2013年6月30日 星期日

Mandela's Former Jail Cell (Robben Island)

Robben Island is located in Western Cape
Robben Island
Western Cape, South Africa
 
Robben Island
Robben Island is an island in Table Bay, 6.9 km west of the coast of Bloubergstrand, Cape Town, South Africa. The name is Dutch for "seal island". Wikipedia
 
 
 

'Deeply Humbled' Obama Visits Mandela's Former Jail Cell
by
President Obama looks out the window of the Robben Island prison cell that once held Nelson Mandela. The president and his family visited the prison on Sunday.
President Obama looks out the window of the Robben Island prison cell that once held Nelson Mandela. The president and his family visited the prison on Sunday.

Gary Cameron /Reuters /Landov
(We at 1:50 p.m. ET.)
After visiting the jail cell on South Africa's Robben Island where Nelson Mandela spent 18 of his 27 years in prison during the long struggle against apartheid, President Obama wrote on Sunday about the bravery of Mandela and others who demanded their rights.
In a message he added to the island's visitors book, the president said:
"On behalf of our family we're deeply humbled to stand where men of such courage faced down injustice and refused to yield. The world is grateful for the heroes of Robben Island, who remind us that no shackles or cells can match the strength of the human spirit."
Bloomberg News' Margaret Talev has . The president and first lady Michelle Obama signed it.
Mandela, who turns 95 on July 18, has been hospitalized in Pretoria as doctors treat him for a lung infection. He remains in critical, but stable, condition.
As :
Mandela, NPR's reminds us, was born in a country that viewed him as a second-class citizen. But from his childhood as a herd boy, Mandela went on to lead the African National Congress' struggle against the racially oppressive, apartheid regime of South Africa. For his efforts, he spent 27 years behind bars as a political prisoner, finally being released in 1990.
In 1993, Mandela with former South African President Frederik Willem de Klerk — the nation's last white leader. They were recognized for "their work for the peaceful termination of the apartheid regime, and for laying the foundations for a new democratic South Africa."
Then, in 1994, Mandela was elected president in South Africa's first democratic elections. He pledged to serve just one term and .
Obama had visited the prison once before; in 2006, when he was a U.S. senator.
Also Sunday, , Obama is outlining a "Power Africa" program that aims to "double access to electricity on the continent." It's a $7 billion initiative, .

Update at 1:50 p.m. ET. More About "Power Africa":
In a speech Sunday evening (local time), Obama said the aim of the "Power Africa" initiative, which would be spread over five years, is to "double access to power in sub-Saharan Africa."
According :
"Power Africa is Obama's clearest attempt to launch his own legacy-making initiative. The White House said six countries will participate in its first phase: Ethiopia, Ghana, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria and Tanzania. Those nations have committed to making energy sector reforms that will encourage outside investment, officials said.
"Seven private companies have agreed to invest in improving and expanding the power grid. Those investors include General Electric, which plans to bring 5,000 megawatts online in Tanzania and Ghana, and Heirs Holdings, which has promised $2.5 billion of investment and financing in energy, according to the White House."
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Singing in unison at the Latvian Song and Dance Festival in Riga

Dancers perform in a stadium in Riga during the Latvian Nationwide Song and Dance Celebration in 2008. (Photo A. Liepins)

Culture

Singing in unison at the Latvian Song and Dance Festival in Riga

The Latvian national song festival is held once every five years and attracts hundreds of thousands of participants, viewers and tourists. As Gederts Gelzis reports from Riga, the song festival helps unify the country.
In the last few days, Riga has been alive with music. Around 40,000 people dressed in national costumes, will participate in the festival, and hundreds of thousands more will arrive just to watch. Many of them will sing "Sodien dziesmai liela diena" or "This is a big day for a song." It's the opening tune of the grand finale concert in the capital and the most impressive part of the celebration.
The song festival is hugely important in Latvian culture. For 27-year-old Zanete Skarule this is her first time participating in the concert. She joined a choir in December last year and has been practicing singing twice a week since then. She told DW, "as a Latvian I really want to experience the feeling of being on an open-air stage among thousands of other singers at the song festival. All the participants sing and they are united in a song. And that's why I decided to join a choir."
15 thousand choristers will sing in the grand finale concert of the Latvian Nationwide Song and Dance Celebration. (Photo I.Znotins) Hundreds of thousands participate and watch the five yearly spectacle
A sense of history
Skarule flicks through her songbook detailing some 40 songs she has learned during months of rehearsals. She says she was surprised to find out that some of the tunes were also sung by her grandfather back in the 1930s, when he participated in the festival. The festival goes back even further than that though. It has its roots in the 19th century. Musicologists believe the celebration was probably inspired by the first German choir "Die Rigaer Liedertafel" founded in 1833.
Dedication and graft
Whilst Skarule talks, different rooms all over the city fill with the sounds of voices all busy practicing; she herself joined the choir mainly to perform in celebrations and to socialize with other singers. It's different for Aigars Kalnins. He's 36 and works in the IT industry. He has been singing in choirs since the mid-90s and it's more than just a hobby for him.
"I think of the grand finale as the end of a five-year-long process of preparation for the festival. We rehearse the repertoire. We perform in competitions and we give concerts. We are scrupulous about it, and that bears fruit in the end. And then you stand on the festival's stage and you celebrate and just let go, all that hard work just sings out," he told DW.
Skarule and Kalnins will be just two among about 15,000 participants from almost 400 choirs in the grand finale. Another of those choirs is "Balsis" or "Voices" conducted by Ints Teterovskis.
Slipping standards
Teterovskis is holding a rehearsal for his 40 choristers as they practice their repertoire. Women sing, and he frequently interrupts, getting them to repeat the passage over and over again. Though each year up to 100 people want to join the choir, only a select few are admitted, Teterovskis told DW.

