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外国人在中国：唱歌、跳舞、开汽车 上周我写到外国人来华的潮起潮落，重点以人为主，也涉及了外国的鱼类（说的是食人鲳）。 我曾说全球化导致了地区间移民、尤其是跨国移民及动植物种类越境的系列问题不断恶化。其实，这些问题是全球性的，只不过发生的背景因地域而有所不同。 在上世纪七八十年代初，中国大部分地区还禁止外国游客入内。随着这些限制逐渐放松，像我这样较早前往中国观光的外国人就成为街头围观的对象，极富娱乐价值，在内陆中小城镇情况更为严重。 真惭愧我的歌喉不佳，交谊舞水平也差强人意，只会快步向出口挪动——我经常用这招躲过好奇的中国观众的围观。 近期，美国一档颇受关注的广播节目——美国国家公共电台（NPR）的《美国生活》（This American Life）播出了一档关于在华美籍人士的节目。在对一些精心挑选的定居在中国的“老美”进行采访之后，主持人指出这些人在中国电视上的出镜率奇高。 换言之，直到今天，在中国的普通美国人或者外国人似乎仍有不一般的名人效应，特别是那些会讲中国话的外国人。 如果他们还能表现出一点点歌唱技巧，又懂得避开令人尴尬的话题，那就更加讨喜了。众所周知，大多数外国人有项异乎寻常的天赋：说话不合时宜，这些话如果充斥在演播室或者星巴克倒也无妨，但如果出现在中国电视屏幕上却大大不妙。 现如今，随便哪个晚上打开电视，看看中国各地方台的社交类、相亲类节目，你会发现其中很多主角都是中文说得特棒的外国人。 另一方面，在中国大陆，英文说得特棒的年轻人也在快速增加。这是个好现象，但同时也提高了除纯语言能力之外的职业竞争门槛。 也就是说，如今潜在的雇主会要求你知道如何执行某些有用的任务。从我投身职场到现在，时代的变化真是太大了！ 早年，会讲中文的外国游客在中国有如凤毛麟角，一上街就会引起万人瞩目，交通堵塞。幸运的是，中国的交通拥堵已经升级换代，再也不会与外国人扯上关系。虽然我们是惹过很多麻烦，但这可真不是我们干的。 到目前为止，我还没听说过有外国人在中国撞车逃逸并声称“我爹也叫李刚，真的。”但世事难料，在中国的外国人这么多，难保接下来会发生些什么。 |
Foreigners in China: Singing, Dancing and Driving Last week I wrote about issues surrounding the ebb and flow of foreigners in China, focusing mainly on people, but touching on foreign fish (in this case, piranhas) as well. As I wrote, globalization has exacerbated a whole host of issues regarding the immigration of people from one region to another, especially across national boundaries, as well as the spread of animal and plant species across borders. The issues are global, although they occur in very different contexts from one place to another. In the 1970s and early 1980s, huge parts of China were off-limits to foreign visitors. As these restrictions were gradually relaxed, early foreign visitors like me became the subject of great crowd attention and entertainment value on the street, especially in smaller inland cities and towns. What a shame my singing voice is so awful. I'm also hopeless at ballroom dancing, except when stepping quickly towards the exit -- a skill I used a few times to avoid large surrounding crowds of curious Chinese onlookers. A very well-regarded American radio program, NPR's "This American Life" recently did an episode on Americans living in China. Having interviewed quite a selection of resident Yankees for the show, the host remarked that an incredibly high percentage of them have appeared on Chinese TV on one or more occasions. In other words, there still seems to be unusual celebrity appeal even for ordinary Americans, or foreigners in general, in China -- especially if they speak Chinese. This is especially true if the foreigner demonstrates even minimal singing skill, coupled with the ability to avoid saying embarrassing things. As we all know, most foreigners are unusually gifted with the ability to say embarrassing and awkward things, which is swell in the studio or at Starbucks, but not very convenient on Chinese TV. Turn on the TV some evening and at check out some of those social networking and dating programs on Chinese provincial channels. Lots of them feature foreigners who speak really good Chinese. On the other hand, the number of young mainlanders who speak really good English is growing even faster. This is good, although it raises the competitive bar in the career stakes, beyond pure language ability. In other words, prospective employers now also demand that you need to know how to perform some useful tasks. How times have changed since I got started. In the early days, foreigners travelling in China who spoke Chinese were sufficiently uncommon that their appearance on the street might cause gapers' blocks and traffic jams. Fortunately, Chinese traffic jams have now become so advanced they are rarely if ever blamed on the foreigners. We cause many other problems, but not this one. So far I have not heard any stories about foreigners driving in China who got involved in a hit and run accident, and then tried to talk their way out of it by saying "Li Gang is my Dad, too. Really. Honest." You never know, though. There are so many foreigners in China now, that it's hard to know just what to expect next. |
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