中国正在“改变着我们”潘文 文 田呈莲 译 晓融 校

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日益崛起的超级大国正在重塑美国人的贸易与生活方式

    沃索，威斯康星州--在一座坐落于绵延的山峦与广阔的牧场的大仓库里，一群美国农民围聚在一个采购商周围交谈着，这次交谈预示着美国即将到来的一场深刻的变革。
　　这位采购员身穿一身名牌便装，一边玩弄着手腕上价值不菲的名表--价格跟停在外面的泥点斑斑的通用卡车不相上下，一边说道：“我认为你们美国人没有明白这一点。我们需要的是质量，质量必须过关，而且必须是高质量。如果你们跟我合作，我们可以实现共赢；如果不合作，我也无计可施。”
　　这些壮实的美国农民被来自中国一家制药公司的主管滔滔不绝地斥责还是头一遭，但却没有一个人抱怨。基于眼下不可忽视的经济与文化现实，美国中西部这些大老粗农民视他们的中国客人为救世主。这一现实也正是奥巴马总统本周日初次访华所要面对的。
　　在访问上海和北京期间，奥巴马即将遇到的，不仅是一个正在崛起的国际力量，而且也是一个正在改变海内外美国人生活方式的国家--从大学课堂到房地产商办公室，再到威斯康星州中不的西洋参种植场，处处都能感受到这个国家的的影响。
　　自1784年起，美国就一直向中国销售西洋参。第一艘驶往中国的货船从纽约出发抵达今天的广州，卸下随船装载的30吨西洋参，西洋参的药用价值在亚洲备受珍视。但是今天，因为受到中国竞争对手的蓄意仿造以及加拿大享受政府补贴的西洋参农场的影响，以威斯康星州为中心的美国西洋参产业遭受了前所未有的打击。
　　20年前，斯康辛州有1,500名农民为中国市场种植西洋参，而现在人数已经下降到150人。西洋参的价格也由原来60美元一磅下降到24美元一磅。在这样一个雨夜，这些种植西洋参的农民们期待着着面前的中国商人余春（Chun Yu）给出一个答复。余春在中国有1,000家西洋参连锁营销店，这足以吊足他们的胃口。
　　“几年以前，我们种什么都无所谓。我们种什么他们（中国人）就买什么，”兰迪·罗斯说道。他今年54岁，拥有自己的西洋参农场，从1978年就开始种植西洋参。“现在我们得学会去满足他们的要求。他们正在改变着我们。”
　　追赶中国热
　　尽管并没有被称为“威斯康星人民共和国”，但是这个州却已经被某种中国热所裹挟。曾经遍布于美国各个角落的关于中国的一些陈旧的论调也已被一些新观点所取代。这些新观点认为，美国必须认真对待中国作为一种重要国际力量的现实。不管美国人喜欢也好，憎恶也罢，中国目前在美国人的生活中占有非常重要的位置。
　　目前，中国是威斯康星州（同时也是整个美国）第三大出口市场，是美国大豆、油菜籽、兽皮、原棉、铜、有色金属、木材纸浆、半导体以及各类鸡块（鸡脚）的最大买家。
　　跟在美国其他大学一样，威斯康星州立大学的科学与技术研究领域人才大多来自中国大陆，而且这些人也正成为工程设计、化学以及制药部门的业务骨干。中国人在美国获得博士学位的人数是美国另一个强大竞争对手-印度的两倍。在美所有外国人中，他们注册的专利也是最多的。
　　跟在其他日益萧条的工业城市一样，中国的投资者已经收购了密尔沃基（威斯康星州东南部港口城市-译者注）的几家不良房产，更不用说他们在佛罗里达州、加州与亚利桑那州的采购了。去年，来自马里兰州日耳曼城和中国的一群人在密尔沃基经济萧条的西北部以600万美元购买了定价为800万美元的一处空闲购物广场。7月份，中国一家钢铁生产商在位于密尔沃基与芝加哥之间94号州际公路附近的一处工业园区购买了54英亩土地。
　　最近，由美国中西部商人组成的团队--其中包括前美国中央情报局北京站站长--与国土**部合作，共同成立了威斯康星特区，凡在这一特区投资超过100万美元就可以自动获取美国国籍。
　　然而，在这个在十年内丢掉了160,000（1/3）多个制造业工作岗位的州，当地报纸一直都对中国持赞扬态度，并抨击那些反对与中国建立紧密贸易关系以及反对中国投资的人。《威斯康星日报》一篇社论称：“中国是威斯康星的朋友，中国企业在这场贸易战中不是我们的敌人。”
　　招商引资，寻求合作
　　自从2003年上任以来，威斯康星州长民主党人吉姆·道尔已经三次赴中国为威斯康星做宣传，寻求中方投资。当他第一次去中国时，其他州的州长担心美国州长去中国招商会给美国的国家形象带来不良影响。而现在，这种现象已经变得司空见惯了。在过去的两年中，美国已有14名州长先后访问中国。
　　“毫无疑问，中国对于我们来说相当重要。”吉姆·道尔在接受采访时说，“即便是在艰难时期，能够挺下来的都是那些出口中国的企业。如果没有中国人（购买我们的东西），我们的发展会比目前艰难许多。”