"The overall singing skills have substantially gone down during the past 20 years because people simply don't sing. It often starts in schools, where singing in a choir is no longer an obligatory subject. Pupils can be taught singing only if their parents allow it. I think that there mustn't be such a situation in Latvia."
Unity through music
He says that the song celebration is important for Latvian unity, it acts as a display of their culture and helps foster a sense of national identity. It has shaped the self-awareness of Latvians and even helped them to create their country when it was first founded in 1918. That's why it's a sacred event for Latvians, says cultural sociologist Dagmara Beitnere.

"It is a very emotional moment when many Latvians meet up again." She explained to DW. "We are a new nation and the invisible and spiritual bonding is very important to us. And that includes all the activities of the celebration, including dancing and singing in the old town. That gives us a great emotional charge."
All the participants of the celebration are dressed in national costumes of Latvia. (Photo A. Liepins) All participants are dress in Latvian national costumes
Heritage for the world
The festival itself is so important that it has been recognized by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, UNESCO, as a masterpiece of oral and intangible heritage of humanity.
It has held Latvians together during Soviet rule -under which the celebration was permitted- although communist controlled. And the festival played a pivotal role again in 1990 when the singing revolution led to a restoration of Latvia's independence a year later.
Beitnere says that Latvians were at the peak of unity at that time but the event has gradually become commercialized during the last two decades. A fact she laments. Teterovskis disagrees though. He defends the festival saying, unless it completely loses its core values, (people and language) in a haze of commercial considerations, he believes the festival and its unifying traditions will continue for years to come.
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Kashan: Restoring Iran’s Heritage of Magnificent Homes

