoram, thelegendary 1,300km highway that snakes through China’s rugged westernmountains towards the 4,700m-high Khunjerab Pass.

“我看到一个巨大的机遇，能够把这个小镇变成一座中等规模的城市，”周在他自己开的一座名叫“欧罗巴庄园”的浴场里说道。这座装饰花哨的浴场开设在喀喇昆仑公路旁边，这条传奇的1300公里长的公路蜿蜒穿梭在中国西部崎岖的群山之中，一直通向海拔4700米的红其拉甫口岸。

Zhou said he was part of a wave ofentrepreneurs now pouring into this isolated frontier near Pakistan,Afghanistan and Tajikistan, hoping to cash in on President Xi’s “Belt and Roadinitiative”, a multi-billion dollar infrastructure campaign that looks set totransform large swaths of Asia and the world beyond.

周说他是一波涌向这条国界线的企业家中的一员，他们来到这个与巴基斯坦、阿富汗和塔吉克斯坦接壤的地方，希望能从中国的“一带一路计划”中分到一桶金。这个投资数十亿美元的基础设施建造计划旨在改变亚洲和世界的一大片区域。

“This place is going to see big changes,”predicted Zhou, who hails from the central city of Xi’an, as he guided hisvisitors through an R&R centre filled with plunge pools, wicker chaiselounges and fake plastic trees.

“这个地方会发生巨大的变化，”周预言道。他带领着参观者们在一座休闲娱乐中心里漫步，空间里分布着跳水池、藤编躺椅和塑料假树。


 
Tajik women who are optimistic about theregion’s redevelopment. Photograph: Tom Phillips for the Guardian

塔吉克族妇女们对自己家园的再开发非常乐观。摄影：Tom Phillips forthe Guardian

This weekend world leaders includingRussian president Vladimir Putin, Pakistani prime minister Nawaz Sharif andTurkish president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan willgather in Beijing to celebrate Xi’s plan, which supporters hail as the start of anew era of globalisation but sceptics see as a strategic ploy to cement China’sposition as Asia’s top dog.

这个周末，包括俄罗斯总统弗拉基米尔·普京、巴基斯坦总理纳瓦兹·谢里夫和土耳其总统雷杰普·塔伊普·埃尔多安在内的多国领导人将齐聚北京庆贺中国的计划。支持者们视这一计划为开启全球化新时代的起点并为此欢呼，而怀疑者们则认为这是中国为巩固其作为亚洲领头羊地位的策略。

“The Belt and Road forum will go down as alandmark event in the history of Chinese foreign policy,” boasted a frontpagecommentary in the Communist party’s official mouthpiece, the People’s Daily, onthe eve of the event, which bears the unfortunate English acronym “Barf”.

“一带一路论坛将会成为中国对外政策历史上的一个标志性事件，”共产党的御用喉舌《人民日报》在论坛开幕前夕在首页上鼓吹道。然而，这个论坛有个很不幸的缩写（BARF，意为呕吐）。

As the last stop on the Karakoram beforethe border with Pakistan, Tashkurgan stands on the front line of one of themost ambitious components of Xi’s project: the $62bn China-Pakistaneconomic corridor (Cpec).

位于中巴边境线第一站的喀喇昆仑，塔什库尔干处在了中国最野心勃勃的计划之一——620亿美元的中巴经济走廊（CPEC）的前沿。

Officials in Beijing and Islamabad claimthe corridor – a vast web of planned infrastructure projects running diagonallyfrom the resource-rich region of Xinjiang in western China to the deep-waterport of Gwadar on Pakistan’s Arabian coast – will spark an“economic revolution” in the south Asian country.

