大衛·弗格森：讓世界了解真實的中國

文/藍博 譯/張佳藝

2008年，大衛·弗格森開始供職于中國外文局所屬新聞媒體中國網，參與了汶川地震、北京奧運會、上海世博會等重大活動的報道工作。2010年至今，在外文出版社擔任翻譯改稿專家，在《習近平談治國理政》第一至三卷的英文翻譯中發揮重要作用。他為我國的國際交流事業作出巨大貢獻，榮獲中國政府友誼獎、第十五屆中華圖書特殊貢獻獎和中國外文局外籍專家突出貢獻獎。

“真實的中國與想象截然不同”

初次接觸大衛·弗格森，他給人的印象是一名安靜優雅的英倫紳士。1970年從英國愛丁堡大學取得法學學士學位后，他先后在德國、法國、美國、印度尼西亞、新加坡等20多個國家工作生活，學習并掌握了法語、德語、意大利語，做過管理顧問、經營過傳媒公司。雖然彼時他已經去過許多國家和地區，有著豐富的人生經歷，但是對中國并沒有太過清晰的認知。和當時很多西方人一樣，他對中國的看法非常不客觀。在他的固有印象里，中國是一個廣袤而貧窮的國家，到處都是面黃肌瘦的農民，穿著廉價的中山裝，備受壓迫。當然，也有一兩個現代化城市，比如北京和上海。然而，當他跟著中國妻子首次踏足中國時，他發現真實的中國與想象截然不同。他到訪的第一個中國城市是妻子的老家吉林市。“吉林是個現代化的城市，物資供應充足。大街上，沒人穿中山裝，人們穿著現代且時尚。日子過得很滋潤。”事實證明他之前的想象完全是錯誤且荒謬的。

隨著在中國居住的時間漸長，他對中國的認知一直在刷新。在吉林居住生活的兩年間，他見證了當地日新月異的變化。那時，他在松花江畔有一套公寓，他親眼看著一棟棟辦公樓、寫字樓和新公寓拔地而起，周邊的配套設施越來越完善，城市公園以松花江畔為中心不斷向周邊延伸擴展。到北京定居后，北京的變化更是令他震撼，讓他體會最深刻的就是日益便利的交通基礎設施。在他剛到北京的時候，北京只有三條地鐵線路。而現如今，北京地鐵的綜合排名已經位列世界第一，有著世界最長的地鐵總里程，運送著世界最大的客流量，同時還有著最高的安全可靠度和無障礙車站比例。相比于英國倫敦的地鐵系統，弗格森認為北京的地鐵更方便、更干凈也更現代化。

In 2008, David Ferguson Joined China.org.cn, a news media affiliated to China International Communications Group(CICG), and later participated in the coverage of major events such as Wenchuan earthquake, 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics, and Shanghai World Expo. Since 2010, he has worked as an editor at Foreign Language Press, contributing to the English version of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China (Volume Ⅰ—Ⅲ). He has made great contributions to China’s international exchanges and received the Chinese Government Friendship Award, the 15th Special Book Award of China and the Outstanding Contribution Award for Foreign Experts by the CICG.

“The Real China is Completely Different from What I Imagined”

David Ferguson left an impression of a quiet and elegant English gentleman on others from the first contact. After obtaining the Bachelor degree of Law from the University of Edinburgh in 1970, he worked and lived in more than 20 countries, including Germany, France, the United States,Indonesia and Singapore, learning and becoming fluent in French, German and Italian, working as a management consultant and also running a media company. Although he had already been to many countries and regions and had rich life experiences, he did not have a clear understanding of China.Like many westerners at the time, his views on China were very personal. He held the stereotype that China was a big and poor country, full of sallow and emaciated farmers who wore cheap Chinese tunic suits and were suffered from oppression. Of course, there were one or two modern cities such as Beijing and Shanghai. However, when he first set foot in China with his Chinese wife, he found the real China quite different from what he had imagined. The first Chinese city he visited was Jilin, his wife’s hometown. “Jilin was a modern city with abundant supplies. People wore modern and fashionable clothes instead of the Chinese tunic suits, and they lived an indeed comfortable life.” His previous impression of China proved to be completely wrong and absurd.