Kashan Journal

Restoring Iran’s Heritage of Magnificent Homes in an Age of High Rises

By THOMAS ERDBRINK June 29, 2013

卡尚日志

留住伊朗老宅，哪怕是甜蜜的负担

THOMAS ERDBRINK 2013年06月29日
 
  • Shanaz Nader, in the house that she bought and restored.
    Newsha Tavakolian for The New York Times
    Shanaz Nader, in the house that she bought and restored.
  • While many Iranian cities face unemployment and an economic downturn, the burst of renovations — most of them by individuals — is keeping Kashan bustling.
    The New York Times
    While many Iranian cities face unemployment and an economic downturn, the burst of renovations — most of them by individuals — is keeping Kashan bustling.
KASHAN, Iran — A petite woman in gray boots and a checkered scarf, Shanaz Nader had spent much of her adult life abroad, with long stretches in Tokyo, London and New York. But here she was braving a cold wind in this desert city three hours south of Tehran, making her way through a maze of high mud-brick walls.
伊朗卡尚——沙娜兹·纳迪尔 (Shanaz Nader)身材娇小，穿一双灰色靴子，围着格子围巾。她成年后的大部分时间里都待在国外，在东京、伦敦和纽约生活过很长时间。但现在，她正顶着寒风，在 距德黑兰(Tehran)以南三小时路程的这座沙漠城市里，穿梭于泥砖高墙的迷宫之中。
Black-clad women waited at a small bakery as the rattling noise of a motorcycle in the distance echoed through the alleys. Finally, Mrs. Nader, an interior designer in Tehran, reached her destination: a large, two-panel wood door that opened up to her fully renovated weekend home, a majestic old Iranian house with four bedrooms, colored-glass windows, a separate office, two garden areas and a large rectangular marble fountain.
身着黑色长袍的女人们正在一间小面包店中 等待，一旁的摩托车绝尘而去，马达的轰鸣声在远处的山谷中回响。纳迪尔这位来自德黑兰的室内设计师，终于到达了她的目的地：一扇宽大的双开木门在她面前缓 缓打开，通往她刚刚修好的周末度假屋。这是一座老式的伊朗民居，有四间卧室、彩色玻璃窗和一间独立的办公室，以及两个花园和一座很大的四方形大理石喷泉。
After boiling tea, Mrs. Nader, 68, sighed and sat down under an arched passageway. The sun reflected in the fountain, as the wind blew in faint sounds of the midday call to prayer.
把茶煮上后，68岁的纳迪尔叹了口气，在一条拱形长廊里坐了下来。阳光在喷泉中反射出光芒，微风从正午祈祷者的低声絮语中吹过。
卡尚最大的修复宅邸，内有数座庭院，是当地的一处名胜。
Newsha Tavakolian for The New York Times
卡尚最大的修复宅邸，内有数座庭院，是当地的一处名胜。
“Whenever I dreamed of Iran while being in some faraway place, I dreamed of owning such a house,” she said.
“以前远在异乡时，只要一念起伊朗，我就会梦想拥有这样一栋房子，”她说。
For thousands of years, houses with secluded gardens and courtyards have been a cornerstone of Iranian architecture, which strongly influenced structures like the Alhambra and the Taj Mahal. Similar dwellings are described in literature from Achaemenid times, around 700 B.C., and their old Persian name is the root for the word “paradise.”
几千年来，带有私家花园和院子的房屋一直 都是伊朗建筑的奠基石，并深深影响了阿尔罕布拉宫(Alhambra)和泰姬陵(Taj Mahal)这样的建筑。早在公元前700年，阿开民王朝(Achaemenid)时期的文学作品中就曾提到过相似的住所。这类住宅的古波斯文名称，就是 “paradise（天堂）”一词的词根。
But in past decades the houses fell out of favor and were widely demolished to make way for glassed apartment blocks, especially in Tehran. The sprawling family gardens on the flanks of the Alborz Mountains in the capital have long since been demolished to make way for high rises, turning landowners into millionaires but wiping out Iran’s architectural heritage.
然而在过去几十年中，这样的房屋不再受人 喜爱，并被大面积拆除，以便为玻璃幕墙的公寓大厦让路。在德黑兰，情况尤其严重。位于首都的阿尔伯兹山脉(Alborz Mountains)两侧散布的很多私家花园早就被拆除殆尽，以便为高层建筑腾地。虽然那些户主们都变成了百万富翁，但是伊朗的建筑遗产也被夷为了平地。
But Mrs. Nader and some others are beginning to reverse that trend. In recent years, dozens of houses and palaces in Kashan, a city known for its carpets and traditional Iranian architecture, have been painstakingly renovated into holiday homes and hotels.
但现在，纳迪尔和其他一些人正在开始扭转这一趋势。近些年来，在卡尚这座因地毯和伊朗传统建筑而出名的城市里，已有十几栋房屋和宅第将被精心改造为度假屋和宾馆。
She was drawn to Kashan in 2008 when the owner of one of the palaces, Manoucheri House, built 200 years ago by a local merchant family, asked for her help in transforming it into a boutique hotel. Well known in Tehran for her basic but tasteful furniture and printed textiles that strike a delicate balance between the old and the new, Mrs. Nader was an obvious choice for the job, and she jumped at the opportunity.
纳迪尔对卡尚的兴趣发起于2008年。当 时，马诺切利大宅(Manoucheri House)的主人请她来帮忙，把这座200年前由一位本地商人兴建的宅第改建为宴会宾馆。纳迪尔因其简练而独具品位的家具设计，以及能在新潮与传统间保 持微妙平衡的印花纺织品，在德黑兰广为人知。她显然是这项工作的不二人选，而她也毫不犹豫地把握住了这次机会。
Now, all across the old neighborhoods of Kashan, laborers are renovating houses that until recently were neglected by their owners.
如今，在卡尚的老街区内，随处可见工人们正在翻修那些曾被主人忽略已久的房子。
At first the newcomers stirred opposition from local people, apparently upset that some of the renovations were being done with government money, which they wanted for building modern housing. “Hundreds of people signed a petition asking for the old houses to be flattened instead,” said Akbar Arezugar, 54, a renovation supervisor from Kashan. “But when the renovation was done, the cleric who was leading the opposition personally called everybody involved, apologized and applauded the work we had done.”
最初，这些新来者遭到了本地人的反对。后 者显然对此感到不满，因为一些翻修工作动用了政府的钱，而他们希望这笔钱被用来修建现代化的住宅。“数百人签署了请愿书，要求把老房子都推倒，”54岁的 阿克巴·阿雷祖格(Akbar Arezugar)说，他是一名来自卡尚的翻修工程总监。“但是，等到翻修工作完成的时候，领导这次反对活动的神职人员把每位反对者都找了过来，向我们道 了歉，并赞扬了我们所做的工作。”
While many Iranian cities face unemployment and an economic downturn because of sanctions and mismanagement of the economy, the burst of renovations — most of them by individuals — is keeping Kashan bustling.
虽然由于经济制裁和管理不善，伊朗的许多城市都面临着高失业和经济下滑，但是翻修大潮的爆发——大多数是私人行为——让卡尚市内始终一片喧腾。
Mohsen Shahi, a 26-year-old architect, said he much preferred working on the renovations to designing apartment buildings, something that many of his university friends are doing. “If I had an unlimited budget I would buy old houses and rebuild them the way they were,” he said.
26岁的建筑师穆森·沙希(Mohsen Shahi)说，他更愿意把那些翻修住宅设计成公寓建筑，这也是他的很多大学友人都在做的事。“如果我的预算不受限制，我就会买下一些老房子，按照它们原来的样子进行重建。”他说。
Mr. Shahi was working on the Ameri House, a huge property with seven courtyards with fountains and dozens of rooms that is scheduled to open as a hotel in April. “For a long time it seemed as though our love for culture had diminished in our country,” he said. “Those old families that once built these beautiful houses were not thinking of profits, but of their legacies. Thankfully, now we are starting to learn from them.”
沙希正在进行阿米里宅邸(Ameri House)的翻修工作。这是一处规模庞大的房产，包括七个带有喷泉的庭院和数十个房间，此地计划改建为一座宾馆，于四月对外开放。“在我们国家，人们对 文化的热爱似乎已经消失很久了，”他说，“那些古老的家族当初修建这些漂亮的宅邸，并不是出于利益的考虑，而是为了子孙传承。谢天谢地，现在我们总算开始 从他们身上学到了这一点。”
When her work on the boutique hotel was finished, Mrs. Nader looked for a place of her own. The first time she saw her house it was run-down and filled with dirt. Parts were even slated for demolition. “I bought it for $20,000 and people said I was crazy,” she said, while giving a tour of the house. The restoration cost another $300,000, she said, and has been worth every penny.
在宴会宾馆的改建工作结束时，纳迪尔也为 自己找到一处良宅。当她初次见到自己那座房子的时候，它已残破不堪，里面满是尘土，其中有一部分甚至已经被纳入了拆除范围。“我花了2万美元买下这座房 子，人们都说我疯了，”她带我们在屋内参观时介绍说。后来的重修工作又花了30万美元，她说道，但花在这里的每一分钱都是物有所值的。
She is planning to write a book on traditional Iranian architecture, and has also built an office where she wants to work with local architects.
现在她正打算写一本关于伊朗传统建筑的书，还设立了一间办公室，以便和当地的建筑师们一起工作。
For most people, it is a labor of love. For the hotels, renovation costs are high, without much prospect of making profits. There are almost no foreign tourists anymore making their way to Kashan, which lies 30 miles north of Iran’s main uranium enrichment facility in Natanz. Many people fear the nuclear site could one day come under attack, with possibly deadly consequences for those living in its vicinity.
对多数人而言，这都是一桩甜蜜的负担，因 为宾馆的重修成本十分高昂，而盈利前景却很黯淡。外国游客几乎已经不再到卡尚来了，因为这座城市就坐落在伊朗主要铀浓缩装置所在地纳坦兹(Natanz) 以北30英里（约48公里）。许多人都害怕这处核基地某天会遭到袭击，那就可能为住在附近的人带来灾难性后果。
“Sometimes I worry about the future,” she said, standing on one of the roofs of her house. In the distance, snow-capped mountain peaks basked in the sun. “But history shows that Iran always lands on its feet. I’m not abandoning ship.”
“有时我也会为未来担忧，”她站在自家的一处屋顶上说。在远处，那些白雪覆盖的山峰耸立在阳光之下。“但是从历史上看，伊朗总能幸免于难。我不会弃船而逃的。”

