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I first came to China to study Mandarin at Nankai University in the mid-1990s. At that time, if I wanted to visit the Forbidden City or eat Peking Duck in Quanjude, it would take three hours to get to Beijing by train from Tianjin. But today? It only takes 30 minutes by high-speed rail.
我第一次来中国是20世纪90年代中期在南开大学学习中文。当时，如果我想要去故宫参观，或者到全聚德吃北京烤鸭，需要从天津乘三个小时的火车到北京，而今天得乘高铁只需30分钟。
For the 23 years I've lived here, China has focused on infrastructure and innovation. One big driver is investment in high-speed rail – China has already built 35,000 kilometers of high-speed rail, connecting 100 cities. There are more than 100 cities in China with a population of over one million. China has just announced that it plans to increase the total railway mileage by a third in the next 15 years, from 140,000 km to 200,000 total km.
我在这里生活了23年，中国一直专注于基础设施建设和创新，一个巨大的推动力是投资高铁。中国已经建成了3.5万公里的高速铁路，连接了100个城市。中国有100多个城市的人口超过一百万。中国刚刚宣布计划将总里程增加1/3，在未来15年内从14万公里增加到20万公里。
Now, let’s compare infrastructure spending between China and Japan. Japan has also invested heavily in high-speed rail to offset the economic stagnation of the 1980s after the Plaza Accord. However, many of these trains connected big cities such as Tokyo to tiny villages with only 2,000 people, and thus were wasted as white elephant spending as very few passengers took the trains.
现在对比一下基础设施支出在中国和日本的情况，日本也大量投资高铁建设，为了抵消20世纪80年代《广场协议》后经济停滞的影响，然而其中许多火车却将东京这样的大城市与只有2000人的小村庄连接起来。这十分浪费，华而不实，只有很少的人会选择乘坐。
By contrast, China has focused on connecting major cities to improve economic efficiency. By 2035, China's declared aim is that all cities with a population of greater than 500,000 will be connected to high-speed rail. This allows white-collar workers to move away from the expensive city centers and find cheaper housing. People now live in cities like Tianjin, where housing prices are lower, and where it is easier to get a Hukou and commute to Beijing. This was unheard of when I was studying at Nankai University.
相比之下，中国则专注于连接主要城市，以提高经济效益。中国宣布的目标是到2035年所有人口超过50万的城市都将连接到高速铁路。这使得白领们可以离开昂贵的大城市中心，找到更便宜的住房，人们口译居住在房价较低、更容易获得户口的天津这样的城市，然后到北京上班。这是我在南开大学读书的时期闻所未闻的。
Having this world-class infrastructure is why China will not lose its manufacturing dominance in the near future despite the U.S.-China trade war.
拥有这种世界级的基础设施，使中国即使在美中贸易战中也不会失去制造业主导地位。
In the United States, trains run on a much slower system. The average speed of most trains is only 128 km/h, compared that, with 350 km/h for China's high-speed trains.
在美国，铁路列车运行速度要慢得多。大多数列车时速平均只有每小时128公里。与此相比，中国高速列车时速高达平均每小时350公里。
Since I was born in 1977, the United States has spent too much money on wars and building weapons rather than infrastructure spending. It would be great if the United States could learn from China and focus on infrastructure innovation instead of focusing spending efforts on wars. Just imagine how better off my fellow Americans would be with a focus not on conflict but instead on connection.
从我1977年出生以来，美国花了太多的钱在战争和建造武器上，如果美国能向中国学习，把重点放在基础设施创新上。而不是把精力集中在战争上，想象一下我和我的美国同胞们会有多庆幸。
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发表于 2020-9-8 09:54:32
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发表于 2020-9-8 10:47:20