　　位于密尔沃基南部的比塞洛斯国际公司（Bucyrus International）就是这样的公司之一。自上世纪七十年代中美贸易关系开通以来，该公司一直向中国出口煤炭开采设备。在过去三年中，该公司雇员翻了一番，这部分归功于与中国的贸易。
　　“就在七八年前，我们还怀疑这些人是不是有能力和我们做交易”，比塞洛斯首席执行官蒂姆·沙利文说：“现在我们知道了。”
　　对中国的热情有时候会达到狂热的程度。参与建立密尔沃基特别投资区的商人罗伯特·克拉夫特认为，未来的中国会像过去的德国那样为密尔沃基的建设增砖添瓦。正在中国寻找中国投资者的克拉夫特在电话采访中说，“中国人来了，威斯康星不能错过这个时机。”
　　“中国人来了”正是今年九月下旬在巴尔的摩召开的高校招生咨询协会年会的主题。在这次年会上，教育工作者们谈到，申请到美国大学就读的中国高中毕业生人数暴涨，这是新近出现的现象。在过去20年中，美国的外国学生中中国人的数量已经或者接近最高--不过大部分都集中在研究生院。根据中国大使馆的统计，目前在美国一共有大约8万9千名中国学生。
　　在中国的帮助下，美国已经成立了61家孔子学院（其中有一所设在威斯康星州），教授中文和开展中国大使馆所说的“文化对话”。
　　在威斯康星大学麦迪逊分校，1109名中国留学生中有超过一半都是本科生。留学生数量的增长也是中国正在崛起的一个标志。与其他州立学校一样，威斯康星大学并不为来自海外的本科生提供奖学金。去年，全美中国留学生支付的学费高达20亿美元。“这些钱维持了一些美国大学正常运转”，麦迪逊分校留学生中心的劳里·考克斯说。
　　“一转身的功夫，就会有一所大学和中国的某所大学签署了一项备忘录”，主管威斯康星州大学26个校区的总裁凯文·赖利（Kevin Reilly）说。赖利最近与道尔（Doyle）一起访问了中国。“回来后我就在想，如果20世纪是美国的世纪的话……你得承认21世纪是中国的世纪。”
　　困难和分歧
　　威斯康星与中国难免存在纠纷。多年来，有两个中国公民从密尔沃基把限制出口的电子产品和计算机芯片卖给中国进行导弹研发的机构。2004年，他们被发现并被制止。
　　中国进口商品的质量问题也一直困扰着威斯康星的一些公司，这些产品包括困美国消费者的致命的宠物食品、含铅的玩具。劣质的石膏墙板使得美国南部数以千计的房子无法居住。
　　威斯康星州的一个公司，蛋白质科学实验室，是薄血剂肝素的重要供应商。在2007年和2008年间，这种药物导致了有数以百计的过敏反应，其中有81例死亡，最终使得这种药物被召回。这些都与从中国进口的受到感染的原材料有关。
　　最近，威斯康星与中国又有一起新的贸易争端。美国三大造纸公司之一的阿普尔顿金佰利涂布纸公司（Appleton Coated of Kimberly）与美国钢铁制造商联合会联合向美国政府提出申诉，指称中国出口到美国市场的某些类型的纸制品存在倾销。11月6日，美国国际贸易委员会作出决定，针对声称的不公平补助展开调查。
　　美国钢铁制造商协会副会长乔恩·基南在金伯利工厂附近长大。据他估计，从中国和印尼进口的纸制品使得威斯康辛州丧失了近5000份工作。这意味着数以百计的房屋因不能偿还按揭被银行收缴，数以千计的人无法支付财产税。“甚至连教会也说他们所收到的捐赠正逐渐减少，”他说，“他们无疑在挑战我们的生活方式。”
　　在马拉松县，那里的冻土很适合一种西洋参的生长。作为西洋参的购买商，余先生（Yu）对他的“大腕儿”身份很满意。他刚刚会见了道尔州长并与其签署了一项协议，使他成为威斯康星州西洋参的独家进口商。“但是质量必须要好”他说，“学生已经成为老师了！”

英文原文：


The Chinese are 'changing us'
Rising global power is reshaping the way Americans do business and live their lives
By John Pomfret
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, November 14, 2009
WAUSAU, WIS. -- In a cavernous warehouse amid rolling hills and dairy farms, a group of farmers recently gathered around a buyer in a conversation heralding a sea change in the United States.