“我支持中國共產黨”

“要讀懂中國，理解中國，必須要讀懂中國共產黨，讀懂中國共產黨人。”弗格森說。就在不久之前，他參與編輯了一本書，講述的是黨員模范谷文昌的先進事跡。谷文昌同志是新中國成立后，涌現出來的一位優秀領導干部典型。習近平總書記多次提及谷文昌，稱贊他“在老百姓心中樹立起一座不朽的豐碑”、是“四有干部”的典范、“縣委書記的好榜樣”。1950年至1964年的14年間，谷文昌以“不制服風沙，就讓風沙把我埋掉”的信念，率領福建省東山縣的人民埋頭苦干，筑起總長達194公里的綠色長城，硬是制服了當地“神仙都難治”的風沙，讓海島換了天地，讓百姓換了人間。谷文昌的故事引人入勝，讓弗格森感慨萬千，他由衷地佩服這樣一位偉大的共產黨員。他感嘆：“一個熱愛人民的人，必然得到人民的熱愛。”正是因為共產黨員將最廣大人民的根本利益放在心上，才贏得了人民群眾的愛戴。

弗格森說：“中國共產黨不玩西式民主那一套，而是專注于國家治理。”在他看來，西式民主推崇沖突和對抗，整天吵吵鬧鬧，你推我搡。而中國的政治體系崇尚合作、協商和共識。中國共產黨與其他民主黨派合作，建立了中國共產黨領導的多黨合作和政治協商制度。“中國的政治家和共產黨員從不絞盡腦汁琢磨該怎么登上明日的新聞頭條，也不會跟15個媒體顧問坐下來討論該如何包裝自己才能在電視演說中維護好形象。他們只會討論未來30年如何讓中國老百姓過上好日子。”弗格森說。

“為實現‘兩個一百年’奮斗目標，中國共產黨從戰略高度進行頂層設計，在推動中國發展中起到統領全局的作用。我看到脫貧攻堅過程中，中共黨員干部認真負責地了解群眾的致貧原因，幫助他們找到擺脫貧困的辦法。”弗格森說，“中國全面建成小康社會，說明中國特色社會主義和中國共產黨的領導都是符合中國自身特點的正確選擇。作為西方人，如今我對中國共產黨的看法非常‘不時髦’——我支持中國共產黨。”

As he has lived in China for a long time, Ferguson’s understanding of China is constantly being refreshed. During his two years living in Jilin, he witnessed the rapid changes there.At that time, he had an apartment by the Songhua River. He watched the office buildings and new apartments spring up,the surrounding supporting facilities become more and more sophisticated and the city parks continue to expand around the Songhua River. After settling in Beijing, he was struck by the changes in the city even more. What impressed him most was the increasingly convenient transportation infrastructure. When he first arrived in Beijing, there were only three subway lines in the city. Nowadays, Beijing’s subway ranks first in the world, with the longest total subway mileage, the world’s largest passenger flow, and the highest safety reliability and proportion of accessible stations. Compared with London’s subway system, Ferguson believes that Beijing’s subway is cleaner, more convenient and modern.

“I support the Communist Party of China”

“To know and understand China, you have to understand the Communist Party of China (CPC) and its members.” Ferguson said. Not long ago, he participated in editing a book about Gu Wenchang, a model CPC member. Gu was among the outstanding officials after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. General Secretary Xi Jinping has talked about Gu on many occasions, praising him for “erecting an immortal monument in the hearts of the public”, being a model official who kept four things in mind: the Party, the people, their duties, and things to guard against and “a good example for county-level Party secretaries”. During the 14 years from 1950 to 1964, Gu, the Party secretary of Dongshan County, Fujian Province, led the people to fight against desertification which was considered “intractable even to gods.”With the unwavering belief that “if the desertification is not controlled, I would rather be buried by the sand,” Gu led the people to build a Green Great Wall with a total length of 194 kilometers. Consequently, the island county was transformed from an “uninhabited island” to a “treasure island.” Ferguson is deeply touched by Gu’s story. He sincerely admires such a great CPC member. He exclaimed, “A person who loves the people is bound to be loved by the people.” It is because CPC members put the fundamental interests of the overwhelming majority of the people in mind that they win the love and respect of the people.

