Mchan的离别感言

Earlier this week, I left China after five years as an Al Jazeera English correspondent following the decision by the government to revoke my press credentials. At a subsequent Foreign Ministry press briefing, spokesman Hong Lei did not provide a public explanation, only saying that "foreign journalists should abide by Chinese laws and regulations”. But I have not broken any laws. And I believe I have tried to cover China as honestly and equitably as one can. As I say goodbye to China, I think back to some of the issues and people we've covered.

本周早期， 在（中国）政府决定吊销我的记者采访证件之后 我离开了在那里作为半岛电视台英语记者 工作了五年的中国。 在其后外交部的记者会上， 发言人 HONG LEI没有给出解释， 只说， 外国记者应该遵守中国的法律法规。 但是我没有违反任何法律。 我相信我尽了最大的努力真实全面地报道中国。 在此跟中国说再见之际， 我在这里回顾一下以前报道的事件和任务。

I'd like to start with a good memory of China. It was late morning in the autumn of 2009, and our team was on our way to an interview out in the countryside north of Chongqing in central China. We'd driven through many villages before, but something about the bustle of this village compelled us to slow down our car and hop out for a look. Everyone seemed so happy. There was a festive atmosphere, as if it was Chinese New Year.

想从对中国好的记忆开始。 那是2009年秋季的一个早晨， 我们的采访组正在前往中国中部城市重庆北面的乡村去做一个采访。 我们以前也开车路过很多乡镇， 但是这个乡镇的人来人往熙熙攘攘， 我们不得不减速， 跳下车来看看。 每个人看上去都很幸福。 看上去有过节的气氛， 和过春节一样。

People were gathered outside their doors, chatting away after their breakfasts. A woman cooked noodles at a small stand, steam enveloping her face. One family sold new baby chicks on the street side, while another group hawked duck eggs. Someone drew up a wagon of hand-woven wicker baskets, and I bought one for 20 yuan (the equivalent of $3), strapped it to my shoulders, and wandered around with the rest of the crowd.

吃过早饭人们都站在门外聊天消磨时光。 小摊子上， 一位女人正在煮面， 蒸汽包围了她的面孔。 一家在街边卖小鸡， 另一边一伙人围在一起抢购鸭蛋。 有人拉来一车竹编筐， 我花20块钱买了一个， 条带搭肩背在背上， 和别的人一样转来转去。

This was quintessential China - the daily proceedings of hundreds of millions, going about their business and working to create better lives for themselves. The place was at once traditional and modern, farmers on their mobile phones and an unbroken line of trucks pushing their way along the main street, heavy with construction material for new buildings in the old village. You could somehow sense that everyone was excited for the future, that things were changing, and that this was the little town that could. That may have been whimsical thinking on my part, but it was very much how I felt at the time.

这就是真真实实的中国。 每天几亿人忙忙碌碌， 为更好的生活勤勤恳恳工作着。 这个地方既有传统 也很现代， 农民用着手机 如流的卡车不停地穿过村里的主街， 拉着要把古老村庄翻新的建筑材料。 你能感觉到 每个人都为未来感到振奋， 情况都在改变， 这个小镇也在其中。 这些也可能是我那是的臆想， 但它的确是我当时的想法。

Sad memory

A sad memory of China came later on the same day. Our team met and interviewed Yi Dade, a fisherman who had managed to do very well for himself. That was not the case for many other farmers, many of whom have been increasingly left behind by China's economic development. So there was much for Mr. Yi to be thankful for. Unfortunately, his successful fisheries business had caught the attention of local gangs, who bribed officials, and proceeded to seize his property on the banks of the river.

关于中国的悲伤记忆来自于同一天的稍晚时候。 我们的采访组找到了和采访了渔民 YI DADE（易大德）， 他过得很不错。 其他的农民则过得不好， 他们一点点被中国的经济开发拉在了后面。 易先生有很多的东西要感恩。 不幸的是， 他那个很成功的捕鱼（或者养殖）生意引起了当地黑帮的注意， 黑帮给官员们行贿， 正要抢夺他河岸边的产业。

The showdown took place during a birthday party for one of Mr. Yi's sons. Two boatloads of men armed with machetes, poles, and axes drew up, jumped ashore, and attacked family and friends. In 15 minutes, Mr. Yi's fortunes had changed. His second son was dead, and his fourth had severe blows to the head that meant permanent brain damage. This was lawlessness in China, a land where some officials look the other way.

易先生的一个儿子的生日会上，大戏开场了。 两船的男人， 带着看到 棍棒 斧头， 跳上岸来，见人就打。 15分钟后， 易先生的大运翻转了。 他的二儿子被打死， 他的四子脑袋被打， 永久伤及大脑。 这个就是中国的无法无天， 官员们不闻不问。

Yi Dade told me his tale while his wife sat next to him, weeping quietly and whispering repeatedly to herself, "My son was just a child." Incredibly, someone had thought to take pictures as evidence in the aftermath of the attack, and I examined the photographs of the stunned victims, the bright red of fresh blood pouring from their heads, confused expressions on their faces. Their bewildered looks seemed to ask, "How could this possibly happen to us? How could our government allow something like this to happen?"