"I don't think you Americans get it," said the buyer, dressed casually in designer brands and sporting a watch worth as much as the mud-splattered GM trucks in the parking lot outside. "We need quality. We demand quality. Top quality. If you work with me, we can win together. But if you don't, there's nothing I can do."
Being harangued by a pharmaceutical company executive from China was new for these burly farmers, but no one complained. These tough men from the American Midwest treated their Chinese guest as a savior of sorts, in an important economic and cultural reality that will confront President Obama on his first visit to China, starting Sunday.
On visits to Shanghai and Beijing, Obama will encounter not simply a rising global power but a nation that is transforming and challenging the way Americans live overseas and at home, from college classrooms to real estate offices to the ginseng farms of central Wisconsin.
Americans have been selling Panax quinquefolius to China since 1784 when the first China-bound trading ship sailed from New York to Canton, today's Guangzhou, weighed down with 30 tons of the root, prized in Asia for medicinal properties. But today the U.S. ginseng industry, centered here in Wisconsin, is on its back, kicked down by bogus imitations from Chinese competitors and state-subsidized crops from Canada.
Twenty years ago, 1,500 farmers grew ginseng in Wisconsin for the China market; now the number is down to 150. Prices have dropped from $60 a pound to $24. The farmers around the ginseng barrels on this rainy fall night looked for an answer from Chun Yu, a Chinese businessman dangling his company's chain of 1,000 retail stores throughout China as the ultimate prize.
"Years ago, it didn't matter what we grew. They bought everything we had," said Randy Ross, a 54-year-old former dairy farmer who has been growing ginseng since 1978. "Now we've got to learn how to satisfy them. They are changing us."
Catching China fever
While it's not exactly the People's Republic of Wisconsin, this state has been seized with a China fever of sorts. Throughout the United States, old notions of China have been replaced with a deeper understanding that China is a force that must be reckoned with. Hate it or love it, China is a major player in American life.
China is now Wisconsin's (and the country's) third-biggest export market, buying more American soybeans, oil seeds, hides and animal skins, raw cotton, copper, nonferrous metals, wood pulp, semiconductors and miscellaneous chicken parts (a.k.a. chicken feet) than anyone else.
At the University of Wisconsin, as at college campuses across the United States, mainland Chinese dominate the study of science and technology and form the backbone of the engineering, chemistry and pharmacy departments. They receive twice as many doctorates in this country as students from India, the next-closest foreign competitor. And among foreigners, they register by far the most patents in the United States.
Chinese investors have snapped up pieces of distressed real estate in Milwaukee, as they have in other crumbling Midwestern industrial cities, not to mention in Florida, California and Arizona. Last year, a group from Germantown, Md., and China bought an empty mall on Milwaukee's depressed northwest side for $6 million, down from its $8 million list price. In July, a Chinese steelmaker bought 54 acres in an industrial park off Interstate 94 between Milwaukee and Chicago.
A team of Midwestern businessmen, including the former CIA station chief in Beijing, has recently established, in cooperation with the Department of Homeland Security, a special zone in Wisconsin that would grant U.S. citizenship in exchange for a $1 million investment.