Ferguson said, “The CPC focuses on state governance, rather than Western-style democracy.” In his view, western-style democracy advocates conflict and confrontation, with a lot of political bickering. On the contrary, China’s political system is characterized by cooperation, consultation and consensus.In cooperation with other political parties, the CPC formed a system of multi-party cooperation and political consultation under the leadership of the CPC. “Chinese officials and CPC members never rack their brains to figure out how to make tomorrow’s headlines, nor do they sit down with 15 media advisers to discuss how to beautify themselves to maintain a good image in TV speeches. They just talk about how to make Chinese people live a better life in the next 30 years,” Ferguson said.

促進中外交流互鑒

弗格森剛到中國網工作時，正值北京奧運會即將召開之際，當時關于北京奧運會的不實報道，屢見西方報端。當看到“150萬北京居民被迫離家為奧運會騰地”的虛假報道時，弗格森十分憤怒。他說：“這可能是我見過的最大謊言。”身處北京的他認為應該站出來讓世界了解真正的中國。此后，無論在社交媒體上還是在自己的著作和譯著中，弗格森都努力向世界介紹一個積極、務實、開放的真實中國。

2010年加入外文出版社后，弗格森先后撰寫了《南通故事》《從“廣東制造”到“廣東創造”》《發現蘇州》《水韻江蘇》《生態北京：綠韻新城》等多部介紹中國城市的作品。《南通故事》是他寫的第一本書，在這本書里，他以清末民初南通著名實業家、政治家、教育家張謇在南通的故事為切入點，介紹了這座位于上海旁且時常被人忽視的小城市一路邁進二線城市的發展歷程。在《生態北京：綠韻新城》中，他講述了中國國家層面和北京市為改善北京的生態環境，在能源結構、產業結構、交通運輸結構優化提升等方面所作的努力。每寫一本書，他都會瞄準西方關于中國的某個迷思或臆斷，挑戰它，糾正它。

除去寫作，弗格森的全部精力都投入到為我國領導人著作、政府白皮書以及其他各類重點圖書英文譯文改稿潤色的工作中。作為《習近平談治國理政》第一至三卷英文版的主要改稿人，弗格森先后5次仔細閱讀了著作全文。他以忠實原文、傳播思想為己任，對許多重點表述和關鍵術語的英文譯法提出了建設性意見，用海外讀者樂于接受的方式、易于理解的表達，對譯文進行了精準到位的修改潤色。在他和翻譯團隊其他成員的共同努力下，該書英文版堪稱“信達雅”的典范，成為其他語種翻譯參考的范本。近年來，他還參與修改潤色了習近平總書記重要著作《之江新語》英文版以及《習近平談“一帶一路”》《習近平扶貧論述摘編》等領導人著作英文版。由他擔任主要改稿人的這些英文版著作，為幫助國際社會全面系統了解習近平新時代中國特色社會主義思想及其淵源脈絡，客觀認識真實、立體、全面的中國共產黨，深入理解人類命運共同體、“一帶一路”倡議等中國智慧和中國方案，促進中外治國理政經驗交流和人類文明互鑒，發揮了重要作用。弗格森為提高著作譯文質量和習近平新時代中國特色社會主義思想對外傳播效果，作出了不可替代的重要貢獻。

“In order to achieve the two centennial goals, the CPC carries out top-level design from a strategic perspective, which plays a leading role in promoting China’s development. I saw that in the process of poverty alleviation, CPC members and officials are earnest and responsible in analyzing the causes of poverty and helping the poor find the solutions,” Ferguson said. “The fact that China has built a moderately prosperous society in all respects shows that both Socialism with Chinese Characteristics and leadership of the CPC are the right choices in line with China’s own situation. As a westerner, I support the CPC,” he said.