Copyright © 2013 The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.
本文最初发表于2013年1月9日。
翻译：幽竹
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2013年6月29日 星期六

Louvre-Lens



Louvre-Lens
0 La Liberté guidant le peuple - Eugène Delacroix (1).JPG
House of project
Louvre-Lens is located in France
Location within France
Established 2012
Location 99 Rue Paul Bert
62300 Lens, France
Coordinates 50.43068889°N 2.803302778°E
Type Art museum, Design/Textile Museum, Historic site
Visitors 450000 to 500000 expected
700000 the first year
Director Xavier Dectot
Curator Xavier Dectot
Public transit access Bus shuttle from gare de Lens
Website www.louvrelens.fr
The Louvre-Lens is an art museum located in the industrial city of Lens, in Northern France. It displays objects from the collections of the Musée du Louvre that are lent to the gallery on a medium or long term basis.
Though the museum maintains close institutional links with the Louvre, it is primarily funded by the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region.[1]

Contents

Origin and Building

In 2003, based on the universality of Le Louvre and on the thinking that art must be also spread outside of Paris, the Ministry of Culture and the Louvre Directorate launched a call to the 22 Regions in order to implant an antenna within their territory. Only the Nord pas de Calais applied and proposed six cities: Lille, Lens, Valenciennes, Calais, Béthune and Boulogne-sur-Mer. After a harsh competition and lot of reflexion, Jean-Pierre Raffarin, French Prime Minister of the time, officially announced during a visit in Lens that the city had been chosen to receive the project which will be settled in few yards away of the Félix-Bollaert stadium, on the 9-9 bis trench. This location, which was previously a coal mine, was given back to Nature since it was closed in the beginning of the 80's.
After the city chosen, the French government launched an worldwide bid to find the company which will be in charge of the conception of the € 82 millions art Museum. Finally, the Japanese Architect firm SANAA was awarded of the 10 years contract in collaboration with the New York City specialized in Museum construction cabinet Imrey Culbert Architect and the French Landscaping architect Catherine Mosbach. Eiffage has been chosen to build the museum.

The Museum

Instead of bulding the museum in stories, the Japanese architects chose to build in length because of the modern style and also because the landscape was more fitting the concept. In consequence, the museum is looking like stretching towards the landscape in order to provoke the admiration of the visitors. The museum is accessible by the ways implanted throughout the arbor park surrounding the museum. The museum itself is composed of three buildings linked to each other: the Hall in the center, the Grand Gallery on the left and the Temporary Gallery on the right

The Hall

The centering building is occupied by the Hall with 4 entrances (North, East, South and West). In the Hall, the visitors can find a shop store, a Ressource Center allowing the visitors to extend their knowledges and connect to their personal space to share their experiences, a Picnic area, a cafeteria, a ticket booth as well as a multimedia guide rental. This is also by the hall that the visitors can access the exhibits rooms.[2]

The Grand Gallery

The Grand Gallery or Time Galleryis the main exhibit space of the museum. It's 120 m long and has a surface of 3,000 m². The space is divided into two parts: the Gallery and an extra exhibit called the Glass Pavillion. These two spaces are dedicated to the permanent exhibition. Instead of beeing organized alphabetically, the art pieces are organized chronologically ( Antiquity, Middle Ages, Modern Age). This is one of the particularities of the museum. Each Year, some arts pieces returns to the Original museum in Paris and are replaced by anothers one still from The Louvre.[3]

The Temporary Exhibit Gallery

This exhibit is dedicated to the temporary exhibitions which lasts 3 months and are not accessed for free. It's 90 m long and has a surface of 1800 m². The first exhibition was about Renaissance and The Virgin and Child with St. Anne and the second one is dedicated to Rubens.[4]

Reserves and Backstage

The Museum, in order to show that a museum is a living place, is also equipped with a fully digital space dedicating to explain what the visitors can't usually see: The Backstage. In there, enclosed to the reserves, the visitors can watch employees testimonies about how a piece is processed before being shown to the public as well as the unknown stories about some masterpieces of the museums by using touch screens. On the other side of the window, the visitors can admire the masterpieces stored in the Reserves as well as the ones which are actually restaured by the staff.[5]

Inauguration, Opening and Frequentation

On Dec 4, 2012, 8 years after Jean-Pierre Raffarin chose Lens to build the new museum, President François Hollande, alongside the First Lady Valérie Trierweiler, the Ministry of Culture Aurélie Filippetti, The director of Le Louvre Henri Loyrette, The Mayor of Lens Guy Delcourt, the previous Prime Ministers Lionel Jospin and Pierre Mauroy officially inaugurates the Louvre-Lens.[6]
The week-end later, the museum welcomes its first visitors with a huge success: 3 weeks after the opening, the museum welcomes its 100,000th client.[7] On May 2013, during Long Night of Museums 2013, 500,000 visitors have admired the Louvre-Lens Museum masterpieces.[8]
Nevertheless, some incidents already happened. On Feb 7 2013, a deranged woman vandalized the main masterpiece of the Museum: Liberty Guiding the People inscribing AE911 with a black Marker.[9]

