Swahili textbook in Shenzhen: roughly two U.S. dollars |
Some readers may be suspicious whether Hong Kong is really "the best place on earth to learn Swahili", as I claim in my blog's tagline. Indeed, if you look at the resources available just in Hong Kong itself, it doesn't seem very good. But we are right next to mainland China, which — unknown to most outsiders (including Hong Kongers) — has a long and quite successful tradition of teaching the language to undergraduates and then giving them useful work to do with their newfound skills. Which means that if you cross the Not-A-Border into Shenzhen, you can find reasonably good-quality Swahili textbooks from beginning to advanced levels, for less than the cost of your bus fare to get there in the first place.
This post will be the first in a series looking at the history of the Swahili language in modern China. There are some sources about this in English already, such as China Radio International's two-part series "Swahili Language in China" (21 and 23 March 2007). Mostly I'll be translating Sun Xiaoming's paper "Fifty years of teaching indigenous African languages in China: missions and challenges" (West Asia and Africa 31(5): 33–36, 2010), and interspersing my own comments and observations.
Introduction
Unlike mainland China, Hong Kong has no local history of teaching indigenous African languages. There are some meagre links between Hong Kong and the Swahili-speaking world from our shared history as part of the British Empire — for example, three of the governors London assigned to us lived in East Africa before coming to Hong Kong, namely Frederick Lugard (who served in the British military during their campaigns in Uganda for about four years), and then in the mid-20th century Geoffry Northcote (a civil servant in Kenya for nearly a quarter of a century) and his immediate successor Mark Young (governor of the Tanganyika Territory from 1938 to 1941). And we do have ongoing trade links with East Africa — best illustrated by Gordon Mathews' famous estimate that a fifth of the cellphones in the whole continent passed through Chungking Mansions, meaning that Swahili-speaking shuttle traders are a frequent sight in TST, though less so than before (Guangzhou instead is beginning to attract more African migrants, though mostly from western and southern Africa). The courts in Hong Kong have a occasional demand for Swahili speakers to deal with personal or commercial disputes, which they tend to fill in a rather ad hoc manner by appointing random businessmen as temporary interpreters. We hardly have any local pool of Chinese—Swahili bilinguals.
Not only does Hong Kong have almost no indigenous Swahili-language capabilities, we don't even have the infrastructure to cultivate such capabilities. None of our schools or cooperative societies offer regular lessons in the language. (HKU offers a single course and scattered tutorials, oriented towards budding linguistic researchers rather than language learners). The only local publication I have ever seen in Swahili was an executive summary of a report on migrant workers' rights last year from Chinese University's law faculty — presumably translated by some exchange student who got shanghai'ed into the task by his or her professor. Even language exchange sites like MyLanguageExchange, LiveMocha, or InterPals are mostly bereft of local residents who can teach Swahili — the links go straight to the search results for Swahili speakers, so you can see for yourself.
Fifty years ago, mainland China was in a similar situation, but they bootstrapped themselves out of it, as Sun Xiaoming writes. (Sun herself is a lecturer of Hausa, so she's part of that bootstrapping tradition). The below excerpt covers pages 31–33.
| 中国的非洲本土语言教学五十年：使命与挑战 |
Fifty years of teaching indigenous African languages in China: missions and challenges |
| 孙晓萌 |
Sun Xiaoming |
| 内容提要：中国的非洲本土语言教学已达50年，成效卓著。20世纪60年代初，中国的部分高校相继开设了斯瓦希里语和豪萨语教学课程，肩负起“将中国介绍给非洲”和“将非洲介绍给中国”的使命。中国的非洲本土语言教学及研究打开了理解非洲文化的一个重要窗口，为增进中非文化交往、促进中非友好关系作出了独特贡献。但与欧美国家的非洲本土语言教学情况相比，中国在该领域的教学和研究面临诸多挑战，需采取相应对策。 |
Abstract: China's teaching of indigenous African languages has already gone on for 50 years and has achieved eminent results. In the early 1960s, some higher educational institutes in China established Swahili language and Hausa language courses, taking up the missions of "introducing China to Africa" and "introducing Africa to China". Indigenous African language teaching and research in China has opened the window for us to understand Africa and has made distinct contributions to enhancing Sino–African cultural exchanges and the promotion of friendly Sino–African relations. However, when compared to the teaching of indigenous African languages in Europe and the United States, China's teaching and research in this field still faces many challenges, and needs to take appropriate measures to deal with the situation. |
| 关键词：中非文化交流；非洲本土语言；豪萨语；斯瓦希里语；软实力 |
Keywords: Sino–African cultural exchange; indigenous African languages; Hausa; Swahili; soft power |
| 作者简介：孙晓萌，北京外国语大学亚非学院讲师、中国海外汉学研究中心比较文学和跨文化研究在读博士生（北京100089）。 |
Author introduction: Sun Xiaoming, Beijing Foreign Studies University College of Asian and African Studies lecturer, National Research Centre of Overseas Sinology comparative literature and cross-cultural studies post-doctoral student (Beijing 100089) |
| 中国与非洲远隔重洋，相距万里，但从汉代以来，两大文明就一直在以各种方式直接或间接地接触。新中国成立后，尤其是20世纪60年代非洲国家独立以来，经济与政治领域的合作在中非关系中占据主要地位，文化交流也在中非友好关系中发挥着重要作用，是中国与非洲各国人民进行情感沟通和对话不可替代的桥梁与纽带。始于60年代的非洲本土语言教学至今已历时50载，为中非文化交流作出了巨大贡献，承载着“将中国介绍给非洲”和“将非洲介绍给中国”的使命，在新时期又面临来自各方面的挑战，任重而道远。 |
China and Africa are separated by deep oceans and thousands of kilometres, but since the Han Dynasty, the two great civilisations have all along had direct and indirect contacts in a variety of spheres. Since the establishment of the People's Republic of China, especially in the 1960s when African countries gained independence, cooperation in economic and political fields has occupied a primary position of importance in Sino–African relations, while cultural exchange has also played an important role in the development of friendly Sino–African relations, being an irreplaceable bridge and link for emotional communication and dialogue between China and the peoples of African countries. The history of teaching of indigenous African languages, which began in the 1960s, has now reached fifty years, and has made giant contributions to Sino–African cultural exchange, carrying out the missions of "introducing China to Africa" and "introducing Africa to China", and in the new era faces a variety of challenges and still has a long way to go.