Promote Exchanges and Mutual Learning between China and Foreign Countries

When Ferguson first came to work for China.org.cn, the Beijing Olympic Games were about to take place. At that time,false reports about the games were frequently seen in western press. Ferguson was outraged when he read the false report that “1.5 million people were moved to make way for Olympic projects and the massive makeover Beijing has had for the Games”. “That’s probably the most ridiculous lie I’ve ever seen,” he said. Living in Beijing, Ferguson believed that he should stand up to present the real China to the world. Since then, whether on social media or in his own books and translations, he has been devoted to helping the world to know the real China, an active, pragmatic and open country.

Since joining Foreign Languages Press in 2010, Ferguson has written Nantong Tales, From “Made in Guangdong” to “Created in Guangdong”, Sipping the Essence of Suzhou, The Water Cities of Jiangsu Province, Building A Green Beijing and many other works about Chinese cities. Nantong Tales is his first book, in which he elaborated on how Nantong,a small and often neglected city to the north of Shanghai across the Yangtze River, became a second-tier city through the story of Zhang Jian, a famous Nantong industrialist,politician and educator in the late Qing Dynasty and the early Republic of China.. In Building A Green Beijing, he described the efforts made at the national level and by Beijing to improve the city’s ecological environment in terms of optimizing and upgrading the energy, industrial and transportation structure. Every time he writes a book, he takes aim at a certain myth or conjecture about China in the West,challenging it and correcting it.

大衛·弗格森為中國外文局“大家讀書”項目錄制《習近平談治國理政》第三卷·英文版（外文出版社供圖）

對中國的未來發展，弗格森充滿信心。他說：“中國正在落實‘十四五’規劃和2035年遠景目標綱要，加快轉型升級和推進高質量發展，相信在實現第二個百年奮斗目標過程中，中國共產黨將帶領中國人民創造更大的發展成就。”他也號召更多將自己視為中國的朋友且具備語言能力的人，利用這種能力，幫助中國更好地向世界展示自己，也更好地讓世界了解真實的中國。

In addition to writing, Ferguson devotes all his energy to polishing the English translations of Chinese leaders’ works,government White Papers and other key books. As the main reviser of the English version of Xi Jinping: The Governance of China (Volume Ⅰ—Ⅲ), Ferguson read through the text five times. With the responsibility of being faithful to the original text and spreading ideas, he put forward constructive comments on the English translations of many key expressions and terms, and refined the translations with precision and accuracy in a way that overseas readers are apt to accept and understand. With the joint efforts of Ferguson and other members of the translation team, the English version of the books deserves to be a model of “faithfulness, expressiveness and elegance” and a reference for translation in other languages. In recent years, he has also participated in revising and polishing the English version of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s significant work Zhejiang, China: A New Vision for Development, as well as the English version of The Belt and Road Initiative by Xi Jinping and Eradicating Poverty by Xi Jinping and other leaders’ works. These English versions, of which Ferguson is the main reviser, have helped the international community to gain a comprehensive and systematic understanding of Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era and its origin, to objectively understand the real, threedimensional and comprehensive CPC, to deeply understand China’s wisdom and Chinese plans such as building a community with a shared future for mankind and the Belt and Road Initiative, to promote the exchange of governance experience between China and other countries and interactions between civilizations. Ferguson has made an irreplaceable contribution to improving the English translations and helping the world understand Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era.

Ferguson is full of confidence in China’s future development.He said,”China is implementing the 14th Five-Year Plan (2021-2025) for National Economic and Social Development and the Long-Range Objectives Through the Year 2035, accelerating transformation and upgrading, and promoting high-quality development. I believe that in the process of achieving the second centenary goal, the CPC will lead the Chinese people to create greater development achievements.” He also called on more people who regard themselves as friends of China and has language skills to use such skills to help China better present itself to the world, and let the world know the real China better.