See also

Collection

External links

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2013年6月27日 星期四

華西村 江蘇省南部：中國式困境樣本

2013年06月28日 06:38 AM

華西村：中國式困境樣本

英國《金融時報》 吉密歐 報道

在天氣晴朗的日子里，你可以從20多公里以外的地方看到72層高的龍希國際大酒店(LongWish Hotel International)。這幢奢華的摩天大樓高高聳立在江蘇省南部華西村茂盛的稻田中。
龍 希國際大酒店設有826個客房，在一個人口僅有2100人的村子里給人一種不協調的感覺；酒店頂部甚至還有一個巨大的“金球”，優雅美麗的朝鮮姑娘在裡面 的旋轉餐廳為賓客服務。它比紐約的克萊斯勒大廈(Chrysler Building)和倫敦的“碎片大廈”(Shard)都要高，於2011年完工，造價超過30億元人民幣（合4.9億美元）。
唯一的問題在於，這麽多的客房很難住滿。在安靜的午餐時間，朝鮮服務員為幾個現在住在酒店里的本地人表演傳統舞蹈。這些人漫不經心地看著表演，他們是利用村部發放的補貼住進酒店的。
這家酒店的命運充分體現了中國領導人現在面臨的困境。中國經濟在過去30年間經歷了每年10%的高速發展，如今開始放慢腳步。中國正在努力尋找一種新的經濟發展模式。
從許多方面來說，華西村是中國困境的一個縮影。幾十年來，華西村一直被譽為經濟成功的典範，還號稱是中國最富裕的村莊。它奉行的“中國特色的社會主義”發展模式——中共狂熱而自相矛盾的市場經濟改革——把中國人從飢餓邊緣解救出來，並使中國成為一個日漸崛起的超級大國。
但 與中國自身一樣，如今華西村再也不能完全依賴其陷入困境的鋼廠和化工廠。過去的主要增長支柱（房地產項目和全球對中國產品不斷飆升的需求）不再能夠創造它 們在過去20年裡創造的財富。因此華西村獨斷專行的領導人貿然選擇了一種他們尚未完全理解的服務型經濟新模式，在這個偏遠之地建起一家大酒店，希望這能為 他們招徠游客。
華西村黨委書記、華西集團公司(Huaxi Group Corporation)董事長吳協恩表示：“未來我們打算減少辦廠，加大旅游業和其他服務業的發展。中國已經走到了工業化道路的盡頭。”
被人們稱為“新書記”的吳協恩是接替父親吳仁寶，成為華西村新的領導人。具有遠見卓識的“老書記”吳仁寶曾帶領華西村走向富裕，但他在今年3月因肺癌去世，享年84歲。
吳仁寶在上世紀九十年代將華西村打造成一家企業，並保留了華西村原始村民的集體所有權，從而能夠在中國工業化過程中實現集體富裕。從這個意義上說，華西村不同於中國其他大部分地區，但在其他多數方面，它是中國的縮影。
獨 立經濟學家、強烈質疑華西村發展模式的溫克堅表示：“華西村模式實際上是中國模式。”溫克堅認為華西村只不過是另一個波將金村(Potemkian Village)，是中國統治者為了展示其最新政策而樹立的樣板村莊。（波將金村是俄國女皇葉卡捷琳娜二世的寵臣波將金於1787年修建的村莊，專為女皇 視察他的領地時使用，以顯示領地的“繁榮”——譯者註）
吳仁寶要求他的同志們每天學習中共機關報《人民日報》(People’s Daily)，並按照中共的優先事項制定當地所有的經濟和政治計劃。
但 在吳仁寶逝世之際，華西村與中國其他大部分地區一樣，正在竭力應對增長放緩、出口大幅下滑、工業產能過剩和債務日益上升的問題。盡管按大多數國家的標準來 看，中國的經濟增長率仍非常高，但許多經濟學家對中國今年一季度經濟放緩感到擔憂。一季度中國經濟同比增長7.7%，而2012年第四季度同比增長 7.9%。
經濟學家和中國領導人表示，為了應對經濟放緩並重建長期可持續增長，中國必須從基建投資和出口導向型經濟發展模式，轉型為以消費和服務業為主的經濟發展模式。
華西村的情況表明，轉型說起來容易做起來難。龍希大酒店的入住率低於預期。華西村的直升機觀光的需求也不盡如人意。為了彌補不足，華西集團說服許多村民股東去大酒店住，並發給他們村裡的各種服務優惠券來代替股息。
與此同時，自全球金融危機以來，華西村的工廠一直很難盈利。在2006年和2007年出口巔峰時期，華西村每年的出口額高達5億美元。按照華西村官員們的說法，在英國進口的一種特殊扁鋼條中，來自華西村鋼廠的就占了總進口量的20%。
自那以後華西村的出口下降了一半以上。盡管華西村村民們表示，他們集中精力在國內市場上銷售產品，但產量仍遠低於出口高峰時期的水平。
除了旅游業之外，華西集團還進軍航運、物流、海洋工程和金融業，設立了眾多典當行和貸款公司為本地的小企業提供信貸。
按 照新書記吳協恩的說法，華西集團旗下所有企業去年總共實現收入525億元人民幣（一半以上來自其所稱的“非傳統產業”），稅前利潤近40億元人民幣。但深 圳證券交易所(Shenzhen Stock Exchange)的資料顯示，華西集團旗下規模小得多的上市子公司今年一季度預計虧損高達1330萬元人民幣，目前股價大約是2010年峰值的三分之 一。
凱投宏觀(Capital Economics)研究中國問題的首席經濟學家馬克•威廉姆斯(Mark Williams)表示：“在上世紀八、九十年代和本世紀頭十年，中國的發展主要是靠擴大產能，從小規模製造業發展到大規模重工業和出口製造業，但在過去 幾年裡，中國的經濟增長日益依賴房地產和信貸。向消費和服務業轉型的主要鴻溝和難度在於，你不能只建好基礎設施，然後等著所有人來就可以了。”