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| 2009年10月23~24日，“亚非学院国际会议——研究、网络与合作”在北京外国语大学隆重举行。来自英、俄、法、美等国相关机构的专家汇聚一堂，交流世界各国亚非研究和语言文化教学的经验，共同探讨彼此合作的内容和模式。在同与会同仁交流的过程中，笔者深感欧美在亚非研究、尤其是非洲学研究教学方面卓有建树，某些领域的成果和研究方法位于世界前沿，在人才培养、专业设置、科研管理等方面都积累了丰富的经验，有许多值得称道和借鉴的地方。而中国的非洲研究与教学比世界先进水平有一定的差距。在中国的非洲学研究蔚然成风的背景下，本文拟对中国的非洲本土语言教学的缘起与发展、使命与成就及前景与挑战等方面进行较系统的梳理，以期有助于探索中非关系中软实力建设的思路。 |
From 23–24 October 2009, the "International Conference of Colleges of Asian and African Studies — Research, Networks, and Cooperation" was held at the Beijing Foreign Studies University, bringing together experts from organisations in the United Kingdom, Russia, France, and the United States under one roof to exchange their experiences in research and cultural-linguistic education relating to Asian and African countries and to jointly discuss content and models for mutual cooperation. In the process of exchange with colleagues, the author deeply felt the eminent accomplishments of Asian and African Studies in Europe and the United States, especially teaching and research in African Studies. In certain fields their accomplishments and research are world-class, and they have accumulated a wealth of experience in areas such as cultivation of talents, professional facilities, and research management, places which are worthy of commendation and from which others can learn, whereas there remains a definite gap between China's level research and teaching on Africa and the world-class level. Against the background of African Studies increasingly coming into vogue in China, this essay intends to conduct a systemic review of the origins and development of China's teaching of indigenous African languages, missions and challenges as well as future prospects and challenges, in order to aid in exploring the thinking behind the construction of soft power in Sino—African relations. |
| 中国的非洲本土语言教学：缘起与发展 |
China's teaching of indigenous African languages: origins and development |
| 20世纪50年代末60年代初，民族解放运动蓬勃发展，大批亚非国家相继独立。为发展中国与亚非国家的友好关系，周恩来总理从我国外交工作的长远利益出发，指出在与亚非各国人民的交往中，为了尊重新获得独立的人民的民族感情，一定要重视非洲本民族的语言。遵照周恩来总理的指示，1960年8月，北京广播学院（现中国传媒大学）首次开设斯瓦希里语专业，共招收27名学生，由中央广播事业局委派英语翻译陈家宇先生与斯瓦希里语专家拉扎克共同开展“以英语、汉语为媒介的斯瓦希里语教学“。此后，在周总理的亲自过问下，北京外国语学院（现北京外国语大学，下称北外）开始设置亚非语言专业，斯瓦希里语专业于1961年建立，豪萨语专业于1964年建立；1965年，北京广播学院又先后开设了豪萨语和祖鲁语专业。斯瓦希里语、豪萨语和祖鲁语成为迄今为止在中国教授的3门非洲本土语言。 |
In the late 1950s and early 1960s, with the flourishing development of national liberation movements, a large group of Asian and African countries gained independence one after the other. In order to develop China's friendly relations with Asian and African countries, Premier Zhou Enlai, with a view towards the long-term interests of our country's diplomacy, pointed out that in the relations with the peoples of the various Asian and African countries, in order to demonstrate respect for the national feelings of these countries which had newly gained independence, it was necessary to show proper attention to the local languages of Africa. In accordance with Premier Zhou's instructions, in August 1960, the Beijing Broadcasting Institute (BBI; now CUC, the Communication University of China) established the first Swahili major, with an intake of 27 students, which was jointly conducted by the Central Broadcasting Bureau's English interpreter Mr. Chen Jiayu and Swahili expert Razak, using English and Chinese as the media of instruction in order to teach Swahili. Aside from this, under Premier Zhou's guidance, the Beijing Foreign Language Institute (BFLI; now BUFS, the Beijing University of Foreign Studies) established majors in Asian and African languages, with the Swahili major being set up in 1961, and the Hausa major in 1964; in 1965, the BBI also successively introduced majors in Hausa and isiZulu. Swahili, Hausa, and isiZulu have continued to be the three indigenous African languages taught in China up to the present day ... |
| 中国的非洲本土语言教学不辍耕耘，50年成就实属不易。从20世纪60年代教学伊始，它就面临着师资力量薄弱、教材和工具书匮乏等诸多困难，但师生们的荣誉感和使命感使他们克服了语言学习中的许多障碍。北京广播学院1961年开设斯瓦希里语专业的次年，中苏关系继续恶化，一些在该学院工作的苏联斯瓦希里语专家或回国，或前往莫斯科电台工作，刚刚建立的斯瓦希里语专业面临夭折之虞。在这种艰难的条件下，北京广播学院教师金荣景先生，组织班级骨干成立教学中心小组，组织大家以自学的方式继续学业。当时没有教材，师生们仅凭坦桑过期报《自由报纸》（Uhuru）与《民族主义者报》（Mzalendo）当做教材，进行学习研读，直到一年后外籍专家优素福到来，教学才重新回到正轨。 |
China's teaching of indigeneous African languages plowed ahead without stopping, bringing with it fifty years of achievements in the face of adversity. From the beginning of teaching in the 1960s, it faced teachers with weak qualifications, shortages of teaching materials and reference books, and many other difficulties, but teachers' and students' sense of honour and duty allowed them to overcome the many barriers to their language learning. In 1961, the year after the Beijing Broadcasting Institute set up its Swahili major, Sino-Soviet relations continued to worsen, and some Soviet Swahili experts who had worked at the school returned home or transferred to Radio Moscow [now Voice of Russia] to work, and the newly-established Swahili major faced the risk of collapse. Under these these difficult conditions, BBI instructor Mr. Jin Rongjing organised the class cadres to establish a small group within the teaching centre so that everyone to continue their education by self-study. At that time, lacking any textbooks, the teachers and students could only use Tanzania's periodicals Freedom (Uhuru) and The Nationalist (Mzalendo) as teaching materials to conduct their studies, until one year later when the foreign expert Yusuf arrived and the teaching got back on track. |
| “文革”期间, 中国的高等教育和学术研究出现倒退，“十年浩劫”还掀起了一股解散和取消亚非“非通用语”的浪潮，认为英语、法语等通用语能够代替一切，而英语、法语之外的“非通用语”则被边缘化。在此影响下，中央各部门相继取消或削减了非洲语言人才的编制，造成毕业生分配学非所用，学生和教师的积极性都受到了极大挫伤，师资大量流失，招生规模锐减，中国的非洲语言教学第一次面临严重危机。 |
During the "Cultural Revolution", education and academic research in China's higher educational institutions regressed, leading to a decade-long wave of cancellation and dissolution of "less-common languages" of Asia and Africa. With the belief that English, French, and other linguae francae could replace all the others, programs in "less-common languages" besides English and French were marginalised. Under the influence of this belief, central government departments successively cancelled or pared down the system for cultivating talents in African languages, causing graduates' skills to go to waste, dealing a sharp blow to students' and teachers' enthusiasm, sharply reducing the scale of intake of students, and leaving China's teaching of indigenous African languages to face a severe crisis. |
Arbitrary break to insert a random picture of a page from my Swahili textbook |
| “文革”结束后，高等院校的教学和科研工作得以恢复。改革开放初期，中国由封闭转向开放，人们的思维方式、价值取向发生了明显变化，英语和法语可以取代非洲本土语言的思想再次出现，非洲本土语言教学又受到冲击。为适应新的形势，1983年，北外亚非系进行改革试点，将原有的四年学制改为五年，并实行非通用语加英语的双语制教学，斯瓦希里语专业和豪萨语专业的学生先后经历了这场教学改革，在入校的前两年学习英语和公共课程，后两年进行非洲语言学习。学生的英语水平在一定程度上得到了提高，就业面扩大，但非通用语的学习热情不高，导致非洲语种人才培养质量的全面下降。 |
After the end of the "Cultural Revolution", teaching and research work at higher educational institutions resumed. In the early days of reform and opening up, as China turned from a closed to an open society, an obvious change occurred within people's ways of thinking and value orientations. The idea that English and French could replace indigenous African languages again appeared, and the teaching of indigenous African languages again came under attack. In order to adapt to this new trend, in 1983 BFLI's Asian and African Languages Department conducted trial reforms, extending its old four-year academic programme into a five-year one, and implementing a bilingual system of education in which both a less-common Language and English were taught. Students of Swahili and Hausa majors successively experienced this change, in which they studied English during their first two years in school, and then advanced to African languages during the latter years. Students' English skills showed a definite improvement, broadening their employment opportunities, but their enthusiasm for studying less-common languages was not high, leading to an overall decline in the quality of cultivation of talent in African languages. |
| 1987年中国亚非语教学研究会成立，推动了非通用语专业的学科发展。这期间，凝聚了从事非洲语种教学的老一代教师数十年心血和智慧的教科书得以出版，如章培智编著的《斯瓦希里语语法》，沈志英、曹勤编著的《斯瓦希里语》，程汝祥编著的《简明豪萨语语法》、王正龙、牛家昌编著的《豪萨语》等，这些成果代表了中国非洲本土语言教学研究的较高水平，为中国的非洲语言教学作出了巨大贡献。1995年1月，坦桑政府首次向世界各国有关人士颁发“促进斯瓦希里语发展国际优秀学者奖”，中国的谢佑昆、陈伴年、葛公尚、陈元猛等获此殊荣，这是坦桑政府对在中国的斯瓦希里语传播作出杰出贡献者的最高奖项。 |
In 1987, the Association for Asian and African Language Teaching was set up, and began promoting the academic development of majors in less-common languages. In this period, there were published textbooks which brought into a coherent form the effort and wisdom of the old generation of teachers of indigenous African languages, for example Zhang Peizhi's Swahili Grammar, Shen Zhiying and Cao Qin's Kiswahili, Cheng Ruxiang's Concise Hausa Grammar, and Wang Zhenglong and Niu Jiachang's Hausa. These achievements demonstrated the high level of China's teaching and research in indigenous African languages, and made a giant contribution to the teaching of indigenous African languages in China. In January 1995, the Tanzanian government presented notable people from various countries with the International Outstanding Scholar Promotion of Swahili Award; in China, Xie Youkun, Chen Bannian, Ge Gongshang, and Chen Yuanmang received this special honour, the Tanzanian government's highest award to the people who made outstanding contributions to the spread of the Swahili language in China. |
