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China is so big and so complicated that most scholars have viewed it in glorious isolation.
中國地域之大、情況之復雜導致多數學者都以“光榮孤立”的視角看待中國問題。
In 'Beyond the Middle Kingdom,' a new collection of essays edited by Indiana University professor and China-hand Scott Kennedy, some of the world's leading China scholars attempt to turn that around exploring China in comparative perspective.
美國印第安納大學(Indiana University)教授、中國問題專家甘思德(Scott Kennedy)最新主編出版了一部名為"Beyond the Middle Kingdom"的論文集，在這部論文集中，一些世界一流的中國問題學者嘗試轉換角度──以比較的視角來探討中國問題。
China Real Time recently caught up with Mr. Kennedy to get the lowdown on the new approach.
“中國實時報”(China Real Time)欄目近期采訪了甘思德，以深入了解這種新的思路。
Most China experts look at the middle kingdom in isolation, why is that?
《華爾街日報》：多數中國問題專家都以孤立的視角看待中國，為什么會是這樣呢？
Because of China's size, the complexity of Chinese culture, and the country's long history, many experts begin with the untested assumption that China is unique, and that comparison would only yield contrasts.
甘思德：中國的地域，中國文化的復雜性以及漫長的歷史讓許多專家一開始就做出想當然的假設，認為中國是與眾不同的，如果進行對比只能發現差異。
Just as important, learning Chinese and doing field work in China requires a huge amount of time and energy. Since Chinese is not the main language in any other country, save perhaps in Singapore, the skill set China specialists have is not as portable as say for experts who do research on countries where people speak Spanish, French, or Arabic.
同樣，學習中文和在中國進行田野調查也需要耗費大量時間和精力。由于中文在任何其他國家都算不上主要語言（也許除新加坡以外），與在西班牙語、法語或阿拉伯語國家做研究的專家相比，中國問題專家所具備的一套技能搬到中國并不那么好用。
You've uncovered a misunderstanding in what the term 'middle kingdom' actually means?
《華爾街日報》：你發現人們對“middle kingdom”這個名詞的理解有誤？
The Chinese word for China, zhongguo, is often mis-translated as 'Middle Kingdom.' In fact, a more accurate rendering is 'central states,' plural, not singular. The central states were those kingdoms that existed in what is today central, east and southeastern China during the Spring and Autumn Period prior to the Qin Dynasty and the creation of a unified country.
甘思德：漢語“中國”一詞常常被錯誤地翻譯成“Middle Kingdom”。其實更準確的譯法應該是“central states”（注：中部列國），“states”為復數，而不是單數。“中部列國”是指秦朝(Qin Dynasty)統一中國之前，春秋戰國(Spring and Autumn Period)時期位于今天中國中部、東部和東南部的王國。
Given this history, the more contemporary meaning of zhongguo likely is more about unifying the country than being in the center of the world. Foreigners ─ not Chinese people ─ use the term 'Middle Kingdom' to imply Chinese see themselves as part of a superior civilization. But Chinese do not conceive of 'zhongguo' as 'Middle Kingdom.' So if there's a Middle Kingdom complex, it's the West's, not China's.
從這段歷史來看，“中國”一詞更現代的含義可能與統一國家（而不是處于世界中心）聯系更為緊密。外國人──而非中國人──用“Middle Kingdom”一詞暗示中國人認為自己的文明更優越。但中國人并不把“中國”理解成“Middle Kingdom”。所以，如果說存在“Middle Kingdom”情結的話，那也是西方的，而不是中國的情結。
What's wrong with looking at China in isolation?
《華爾街日報》：如果以孤立的視角看中國，會存在什么問題？
Whether we like it or not, we all compare China to other places. When you say that China is large, isn't pro-environment, is ethnically homogenous, has a lot of inequality, or is highly corrupt, you are implicitly making comparisons. I advocate being explicit about cross-national comparisons because doing so reveals unexpected similarities and differences.
甘思德：不論我們喜不喜歡，我們都會把中國與其他地區進行對比。當你說中國很大，中國不重視環境保護，民族單一化，不平等或者腐敗問題嚴重時，你其實是在進行隱性比較。我提倡進行顯性的跨國比較，因為這樣可以揭示出讓人意想不到的共同點和不同點。
One obvious comparator is Asian neighbors like Korea and Japan. But there are some important differences in China's growth story.
韓國和日本等亞洲鄰國顯然可以作為中國的比較對象。但中國的發展歷程與這些國家之間存在一些重要區別。
Many Chinese officials have hoped that China would follow the lead of its East Asian neighbors. There is a common commitment to active industrial policy and limited faith in the ability of free markets to generate socially valuable outcomes.
許多中國官員期望中國追隨其東亞鄰國的腳步。東亞國家普遍致力于推行積極的產業政策，同時認為自由市場產生社會價值的能力有限。
But there are substantial differences between China and its neighbors. Policymaking in China is less coordinated and exhibits greater infighting and turf battles. Many of China's economic policies are geared toward helping state-owned enterprises, more so than elsewhere in the region. And unexpectedly, China largely had lower trade and investment barriers than its neighbors in part because South Korea and Japan were given greater leeway until the 1980＇s because they were American allies during the Cold War.