一些強大的力量合在一起，推動中國成為世界工廠，同時成為全球大宗商品超級周期中最重要的因素。同樣的力量促成了華西村過去驚人的發展。
……
根據當地傳說，這一切都始於上世紀六十年代末的文化大革命，當時由於飢餓和內心壓抑不住的資本主義沖動，吳仁寶創辦了一個生產釘子的秘密工廠，村民們把釘子拿到黑市上換取糧食。
當時這是要被判處死刑的犯罪行為，但隨著上世紀八、九十年代中國實行市場改革，華西村吸引了投資，建立了製造業產能。這一潮流也讓中國走向繁榮。
上世紀九十年代末對虧損國有企業的重組和私有化、2001年加入世界貿易組織(WTO)，以及似乎永無休止的建築熱潮，幫助中國實現了兩位數的經濟增長。
這讓中國從十年前與意大利不相上下的全球第六大經濟體，變身為如今的全球第二大經濟體。即便在2008年爆發危機、美國和歐洲這些主要出口市場崩潰之際，中國也由於大量投放信貸，幾乎毫發無損。
信貸狂歡催生了另一波建築熱潮，尤其是住宅建設，這推動了中國的整體經濟增長以及對原材料的需求。這讓華西村的鋼廠和工廠繼續保持轟鳴，盡管產量低於以往。
全國性的信貸大潮也讓華西村迅速改變了對債務的態度。吳仁寶曾始終反對舉債，但隨著時間的推移態度有所緩和，最終同意華西集團的資產負債率可以達到20%。
如今，華西集團的資產負債率已經達到65%，仍處於相對溫和的水平，但獨立分析師認為，華西集團可能通過誇大龍希酒店及其周邊土地等資產的價值，而人為壓低了該比率。
……
在華西集團開始增加舉債之際，它還受到房地產投資的誘惑。華西村建造了數百套“歐式風格豪華別墅”，坐落在大煙囪、倉庫和稻田之間。
在中國政府於上世紀九十年代末開始創立商業化的城市房地產市場之後，匆忙將農地變為房地產的熱潮，可能是過去十年大部分時間里中國經濟最重要的推動因素。
一些華西村的周邊村民表示，與中國各地的許多地方政府一樣，華西村徵用了周邊農地，用於利潤更為豐厚的項目，付出代價的是過去依靠這些土地生活的村民。
新書記吳協恩表示，華西村在2001年與周邊村莊合並，並入了35平方公里土地，華西村的任務是管理這些村莊並“提高在這些村莊生活和耕種的近3.6萬名村民的生活水平”。
這些新居民並未獲得華西集團的股份，他們事實上成為華西村的二等居民。
其中部分人表示，他們被要求離開他們的住房和土地。他們僅僅獲得很少的補償，並且事實上被迫用補償款購買華西集團建造的劣質別墅。
在中國大部分地區，這種土地掠奪是手頭缺錢、尋求提高收入的地方政府的標準運作模式。但隨著城鎮周邊地區的大部分優質土地已經銷售殆盡，這種模式目前提供的回報越來越小，中國各地越來越多的公寓樓無人入住。
隨著中國經濟增長放緩，即便最樂觀的分析師也在下調對中國經濟增長的預測。較為悲觀的觀察人士則認為，中國經濟將迎來一個痛苦的調整期，這有可能影響到全球經濟增長。
吳協恩表示：“我認為國內生產總值(GDP)增長6%或7%，而不是8%或10%是正常的， 當然（在這種較低的整體增長速度下）中國將會有許多企業破產。我相信在經過幾年的經濟調整之後，我們將會再次走進經濟健康發展的新時代。”
為了幫助華西村迎接這種燦爛的未來，並借力經濟向消費和服務業的轉型，華西村的秘密武器是：吉祥物、游客招攬戰略和保險。
在龍希大酒店的第60層，幾名游客在參觀一頭用一噸黃金打造的真實大小的公牛。華西村2011年委托製造這頭金牛時，造價為3億元人民幣。
將游客引進房間的導游自豪地解說道，華西村於牛年建村，因此牛是該村的吉祥物。
但在被追問細節時，導游有些不情願地承認，金牛實際上是空心的。
土地徵用：搬遷農民抱怨待遇不公平
他頂著華西村黨委書記的頭銜，他聲稱要建設“社會主義新農村”，但吳協恩的政治和經濟觀念根本不是正統的馬克思主義。
吳協恩表示：“我們為什麽不給周邊村莊的村民（華西集團公司股份）？因為我們相信只有通過自己的勞動才能致富，因為如果我們什麽都平均分配，就沒有人有任何動力做任何事情。”
“歐洲的最大問題在於，創新動力不夠，社會福利太好。”
吳協恩顯然並不贊成福利國家或傳統的社會主義理想，至少在談到華西集團公司的2100名核心村民股東以外的人時如此。那些村民從華西村過去30年的非凡發展中獲得了巨大收益。
但對47歲的劉建國（音譯）等其他人來說，日子就要艱難一些。劉建國的村子在大約十年前被華西村合並。
劉建國和一些同樣屬於華西村管轄的鄰居近幾年一直公開抗議他們的二等村民地位，還抗議受到村部的剝削。
劉建國是一位住在“大華西村”簡陋別墅中的失業農民。他表示，由於對自己住房和田地被徵用時簽訂的協議提出抱怨，他受到恐嚇、威脅，甚至還被警方拘留過幾天。
劉建國表示，華西集團將其農田出租給工廠，然後拿出大約八分之一的租金補償給他，同時華西集團還通過拆遷其舊屋牟利。劉建國無法獲得華西集團的股份。
他獲得8萬元人民幣的舊屋補償費，但不得不為目前居住的別墅支付30萬元人民幣。華西集團建造了這些別墅，成本僅有16萬元人民幣。
劉建國沒有別墅的所有權，因此他無法自由地在市場上出售別墅。
劉建國表示：“如果他們全都（在最初的華西村）變得非常有錢，那麽這是他們的事，我們不會嫉妒他們。”
“但他們不能為了賺更多的錢，來破壞我們的權利和利益。”
谷禹補充報道
譯者/何黎
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2013年6月26日 星期三