易先生跟我讲他的故事， 他的太太一旁无声地哭泣， 低低地自语， ‘’我的儿子还是个孩子“ 。 难以置信的是有人在打后的现场拍了几张照片， 我看了那些照片， 看到惊呆了的被打者， 鲜红的鲜血从他们的头上留下来， 满脸是困惑的表情。 疑惑的面孔似乎在问， ”这个事情怎么会发生在我们身上？ 政府怎么会允许他们这样干？“

China is a country of contradictions. One minute you marvel at the speedy transformation, the new wealth, the great hope of many. Another minute, and in this case powerfully felt because it can all happen in one day, you're disgusted by the corruption, the systemic problems of a one-party authoritarian state, and the trampling of individual human rights and dignity.

中国这个国家充满了矛盾。 前一分钟 你可能惊奇， 这么快的变化， 这么多的新富， 很多人充满了希望。 下一分钟， 就和这件事情一样， 任何一天都可能发生， 你会讨厌由一党专制引起的系统的腐败和对人权尊严的践踏

Millionaires to paupers 

百万富翁到贫民

That is what I have tried to capture in my five years crisscrossing the country. For a couple of years there, our team was on the road somewhere in China every week. We've spoken to everyone from millionaires to paupers. 

这就是过去5年来在中国东奔西跑试图捕获的场景。 有两年的时光， 我的采访组每周都在旅行。 我们采访的人从百万富翁到贫民一应俱全。

Along with manmade news and happenings, there have also been major natural disasters, most notably the 2008 Sichuan earthquake which killed 70,000. But there was also the lesser-known high altitude Yushu earthquake on the Tibetan plateau. That hit in 2010, and I remember Tibetans from the time telling us how admirably hard the People's Liberation Army soldiers had worked during rescue efforts. There was real respect for the Han Chinese soldiers, many of them from poor backgrounds themselves. 

有些是人为的新闻和事情， 也有的是广为人知的特大自然灾害， 特别是2008年夺取7万人生命的四川大地震。 但也有鲜为人知的西藏高原高海拔区的玉树地震， 它发生在2010年， 我记得， 藏民们告诉我们，人民的解放军战士在抢险中多么令人钦佩的努力。 那个时候对汉族士兵是发自内心的尊重，士兵们不​​少也是来自贫困背景。

The local Tibetans had been won over a fair bit, but the government missed the opportunity to build bridges when reconstruction efforts flailed, funds for survivors were siphoned off by corrupt officials, and authorities lapsed to their hardline selves. Today, Yushu is yet another place off-limits to foreign journalists, part of a huge area placed under lockdown following a string of self-immolations by Tibetans protesting China's rule. From the initial excitement of witnessing how the ethnic divide could be narrowed, the story of Yushu had turned bitter, and relations between Tibetans and Han Chinese there are at a new low. 

当地藏民已经赢得了一个公平的地位，但是重建活动一波接一波到 政府错过了机会 来搭建交流的桥梁.  给生还者的资金被贪官污吏滥用，当局又重回强硬的老路。今天，玉树是又一个外国记者的地方禁地； 有很大一个地区因为一系列藏人抗议中国统治的活动而封锁。 最初人们看到种族的鸿沟在缩小而兴奋， 后来，汉藏两族关系再度恶化； 现在处于低谷。

Missed opportunities

It is precisely these sorts of conflicts, of good and bad decisions, of missed opportunities, that the country needs to take a hard look at in this critical political year. They've played out locally in the stories I have examined, but issues such as corruption and the rule of law weave from the fisherman, Yi Dade, through to the Tibetan victims of the Yushu earthquake, and all the way up to the country’s political leadership.

In Beijing it plays out on the grand scale, with the Bo Xilai scandal or the recent Chen Guangcheng case. But all of it is related, and it will be up to the Communist Party to make the leap. By that, I mean that the party needs to establish real rule of law and an independent legal system. The corruption problem solves itself once the law is worth more than the paper it is printed on. Many of the stories I've worked on over the years have simply spun around the fact that the laws, presumably passed by some officials who believed in them, have not been enforced.

The only way to do any of this will take audacity, because the party would have to place itself and its members under the same independent and impartial system. Leaders are not unaware of this dilemma - that's why things have been so rocky and commentators, both inside and outside the country, have talked about what kind of institutional reforms need to start taking place.

China has a lot going for it, and that is especially felt when you've spent so much time talking to the people there. They can be incredibly resilient, despite the fact that some have definitely received the short end of the stick. Like any country, people also worry and complain, and like journalists on any beat, I've looked at those worries and complaints. It's part of the process of making a place I love a better one for its people.

I hope to be back in China one day, sooner rather than later. As for the government's decision to revoke my press credentials, I'd like my final note not to sound bitter or angry, because I don't want to look back a few years from now and read this piece and see myself having been like that. I don't deny I've been both at some points in recent days, but those sorts of feelings are best left to fade away, rather than stick around for the record.

After all, one expulsion cannot take away the incredibly fun, instructive, heart-breaking and heart-warming five years of almost 400 reports I've filed. That's a lot of stories on a lot of subjects from a lot of places in the country. And I'm grateful to have had this life-changing opportunity.