华盛顿邮报：中国的宣传面临来自明星的激烈竞争 [美国媒体]

Chinese propaganda faces stiff competition from celebrities

中国的宣传面临来自明星的激烈竞争



In this Saturday, Oct. 21, 2017 photo, Chinese women walk past advertisement featuring teen idol Lu Han, also known as China’s Justin Bieber in Beijing, China. China works to stifle celebrities as it seeks to dictate the values the nation’s youth should embrace. It’s part of the most ambitious effort in years to shape the country’s booming entertainment industry. Instead of selfish, rich stars, the state is promoting performers who are all about patriotism, purity and other values that support the party’s legitimacy, whether in movies about revolutionary heroes or through rap music. (Ng Han Guan/Associated Press)

在这张与2017年10月21日拍摄的招牌中，两名中国女性正在经过青少年偶像鹿晗的广告牌，在中国北京，他被视为中国的贾斯汀比伯。中国正致力于压制这些明星，因为它试图规范这个国家年轻人应该有的价值观。这是多年来试图塑造这个国家繁荣的娱乐业的最具野心的努力的组成部分。与自私而富有的明星不同，这个国家正在宣传那些和可疑支持这个政党合法性的爱国主义、纯洁以及其他价值观的演员，不管是在关于革命英雄的电影中还是通过说唱音乐。

HONG KONG — When the propaganda film, “The Founding of an Army,” hit theaters in China recently, the reaction wasn’t quite what the ruling Communist Party might have hoped for.

HK——当宣传电影《建军大业》近期在中国的影院上映时，反向并不如＊＊所预料的那般热烈。

Instead of inspiring an outpouring of nationalism and self-sacrifice for the state, it was roundly mocked for trying to lure a younger audience by casting teen idols as revolutionary party leaders.

这部电影并没有激发爱国主义和为国家做出牺牲的热忱，相反，因为试图通过将青少年偶像塑造成为革命政党领袖来引导年轻观众，它遭到了诸多嘲讽。

Viewers more used to seeing the idols play love interests in light-hearted soap operas responded to the film by projecting “modern-day romantic narratives on the founding fathers of the nation,” said Hung Huang, a well-known social commentator based in Beijing. “It was hilarious.”

一个住在北京的着名社会评论家Hung Huang指出：那些更习惯于看到这些偶像们在轻松的肥皂剧中担当爱情主角的观众们对这一部电影的回应是"将现代烂漫爱情叙事投射到建国伟人身上"，"这是很滑稽的一件事"。

While China’s resurgent Communist Party once pushed its policies on an unquestioning public, it now struggles to compete for attention with the country’s booming entertainment industry and the celebrity culture it has spawned.

尽管带领中国复兴的共产党一度可以向从来不会质疑的公众推行他的政策，但它现在则要艰难地与这个国家繁荣的娱乐工业以及它所催生出的明星文化争夺公众的注意力。

“Chinese people are increasingly ignoring party propaganda and are much more interested in movie stars, who represent a new lifestyle and more exciting aspirations,” said Willy Lam, an expert on Chinese politics at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

HK中文大学的中国政治专家Willy Lam说到："中国人正在越来越多地忽略政党宣传，越来越多地对电影明星感兴趣，他们代表了一种新的生活方式和更加刺激的新引力"。

President ***, who will cement his authority with his expected endorsement to a second five-year term at this week’s national party congress, has placed a priority on stamping out too much Western influence in Chinese society in part so the party can dictate the values the youth should embrace.

中国领导人已经将部分消除西方在中国社会的影响力放在了首要地位，这样＊＊就能够掌控年轻人的价值观。

Authorities have responded by taking aim at everything from gossip websites to soap opera story lines to celebrity salaries. Instead of selfish, rich stars, the state is promoting performers who are all about patriotism, purity and other values that support the party’s legitimacy.

