The Return on Investment for China is
Measured in Benefits to Lifestyle and Society
中國(guó)政府對(duì)投資回報(bào)的考量
在于民生福祉與社會(huì)效益
What are the main topics of the two sessions in Zhongshan? According to the released news, I found that, mostly, the participants are discussing how to improve infrastructure and livelihood facilities.
中山的兩會(huì)主要說(shuō)啥？根據(jù)發(fā)布的新聞，我發(fā)現(xiàn)，他們多半是在一起共同討論如何完善基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施和民生設(shè)施。
When I came to Zhongshan in 2004, I came to a surprising city, it wasn't as I'd imagined it would be - there were already supermarkets, high rise apartment buildings and good roads in an out of the city, that wasn't what I was told China would look like.
當(dāng)我2004年來(lái)到中山的時(shí)候，我來(lái)到了一個(gè)令人驚訝的城市，超乎我的想象——這里已經(jīng)有超市、高層公寓樓和良好的道路，這不是我此前被告知的中國(guó)的模樣。
It had bus transportation that was cheap but quite basic, the buses weren't air conditioned, they didn't have padded seats but they did the job of transporting many people around the city relatively cheaply. They still do but instead of being old, diesel buses spouting black fumes, they're now comfortable, smooth and clean electric buses. As a result, the air is cleaner and the sky is bluer and transportation is still very cheap, the lowest cost is 2 RMB, that's less than 25p or 40 cents. But it's not just buses, over time, so much more has improved.
它有價(jià)格低廉的公交系統(tǒng)，雖然配套很基礎(chǔ)，公交車沒有空調(diào)，也沒有軟座，但它們以相對(duì)低廉的價(jià)格運(yùn)送了許多乘客去城市的每個(gè)角落。它們至今存在，但它們已不再是又老又舊、噴出黑煙的柴油公交車，而是舒適、平穩(wěn)和干凈的電動(dòng)公交車。因此，中山的空氣更清新，天空更湛藍(lán)，但公共交通依舊非常便宜，只需最低2元人民幣，不到25便士或40美分。但這不僅僅是公交車，隨著時(shí)間的推移，更多方面會(huì)不斷改善。
In my first months here, I was told that there would be a high speed train to Beijing in a few years’ time, and I have to admit, it was amusing to me to think that my students were so confident it would happen but sure enough, less than 10 years later, I was on the high speed train and traveling around the country to many different places, including Beijing. Those same students also told me there was going to be a bridge to Hong Kong and I laughed, in fact, I was so sure they were wrong about this, I went back to the staff room, got a map of the region and showed them how far away Hong Kong was, it's the other side of the Pearl River Delta I explained, this won't happen because it would make it one of the longest bridges in the world. But guess what opened in 2018 - the world's longest sea crossing from Hong Kong to Zhuhai (Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge) and an extension of highways all the way to... well, all the way to anywhere at all in China.
在我來(lái)這里的頭幾個(gè)月里，有人告訴我，幾年后這里會(huì)有一列開往北京的高速列車。我不得不承認(rèn)，想到我的學(xué)生們對(duì)這件事如此有信心，我覺得很有趣。但可以肯定的是，不到10年后，我就坐上了這列高速列車，去了中國(guó)許多地方，包括北京。那些學(xué)生還告訴我，中山將會(huì)有一座通往香港的橋，我當(dāng)時(shí)笑了，我認(rèn)為他們搞錯(cuò)了。我回到教務(wù)室，拿到一張區(qū)域地圖，并向他們展示香港有多遠(yuǎn)，那是珠三角的另一邊。我解釋說(shuō)，這不會(huì)發(fā)生，因?yàn)檫@會(huì)使它成為世界上最長(zhǎng)的橋之一。但猜猜2018年開通了什么——世界上最長(zhǎng)的跨海大橋——港珠澳大橋，而連接它的高速公路網(wǎng)一直延伸至...嗯，一直到中國(guó)的任何地方。
After they finished that one, they started on another one to Shenzhen, which is known as the ShenZhong Link.? Instead of taking several hours, we can now hop on a bus and 1 hour later, get off in the middle of Shenzhen, or just 30 minutes later in the middle of Hong Kong, both on the other side of the Pearl River.? And it just costs less than 100 RMB.? That's about $15.
在人們完成了那項(xiàng)工程之后，他們又開始了另一項(xiàng)連接深圳的的項(xiàng)目——深中通道。如今，不用花幾個(gè)小時(shí)，我們跳上公交車，1小時(shí)后，就能抵達(dá)珠江對(duì)岸的深圳市中心，再花半小時(shí)即可到達(dá)香港市區(qū)。而這一切的花費(fèi)，還不到100元人民幣，大約是15美元。
One of the things that China's form of Whole Process People's Democracy pursuits, is stability and continuity of good governance. Many of the plans China needed to make, such as these bridges, roads, trains and even the ports and shipping systems were made 20, 30 and even 40 years ago. When a government works for the benefit of the people the long term rewards are staggering.
中國(guó)的全過(guò)程人民民主所追求的事情之一，就是良政善治的行穩(wěn)致遠(yuǎn)。中國(guó)需要做的許多計(jì)劃，如這些橋梁、道路、火車，甚至港口和航運(yùn)系統(tǒng)，都是在20、30甚至40年前制定的。當(dāng)政府為人民謀福利時(shí)，長(zhǎng)期回報(bào)是驚人的。
I've always said this of China - When looking at a long-term infrastructure projects the return on investment, or ROI, isn't measured in how fast the money spent will be recovered and how much profit will be in it for the investors after that - the ROI for China is measured in how much long term benefit the people of the region where the money is spent will achieve - more often than not, that ROI isn't measured in financial returns at all but in benefits to lifestyle and society.
我總是這樣評(píng)價(jià)中國(guó)——在考慮長(zhǎng)期基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施項(xiàng)目的投資回報(bào)時(shí)，它的衡量標(biāo)準(zhǔn)不是花費(fèi)的資金多久能夠收回，以及之后投資者能從中獲得多少利潤(rùn)——中國(guó)政府的投資回報(bào)率是以資金所投入地區(qū)的人民能從中獲得多少長(zhǎng)期利益來(lái)衡量的——更多時(shí)候，這種回報(bào)率完全不是看財(cái)政回報(bào)，而是看是否有益于民生福祉和社會(huì)效益。
編輯 曾嘉慧? 二審 廖薇? 三審 陳慧
