在中國，誰是“旅居人士”，誰是“移民”？

文/約翰·尼蘭德 譯/鐘靈毓秀 審校/屈文生

在中國，誰是“旅居人士”，誰是“移民”？

文/約翰·尼蘭德 譯/鐘靈毓秀 審校/屈文生

People from all over the world continue to flood into China’s big cities like Hong Kong, Beijing and Shanghai to make a living. They often have much in common; leaving family and friends behind and being exposed to a new puzzling culture. But there’s one thing that separates them.

[2] Often, people from the U.S. and Europe are defined as expatriates, or“expats1expat 旅居人士，有時也翻譯為“僑民”或“外派人員”。,” while those coming from,say, Somalia or Pakistan, are branded as“immigrants.”

[3] Why is that, and what’s actually the difference, if any?

[4] According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary,expatriatemeans someone “l(fā)iving in a foreign land,”while the de fi nition ofimmigrantis “a person who comes to a country to take up permanent residence.”

[5] But lately, there’s been a debate about the terminology2terminology有特別含義的用語。with some saying the de fi nitions are outdated and today more symbolize privilege, race and socioeconomic status.

[6] Mawuna Remarque Koutonin,who runs SiliconAfrica, recently wrote in theGuardianthat it’s evidence that“in the lexicon3lexicon（某一學(xué)科、個人或群體的）全部詞匯。of human migration,there are still hierarchical words,created with the purpose of putting white people above everyone else.” He quoted an African migrant worker living in Europe: “I work for multinational organizations both in the private and public sectors. And being black or colored doesn’t gain me the term expat.I’m a highly qualified immigrant, as they call me, to be politically correct.”

[7] So what’s the situation like in Hong Kong and Mainland China?

[8] Holing Yip, research of fi cer of the Hong Kong Unison, an organization that advocates policy reforms to bene fi t disadvantaged ethnic minority residents,said the distinction between “expat”and “immigrant” cements4cement鞏固，強(qiáng)化。an already destructive segregation between people.

[9] “There’s been quite a lot of buzz about these words recently and different people have different definitions. I definitely agree with the declaration that the word ‘expat’ is related to privilege. But what’s interesting is that it’s a perceived5perceive察覺。privilege—what I think when I meet or see someone; how I treat them. It’s often aligned with6align with與……一致。race and socioeconomic status.”

[10] Schools, in particular, play host to racial segregation between local,expat and immigrant children, she said,with many schools being like parallel universes.

[11] As a professional expat in Hong Kong, you may be granted permanent residency with full rights and protections after seven years.But for those hundreds of thousands of Filipino and Indonesian domestic helpers that take care of the city’s babies and scrub the bathroom floors, permanent residency is often merely a dream. Some locals fear that granting foreign domestic helpers, and their families, permanent residency would overwhelm the public systems.

[12] The expat vs. immigrant phenomena can be seen in many of those Chinese cities that attract workers and professionals from the international community. Typically,websites focusing on expats in Beijing or Shanghai display photos of white,smiley families.

[13] InterNations7全球最大旅外人士交流平臺，230萬會員分享在全球390個城市的工作和生活經(jīng)驗。, the world’s largest network for people who live abroad, has almost 50,000 members in Mainland China, with most of them in Shanghai,Beijing and Guangzhou. Its mission is to “make life easier for expats.”

[14] The organization’s co-founder Malte Zeeck has noticed that members there were more likely to brand themselves as “expats” than members in Europe.

[15] An InterNations survey also showed that expats in Mainland China are less likely to befriend8befriend友善相待。locals than in most other countries, possibly due to“the culture gap between expats and the local culture.”

[16] Not all agree it’s a question of race. In aWall Street Journalblog,journalist and “global nomad9nomad流浪漢。” Ruchika Tulshyan added more nuances10nuance（意義、聲音、顏色、感情等方面的）細(xì)微差別。to the term than just rich-white-personmoving-abroad-with-no-desire-tointegrate. “Today’s expats are from all over the world, from diverse backgrounds and with different skin colors, most with a desire to integrate within the new society they have joined,” she said.

[17] Warsaw based American journalist Andrew Kureth offers an alternative de fi nition: “An immigrant is on a desperate search for a better life.An expat is on an adventure.”