| 2000年10月以来，随着中非政治和经贸关系的快速发展，国际媒体、西方智库，以及学术界有关中非关系的报道和讨论急剧升温，中非关系迅速成为一门“显学“。非洲本土语言教学也被给予了更多的关注。2000年，教育部设立了7个“国家外语非通用语本科人才培养基地”，北外和中国传媒大学都被列入，2007年，这两所大学的相关院系又被批准成为高校特色专业建设点，它的设立极大地推动了非洲本土语言专业的建设和发展。在此期间，教师的学历层次、学缘结构有了明显改善，部分教师在非洲高校取得语言文学硕士学位后，开始攻读跨文化研究方面博士学位；非洲语种教学单位在此期间购置了非洲地区和对象国有关人文社会科学的图书与工具书，还订阅了部分非洲国家的报章及欧美的非洲研究学术刊物，极大丰富了教学和科研资料。 |
Since October 2000, along with the rapid development of Sino-African political and trade relations, reports from international media, Western think tanks, and academia discussing those relations have risen in temperature, rapidly becoming a "field of studies" of its own. The teaching of indigenous African languages is thus receiving more attention [and bringing with it horrible new academic-bureaucratic jargon, for whose mangled mistranslation the reader may hopefully forgive me]. In 2000, the Ministry of Education established seven "National-Level Foreign Language Less-Common Language Undergraduate Training Bases", among which BFSU and CUC were both listed. In 2007, the two universities' relevant departments where also authorised to become "Higher Education Unusual Discipline Establishment Points", the establishment of which greatly promoted the creation and development of majors in indigenous African languages. During this period, the degree requirements for instructors and the academic structure showed obvious improvement, and a portion of instructors, after obtaining language or literature degrees from institutions of higher learning in Africa, began to study for doctoral degrees in areas of intercultural research; indigenous African-language educational departments in this period purchased relevant humanities and social science publications and reference works of the African region and [specific] target countries, and subscribed to periodicals from certain African countries as well as academic journals of Europe and the U.S., greatly enriching the resources available for teaching and research. |
| 在经济全球化和教育国际化的发展形势下，学校选派非洲语种专业在校生赴对象国进行为期半年至一年的访学活动，从而为学生直接认知非洲、提高学生的跨文化交际能力提供了良好条件，开拓了国际化视野。这个时期的教材编著成果也十分丰硕，曹勤、孙宝华、冯玉培共同编著的《新编斯瓦希里语》、陈元猛编著的《斯瓦希里语高级阅读》、冯玉培编著的《斯瓦希里语口语课程》、程汝祥编著的《豪萨语口语课本》和孙晓萌编著的《豪萨语听说教程》相继出版。2006年9月，天津外国语学院开设了斯瓦希里语专业。2008年9月，解放军外国语学院也建立了斯瓦希里语专业，从而使中国教授非洲语言的高校由2所增加到4所，北京大学外国语学院也在计划设立非洲语种专业。非洲语言的教学和研究出现了前所未有的高涨局面。 |
Along with the development of the trend of economic globalisation and internationalisation, schools chose students majoring in African languages to be sent to schools in their target countries for half a year to a year as exchange students, in order to give students a chance for direct contact with Africa, to provide the right conditions for enhancing their intercultural communicative competence, and to help them develop an internationalised perspective. This period was quite fruitful in terms of the teaching materials produced, such as Cao Qin, Sun Baohua, and Feng Yupei's jointly-authored Kiswahili: New Edition, Chen Yuanmang's Advanced Swahili Reader, Feng Yupei's Course in Spoken Swahili, Cheng Ruxiang's Spoken Hausa Textbook, and Sun Xiaoming's Hausa Listening Course. In September 2006, the Tianjin Foreign Languages Institute established its major in Swahili language. In October 2008, the People's Liberation Army Foreign Language Institute also established a major in Swahili language, bringing the number of higher educational institutions in China offering courses in languages of Africa from two to four. Peking University's School of Foreign Languages is also planning to set up majors in African languages. Teaching and research in African languages is showing an unprecedented level of expansion. |
| 总体而言，中国非洲本土语言教学开展50年来，培养了一批外语基本功扎实、知识面广、综合素质好、掌握非通用语加英语（或法语）的“复语型“人才和非通用语加经贸（或外交、法律、新闻）的“复合型“人才，其中有的担任毛泽东主席、周恩来总理等党和国家领导人的翻译，有的出任驻坦桑、乌干达、塞舌尔等国大使、常驻联合国环境规划署代表等要职，为增进我国与非洲国家的友好关系作出了积极贡献。 |
On the whole, in China's fifty years of teaching of indigenous African languages, we have been able to cultivate a group of talented individuals with a strong basis in foreign languages, a wide range of knowledge, and high overall quality, who are multilingual in English and French which are widely used in Africa, as well as multi-skilled in trade, diplomacy, law, or journalism. Among them, many have served as translators for Chairman Mao, Premier Zhou, and other party and state leaders, as the ambassadors to Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya, and Senegal, as permanent representatives to the United Nations Environmental Programme, and in other important positions, and have energetically contributed to advancing our friendly relations with African countries. |
Indeed, Mainland Chinese students' interest in the Swahili language seems to be increasing, at least judging from the continued flow of instructional books. Aside from the works mentioned above, in 2010 the first Swahili language-related books from private publishers appeared: a pictorial dictionary from Commercial Press (co-edited by Wei Yuanyuan, a student of Feng's), followed by an introductory book from China Astronautic Publishing House in 2012. The fact that private publishers think there's money to be made in this market seems to be a good sign for the future vitality of Swahili language teaching in China. And even as we speak, there are people like Yellingstone (a former student of Germanic Studies, apparently) hard at work in Nairobi compiling a new Swahili–Chinese dictionary.
However, Hong Kong has not taken advantage of any of the fruits of the mainland's efforts in teaching Swahili and Hausa to Sinophone students. (The inverse trend — the increasing numbers of Africans who have become proficient in Mandarin and Cantonese through the demands of doing business in Guangdong — goes similarly unnoticed here in our One Country, Two Systems bubble). Our public library and major university libraries do not physically hold any Chinese-language textbooks or dictionaries for teaching Swahili — though they do hold a few American and British introductory courses (imported, no doubt, at much higher cost):
- Hong Kong Public Library: none in Chinese, fourteen physical books in English
- Chinese University: seems to have the most extensive holdings, with four e-books (no physical books) in Chinese and 12 physical books and 4 e-books in other languages, oddly including Morino and Nakajima's 1990 Swahili–Japanese dictionary (OCLC 170138660)
- Hong Kong University: none in Chinese (the single search result is, again, Morino and Nakajima's dictionary, which for some reason was categorised under a Chinese subject heading), and a difficult-to-count number in English (31 subjects containing "Swahili language", but most books are categorised under multiple subjects)
- University of Science and Technology: none in Chinese, seven physical books and two e-books in English
- Polytechnic University: none in Chinese, one physical book and two e-books in English (none of which are instructional books)
- City University: three e-books (no physical books) in Chinese, seven physical books and two e-books in English
That's right — not a single Hong Kong library holds a physical copy of a Swahili–Chinese dictionary, but two of them have Swahili—Japanese dictionaries. This is part of a larger pattern: Hong Kong businesses do little to tap the mainland's wealth of linguistic talent either. About the extent I've seen is a few professors of Russian from Beijing Foreign Studies University who came south in the 1980s and eventually opened language schools (including the one I used to study at), and the occasional Chinese–Korean–English–Japanese quadrilingual ethnic Korean from Yanbian employed in an investment bank (Tokyo has a lot more of them than Hong Kong does).
If Hong Kong was really in need of more Swahili–Chinese bilinguals, for example in order to provide interpreters for our courts, police, and businesspeople, we could presumably brain-drain some of China Radio International's excess Swahili-speaking talent — but of course, in the present political environment the suggestion that the Hong Kong civil service or businesses should hire mainlanders, even as outside contractors, would go over about as well as a lead water-balloon. People cling to the deep-seated attitude that the mainland has nothing to offer us besides ill-gotten investment dollars, rude tourists, political interference, and cheap unskilled labour which will push down wages for locals. And, I suppose the fact that I'm writing this right after C. Y. Leung's (s)election can itself be interpreted as a political statement ...
Bibliography
Each post in this series will include a bibliography. For the first one, here's a list of instructional books and linguistic papers aimed at Chinese learners of Swahili. Abbreviations used: NLC refers to the National Library of China's catalogue (系统号; unfortunately, thanks to their antiquated search system, it's impossible to "hotlink" search results); OCLC refers to the Online Computer Library Centre, which lives up to its name — you can click on the OCLC numbers and go straight to their webpage to see if any libraries near you hold the works in question.
- 外文出版社编辑。《斯汉辞典》 Kamusi ya kiswahili–kichina。北京：人民画报社，1971年。OCLC 297550709。012000900672。
English description: Foreign Languages Publishing House (editor). Swahili–Chinese Dictionary. Beijing: China Pictorial, 1971.
- 沈志英、曹勤、孙宝华、冯玉培编著。《斯瓦希里语》 Kiswahili。北京：外语教学与研究出版社，1989至1991年。OCLC 768720609。
English description: Shen Zhiying, Cao Qin, Sun Baohua, Feng Yupei (editors). Kiswahili. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Publishing Press, 1989 to 1991.
- 章培智编。《斯瓦希里语语法》 Sarufi Ya Kiswahili。北京：外语教学与研究出版社，1990年。OCLC 768694612。
English description: Zhang Peizhi (editor). Swahili Grammar. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 1990.