２千多年前大賀蓮発芽成功

池を薄桃色に彩る古代ハス　千葉の公園で見ごろ

写真：見ごろを迎えた大賀ハス＝２５日午前８時１分、千葉市中央区、福留庸友撮影拡大見ごろを迎えた大賀ハス＝２５日午前８時１分、千葉市中央区、福留庸友撮影
写真：大賀ハスが見ごろを迎え、カメラを向ける多くの来園者たち＝２５日午前７時４１分、千葉市中央区、福留庸友撮影拡大大賀ハスが見ごろを迎え、カメラを向ける多くの来園者たち＝２５日午前７時４１分、千葉市中央区、福留庸友撮影
［ＰＲ］
　【福留庸友】千葉市中央区の千葉公園で、古代のハス「大賀（おおが）ハス」が見ごろを迎えている。
　約９００平方メートルのハス池には、約１千本のハスが植えられ、訪れた人たちは薄桃色の花びらや香りを楽しんでいた。同公園によると、見ごろは今月いっぱい。
　大賀ハスは１９５１年、植物学者の故大賀一郎博士が２千年以上前の地層から発見した種の発芽に成功したもの。
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2013年6月23日 星期日

Manhattan / Inside New York's Subway tunnels: Manhattan's underground expansion



Manhattan
New York City borough
Manhattan is one of the five boroughs of New York City, geographically smallest but most densely populated in the city. Wikipedia


Video: Inside New York's Subway tunnels: Manhattan's underground ...

Inside New York's Subway tunnels: Manhattan's underground expansion

Dr Michael Horodniceanu, the man in charge of extending Manhattan's Subway tunnels, explains how the daily commute will get easier for New Yorkers from 2019.


3:12PM GMT 07 Feb 2013
Expansion projects, costing at least $15 billion, are under way to improve New York's Subway system by 2019.
"We have not done something like this for eighty years," said engineer Dr Michael Horodniceanu, head of capital construction for the state Metropolitan Transportation Authority.
Sixteen storeys below New York's famous Grand Central Station, workers are building a new 350,000-square-foot underground concourse to accommodate Long Island Rail Road Trains as well as subway services.
"What you see here right now is the start of the next 100 years for Grand Central, because what we are doing is we are building here for the future," said Dr Horodniceanu.
Meanwhile, to the east of Manhattan, the Second Avenue Subway is being built to ease congestion for commuters.
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2013年6月20日 星期四

北市的中山國小一點點雜憶

January 20, 1961 – November 22, 1963
John F. Kennedy, 1963-64
因為1963-64 在學校3樓可見圓山大飯店的國事車隊的燈--為什麼那模樣晚還沒下課? 當時學校9千多. 老松上萬人.
  • 這東京奧運的故事我印象很深刻，因為當時台灣開始設電視台，有轉播。我當時在台北市的中山國小讀五年級，家中無電視，是在新生南路的同學家看一下的印象（當時新生南路旁大建設 …..）東京五輪が開幕した昭和三十九（一九六四）年十月十日。

    2005 年11月底，回 40年前的台北母校，由於校園和教室依舊，而校外的建設，幾乎像另外一世紀，最容易令人感商：表象好像進步，不過本質似乎未變，餘風猶存。或許，我的年紀大了，比較有這種感嘆 ….
    Andrew Hsu 老鍾,我們竟然同一個小學
    Andrew Hsu 還記得地理老師是廣西人,歷史老師是貴州人
  • 不我只讀五年級.我們班上灌過唱片而我們沒唱機. 有錢的真有錢....
我的情況是這樣： 布袋戲是40幾年前大甲媽祖廟等最盛大的戲碼。我記得當時每年公演期，以"周"來計算。我們都沒木偶。 不過許多人都可以空手演一大段。
然後，我上台北中山國小讀一年 (約1960)。我們五年忠班 (可能近60人 貧富差距相當大)的大PROJECT，就是灌一張西洋古典唱片：莫札特的小樂曲等等（我們班上幾乎什麼樂器都有）。我想當時沒這樣錄影，否則也蠻轟動的-- 這只是一班之成績。



1964-65 我在中山國小五年忠班下課時可以看見對"岸" 圓山飯店的車子燈光一輛接一輛

 

 40多年前中山國小前只幾部三輪車 當時無教育媽媽


Andrew Hsu

傍晚途經母校中山國小，進去一晃，四十年來，
民權東路上的三輪車，現在換成捷運，
感覺椰子樹比以前高了五倍，操場比以前小了十倍，還有
太空飛鼠文具店不見了...... — 在中山國小


Mike 的交響樂故事令人回味，回憶起自己的故事。我大概1963年小學5年級從大甲轉學到台北的中山國小（那時是台灣第2大學生9000多、老松上萬）。同學間背景階級相差很多。有些人上下學有三輪車接送。許多人過年節會送禮給老師、或到老師家補習。
那時中山可能是名校，所以我們班上竟然成立我們的兒童級交響樂隊。大多數人多會樂器，而像我們這種音盲的人也無所謂，反正工學社的口琴、笛子、甚至口風琴木琴 三角鐘等各取所需。小孩學起來很容易。我想階級成份思想很嚴重；指揮、鋼琴、小提琴等，當然非有錢人家子弟莫辦，因為這沒半法速成。
 
最其怪的是我們要到兒童樂園去表演，他們甚至決定要灌唱片。從此音樂課都不教，完全是以簡譜背、然後協調演奏，一整學期（肯定加強/加班過）就這樣操練。
我有點神傷的是，我家那時候可能沒唱機或買不起我們灌的唱片。然而，我仍然記得莫札特的小樂曲、軍隊進行曲等旋律。我近40年後回想，覺得那教學也很奇怪。
 