[18] However you look at it, the term expat is under fi re. ■

世界各地的人們持續(xù)涌入中國，來到香港、北京和上海等大城市謀生活。這些人身上通常有不少共同點：他們離開家人朋友，置身于一個新奇的、令其困惑的文化之中。但有一點將他們區(qū)分開來。

[2]來自美國或歐洲的人通常被稱為“旅居人士”（expat），而來自比方說索馬里或巴基斯坦的人卻被歸為“移民”（immigrant）。

[3]為什么會這樣？如果兩者間存在區(qū)別，區(qū)別到底是什么？

[4]根據(jù)韋氏詞典的定義，expatriate是指“生活在他國的”人，而immigrant是“遷往一個國家永久定居的人”。

[5]但最近，圍繞這一用語出現(xiàn)了爭議。一些人認(rèn)為，上述定義早已過時。事到如今，這樣的區(qū)分更像是在顯示兩個群體間在特權(quán)、種族和社會經(jīng)濟(jì)地位等方面的差異。

[6]硅谷非洲網(wǎng)站負(fù)責(zé)人馬武納·雷馬克·科托寧近日在《衛(wèi)報》中寫道，這證明了“在人類遷居的詞匯中仍保留有表示等級關(guān)系的詞匯，而創(chuàng)造它們的目的就是為了顯示白人至上”。他引用了一位生活在歐洲的非洲籍外僑工人的話：“我就職的跨國企業(yè)既有私營的，也有公有的，但我的黑皮膚或者說有色皮膚無法讓我獲得旅居人士的稱呼。出于政治正確，人們稱我為高素質(zhì)移民。”

[7]那么，在中國香港和中國內(nèi)地是什么樣的情況呢？

[8]香港的融樂會致力于推動政策改革，以使弱勢少數(shù)族裔居民受益，該組織的研究員葉皓羚認(rèn)為，“旅居人士”和“移民”的區(qū)分強(qiáng)化了破壞性的民族隔離態(tài)勢。

[9]“最近關(guān)于這些詞匯有許多爭論，不同的人給出了不同的定義。我完全同意expat一詞與特權(quán)相關(guān)的說法。但有趣的是，這種特權(quán)是能被真切地感受到的，比如當(dāng)我遇見或打量不同外國人時會自然而然產(chǎn)生不同的想法，或是用不同方式對待他們。這往往與種族和社會經(jīng)濟(jì)地位相一致。”

[10]她認(rèn)為，本地人、旅居人士和移民的孩子三者之間的種族隔離現(xiàn)象在學(xué)校中尤其突出，許多學(xué)校彼此間并無交集。

[11]有一技之長的旅居人士在香港工作滿七年后可獲得永久居留權(quán)，并享有充分權(quán)利和保障。但對于那些成千上萬來自菲律賓和印尼的家庭傭工來說，他們雖悉心照料這個城市的新生兒，擦洗浴室地板，永久居留權(quán)卻遙不可及。一些當(dāng)?shù)孛癖姄?dān)心給予外籍家庭傭工及其家人永久居留權(quán)會使公共系統(tǒng)不堪重負(fù)。

[12]旅居者與移民抗衡的現(xiàn)象出現(xiàn)在中國的很多城市，這些城市吸引了來自世界各地的普通勞動者和和專業(yè)人士。通常來說，北京或上海旅居人士網(wǎng)站上展示的往往是白人家庭幸福笑臉的照片。

[13]全球最大的旅外人士網(wǎng)站InterNations有近5萬名僑居中國大陸的會員，其中大部分在上海、北京和廣州。該網(wǎng)站的宗旨是“讓旅居人士的生活更輕松”。

[14]該組織的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人馬爾特·齊克注意到，比起歐洲的會員，在中國生活的會員更傾向于把自己稱為“旅居人士”。

[15] InterNations網(wǎng)站的一項調(diào)查顯示，可能由于“本國文化與中國文化之間的巨大差異”，中國大陸的旅居人士與其他國家的旅居人士相比，更不易親近當(dāng)?shù)厝恕?/p>

[16]然而，不是所有人都認(rèn)同這是一個種族問題。名為“世界流浪者”的記者魯奇卡·圖珊在《華爾街日報》的一篇博文中，給這個詞增添了一些新的含義，認(rèn)為它不僅僅代表著“移居國外但不愿融入的富裕白人”。她說：“今天的旅居人士來自世界各地，有著多元化背景和不同膚色。他們中大部分都已加入一個新社會，渴望能夠真正融入其中。”

[17]美國駐華沙記者安德魯·庫雷斯給出了另一種定義：“移民渴求更美好的生活，而旅居人士是在經(jīng)歷一場奇遇。”

[18]無論你如何看待此現(xiàn)象，expat一詞正飽受爭議。□

In China, Who Is an Expat and Who Is an Immigrant?

ByJohan Nylander

（譯者單位：華東政法大學(xué)外語學(xué)院）