- 冯玉培编。《斯瓦希里语文学作品选读》 Fasihi Ya Kiswahili。北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2002年。OCLC 301874944。
English description: Feng Yupei (editor). Selections of Swahili Literature. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2002.
- 冯玉培编著。《斯瓦希里语口语教程》 Mazungumzo ya Kiswahili。北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2003年。OCLC 302117597。
English description: Feng Yupei (editor). Course in Spoken Swahili. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2003.
- 陈元猛编。《斯瓦希里语高级阅读》 Maandishi Mbalimbali Ya Kiswahili。北京：北京广播学院出版社，2004年。OCLC 302001156。
Chen Yuanmang (editor). Advanced Swahili Reader. Beijing: Broadcasting Institute Press, 2004. A selection of eight pieces from seven Tanzanian authors, including poetry, short stories, plays, and excerpts from novels.
- 魏媛媛著；冯玉培指导。《斯瓦希里语的发展与全球化》。硕士论文。北京：北京外国语大学，2006年。NLC 004219298。
English description: Wei Yuanyuan, Feng Yupei (supervisor). The Development and Globalisation of the Swahili Language. M.A. dissertation. Beijing: Beijing Foreign Studies University, 2006.
- 曹勤、孙宝华、冯玉培编著。《新编斯瓦希里语》。北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2007至2009年。OCLC 421754593、421605547。
English description: Cao Qin, Sun Baohua, Feng Yupei (editors). Kiswahili: New Edition. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press, 2007 to 2009.
- 王庚年、许琳主编。《每日汉语、斯瓦希里语》 Jifunze kichina。北京：中国国际广播出版社，2009年。OCLC 678974957。
English description: Wang Gengnian, Xu Lin (editors). Everyday Chinese and Swahili. Beijing: China Radio International Press, 2009.
- 吴月梅主编；魏媛媛斯瓦希里文翻译。《汉语图解词典：斯瓦希里语版》。北京：商务印书馆，2010年。OCLC 678949163。
English description: Wu Yuemei (editor); Wei Yuanyuan (Swahili translation). Chinese Pictorial Dictionary: Swahili Edition. Beijing: Commercial Press, 2010.
- 孙宝华编。《斯瓦希里语习惯用语》 Misemo na nahau za kiswahili。北京：外语教学与研究出版社，2010年。
English description: Sun Baohua (Editor). Swahili Idioms and Expressions. Beijing: Foreign Language Teaching and Research Press.
- 法迪利·姆鹏杰著；陈莲英编译。《斯瓦希里语日常会话手册》 Maongezi ya Kawaida ya Kiswahili。北京：中国国际广播出版社，2011年。ISBN 9787507833638。
English description: Fadhili Mpunji (author); Chen Lianying (editor and translator). Swahili Daily Conversation Handbook. Beijing: China Radio International Press, 2011.
- 朱思敏编著。《零起点轻松说斯瓦希里语》。北京：中国宇航出版社，2012年。ISBN 9787515901374。
English description: Zhu Simin (editor). Easy Beginner's Swahili. Beijing: China Astronautic Publishing House, 2012.
And that's it for today. Next time I'll answer the obvious question: what exactly did all of mainland China's Swahili-speakers do after they graduated?
Ming Pao writes an article about workplace discrimination against South Asians in Hong Kong. The Equal Opportunities Commission report referred to in the below article is available here in English or here in Chinese.
| 南亞裔嘆職場歧視 多「豬頭骨」工作 |
South Asians bemoan workplace discrimination, bad jobs |
| http://news.sina.com.hk/news/2/1/1/2615011/1.html |
| 【明報專訊】平等機會委員會最新完成報告顯示，本地南亞裔人因書寫中文能力有關，找工作成為生活中最大困難，有南亞裔人表示受到不平等對待，因為他們被派擔任「3D」（即Dangerous、Difficult、Dirty，意為危險、困難和骯髒）工作情况較多，即使完成任務，亦不會獲得應有讚賞，並認為晉升機會較低。 |
[Ming Pao exclusive report] A recently-completed report by the Equal Opportunities Commission shows that for local South Asians, due to their level of ability in written Chinese, finding a job becomes the biggest problem in their lives. Some South Asians stated that they have been treated unfairly and are often assigned to "3D" (Dangerous, Difficult, Dirty) jobs comparatively often. Even when they complete their duties, they do not receive the recognition they merit, and believe that their chances of advancement are low. |
| 平機會於2010年10月至2011年4月進行「有關南亞裔人士對種族之間接觸及歧視經驗」研究，進行19次小組訪問，涉及107人，當中27人是巴基斯坦和尼泊爾籍，其餘是華人及非政府組織人士。 |
From October 2010 to April 2011, the EOC carried out a research project "Racial Encounters and Discrimination Experienced by South Asians", during which they conducted nineteen small-group interviews involving 107 people, among whom 27 were of Pakistani or Nepalise background, while the remainder were ethnic Chinese or persons working for non-governmental organisations. |
| 歧視不太嚴重有改善 |
Discrimination not too serious, has improved |
| 結果發現，南亞裔人士認為香港的歧視情况不算太嚴重，又指歧視在過去10年有所改善，不過有懂得廣東話的南亞裔人士在職者指出，曾獲邀參加面試，但當僱主見到他們，便運用各種原因如不懂書寫中文等理由拒絕聘用，最後不少南亞人只能做危險、困難和骯髒的工作，晉升機會亦很低。 |
The survey found that South Asians believe that the situation of discrimination in Hong Kong is not especially serious, and has improved in the past 10 years, but employed South Asians who understand Cantonese point out that they have often been invited to attend interviews, but when the employers see them, they often use a variety of excuses such as their insufficient understanding of written Chinese in order to refuse to employ them, and in the end many South Asians have no choice but to accept difficult, dangerous, and dirty jobs in which the chance for advancemment is low. |
| 平機會主席林煥光表示，政府應放寬部分職系公務員招聘的中文水平要求，例如紀律部隊，帶頭僱用少數族裔。他又認為一般僱主應彈性處理對南亞裔人士的語文要求，指不少南亞裔人士英文水平不俗，聘請他們對公司會有幫助。 |
EOC chair Lam Woon-kwong stated, the government should loosen certain civil service positions' required standard of Chinese language skills for recruitment, for example in the Disciplined Services, and lead the way in employing ethnic minorities. He also believes that ordinary employers should be flexible in dealing with language requirements for South Asians, and pointed out that many South Asians speak a good level of English and that employing them would be helpful for companies. |
| 另外，由於缺乏共同語言和認識對方文化不足，港人與南亞裔人在個人和家庭層面上甚少接觸，社會融合度不高。報告引述一些歧視個案，包括有南亞裔人走近即掩鼻、在公共交通工具沒有人坐在南亞裔人旁邊、被銀行拒絕開設個人戶口及申領信用卡等。有南亞裔人表示，在街上曾遭警察截停並用粗言穢語喝罵他「阿差」，另外有受訪者表示在地盤被稱呼「黑柴」，感到被侮辱。 |
Additionally, due to the lack of a common language and insufficient understanding of each other's cultures, Hong Kong people and South Asians have very little contact at the individual or familial levels, and a low degree of societal integration. The report discussed cases of discrimination, including people holding their noses when South Asians approached or refusing to sit next to them on public transportation, as well as banks refusing to open personal accounts or accept applications for credit cards. Some South Asian businesspeople stated, on the street they have encountered police officers who stop them and address them with foul language such as "ah cha", and one interviewee stated he was even addressed on a construction site as "hak chai" [literally, "black wood"], causing him to feel insulted. |
| 甚少求助平機會 |
Rarely seek assistance from EOC |
| 林煥光說，南亞裔人士甚少向平機會投訴，估計與作風保守的民族背景有關，自從《種族歧視》條例於2009年7月實施以來，至今年2月底只接獲140宗投訴個案，數字偏低，由於當事人不願投訴，平機會亦難以介入事件。 |
Lam said, South Asians rarely file complaints with the EOC, a fact he believes is related to their conservative ethnic background. Since the implementation of the Race Discrimination Ordinance in July 2009 until February of this year, the EOC has only received 140 complaints, a very low number. Because many victims are unwilling to complain, it is difficult for the EOC to become involved. |
Fundamentally, I think Lam is missing the point of his own organisation's report. South Asians who understand written Chinese and who go for interviews (often after seeing job ads written in Chinese in the first place) find that interviewers refuse to employ them. Is their alleged lack of written Chinese skills the real reason, or merely an excuse by employers? And if South Asians are indeed graduating from the public education system with an insufficient command of written Chinese, then instead of telling employers to "be flexible", Lam should have a talk with the Education Bureau about how to solve the problem, for example by making changes in Chinese as a Second Language curriculum (perhaps extending it to the kindergarten level), or taking a long, hard look at the "designated schools" policy. In particular his comments that South Asians speak good English are symptomatic of the same old ridiculous attitude I mentioned five years ago:
Basic principle: bilingual societies are run for the benefit of their bilingual elite, not for the benefit of monolinguals of either stripe ... and the goal of the bilingual elite inevitably becomes the restriction of its numbers, in order to increase their rent-extraction capabilities. Hence, inadequate Chinese-language instruction provided to ethnic minority students, overlooked on the grounds that since they and their parents speak some English, and Hong Kong is a bilingual society, everything's a-ok. (Just to make it really funny, when the ethnic minority kids apply for jobs, discriminate against them on the grounds that they have poor Chinese skills, even if they attended Chinese-medium schools). Like California, just with different languages. It's part of a wider attitude towards linguistic integration, an attitude which pretends variously to be humble ("Why should we make anyone learn Cantonese? It's just a local language"), internationalist ("We can all use English to communicate, and improve everyone's English standards!"), and multiculturalist ("Teaching them in Cantonese and making them learn English as well might affect the maintenance of their heritage language skills"), but in reality is just plain exclusionary.