    我有點神傷，也許老師們用意也很好，而且我們多少也學到一些東西，培養一些感情，可是我總感覺，我們如果不來這麼多表演和練習，多學些基本功夫  也許更好一點。
鍾漢清2001/6/15


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A Year of Living Hopelessly 俄羅斯人絕望的一年

 

A Year of Living Hopelessly

By MASHA GESSEN June 19, 2013

觀點

俄羅斯人失去希望的一年

瑪莎·格森 2013年06月19日
俄羅斯反對派的支持者手舉橫幅示威遊行，橫幅上寫着，「權利不是給予的，權利需要爭取」，紀念過去一年反對弗拉基米爾·普京的抗議。
Anatoly Maltsev/European Pressphoto Agency
俄羅斯反對派的支持者手舉橫幅示威遊行，橫幅上寫着，「權利不是給予的，權利需要爭取」，紀念過去一年反對弗拉基米爾·普京的抗議。

莫斯科——我覺得自己最近一直在參加一個又一個守靈活動。有這種感覺很奇怪，因為沒有人去世。
5月末，我參加了一個為政治新聞記者舉辦的年度頒獎典禮。 這個活動是由一個自由派基金會贊助的，通常都會吸引莫斯科媒體圈的幾百個名人，他們都是這個活動的常客。這一次，每個上台講話的人都以關於俄羅斯頂尖經濟 學家謝爾蓋·古里耶夫(Sergei Guriev)的話題開場。古里耶夫最近宣布，他是因為害怕被捕才離開俄羅斯的。

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每個發言的人都會說些類似於「今天，謝爾蓋沒和我們在一 起」的話，並且補充說，儘管能明顯覺察到他的缺席，但依然能感受到他的影響，或者說他推崇的原則依然在被執行，又或許會說，他會對提名人選滿意。頒獎典禮 從各個方面都聽着像是守靈，只不過謝爾蓋·古里耶夫在巴黎一切安好，而且還能在網上觀看典禮。
頒獎典禮已經過去了兩周半，之後這段時間裡的新聞，比俄羅斯在相對更平靜歲月里幾個月甚至幾年時間裡的新聞都多。僅以上周為例。議會通過了一部法律，法律規定，冒犯他人宗教情感的行為是犯罪，最高會被判處三年監禁。這部法律還禁止「宣傳不合傳統的性關係」。超過25名反對仇視同性戀的抗議者在議會前遇襲，然後被捕（我就是被捕者之一），一些抗議者慘遭毒打，而警察卻袖手旁觀。俄羅斯的另一位巨星、國際象棋世界冠軍加里·卡斯帕羅夫(Garry Kasparov)表示，因為害怕被捕，他不會回到俄羅斯。議會負責家庭事務的委員會主席宣布，國家很快會制定出一個辦法，把同性戀家庭的孩子帶走。依然保持獨立的出版物沒幾家了，其中的一家也快倒閉了。
周末，我到格魯吉亞首都第比利斯和一群朋友一起參加了一場 結婚一周年的紀念活動：我們去年在那對夫婦的婚禮上玩得很高興，因此決定每年都去第比利斯，讓這成為一項傳統。按照格魯吉亞的傳統，要頻頻祝酒。夫婦倆中 的丈夫伊利亞(Ilya)首先說了祝酒詞：「過去的一年很糟糕。但回首過去，我意識到這一年也很美好，因為我是和薇拉(Vera)一起度過的。」
所有人都碰杯了。大家都同意過去的一年很糟糕。實際上，接下來的大多數祝酒詞都選擇了過去一年裡的可怕和悲傷為主題。感覺也像是一次守靈。
但沒有人去世。在座的人不少，但沒人罹患重病，或是真地遭遇了任何不幸（個別的分手或失業除外）。然而，大家都懂伊利亞的意思，也都同意他的觀點。過去的一年很糟糕，這是像我們這樣的俄羅斯人失去希望的一年。
 
At the end of May, I went to an annual awards ceremony for political journalists. Sponsored by a liberal foundation, the event usually draws a familiar crowd of a couple hundred Moscow media personalities. This time, one speaker after another began by talking about Sergei Guriev, Russia’s top economist who recently announced he had left the country for fear of arrest.

Each of the speakers would say some version “Sergei is not with us today,” and add that though his absence was palpable, his influence was still felt or that the principles he promoted were still implemented — or that he would have liked the choice of nominees. It sounded like a wake in every way, except that Sergei Guriev is alive and well in Paris and could watch the ceremony on the Web.

The two and a half weeks since that ceremony have brought more news than Russia used to see in months or even years in quieter times. Take just the last week. Parliament passed a law making it a crime, punishable by up to three years in prison, to offend someone’s religious sensibilities. It also banned the “propaganda of nontraditional sexual relations.” More than 25 anti-homophobia protesters were attacked — some brutally beaten while the police looked on — and detained in front of Parliament (I was one of those detained). Another Russian superstar, the chess champion Garry Kasparov, said he would not be returning to Russia for fear of being arrested. The head of the parliamentary committee on family affairs announced that the state would soon work out a way to remove children from families with same-sex parents. One of the few remaining independent publications is folding.

Over the weekend, I joined a group of friends in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi, for a first wedding anniversary: We had had such a good time at their wedding last year that we decided to make an annual tradition of the Tbilisi sojourn. As the Georgian tradition demands, there were many toasts. The husband, Ilya, said the first one: “It has been a terrible year. But when I look back on it, I realize it was also a wonderful year, because it was a year I spent with Vera.”

Everyone clinked their glasses. Everyone agreed it had been a terrible year. In fact, most of the toasts that followed picked up the theme of the awfulness and the sadness of the last year. It felt like a wake.

But no one had died. None of us in this large group had become seriously ill or, indeed, suffered any misfortune beyond the occasional breakup or lost job. And yet everyone knew what Ilya meant — and everyone agreed with him. It has been a terrible year, the year Russians like us lost hope.
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