Meanwhile, in a state that has lost more than 160,000 (or one-third) of its manufacturing jobs in a decade, local newspapers have been running editorials praising the People's Republic and blasting those who oppose closer trade ties or Chinese investment. "China is a friend to Wisconsin and its businesses, not an enemy in a trade war," the Wisconsin State Journal said in an editorial.
Seeking out business
Wisconsin's governor, Jim Doyle (D), has been to China to promote Wisconsin three times since he took office in 2003. When he first went, he said, fellow governors in other states worried about the appearance of an American governor going to China seeking business. Now, it's commonplace. More than 14 of his counterparts have visited China in the past two years.
"China is incredibly important to us," he said in an interview. "Even in these difficult times, some of the industries getting by are the ones selling to China. If we didn't have the Chinese, we would have been in much, much tougher shape."
One of those firms is Bucyrus International, based in South Milwaukee, which has exported coal-mining equipment to China since trade relations were opened in the 1970s. In the past three years, it has doubled its workforce, in part because of the China trade.
"We were still skeptical seven or eight years ago that these guys were for real," said Bucyrus chief executive Tim Sullivan. "Now we know."
The boosterism about China sometimes reaches a fever pitch. One of the businessmen who helped set up the special investment zone, Robert Kraft, said China in the future will do what the Germans did for Milwaukee in the past. "The Chinese are coming," Kraft said in a telephone interview from China, where he was scouting for Chinese investors. "We're just trying to get a piece of it for Wisconsin."
"The Chinese Are Coming" was the title of a session in late September in Baltimore at the annual meeting of the National Association for College Admission Counseling. There educators spoke about skyrocketing numbers of Chinese high school graduates applying for admission at U.S. colleges. That's new. For the last 20 years, Chinese have been at or near the top of the number of foreign students in the United States -- but most were in grad school. In all, about 89,000 are currently in the United States, according the Chinese Embassy.
China has also helped establish 61 Confucius Institutes across the United States, including one in Wisconsin, to teach Chinese and undertake "cultural dialogues," the embassy said.
At the University of Wisconsin in Madison, Chinese undergraduates now account for more than half of the 1,109 Chinese students there. That increase is another sign that China is coming because Wisconsin, like many state schools, doesn't provide scholarships for international undergrads. Last year, Chinese students paid out $2 billion in tuition nationwide. "That money is keeping some American colleges alive," said Laurie Cox, who runs the international student center at the Madison campus.
"Every time I turn around, another campus has signed a memorandum of understanding with another Chinese university," said Kevin Reilly, the president of the university's 26 campuses. Reilly recently joined Doyle on a trip to China. "I came away thinking, if the 20th century was the American century . . . you have to believe that the 21st century will be the Chinese century."
Difficulties and disputes
Wisconsin is not immune to troubles with China. For years, until they were stopped in 2004, two Chinese nationals used Milwaukee as a base from which they exported restricted electronics and computer chips to Chinese institutes that make missiles.

Quality problems with China's imports have also bedeviled Wisconsin firms -- as they have American consumers who purchased deadly pet food, lead-laden toys, and defective drywall that is believed to have rendered thousands of homes in the South almost uninhabitable.
One Wisconsin company, Scientific Protein Laboratories, was in the center of a supply chain making the blood-thinner heparin.
Hundreds of allergic reactions to the drug, including 81 reported deaths, led to a nationwide recall that was linked to tainted raw materials from China in 2007 and 2008.

These days Wisconsin is at the center of a new trade dispute with China. Appleton Coated of Kimberly was one of three paper companies to join with the United Steelworkers to file a petition with the government alleging that China was dumping certain types of paper products in the U.S. market. On Nov. 6, the U.S. International Trade Commission decided to investigate allegations of unfair subsidies.
Jon Geenan, international vice president for the United Steelworkers, grew up near the Kimberly plant. He estimates that Chinese and Indonesian imports have cost the state more than 5,000 jobs in its paper mills. That means dozens of foreclosed homes and hundreds of people who are behind on their property taxes. "Even the churches say that donations are down," he said. "They are definitely challenging the way we live."
In Marathon County, where the glaciated soil makes for a bitter ginseng, the way many Chinese like it, Yu, the ginseng buyer, appears content with his new role as big shot. He recently met Gov. Doyle and signed a deal to become China's exclusive importer of Wisconsin's prized root. "But only if the quality is good," he said. "The student has become the teacher!"
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