政府当局已经通过审查从传播小道消息的网站到肥皂剧剧本，再到明星薪酬来作出回应。与自私而富有的明星不同，这个国家正在宣传那些和可疑支持这个政党合法性的爱国主义、纯洁以及其他价值观的演员。

The results have at best been mixed and at worst ham-fisted and out of touch.

最好的结果就是两者中和，最坏的结果就是手忙脚乱和出局的情况。

One problem is that the party’s values often clash with what young Chinese want to watch, according to Hung. Among the more popular shows watched by Chinese youth are those that center on palace intrigue, martial arts fantasies, high school romances or single, independent women.

根据Hung的说法，一个问题在于这个政党的价值观经常与中国年轻人想要看到的内容相冲突。在中国年轻人收看的最受欢迎的节目当中，便有那些关注于宫廷斗争、武术玄幻、高校爱情故事或单身、独立女性的故事。

“While the government could once dictate to young people what they should value and how they should lead their lives, they find themselves completely without the tools to do that now,” she said.

她说到，"尽管政府曾经可以命令年轻人说他们应该拥有何种价值观，以及他们应当采用怎样的生活方式，但是它们发现自己现在已经完全没有了这些手段可以利用了"。

In the 1970s, the state was able to promote people seen as paragons of youthful devotion and selflessness, but Hung said that no longer works because young Chinese — like their counterparts in the West — now prefer to follow celebrity gossip and have the tools with which to do so.

在1970年代，国家能够宣传那些被视为年轻人牺牲与无私的典范的人，但是Hung认为这种手段对于现在的中国年轻人不再有效——就像西方的同一代人一样——他们更喜欢追踪明星的绯闻，并且有着可以这么做的手段。

Just this month, teen idol Lu Han, also known as China’s Justin Bieber, announced he had a girlfriend, triggering a flood of shares, responses and 4 million “likes” within a few hours that briefly crashed the country’s popular Weibo microblog service.

就在这个月，被称为中国的贾斯汀比伯的青少年偶像鹿晗宣布他已经有了一个女朋友，这一举动触发了一阵分享和回复的狂潮，在几个小时内，就有四百万人点赞，从而在很短的时间里让这个国家广受欢迎的微博的服务器陷于崩溃。

A recent commentary in The Global Times, a party newspaper with a nationalistic stance, railed against such celebrity worship, saying China had now surpassed the West in that regard.

近期带有民族主义立场的党媒《环球时报》上的一篇评论便怒斥了这种明星崇拜，它指出中国在这一方面要比西方过犹不及。

“It’s unfair that these stars accrue such glory, unimaginable to those who have made a decisive contribution to the country,” the commentary said.

评论写到："这些明星获得这么多荣耀是不公平的，对于那些对国家做出决定性贡献的人来说是不可想象的"。

That was likely a reason the government-backed China Alliance of Radio, Film and Television moved last month to cap the pay of actors, whose salaries had hit historic highs as young Chinese and a burgeoning middle class increasingly spend on movie tickets and goods.

这可能就是上个月有着政府背景的中国广播协会采取行动规定演员薪酬上限的原因，随着中国年轻人和日渐扩张的中产阶级越来越多地花钱看电影和购买周边产品，他们的薪酬也达到了有史以来的高位。

In another move earlier this year, authorities closed 60 popular celebrity gossip and social media accounts and called on internet giants such as Tencent and Baidu to “actively propagate core socialist values, and create an ever-healthier environment for the mainstream public opinion.”

在今年前些时候的另一次行动中，政府当局关闭了60个受欢迎的明星绯闻和社交媒体账号，并呼吁像腾讯和百度这样的互联网巨头"积极宣传社会主义核心价值观，为主流公共意见营造更加健康的环境"。

The tension between popular culture and state propaganda isn’t new in China. In the 1980s, ＊＊＊’s lieutenants railed against spiritual pollution. But it has gained new traction since ＊ came to power in 2012 and officials began a wide-ranging crackdown on perceived societal ills from corruption to dissent to — now — entertainment.