但中國與其鄰國之間存在相當大的差別。中國的決策協調性較差，內部糾紛和部門之間的地盤之爭比較嚴重。中國的許多經濟政策都是向國有企業傾斜的，這種傾向性比該地區其他國家要強。令人意外的是，中國的貿易和投資壁壘總體而言要比鄰國少，這在一定程度上是因為，由于韓國和日本在冷戰(Cold War)期間是美國的盟友，它們二十世紀八十年代之前一直能獲得較大的自由空間。
Economic performance has also differed. China has actually enjoyed a longer 'high-growth' era than any of its neighbors, but wealth there is much more unevenly distributed.
中國與鄰國的經濟表現也存在差別。中國的“高增長”期事實上比任何鄰國都要長，但中國財富分配的不均程度也要比鄰國嚴重得多。
Russia, as a former Communist state, also yields some fruitful comparisons.
我們也可以用曾為共產黨國家的俄羅斯與中國做一番有意義的比較。
The Chinese state may be less functional than that of its East Asian neighbors, but China's bureaucratic institutions and economy are much more robust than those of Russia. Take the auto sector. Cross-provincial competition and joint ventures with foreign partners have led Chinese automakers to substantially improve their performance over the last 15 years. By contrast, Russia's auto companies have been far less successful as a result of Russia's more chaotic inter-regional competition and less well-designed national policies.
中國政府的效能可能不如東亞鄰國高，但中國的官僚機構和經濟卻比俄羅斯強大得多。我們以汽車行業為例。在過去15年中，跨省競爭以及與海外伙伴組建合資企業顯著提升了中國汽車生產商的表現。而俄羅斯的汽車企業則遠不如中國成功，因為俄羅斯的跨地區競爭比較混亂，國家政策的設計也不如中國合理。
And other emerging markets like Mexico, Brazil and India?
《華爾街日報》：如果將中國與墨西哥、巴西、印度等其他新興經濟體進行比較呢？
These three democracies are excellent reference countries to understand the extent to which China's authoritarian system shapes its political economy. There are clear differences, such as more aggressive business lobbying within these three countries as compared to China. For example, Mexican banks have successfully lobbied to be part of cross-national mergers and acquisitions, while their state-controlled Chinese cousins have not. But there are also surprising similarities across the four countries. Corruption levels, income inequality, and the unevenness of social welfare systems are similar. In addition, all four have faced similar difficulties moving higher up within the global supply chains.
甘思德：這三個民主國家為我們理解中國權力體系如何塑造其政治經濟提供了很好的參照。差異是明顯的，比方說，這三個國家企業界的游說活動要比中國有力。例如，墨西哥銀行業曾成功游說政府允許銀行業參與跨國并購，而中國國有銀行則尚未獲得成功。但這四個國家之間也存在驚人的相似。腐敗程度、收入差距以及社會福利體系的不平等都是相似的。此外，這四個國家在提升自身在全球供應鏈中的地位時都面臨類似的難題。
What does all this mean for our understanding of the 'Beijing Consensus?'
《華爾街日報》：以上這些對我們理解“北京共識”(Beijing Consensus)有什么意義？
The 'Beijing Consensus' is a myth propagated by observers who have not bothered to compare China's development experience to that of others. Systematic comparison yields both differences and similarities. Asserting that China is unique is no more valuable than recognizing that each of the world's 192 countries has something special about themselves. Slogans such as the Beijing Consensus or China Model are more useful for advertising campaigns than for genuine understanding.
甘思德：“北京共識”是一些觀察家宣傳的沒有真正獲得太多認同的說法，他們未將中國的發展經歷與其他國家進行比較。通過系統的比較，我們既能認識到不同之處，也能認識到相似之處。所謂中國與眾不同的說法并不比承認全球192個國家均有獨特之處更有價值。“北京共識”或“中國模式”(China Model)等口號在廣告宣傳中用處更大，它們并不是對問題真正的理解。
What's the next step for the study of China through the comparative lens?
《華爾街日報》：通過比較視角來研究中國的話，下一步要做什么？
There are still many areas of governance, economic policy, business performance, and international behavior that await more in-depth and systematic comparisons. Equally important, comparativists typically operate at the national level. But there is a tremendous amount that can be learned by sub-national comparisons. We may be able to gain more insights by comparing, for example, the growth strategies of Shanghai to Los Angeles, Cairo, and St. Petersburg, than comparing China with the United States, Egypt, and Russia.
甘思德：現在仍有許多與治理、經濟政策、企業表現及國際行為相關的領域有待更深入、更系統的比較。同樣值得一提的是，持比較視角的學者一般是在國家層面上考察問題的。但我們也可以通過次國家對比學到很多東西。我們可以把上海的經濟增長戰略與洛杉磯、開羅、圣彼得堡進行對比，這可能會比對比中國、美國、埃及和俄羅斯更有啟發。