Coincidentally, soon after the EOC released its report, Te-Ping Chen of the The Wall Street Journal blog China Realtime posted an article "Hong Kong's 'Embarrassing' Racial Attitudes" about another survey of police officers which came out at the same time — unfortunately that survey is not available online. Certainly, as mentioned above "random" ID card checks are a very sore topic for many South Asian residents in Hong Kong.
Thanks to Uyanga of M.A.D. Mongolia for tweeting my last post about Ulaanbaatar vs. Hohhot. Now it's time for some more Mongolian lyrics: "Tolgoi deeshee" (Head Up), from my hometown boy SeriouZ. Watch it on YouTube.
I like this one a lot, and not just because most of the scenes in the video were shot in the Bay Area. (Laney College down near Lake Merritt is clearly visible. The final scene with the PacBell phone is right outside the Concord Health Center — the former "Adult Health Clinic", which I guess changed its name because it got sick of us smartass kids making STD jokes about it back in the day — you can even see the phone booth on Google Street View). The lyrics offer both encouragement and rebuke from the narrator to his friend who's wasting his potential. Not just Mongolian immigrants in Oakland but all of us who are from that city but moved away and left friends behind can relate to this one ...
| Толгой дээшээ |
Head Up |
| 0:40, 0:50: Дахлит x2 |
0:40, 0:50: Chorus x2 |
Тэвчээртэй бай анд минь чи
Тэгүүл чамд бүх юм ирнэ
Тэнд чиний аз жаргал гийнэ
Тэрэнд хүр бүгдийг нь хий |
Be patient, my friend
Everything comes to you,
Your happiness is shining there
Everything there, just do it |
| 0:59: Бадаг 1 |
0:59: Verse 1 |
Чи залуу хүн чамд юу байна хүч байна
Чи залхуурч хэвтсээр тархи чинь усаар дүүрч байна
Чамайг гэдэг хүмүүс чамд халуун хайраа өгч байна
Үргэлж чиний буруу чиний зөв ч бай |
You're a young guy, what have you got, you've got strength
But you're screwing around
And your brain is filling up with water (???)
People are giving you fervent love
Always, whether you're wrong or right |
| 1:09 |
1:09 |
Өглөө мандах наран биднийг шарна халуун элчээр
Өнөөдрийг өчигдөр шиг даваад гарна өөрийн хүчээр
Өнгөтэй ганган харагдахгүй ч яадаг юм зүгээр
өмсөх хувцастай л байвал болоо шүүдээ |
The sun rising in the morning burns us and wears us out
But today, like yesterday, we succeed with a new strength
Even if the exuberant colours can't be seen
Whatever happens, whatever direction you take
With just the clothes you're wearing, it'll be okay, don't worry |
| 1:19 |
1:19 |
Намайг битгий үзэн яд надруу битгий муухай хар
Чамд ерөөсөө хамаагүй юмны тухай битгий ярь
Мөрөөрөө байга хүнийг зүгээр байлга битгий оролд
Мөрөөдөлөө биелүүлэх гэж үз тэрэхийн оронд |
Don't hate me, don't give me angry looks
Don't talk to me about things that don't matter to you
Don't mess with the people beside you for no reason
Go see about making your dreams come true instead |
| 1:29 |
1:29 |
Мөнгөтэй бол үр цац тэр чиний хэрэг
Мөнх биш бидний амьдрал бүгд мэднэ
Анд минь чи бүхнийг чадна толгой дээшээ
Ард чинь би байна, толгой дохиод мишээ |
Go get rich, go scatter seeds, that's what you have to do
Everyone knows our life isn't forever
My friend, you can [do it], [keep your] head up
I'm behind you, nodding my head and smiling |
| 1:40, 1:50: Дахилт x2 |
1:40, 1:50: Chorus x2 |
| 2:00: Бадаг 2 |
2:00: Verse 2 |
Чамд мөнгө байлаа гээд чи бусдад томрох хэрэггүй
Чамин ганган бүхнийг хэрэглэдэг чи ээжийн эрх хүү
Чангахан амьдралийг туулж яваа бид жинхэнэ эр хүн
Чармаа нүцгэн гараар босгох амьдрал хэцүү |
You got money, no need to pretend you're bigger than others
Using all your flashiness, you're just a mama's boy
We're real men who went and mastered [this] intense life,
The life [we] built up with [our] bare hands is hard |
| 2:10 |
2:10 |
Чадалтай чадалгүй чадна, надад байна миний гэр бүл
Чарайгаад явж байхад болох байлгүй нэг өдөр
Ярайгаад хүлээж байгаа миний хувь тавилан тэр дээр
Яаж ийгээд хүрнэ гэж зүтгэдэг хүмүүс тийм биздээ |
Powerful [or] powerless [I] can do [it], my family is with me
Maybe one day (чарайгаад явж байхад болох)
I'm standing in line biding my time, my destiny is up there
People who always try hard
So they can somehow accomplish things |
| 2:20 |
2:20 |
Ядуу хүний яаж амьдардгийг баячууд харах дуртай
Ядарч яваа нэгнээ дарлаж бахаа хангах дуртай
Яагаад ч юм би бодно энэ дууг дуулах бүртээ
Ядаж нэгнээ хайрлаж суралдаа хүмүүсээ |
Rich people like seeing how poor people's lives are
[They] like to oppress and crow over the tired ones
No matter what, every time I sing this song that I'm thinking of
But some people taught each other how to love |
| 2:30 |
2:30 |
Өөртөө итгэ энэ хэдэн үгийг сайн санаж яв
Өрөөлрүү биш өөрийгөө эхлээд толинд харж ав
Цаг хугацаа явсаар байна толгой дээшээ
Яг юу хүссэнээ хий амьдрал тоглоом бишээ |
Go think well about these words you believe
Take a look in the mirror
Not at others but [what] you yourself started
Time is passing, [keep your] head up
Do what you want, life is not a game |
| 2:40, 2:50: Дахилт x2 |
2:40, 2:50: Chorus x2 |
| 3:00: Бадаг 3 |
3:00: Verse 3 |
Хэзээ нэг хүмүүс жаргалтай сайхан амьдрах юм бол доо
Хэлүүлэхгүй уучлаарай гэчихгүй жоохон тийм юмдаа
Зөрөе гэхээр томорлоо гэнэ, зөв юмыг буруу гэнэ
Зөвхөн чи шийднэ тэгээл хийж чадуул шинэ соёл чинь тэр |
Whenever people are happy and living a good life
Don't mention the apology they could not be made to say
In order to say "let's go our separate ways"
You say томорлоо, you say whatever's right is wrong
But whatever you decided, you can just do it
That's your new culture (???) |
| 3:10 |
3:10 |
Өмсөж зүүснээр нь бүү ялга тэр ч бас яг л чам шиг
Өөрөө чи амьдралдаа эзэн алдаж мэднэ ийм юм байх юм чинь
Инээгээд өнгөрнө эр хүн гүрийнэ иймэрхүү юм тэвчинэ
Энэнээс илүүг үзнэ ээдрээтэй бараан хорвоо ирж байна |
Don't judge people by what they wear, they're just like you
You yourself in your life know that you эзэн алдаж
Guys who pass by laughing are hiding something
Whatever happens, just tolerate it
[Who] watches энэнээс илүүг
[And a] twisted dark world comes |
| 3:20 |
3:20 |
Арай зузаан түрийвчтэй гээд бусдыгаа бүү дээрэлхээч
Адилхан амьдрах гэж зовж байна битгий новшын юм хэлээч
Амны бэлгээс ашдын бэлэг алдаж яваадаа гараа сунга
Алхам тутам асуудал ахих болгонд бүх юм чанга |
Don't mistreat others just because your wallet's thick,
You have the same worries in life, so don't say any garbage
From an important gift, a permanent sign will come out
Just stretch out [your] hand
Every step you take and every question, [do it] all loudly |
| 3:30 |
3:30 |
Нэг л хэвийн амьдрал нэхэл хатуутай хорвоо хэцүү
Нэмэр болох хүн ховор ганцаар зүтгээд ядарч эцэв
Элест нь хэлэхэд би ялгаагүй зовж яваа хүн
Хүн чанар нэгнээ гэх сэтгэл одоо алга юм |
Only one ordinary life, in a hard world
People who contribute are rare
They exerted themselves alone and got tired
In the end, I'm no different, I'm a person who worries,
People now do not have just one heart |
| 3:40, 3:50: Дахилт x2 |
3:40, 3:50: Chorus 2x |
Giant lexicography goose chase of the day: Tons of them. As I belatedly realised, there's three versions of these lyrics floating around the internet. One of them is filled with grammatical errors. Another is pretty much entirely wrong. I of course found that one, and then the third one, which is filled with spelling errors and mondegreens:
- минь (meaning "mine") spelled as минэ (which is coincidentally romanised as "mine" in English)
- эрхгүй (powerless) for "хэрэггүй" (unnecessary)
- ярайгаад ("stood in rows") turned into яриагаад (don't think this is grammatical; "in my own speech", roughly). It took me a while to figure out which one was the typo and which one the real word. The root verb ярайх itself was not easy to find. Lessing didn't have it. I couldn't figure out how to spell it in classical script to look it up in Inner Mongolian dictionaries (my only guess, ᠢᠷᠠᠢᠬᠤ iraiqu, turns out to be another verb meaning "to appear dense", which made no sense in context). Eventually a Google Books search turned it up in the glossary in the back of a 1960s introductory textbook.