北京和伊斯兰堡的官员们宣布这条走廊——一个巨大的基础设施项目网络，从中国西部资源丰富的新疆直通向斜下方的阿拉伯海沿岸的巴基斯坦瓜达尔港——将会在这个南亚国家引发一场“经济革命”。

Tashkurgan, an isolated town on China'sborder with Pakistan, is set to witness major changes as Beijing pushes aheadwith a $900bn development plan

在北京推动一项9000亿美元的开发计划后，塔什库尔干，这座位于中巴边境的与世隔绝的小城，将目睹巨大的变化。



Guardian graphic | Source: CPEC

卫报图片/来源：CPEC

The jaw-dropping landscape of glaciers andgrasslands around Tashkurgan, an ancient Silk Road trading hub that is home toChina’s Tajik ethnic minority, has changed little in hundreds, if notthousands, of years. “It is worth a journey from England merely to see thisplace,” theBritish adventurer Robert Shaw marvelled aftertrekking through the region’s “stupendous peaks” in the late 1860s.

塔什库尔干周围有着令人惊叹的冰川和草原美景。这座曾是古代丝绸之路枢纽之一的小城在几千年里，至少在几百年里，几乎没有怎么改变。“就算只是为了看看景色，也是值得从英国来这里一趟的，”英国冒险家罗伯特·肖恩在1860年代晚期经过艰难跋涉来到此处，被这里“巨大的山峰”惊呆了。


 
Children in the town of Tashkurgan.Photograph: Tom Phillips for the Guardian

塔什库尔干的儿童们。摄影：Tom Phillips for the Guardian

But this obscure and secluded town is nowbracing for a revolution of its own, as authorities cook up grand plans totransform it and the surrounding region.

但是，随着政府改变这里和周边区域的宏大计划的出台，这座模糊且隔绝的小城正准备迎接一场变革。

In order to ferry people and equipment intothis far-flung outpost, which is seven hours’ drive from the nearest majorcity, oneof China’s highest altitude airports is being built just south of townon the Pamir plateau, a sparsely inhabited region previously the preserve offarmers, nomads and yaks.

为了向这个遥远边陲运送人员和设备，在距离最近的主要城市也有七个小时车程的地方，中国海拔最高的机场正在建设中。这里位于帕米尔高原，塔什库尔干以南，以前只居住着稀少的农民、牧民和牦牛。

Construction teams on both sides of theborder have been rebuilding some of the most treacherous stretches of theKarakoram, the world’s highest transnational highway and a project that tooktwo decades and more than 1,000 lives to build.

国界两侧的施工队正在重建喀喇昆仑公路一些最危险的路段。喀喇昆仑公路是世界上最高的国际高速公路，为了修建它花费了20年时间，并牺牲了超过1000条生命。

Further ahead, there are spectacular plansto build the so-called Khunjerabrailway, a high-altitude line that would run roughly alongside theKarakoram and link north-eastern Pakistan with the Chinese city of Kashgar.

这之后还有一个宏伟计划，修建一条叫做红其拉甫铁路的线路，这条高海拔铁路主要沿着喀喇昆仑公路，连接巴勒斯坦东北部和中国的喀什。

Such proposals are music to the ears offortune-seekers such as Zhou who have flocked to this landlocked town to openimprobably named businesses such as the Sea Front International Hotel.

这些计划在周这样的生意人耳朵里仿佛天籁一般，他们蜂拥而至，在这座内陆小城开起了一些名字匪夷所思的产业，例如海岸国际酒店一类的。


 
Passengers sit in an open topped vehicle onthe Karakoram Highway, Photograph: Tom Phillips for the Guardian

游客们坐在一辆敞篷车上行驶在喀喇昆仑公路上。摄影：Tom Phillips forthe Guardian

“The next 10 years are going to bringtremendous change,” Zhou boasted. He claimed, with a heavy dose of hyperbole,that the town’s future might resemble that of skyscraper-studded mega-citiessuch as Shanghai and Guangzhou.

“在接下来的十年里会有天翻地覆的变化，”周吹嘘道。他夸大其词地说，这座小城会变成类似上海和广州那样充满高楼大厦的超级城市。

Muzaffar Shah, a Pakistani salesman who waspassing through the Chinese city on his way back from a shopping expedition tothe bazaars of Kashgar, said he also sensed change was coming.

