经济学人：青海地震 我的帮助从何而来

（感谢友人Buxoro的翻译 http://is.gd/bSl6A ）


青海地震 我的帮助从何而来
2010年4月29日 经济学人 (MAY 1ST-7TH 2010)
译者：Buxoro

青海地震
我的帮助从何而来

北京

僧侣和政府之间的合作受到限制

4月14日，在西藏高原偏远地方发生了使两千多人丧生的地震。这次地震给桀骜不驯的西藏僧众，提供了一个获取中国政府信任的难得机会。在心照不宣的和解姿态中，政府允许来自远近各地的僧侣参加救灾工作。中国军人淡漠地看着成群结队身着绛红色袈裟的僧侣，举着各自寺院的旗帜，遣抵震中地区。但是，相互猜疑很快就重新浮现。

灾难所降的青海省玉树县，是藏人认为属其固有领土的一部分。中国政府将救灾工作视为一次表现关怀的机会，以打消少数民族对其统治的疑虑。温家宝总理跟胡锦涛主席，分别推迟出访及缩短行程，飞往灾区，与哀痛中的藏人合影。与在2008年四川所发生更强地震之后一样，政府宣布在4月21日举行全国性哀悼。

但是，这种官面上的友善也有其局限性。自从2008年3月高原各地发生反对汉人的抗议和骚乱以来，包括青海在内的藏人地区都处在严密的安全管制之下。政府至今还是无心给藏人持不同政见者留有余地，并担心他们可能会以任何救灾中的不到之处来激发民愤。中国高级领导人之一贾庆林曾在4月19日提到，“海外敌对分子”，这往往是达赖喇嘛及其支持者的代名词，试图“破坏”救灾工作。

四天后，在青海首府西宁，警察拘留了著名的藏人知识分子扎加（像许多藏人，他用单名）。他与其他七人联署对灾区人民的公开信指出，地震是对藏人在“武力和残酷”之外的又一次打击。并呼吁市民只向“守信”的机构捐款，暗指政府机构太容易出现腐败。

扎加等人的公开信大概触及到忍耐极限。官方早已为他用笔名所署之书所激怒，这本名为《翻天覆地》的著作几个星期【1】以来一直在地下流传。书中称赞僧侣2008年在西藏动乱的积极参与，并号召以消极反抗来争取更大自由。拘留扎加一事所传达的信息非常引人注目，因为在很多藏人看来，他和中国官方一样不屑于西藏宗教。警方已通知扎加家人他涉嫌“煽动分裂罪”。也许是出于对此书的担心，使得政府展开了制止影响救援工作之“非法出版物”的活动。

官方对地震幸存者忠诚与否的担心，也是有原因的。不少人在废墟中竭力找回达赖喇嘛的照片。政府无视这位西藏流亡领袖亲访玉树的意愿。住在北京的藏人作家唯色说，每当幸存者们见到天上的飞机，都会非常激动，希望达赖喇嘛能乘坐飞机而来。

与从中国其他地区来的急救人员不同，僧侣们不受高原反应的影响，为救援做出了英勇的贡献。但政府好像已对他们失去耐心。震后一星期之内，官员就明确表示外地的僧侣要回到本寺。唯色说，许多僧侣为安全起见，已离开震区。

原文取自：http://www.economist.com/world/asia/displayStory.cfm?story_id=16010325

The earthquake in Qinghai
From whence cometh my help

Co-operation between monks and the government has been curtailed

Apr 29th 2010 BEIJING From The Economist print edition

FOR Tibet’s rebellious monastic community, the earthquake that killed more than 2,000 people in a remote county on the Tibetan plateau on April 14th became a rare opportunity to forge some trust with the government of China. In an unspoken truce, the authorities allowed monks from far and wide to to join the relief efforts. Chinese troops watched impassively as columns of red-robed Buddhists bearing the flags of their monasteries deployed near the epicentre. But mutual suspicions have been quick to resurface.

The devastation struck Yushu, a county in Qinghai province, which Tibetans view as part of their historic territory. The government has seen the recovery efforts here as a chance to show its care for an ethnic minority suffused with misgivings about Chinese rule. The prime minister, Wen Jiabao, delayed an overseas trip and the president, Hu Jintao, cut short a trip of his own to fly to the disaster area and be photographed with grieving Tibetans. Just as it did after a far more destructive earthquake in Sichuan province in 2008, the government declared a national day of mourning, which was observed on April 21st.

But official goodwill has its limits. Tibetan areas, including Qinghai, had been under a security clampdown since March 2008, when anti-Chinese protests and riots flared across the plateau. The government is still in no mood to give leeway to Tibetan dissenters who, it fears, might seize on any inadequacies in the relief mission to whip up public anger. One of China’s senior leaders, Jia Qinglin, said on April 19th that “hostile elements abroad”—often code for the Dalai Lama and his supporters—were trying to “sabotage” the relief work.

Four days later, police in Qinghai’s capital, Xining, detained a prominent Tibetan intellectual, Tagyal (he has a single name, as do many Tibetans). He had joined seven others in signing an open letter to residents of the disaster area. It referred to the earthquake as another blow to Tibetans; on top of “armed force and cruelty”. And it urged people to give donations only to “trustworthy” agencies—implying that government bodies are too prone to corruption.

Tagyal’s letter seems to have been the last straw. The authorities were already enraged by a book he wrote under his pen name, which he had been circulating informally in the past few weeks. “The Line Between Sky and Earth” praises the activism of monks during the Tibetan unrest of 2008 and calls for passive resistance as a way of pressing for more freedoms. Its message was particularly striking because Tagyal had been regarded by many Tibetans as someone who shared official China’s disdain for Tibetan religion. Police have informed Tagyal’s family that he is suspected of “inciting separatism”. Concerns about his book might have helped to inspire a campaign the government launched to prevent “illegal publications” from disturbing the relief effort.

The authorities have reason to worry about the loyalties of this earthquake’s survivors. Some have been scrabbling in ruins to recover photographs of the Dalai Lama. The government has ignored the exiled Tibetan leader’s suggestion that he be allowed to visit Yushu. Woeser, a Tibetan writer living in Beijing, says survivors become excited whenever they spot an aeroplane overhead, hoping the Dalai Lama might be on board.

Monks, unfettered by the altitude sickness suffered by many of the emergency workers sent from other parts of China, made valiant contributions to the rescue. But the government appears to have lost patience with them. Within a week of the earthquake, officials were making it clear that those from outside the county should return to their monasteries. Woeser says that many monks have decided to play safe and withdraw.

【1】，唯色注释：扎加（学东）先生所著的有关2008年西藏事件的书，其书名译法多种。需要说明的是，据确切消息，《翻天覆地》的译名来自扎加先生本人。于2010年元月自费出版。