- ирж байна ("is coming") replaced by иржийнэ ("is grainy")
- өнгөрнө ("[you] pass by") becoming өнгөрөө ("[your] own tarnish")
- And my personal favourite: "тэгэхийн оронд" (instead of doing it that way) written as "тэхын оронд" (instead of a goat).
"Чарайгаад", which puzzled my stemmer and me for a little bit, is a near-Googlewhackblatt. It only appeared on the internet twice, both in copies of these lyrics. (Now thanks to me it appears once more). Indeed it appears to be a hapax legomenon. Normally among nouns only numbers take the -(г)аад ending; I guess the lyricist stretched the limits of Mongolian grammar a bit so that he'd have something to rhyme with ярайгаад in the next line. It's certainly easier to make things rhyme in agglutinative languages than in inflecting or isolating ones like English or Chinese, but that doesn't always mean it's a walk in the park!
Another thing that occurred to me while reading this: standard textbooks give a very incomplete treatment of the verb болох (literally "to become", but in practise having lots more uses).
An interesting piece from 2010 by an Inner Mongolian expat in "Outer" Mongolia has been floating around the webforums again, so I figured I'd translate it. It's a comparison of Ulaanbaatar (the capital of Mongolia) and Hohhot (the capital of China's Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region).
| 乌兰巴托VS呼和浩特 |
Ulaanbaatar vs. Hohhot |
| http://budune.wordpress.com/2010/06/24/乌兰巴托VS呼和浩特/ |
| 虽然我生长在呼市，但在乌兰巴托也生活了8年，所以对这两个城市我想我都有一定得发言权。 |
Even though I was raised in Hohhot City, I've lived in Ulaanbaatar for eight years, so I think I have the freedom of speech to make a comparison between the two places. |
| 1。乌兰巴托的政@府大楼又小又丑，不要说那些高楼大厦，就是很多小区建设的都比政@府大楼有脸面——老百姓比政@府牛B。内蒙古的政@府大楼雄伟无比，个个单位的大楼都非常高，甚至呼市地震局都盖的比蒙古国国会宫体面——政@府比老百姓牛B。 |
1. Ulaanbaatar's government buildings are small and ugly. Don't even mention skyscrapers, even little neighbourhood buildings are bigger and better than the government buildings — the people are bigger than the government. In Inner Mongolia, the government buildings are incomparably great. Every department has a huge tall building, even the Hohhot Earthquake Department is bigger than the Mongolian parliament's building — the government is bigger than the people. |
| 2。UB满大街都是老外——绝对是一座国际城市的调调。呼和浩特满大街都是后山人——俨然一副县级市的感觉。 |
2. UB's streets are full of foreigners — it definitely has the beat of an international city. Hohhot's streets are full of country folks — it feels just like the seat of a rural county. |
| 3。乌兰巴托杂乱无章，市中心的色勒宾河跟臭水沟似的，城市基建非常差——外蒙古的经济不行。呼和浩特虽然城郊结合部比较恶心，但整体上城市基建还凑乎，但要是和乌兰巴托比简直是非常好——内蒙古的经济还是很强悍。 |
3. Ulaanbaatar is chaotic and disorderly. The Selbe River in the city center smells like a drainage ditch, and basic infrastructure is amazingly bad — Outer Mongolia's economy is no good. Hohhot, even though the urban fringe can be disgusting, but on the whole the city's infrastructure is still okay, and if you compare it to Ulaanbaatar it's amazing — Inner Mongolia's economy is quite strong. |
| 4。乌兰巴托的市民平均受教育水平高，很多人都能和街上的老外攀谈家常，谈吐举止也很文明，公共场所绝对没有大声喧哗的事情，即时在小饭馆里也是如此。呼和浩特的市民平均受教育水平一般，不要说和陌生人攀谈，即时对公共事务也不是很关心，公共场所的噪音非常大，饭馆里甚至比马路上的噪音都大。 |
4. Ulaanbaatar's citizens have a high average educational level. Many people can chat easily with the foreigners on the street, they're very civilised and don't spit, you'll never hear loud screaming in public places, even small restaurants are like this. Hohhot's citizens have just an average level of education. They're not going to chat with strangers, public services are not so good, public places are extremely loud, and the inside of small restaurants can be even noisier than the road outside. |
| 5。呼和浩特的卫生情况非常好，但是市民不太注重个人卫生，很多市民都懒的擦鞋，饭馆里的卫生就更不用说了。乌兰巴托的卫生状况特别差，但是市民非常注重个人卫生，天天洗澡自不用说，所有的衣服熨完以后才会穿出门。 |
5. Hohhot as a city is very clean. But people don't place much emphasis on personal care, and don't even bother to shine their shoes. And let's not mention the restaurants. Ulaanbaatar as a city is very dirty, but the people place a great deal of emphasis on personal care, taking showers every day and ironing their clothes before they dare step out their front door. |
| 6。乌兰巴托是一个西方文化底蕴很深的城市，但民族文化也非常浑厚。呼和浩特很“土鳖”，传统文化却保护的并不是很好。 |
6. Ulaanbaatar is a city with a very deep heritage of Western culture, but ethnic culture is also quite vigorous. Hohhot is "hickish", but traditional culture has not been protected very well. |
| 7。乌兰巴托的郊区就是国家公园——高尔汗-特如勒吉国家公园，里面甚至有野生保护动物保护员。后山里甚至有驼鹿、熊、麋，在市区上空都能看都很多种类的珍禽，环境保护的非常好，图拉河依然奔流。呼和浩特的大青山……呼和浩特的郊区……呼和浩特附近的自然环境……呼和浩特的野猫野狗……呼和浩特的打狗队……呼和浩特的小黑河…… |
7. Ulaanbaatar has national parks right on its outskirts — Gorhi-Terelj National Park, where rangers protect the wild animals. In the mountains there's elks, bears, moose, and in the city's skies you can see many different kinds of rare birds. The environment is very well protected, and the Tuul River still flows. Hohhot's Daqing Mountain ... Hohhot's outskirts ... the natural environment around Hohhot ... Hohhot's feral cats and feral dogs ... Hohhot's dog control squad ... Hohhot's Xiaohei river ... |
| 8。呼和浩特的市民文化非常多元，有晋风浓郁的汉文化、有浓重的蒙古风情、有传统的伊斯兰文化。乌兰巴托虽然有很多西方人，也有非常浓厚的俄罗斯文化底蕴，但绝对没有呼和浩特多元。 |
8. The cultures of Hohhot's people are very diverse. There's the rich Shanxi-style Han Chinese culture, the deep-rooted Mongolian customs, and traditional Muslim culture as well. Ulaanbaatar, although it has many Westerners, and a deep heritage of Russian culture, it is definitely not as diverse as Hohhot. |
| 9。呼市治安虽然在国内不算好，但凌晨上街绝对没有很强的不安感，市民大部分很温和，很少有争执。乌兰巴托的治安极其糟糕，乌兰巴托的市民自己都不太敢凌晨上街，市民脾气较暴躁，容易争执、容易大打出手。 |
9. Public safety in Hohhot, even though it isn't very good compared to the rest of the country, but if you're on the street late at night you definitely won't have any strong feeling of insecurity. Most of the people are quite mild-tempered and rarely start fights. Ulaanbaatar's level of public safety is much worse. Even Ulaanbaatar people themselves don't often dare to go out on the street late at night. People have very violent tempers, and often start fights and even brawls. |
| 10。呼和浩特的物价虽然在国内算比较高，呼市普通百姓的收入也不是很好，但市民起码买得起生活必需品，一些大宗物资的价格也是很低的。乌兰巴托的物价非常高，简直高的离谱，尤其和普通民众的收入相比更是如此。很多老百姓都买不齐生活必需品，在郊区的贫民窟甚至很多家庭都难以继日。 |
10. Even though the cost of living in Hohhot is higher than the rest of the country, ordinary Hohhot people's incomes are not very good, but still people can afford to buy life's necessities, and prices of some bulk raw materials can be quite low. The cost of living in Ulaanbaatar is extremely high, simply outrageous, especially when compared with ordinary people's incomes. But many folks can't afford to purchase life's necessities. Poor families living in the outskirts of the city especially have trouble making ends meet from day to day. |