穆萨法·沙，一名从喀什大巴扎进完货返回路过塔什库尔干的巴基斯坦推销员，说他也感受到变革正在到来。

Shah remembered his first trip toTashkurgan, in 1993, when “it was nothing”. “This is growing very fast [now] –very, very fast,” he added over a plate of yak curry by the Karakoram, whichChinese travellers call the China-Pakistan Friendship Highway. “Everything haschanged.”

沙回忆起他1993年第一次来到塔什库尔干的情形，他说那时这里“什么都没有”。“这里（现在）发展太快了，太快太快了，”他在喀喇昆仑公路边上边说边吃着一盘咖喱牦牛肉，这条公路被中国旅行者们称为中巴友谊高速。“一切都变了。”

Over the coming years Tashkurgan isunlikely to be the only place to feel the effects of China’s infrastructurecrusade, which some compare to America’s post-war Marshall plan to rebuildEurope.

在接下来的几年里，塔什库尔干不会是中国基础设施建设远征的唯一受益者，庞大的建设计划被一些人比作二战之后重建欧洲的马歇尔计划。


 
Nuyuft Arkin, a 45-year- old farmer,outside the new home on the outskirts of Tashkurgan. Photograph: TomPhillips for the Guardian

努依乌夫特·阿勒金，一名45岁的农民，在塔什库尔干郊区的自家新房外。摄影：Tom Phillips for the Guardian

From Mongolia to Malaysia, Thailand toTurkmenistan and Indonesia to Iran, a slew of Chinese projects, including powerplants, solar farms, motorways, bridges, ports and high-speed rail links, areset to be built with support from China’s banks and work force.

从蒙古到马来西亚，从泰国到土耳其，从印度尼西亚到伊朗，大量的中国项目，包括发电站、太阳能电站、公路、桥梁、港口和高速铁路，将会在中国的银行和劳动力的支持下建造起来。

Accordingto some estimates, China will bankroll some $150bn of infrastructureprojects each year in countries that embrace Xi’s signature foreign policyinitiative.

根据一些评估，中国每年都会在拥抱其标志性外交政策的国家投入1500亿美元。

Tom Miller, the author of a recent bookabout Xi’s Asian infrastructure blitz, said the Belt and Road schemes werepart of a vast wave of Chinese capital that was now “washing over the world”.

汤姆·米勒，一名作者，最近刚写了一本关于中国的亚洲基础设施闪电战的书。他说一带一路计划是“正在冲刷世界”的中国资本大潮的一部分。

So many economic and geo-political goalslay behind the program that it defied one simple definition but essentially itwas Xi’s answer to Donald Trump’s #MAGA: “Let’s Make China Great Again”.

在这项计划背后有如此之多的经济和地缘政治目标，这使得它不能被任何单一定义所概括，但是总体来说这是对唐纳德·川普”使中国再次伟大”的回应。

“It is part of a push to cement China’sposition as the undisputed power of Asia,” he said.

“这是巩固中国在亚洲无可争辩的地位的一步棋，”他说。

“China’s greatest strengths are financial –it has enormous economic muscle – and building infrastructure. So it is puttingthose things together and using its economic diplomacy to build roads,railways, ports, powerlines [that will help] integrate Asia [and] puts China atthe centre of Asia.”

“中国最伟大的力量是金融——它具有强大的经济肌肉——和基础设施建设能力。所以它二力并用，加上它的经济外交，来建造公路、铁路、港口、电网（等能够帮助中国）整合亚洲（并）让中国变成亚洲中心。”

“It is very significant because China isthe only country that has the capacity to build infrastructure like this andthe only country that is willing to do it,” Miller added.

“这非常重要，因为中国是唯一一个有能力建造如此庞大的基础设施的国家，也是唯一一个愿意这么做的国家，”米勒说。

“You can be very sceptical about what theBelt and Road itself means … but nobody doubts that China is lending a lot ofmoney and building a lot of stuff.”

“这让一带一路的真正含义非常可疑……但是没人怀疑中国正在放出大量贷款，建造大量工程。”

The winds of change have already beenblowing in Tashkurgan and affecting its 40,000-strong population.