流行文化与国家宣传之间的紧张关系在中国并不是一件新事物。在1980年代，＊＊的助理们便抨击了精神污染。但是自2012年以来，这一做法得到了新的认同，官员们开始大规模的打击已经被察觉到的社会弊病，从腐败到异见，再到现在的娱乐产业。

“＊＊＊ has been advocating a revision to traditional, Confucian moral standards,” Lam said. “The definition of what is vulgar or morally problematic has been inflated and expanded so that it has become all-encompassing.”

Lam说道："＊＊＊已经支持传统的儒家思想道德标准的复兴。对庸俗和存在道德问题的定义已经膨胀和扩张了，这样它就成为了无所不包的标准"。

Shows about the pursuit of great wealth and luxury that used to be tolerated under ＊’s predecessor, aren’t anymore.

在之前曾经被容忍的展现追求巨额财富与奢侈生活的影视作品已经不再受到宽容。

The government has demanded that broadcasters “resist celebrity worship” and limit the air time dedicated to film and TV stars.

政府已经要求播放机构"抵制明星崇拜"，限制留给电影和电视明星的播放时间。

“The party does not want these entertainment programs to compete with news programs and ‘morality shows,’” said Jian Xu, a Chinese media research fellow at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia.

在澳大利亚墨尔本迪肯大学进行中国媒体研究的Jian Xu说："政党不想让这些娱乐节目与新闻节目和"道德栏目"展开竞争"。

One example of a state-approved show is “Touching China,” which honors people who have “touched the nation with their tenacity, bravery and wisdom.”

得到国家允许的电视节目的典范便是"感动中国"，它赋予了那些"凭借其顽强、勇敢和智慧让国家感动"的人。

The government has also tried to shape some celebrities into party-sanctioned role models.

政府已经试图将某些明星塑造成为得到政党许可的角色模型。
Entertainment Alerts

娱乐产业的警报

Big stories in the entertainment world as they break.

随着它们的分道扬镳，娱乐产业中将有大事件发生。

Thanks to their wholesome image and uplifting, patriotic lyrics, the TFboys, China’s first home-grown boy band, have risen to fame because of “political opportunities” they’ve been given, Xu said. The band is pursued by adoring fans and has performed twice on the coveted Lunar New Year gala hosted by state broadcaster China Central Television; it has also been promoted by the Communist Youth League.

由于他们的健康形象与令人振奋的爱国歌词，中国国内的首个男孩组合TFboys已经一举成名，Xu认为这其中包括了他们所被赋予的"政治机遇"的因素。这个组合受到了粉丝的追捧，并且两次在别人梦寐以求的、有中国中央电视台主办的春节联欢晚会中上台表演；它也得到了共青团的宣传。

Stars deviating from the party’s image of purity and moral acceptability, however, have been punished. In a high-profile drug crackdown in 2014, authorities publicly chastised a succession of celebrities caught using drugs, including Jackie Chan’s son, Jaycee Chan, and singer Li Daimo, forcing them to apologize on state television.

然而偏离了政党纯洁形象和道德接受度的明星已经遭到了惩罚。在2014年的一次大规模打击毒品行动中，当局公开指责了一系列因为吸毒被抓住的明星，其中包括了成龙的儿子房祖名，以及歌手李代沫，迫使他们在全国电视台上进行道歉。

Beijing may struggle to win over young Chinese, but it won’t stop its carrot-and-stick approach to regulating the industry.

北京方面可能仍然要艰难地去赢得中国的年轻人，但是它不会停止为了规范娱乐工业而施展的萝卜加大棒政策。

“The government’s method of punishment and praise is very obvious: If you work with me, you will reap the benefits, if you don’t, you won’t. If you’re a good boy, you get candy, if you don’t, you won’t,” Xu said.

Xu说："政府惩罚和表扬的手法是显而易见的：如果你与我合作，你就可以收割利益，如果你不这么做，你就一无所获。如果你是一个好孩子，你能吃到糖，如果你不是，你就吃不到。"