| 11。呼和浩特的生活节奏虽然和大城市相比并不快，但是市民整体工作劳累，就业环境非常不好，呼市市民的薪水不高基本在于社会经济水平。乌兰巴托的生活节奏简直犹如在公园散步，市民整体工作散漫，但就业环境却出奇的好，乌兰巴托市民大部分贫困是因为自己不好好工作。 |
11. Although the pace of life in Hohhot is slower than in bigger cities, people as a whole work until they're fatigued, and the employment environment is quite bad. The low level of Hohhot people's salaries is basically attributable to the level of socioeconomic development. The pace of life in Ulaanbaatar is really like taking a stroll in the park. People as a whole work lackadaisically, while strangely the employment environment is quite good. People in Ulaanbaatar are poor mostly because they don't work hard. |
| 12。呼和浩特的空气质量还凑乎，气候还是很干燥，到了春天依然有沙尘暴。乌兰巴托的空气质量虽然夏天好，但是因为有大量的贫民窟，所以严寒时所烧煤产生的废气严重污染了乌兰巴托冬天的空气质量，乌兰巴托的气候可以说以寒冷为主，但空气湿润。 |
12. The air quality in Hohhot is okay, but the atmosphere is very dry, and in the spring there are sandstorms. Ulaanbaatar's air quality is good in the summer, but because of the large number of poor households, when it gets cold the pollution from coal smoke is quite heavy and affects Ulaanbaatar's air quality. Basically Ulaanbaatar's climate is primarily cold, but the air is moist. |
| 13。乌兰巴托的夜生活丰富，有很多非常好的酒吧，有很多条件不错的娱乐场所。呼和浩特的夜生活沉闷，酒吧大多很土鳖，好的娱乐场所基本没有。 |
13. Nightlife in Ulaanbaatar is very abundant, with lots of good bars and other places of entertainment with good conditions. Hohhot's nightlife is boring; most of the bars are for hicks, and there are almost no other good places of entertainment. |
| 14。呼和浩特的老建筑群保护的不好，老区基本都拆了，即时回民区的“老建筑”大部分也都是新建的，或者是被毁灭性的翻新过，城市建筑和大部分中国城市一样，一点特点和风格都没有。乌兰巴托的老建筑群保护的非常好，大体上都保持了当初的风貌，但是城市新型建筑群建设的不好，乌兰巴托基本靠老建筑撑腰。 |
14. Old buildings in Hohhot are not well-preserved, and the old districts have all basically been torn down. Most of the "old buildings" in the Muslim district are actually newly-constructed, or were renovated after having been damaged. Urban architecture is mostly the same as in other cities in China, with no special characteristics or atmosphere. Ulaanbaatar's old buildings have been preserved very well, having kept preserved their original appearances, but the city's new buildings are poorly-constructed, meaning Ulaanbaatar's feel basically relies on its old buildings. |
| 15。呼和浩特的汽车虽然多，但相当部分都是其他地区的牌照，政府的车和富人的车占了大部分，按人均来说呼市市民的有车一族并不是很多。好车的数量还是很可观，老百姓出行主要还是靠自行车和公共交通，市区交通在主要地段还是堵，但整体上还是很好。乌兰巴托的汽车非常多，但是政府的汽车并不多，其他地方的牌照几乎没有，好车巨多，新车的数量和呼市相当，除此以外还有大量的旧车，虽然是旧车，但大部分也是好车，市民主要靠私车出行，公共交通的使用率很低，没人骑自行车。城市交通极其糟糕，很多主要干道居然才是4车道，不要说城市外围，即时市中心的路况也是非常不好。 |
15. Although there are many cars in Hohhot, most of them have license plates from other regions, and government and rich people's cars make up the largest proportion. Per capita, the number of cars in Hohhot is not very large, but the number of good cars among them is considerable. When ordinary folks need to go somewhere, they just ride a bike or take the bus. Traffic in the main areas can get backed up, but on the whole it's pretty good. Ulaanbaatar has an enormous number of cars, but government vehicles are quite few, and you rarely see license plates from other areas. There are lots of good cars, and the number of new cars is comparable to Hohhot, but aside from this there are also many old cars. Even though the cars are old, most of them are also good cars, and most people rely on their cars for transport. The usage rate of public transportation is quite low, and no one rides a bicycle. Traffic is extremely bad, many of the main roads are only four lanes, and don't even talk about the outskirts. Even downtown, the condition of the roads is poor. |
| 16。UB市民虽然很穷，但大部分都有自己的“别墅”，虽然样子丑了点，但是平摊下来的住房面积依然很大，城市的水电、排污系统建设的不好，房价起伏不规律，租金偏高。呼市市民大部分都有自己的公寓，面积整体上不大，城市的水电、排污系统建设的好，但房价却被过分抬高， |
16. Even though people in Ulaanbaatar are very poor, most of them have their own "villas". They might be kind of ugly, but the sizes of apartments are very big. The city's water, electrical, and sewerage infrastructure is not good. Housing prices are not rising uniformly, but rents are rather high. Most people in Hohhot have their own apartments, but the area isn't big. The city's water, electrical, and sewerage infrastructure is good, but housing prices are going up too fast. |
| 整体上我个人感觉，现阶段这两个城市都有各自的优点和缺点，但从城市的舒适程度上来说呼市取得了绝对的优势。但凭我对两个城市的了解，从长远上来看乌兰巴托超越呼和浩特简直是必然的。这是因为乌兰巴托所有的劣势都在城市基建上，这点实际上是很容易大幅改观的，而呼和浩特的劣势则在于城市“软件”上，这点在短时间内是很难提高的。而且内蒙古还有很多其他人口即将超越百万的城市，一些甚至可能会超越呼市，而外蒙古只有这么一座城市，外蒙古的所有财富都会集中在乌兰巴托，所以呼和浩特肯定不会超越未来的乌兰巴托，不久之后外蒙的两大储量属世界前列的大型铜矿和煤矿即将投产，相信乌兰巴托在未来的20年里会有翻天覆地的变化。 |
On the whole, my personal feeling is that at present, although both cities have their advantages and disadvantages, but from the point of view of the city's level of comfort, Hohhot definitely takes the lead. But in my understanding of the two cities, in the long run Ulaanbaatar surpassing Hohhot is simply inevitable. This is because all of Ulaanbaatar's faults are in its infrastructure, which in reality is quite easy to make substantial improvements in, while Hohhot's faults are in the city's "software", and are hard to upgrade in a short period of time. Furthermore, Inner Mongolia has several other cities with populations exceeding a million people, and some of them may surpass Hohhot. Whereas Outer Mongolia only really has one big city, and all of Outer Mongolia's wealth gets concentrated in Ulaanbaatar. So Hohhot will definitely not be able to surpass the future Ulaanbaatar, since Outer Mongolia's two world-class scale copper and coal mines will soon go into operation. I'm sure that in the next 20 years, Ulaanbaatar will see ground-breaking changes. |
Simon Black of Sovereign Man, along with many of his correspondents, have repeatedly predicted that Mongolia would soon surpass China — I suppose the above author would agree with that view, which is why he lives in UB instead of Hohhot. Oddly, the Tuul River of which the author speaks so glowingly as an example of Ulaanbaatar's superior environmental protection is the same one which MC Collection rapped about as having "boiled away" ("ширгээд дуусчээ") due to environmental disasters — which speaks to how bad the pollution in Hohhot is. Perhaps sometimes it takes outsiders to overlook the faults in a place, and see the opportunities and the conveniences and the beauty there. I guess it's a form of what's sometimes called "aesthetic fatigue" (審美疲勞) in Chinese.