变革之风已经吹到了塔什库尔干，并对它的40000多名居民产生了影响。

Physically and culturally, the town, whichis the main home of the Sarikoli-speaking Tajik minority, is about as far fromBeijing as you can get, without crossing China’s 22,000km border.

在空间和文化上，这座主要居民都是讲色勒库尔语的塔吉克族人民的小城，到北京的距离差不多跟你一样远，不过不需要跨过中国22000公里的国境线。

An exhibit at the local government museum,the Tajik Folk Culture Exhibition Hall, describes its natives as having“typical features of Caucasian race, with light skin coloration, golden yellowor dark brown hair, dark blue or gray brown eyes, thin lip, high nose, not highcheekbone, developed body hair and beard.”

在当地政府修建的博物馆里，塔吉克民俗展厅举办的一个展览把当地居民描述成有着“典型高加索人种特点，皮肤白皙，头发为金黄色或深褐色，眼睛为深蓝色或灰褐色，嘴唇薄，鼻梁高，颧骨不高，拥有浓密的体毛和胡须。”

Slowly, however, the make-up of thepopulation is changing. Locals say the last decade has seen a major influx ofMandarin-speaking immigrants from China’s ethnic Han majority after thegovernment began trying to boost the local economy by turning the picturesqueborder town into a tourist destination.

然而，当地人口构成正在缓慢地发生改变。当地人说在上个十年当中，随着政府开始尝试通过把这个风景如画的小城变成旅游景区以搞活经济，大量说普通话的汉族移民来到了这里。

Those efforts intensified following anoutbreak of deadly ethnic rioting in Xinjiang’s capital, Urumqi, in2009 as authorities began pushing for a burst of “leapfrog” economicdevelopment that might calm the province’s violence-hit south.

随着这些加强的努力而来的是2009年在新疆省会乌鲁木齐爆发的严重种族冲突，当时中国政府正在推动经济“蛙跳”以安抚新疆自治区饱受暴力的南部区域。

Miller said one of the Belt and Roadinitiative’s key aims was to bring development and stability to China’sdeprived periphery by linking such regions with overseas markets.

米勒说一带一路计划的一个主要目标就是把中国贫穷的边疆同海外市场连接起来。

“Particularly in Xinjiang, China believesthat economic development can help solve some of the security questions withits own militant Muslim minority and Islamist problems over the borders. Theythink that if you give people jobs and economic hope then perhaps they will beless inclined to foment insurgencies and other things,” he said.

“尤其在新疆，中国相信经济发展可以帮助解决一些由本国穆斯林反叛武装和边境另一侧的伊斯兰极端主义者制造的安全问题。他们认为如果能给予人们工作机会和经济希望，那么或许人们就不会倾向于暴动或者制造其他乱子，”他说。

“I think they are mistaken there … but thatis how they think,” Miller added.

“我认为在这里这么想是有问题的……但他们的确是这么想的，”米勒说。



A Chinese flag flies over Tashkurgan.Photograph: Tom Phillips for the Guardian

一面中国国旗飘扬在塔什库尔干。摄影：Tom Phillips for theGuardian

The ever-present security forces onTashkurgan’s otherwise tranquil streets give it the feel of an Alpine resortcrossed with the West Bank and public expressions of dissent are rare.

宁静的塔什库尔干街道上无处不在的安保人员让人产生了一座阿尔卑斯小镇和约旦河西岸重叠在一起的感觉。在这里几乎听不到不同的言论。

Asked how they felt about the town’sfuture, locals firmly stuck to the party line and said they were hopeful Xi’sproject would inject new life into the area.

当被问道对于这座城市的未来的看法时，居民们一致附和共产党的宣传口径，说他们对于政府的计划将为这一区域带来新生活充满希望。

“We fully support the Belt and Roadinitiative,” beamed Narzi Baygim, a 23-year-old Tajik tour guide who said shehoped it would bring more tourists to the region. “I think it will help connectChina to other countries and to promote friendship.”

