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发信人: maximus (ΣΚ), 信区: Military
标题: (原文-english）学会和中国打交道
发信站: 荔园晨风BBS站 (Sun Dec 30 13:52:01 2001), 转信

Learn to get along with China

A prominent American's letter to his grandchildren

　　The writer, a Harvard law professor, comes from a prominent American
family. His great-grandfather John Hay had served twice as Secretary of
State. His father had been a Senator and Secretary of the Air Force and
his younger brother a former congressman. Finding China's phenomenal
progress awesome after a recent trip there, he wrote a letter to his
grandchildren on the importance to get along with China, which he said
may become the most powerful country in the world.

November 17, 2001

Dear Grandchildren,

　　This is a letter from your grandfather to all of his grandchildren.
The ones who are old enough to read are getting it direct. I'm
sending it to the parents of the ones who are not old enough to read.

　　The purpose of this letter is to encourage all of you to study as
much as you can about China. The reason is that we live in an
increasingly internationalised world. The tragic attacks of September 11
show that the oceans no longer protect us from our enemies. We need all
the friends abroad we can get. To that end we should study how to get
along with China, the most populous country in the world. Based on
your grandmother's and my recent trip to China, it may also become the
most powerful country in the world during your lifetime. Another
reason for getting along with China, whether you like to get along or
not!

　　There are many ways to learn about a foreign country. At a minimum,
I urge you to pay special attention to the history of China, its
geography, geology, political and economic system, ecology, culture,
(ethnicity, different ethnic groups—what we call “minorities”)
religious groups and beliefs, architecture and archeology.

　　There are 1.25 billion people in China. That makes China's
population about five times ours. So a very small percentage of the
Chinese population can be a lot of people by our standards—scientists,
athletes, businessmen, customers, philosophers, poets and friends. On
the other hand, what may seem a lot of people to us may be just a tiny
minority to the Chinese. We might think a crowd of 10 or 20 thousand
people a big number, but by Chinese standards it would not be big at
all.

　　One way to learn about a country is to collect its stamps. They tell
you a lot about what is going on in the country.

　　When your grandmother and I asked our granddaughter Janey what
kind of college she was interested in, she had a one-word reply: “
Diversity.” I agree with her 100%. I think that tolerance of
diversity will be the key to the survival of the United States in the
21st century.

　　Beyond the basics of special attention to China in your school
courses, and any electives you have an opportunity to take in college, I
encourage you to try to get to know Chinese people in the United
States, and to travel to China if you get the chance, to see for
yourselves what is going on there.

　　What is going on there can be described in one word. Awesome!
China has a booming free market economy. Its liberal Communist
government has given free enterprise all the latitude that most of the
people can live with. China has had terrible famines in the past. Twenty
million Chinese perished of hunger under Mao's Great Leap Forward.
The Chinese do not hate Mao for that. He made a mistake, they say. But
they used to eat grass, and now they eat wheat and rice, so they are not
bitter about Mao.

　　China does deny civil rights, and its society is not perfect, no
society is perfect. But your grandmother and I were very impressed by
the energy of the Chinese people, their work ethic, their pride in their
country and culture, their practicality, and the rapid development of
the Chinese economy. We flew all over China, in planes that were all
new, made by Boeing in a Chinese plant.

　　Beyond study, stamps, acquaintanceship and travel lies still another
way to learn about China. That is by studying the Chinese language.
It is difficult, but it is fascinating. Selective schools and colleges
already offer Mandarin, the principal dialect. The way to learn is by
immersion—to talk it all the time in class, and spend a term, a year or
a long summer vacation in the country.

　　I feel comfortable about bringing the subject of the Chinese
language to your attention, because our family is apparently genetically
programmed to speak foreign languages. Use the skills you have.
Already, Janey and Stuartie are working on being tri-lingual, and
their parents have achieved this.

　　We have another family connection with China that you should know
about. About one hundred years ago, your great, great, great
grandfather, John Hay, was the United State's Secretary of State. He
initiated what was called the Open Door policy, which at the time we
thought was a good thing for both China and the United States. I think
that the Chinese did not agree, then or now, that it was good for China.
But that is the true history of the past involvement of our family with
China.

　　Mr. Hay was once asked by reporters about the results of a
conference he had just had with the Chinese ambassador to the United
States, Mr. Wu. Mr. Hay responded, “I am not sure. After conferring for
three hours, Mr. Hay was woozy and Mr. Wu was hazy.”

　　The history books are full of the total inability of parents, and
maybe grandparents too, to convince their children how to live and
what to do. A famous example of this is the letters Lord Chesterfield
wrote giving good advice to his son. They are considered the outstanding
examples of good advice. Unfortunately, the son paid absolutely no
attention to what his father told him.

　　Please take this letter as an effort by your loving grandfather to
peer ahead into a world that will not be as easy for you as we
expected it would be before September 11. You all live far away and I do
not often get the chance to talk with you. Please do not consider
this letter as a demand. I wanted to tell you my thoughts, the product
of a two-week trip to China, a place I never imagined I would have the
opportunity to see.

　　If any of you want to talk about this subject some more, please
write or e-mail me your thoughts, or we can talk about your ideas when
you are here this Christmas.

Much love to you all,

Your Grandfather,

Stuart Symington, Jr.

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