Green Flag posted an update on his passport application. He's clearly got the attention of the bureaucracy. On the international front, Xinjiang Review also wrote about his case earlier today, making them the first English-language source I've seen to pick it up.
| 我没有通过甘肃省出入境管理局的审查 |
I did not pass the Gansu Exit/Entry Administration's checks |
| http://greenflag.blog.sohu.com/204868171.html |
| 2月20日，甘肃省公安厅纪委曹书记与我通了电话。此前，由于感冒，我关了手机。曹书记的人重视与我联系，专门在搜狐建立“一次性博客”，给我留言；又在中国穆斯林网注册用户，均以这样公开的方式请我与他联系，内容都是关于调控护照。 |
On 20 February, I had a call with Gansu Public Security Department Secretary Cao. Prior to this, because I was ill, I had turned off my phone. Secretary Cao thought it was important to contact me, so he set up a "one-time blog" on Sohu to leave a message for me; he also registered an account on China Muslim Net, all in order to publicly invite me to get in touch with him, on the subject of passport control. |
| 在电话中，曹书记说了三点： |
On the phone, Secretary Cao talked about three points: |
| |
| 一、“调控护照”是上面的政策 |
1. "Passport control" is a policy [imposed] from above |
| 他多次重复，因为“你是老师，你懂，我才给你说，老百姓不懂，我不会说。这是政策，这个事情不管就会乱。” |
He repeated several times, because "you're a teacher, you understand, this is why I'm telling you. Ordinary people wouldn't understand, so I wouldn't tell them. If we didn't do this, there would be chaos". |
| 在通话中，他有一个习惯语“你明白不？”、“你懂不懂？”我回答，“我懂，我听懂汉语。” |
On the phone, he had a habit of saying, "Do you get it or not?", "Do you understand?" I replied, "Yes, I understand Chinese". |
| 至于“老百姓不懂”，我就不懂了…… |
But as for [his statement that] "ordinary people wouldn't understand", that I don't understand ... |
| 关于“就会乱”，我的理解是：不控制护照，更多穆斯林就去朝觐，朝觐多了就会乱。 |
As for his statement that "there would be chaos", my understanding is: if they didn't control passports, more Muslims would go on the hajj, and with more hajj pilgrimages "there would be chaos". |
| 显然，对穆斯林朝觐的设防根源较深，并试图用“调控护照”来实现这个目标。 |
Obviously, the measures against Muslims going on the hajj have deep roots, and they are trying to use "passport control" to achieve their goal. |
| 延伸：对所有申办护照的穆斯林公民都加以限制，而且采用超越法律的“怀疑法”，途径是办证人员的“眼功”和“心功”，他们的这种特异功能可以看出申办护照的回民都是潜在的“准朝觐者”，像我，根本没有朝觐的计划，但还是受到他们的“高遇”；谁让我也是回民呀？ |
To elaborate: they're tightening the limits on all Muslim citizens' passport applications, and they're using extra-legal "suspicion laws" to do it. With the passport staff's "x-ray vision" and "telepathy", they can look at a Hui applying for a passport and determine whether he's an "unauthorised pilgrim". Like me, with no plans to go on the hajj, I still got "special treatment" from them. Who made me a Hui? |
| |
| 二、“你的意见没有错，是对的……” |
2. "Your view isn't wrong, it's correct ..." |
| 这个就是这样的回答。问题是，“调控护照”不对，“调控措施”违法。 |
The response was like this. The problem is, "passport control" is not right, and the "Control Measures" violate the law. |
| 在给甘肃省委书记王三运的信及甘肃纠风网的意见中，我都谈及办证机关对我们回民的工作态度，也谈及索贿现象。对此，曹书记没有任何回答。 |
In my letter to Gansu Secretary Wang Sanyun and in my opinions expressed on the Gansu [governmental] complaints website, I discussed the work attitude of the departments handling ID applications towards me, and I also discussed the phenomenon of corruption. Regarding this, Secretary Cao did not give any response. |
| |
| 三、“你的个人诉求……” |
3. "Your individual request ..." |
| 曹书记也谈到我的“个人诉求”：“你的证不能在广河办，也不能在临夏办，只能到省厅办。” |
Secretary Cao also talked about my "individual request": "Your passport can't be processed in Guanghe, nor in Linxia. You'll have to go apply at the provincial office." |
| 他还给我说了甘肃省出入境管理局王局长的电话号码。 |
He also told me the telephone number of Gansu Exit/Entry Administration department head Mr. Wang. |
| |
| 我在电话里给王书记解释：可能有些误解，我不是为自己申办护照才质疑和批评“调控护照”及“调控措施”的。因为，我儿子在马来西亚留学，属于“调控措施”限定的“直系亲属”，我可以从县公安局申办护照，只要提供“调控措施”附件的近乎恶意的那些条件，其一就是“邀请函”。 |
I explained to Secretary Wang on the phone: perhaps there's been some kind of misunderstanding, I'm not just suspicious and critical of "passport control" and the "Control Measures" because of my own passport application. Because my son studies in Malaysia, he is thus categorised as a "direct relative" [living overseas] for purposes of the "Control Measures". So I should be able to apply at the county Public Security Bureau for a passport, just by providing those supplementary documents maliciously specified in the "Control Measures", among which one is an "invitation letter". |
| 焦点在于：我不需要邀请函，我要像汉族一样地申办中国的护照，因我至少还是中国公民，虽然倒霉地在身份证上打着“回族”的烙印…… |
The point is: I should not need a letter of invitation, I want to apply for a Chinese passport like a Han, because at least I'm still a Chinese citizen, even though my bloody ID card has my ethnicity stamped as "Hui" on it ... |
| 按照曹书记提供的号码，我先给王局长发了短信，他回信让我去找张科长。 |
With the number that Secretary Cao gave me, I first sent an SMS to Director Wang. He replied and told me to go visit the department head, Ms. Zhang. |
| 在出入境管理局三楼302，我见到张科长，是“审批科科长”，也是签发护照的最后一道关口。 |
On the third floor of the Exit/Entry Administration building, in room 302, I met the department head Ms. Zhang, the "Approvals Department head", and the last hurdle to clear so I could be issued a passport. |
| 她看完我的材料，说，按照她的权限，她不能审批这个材料；期间，她还到四楼请示了王局长，结果都一样，并质疑我的“访友”事由。 |
After looking at my records, she said, she did not have the authority to approve my case; in the mean time, she went to the fourth floor to request instructions from Director Wang, but the result was the same, they were suspicious whether my application was really for the purposes of "visiting friends". |
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| 我的态度： |
My attitude is: |
| 一、我的申请中只缺一样东西，那就是“邀请函”，我偏偏不能成全；如果就此让步，我就不会来这里； |
1. My application was only missing one thing, namely an "invitation letter". They don't want to let me win. But if I were going to give in on this matter, I wouldn't be here in the first place. |
| 二、护照对我个人只是一件象征性的东西。我只是像汉族一样地申办护照； |
2. For me, a passport is just a symbolic thing, I just want to be able to apply for a passport like a Han. |
| 三、我再一次“懂了”：我们回族不可以出国访友，就因为“调控措施”遗漏了“访友”的相关限定； |
3. I "understand" again: we Hui can't go abroad to visit friends, because "passport control" regulations omitted the relevant limitations on "visiting friends". |
| 四、其实，早在“调控措施”出笼前，在2001年，我用3500元票子卖了一本护照，从省厅，通过护照贩子。 |
4. Actually, before they cooked up this "passport control" scheme, in 2001 I spent ¥3500 to buy a passport from the provincial office through a fixer. |
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| 在整个过程中，张科长表情严肃，听到我的高价护照时脸色稍稍变了一下。 |
Throughout the whole process, Ms. Zhang's demeanour was very serious, but when she heard about my high-priced passport, her face changed a bit. |
| 这个经历很有趣：的确，回民申办护照非常难！他们对我们回民的“原则”都铁板一块，没有任何“网开一面”的意思，生怕多“放走”一个回民就会天塌地陷。 |
This experience was very interesting: Hui people really do have a hard time applying for a passport! Their "principle" for dealing with us Hui is like a giant lump of rock. They don't have any intention of "loosening the net", because if they let even a single Hui "go loose", they're afraid the sky will fall down. |
| 当然，这一次，打死我我也不会购买中国的护照了；现在我把绳子都看成毒蛇了…… |
Of course, this time even if you beat me to death I'm not going to buy a Chinese passport; I'm not going to go down that road again ... |
| 从头再来—— |
Let me say it again: |
| 维权，正在进行时…… |
Human rights are on the march ... |
| 尽快起诉“调控护照”…… |
File a lawsuit regarding "passport control" ASAP ... |
| 向全国人大提请对“调控措施”的立法审查…… |
Ask the National People's Congress to conduct a legislative investigation of the "Control Measures" ... |
| 废除调控护照，实现民族平等…… |
Repeal passport control, and implement ethnic equality ... |
Linguistic notes: what I translated rather flatly as "I'm not going to go down that road again" is literally from the original "now when I see a rope, I think of a poisonous snake". This is a reference to the idiom "[you get] bitten by a snake one morning, and the next ten years you're afraid of the rope by the well".
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