“我们完全支持一带一路计划，”纳兹·巴依基姆，一名23岁的塔吉克族导游笑着说。她表示她希望更多游客来到这里。“我认为这个计划会加强中国同其他国家的联系，并且增进各国间的友谊。”

Rebiya, a 22-year-old interpreter, said shewas glad to have been born and raised in such a scenic and pristine corner ofChina. “Living here is like living in heaven,” she said.

热比娅，一名22岁的翻译，说她非常高兴能够生长在这样一个优美而纯净的中国小城。“住在这里就跟住在天堂一样，”她说。

But development was welcome, she said,shrugging off the suggestion that Tajik traditions might be diluted by theinflux of outsiders.

但是他们欢迎发展计划，她说，并且对于所谓塔吉克传统会因大量外人涌入而的消亡的说法毫不在乎。

“[Our culture] has been passed down overthe past 2,000 years and has become part of our DNA,” she said. “I don’t thinkit will vanish just because of economic development.”

“（我们的文化）已经传承了超过2000年，变成了我们DNA的一部分，”她说。“我不认为仅仅因为经济增长了它就会消亡。”

While business people are banking on thetransformation of the region around Tashkurgan, not everyone is convinced thereality will live up to Xi’s grand vision. Some point out thatsince the Belt and Road initiative began in 2013 trade between Xinjiang andforeign countries has actually fallen.

当商人们对塔什库尔干周围区域的转型满怀期待时，并不是所有人都认为现实会变成政府所计划的那样。有些人指出自从2013年一带一路计划开始以来，新疆同外国的贸易额实际上下降了。

Rahber Khan, the owner of a Pakistanirestaurant near the town’s main square, said he feared most Chinese investmentwas destined for the strategic port of Gwadar, not the impoverished regionwhere his family lived.

拉伯·汗，这个镇的主广场上一家巴基斯坦饭馆的老板，说他很担心绝大部分的中国投资都用在计划中的瓜达尔港上，而不是他家庭所在的贫穷地区。

“Maybe in the future we are growing butright now we don’t see anything good in front of us,” said Khan, 39, who isoriginally from Ghulkin, a village just over the border.

“或许未来我们的经济会增长，但是现在我们看不到任何希望，”39岁的汗说。他来自于边境另一侧的一个叫古尔金的小村庄。

“I’m not sure if it’s coming or not,” hesaid of plans to connect Pakistan and China with the Khunjerab railway, adding:“It’s just talking.”

“我不敢肯定这事会不会实现，”他谈到计划修建连接中国和巴基斯坦的红其拉甫铁路时说道。“现在都是说说。”

Before this weekend’s summit in Beijing,China has trumpeted its commitment to the “game-changing” initiative in abarrage of state-sponsored propaganda.

在本周末在北京的峰会开幕前，中国一众处在政府审查监督之下的宣传媒体们开始信息狂轰滥炸，鼓吹中国“改变游戏规则”的计划。

“At a time when certain western powers areretreating into protectionism and isolation, China has been promoting theglobalisation of the economy in a spirit of openness and inclusiveness,” theofficial news agency Xinhuadeclared.

“在西方国家开始转向保护主义和孤立主义的时候，中国本着开放和包容的精神促进经济的全球化，”官办媒体新华网报道称。

The English-language China Dailynewspaper describedthe drive as “one of the most important public goods China offers theworld”.

英文版中国日报把这一举动说成是“中国对世界做出的最重要公益行为之一”。

Outside Khan’s restaurant, the Communistparty has also set out its stall, stamping its message onto a giant redbillboard that towers over Tashkurgan’s main square.

在汗的餐馆外面，共产党也弄了个自己的摊位，在一个能俯视塔什库尔干主广场的巨大红色广告牌上贴上了自己的口号。

“Build a beautiful Xinjiang!” the signreads. “Make a Chinese dream come true!”

“建设一个美丽的新疆！”牌子上写着。“实现中国梦！”

Additional reporting by Wang Zhen

由王真（音）协助报道