|
虎仔的明天 无论是东方还是西方，庆祝新年都有抚今追昔、放眼未来的传统。 考虑到如今生活和工作节奏变化之快，以及这个星球所面临的诸多紧迫问题，继续保持和发扬这个传统显得前所未有的重要。 有鉴于此，我们可以从（John Wiley & Sons出版公司）新近出版的《虎仔看世界：亚洲新一代有话说》（Through the Eyes of Tiger Cubs – Views of Asia’s Next Generation）一书中获得某些启迪。 虎仔一代，或称亚洲Y世代，代表了大约15亿年轻人。 该书取材于近400位亚洲年轻作者参加“2020亚洲的挑战”（Asia’s Challenge 2020）之征文比赛作品，以此向世人展示他们思索的结果，探讨未来十年亚洲将面临的最大挑战。 书中节选了来自亚洲各地约100名作者的文章。东至日本，西至沙特阿拉伯和土耳其，征文范围涵盖了亚洲32岁以下的年轻人，作品要求以不超过3,000字的英文表述亚洲即将面临的最大挑战以及相应的对策。 该项目由《时代》杂志（TIME Magazine）、新加坡国立大学李光耀公共政策学院（the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore）以及亚洲商会（the Asia Business Council）联合举办。他们分别利用各自的资源，对该书的组织、编辑和出版作了重要贡献。 共有21个国家的青年参与了投稿，其中以印度最多，菲律宾其次。作者的平均年龄为23岁。 许多作者的父母，以及当今大多数亚洲青年的父母都曾亲历饥饿、内战和急剧的变革。他们的孩子——包括这些文章的作者——却大都衣食无忧，接受过良好的教育，并且充分掌握着国际资讯，过着上一代人无法想象的生活。 那么，这些虎仔最担心的问题是什么呢？不出所料，他们的担心大抵可以归为两类：一类是亚洲人民，一类是亚洲地区。 该书的编辑和文章作者以深入的洞察和有价值的视角，对教育、收入差距和人口等与亚洲人民息息相关的问题进行了审视。同样，针对亚洲地区，他们也着重关注了环境、政治、地缘政治以及其他与亚洲特性密切相关的问题。 看到这些亚洲虎仔聪明睿智，博学多识，真让人信心百倍。 与此同时，我们这些虎仔父母的同龄人留给他们的是一个充满严峻挑战的世界。只有全力支持虎仔追求理想和抱负，才能弥补我们对他们的亏欠。 这本书的重要性和价值已经远远超出这些初出茅庐的年轻思想家在书中展示出来的视野和思考。我们完全有理由相信，他们在这次征文比赛中取得的成功将成为重要的里程碑，也是他们初涉职场时重要的激励。从这个意义上说，项目的主办者、编辑和出版商可谓功在当代，利在千秋。 未来，我们需要更多这样的好书。 |
Tomorrow for Tiger Cubs One common tradition of how people celebrate the new year, whether in the east or in the west, is to reflect on the lessons of the past, with an eye towards improving things in the future. Given the rapid pace of change in life and work nowadays, and the pressing issues at stake for our planet, it's more important than ever that we embrace this tradition. In that context, we can gain some interesting insights from a new book "Through the Eyes of Tiger Cubs -- Views of Asia's Next Generation" (John Wiley & Sons). The Tiger Cub generation, or Asia's Generation Y, represents a population of almost 1.5 billion young people. This book draws upon the writing of nearly 400 young Asian essayists who entered a competition called Asia's Challenge 2020, to share their thoughts on the biggest challenges facing the Asian region over the next decade. The book publishes excerpts from the writing of about 100 essayists, from all corners of Asia. The invitation was extended to people under the age of 32 years, from Japan in the East to Saudia Arabia and Turkey in the West, to submit 3,000 English words or less on Asia's biggest challenge and what can be done about it. The project was made possible through cooperation between TIME Magazine, the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy at the National University of Singapore, and the Asia Business Council. Each contributed resources essential to the organization, editing, and publication of the book. Essays were submitted by young people from 21 countries. India had the most submissions, followed by the Philippines. The average age of the essayists was 23 years old. The parents of many of these essayists, and today's younger Asians generally, knew hunger, civil strife, and revolution, on a first-hand basis. Their children -- including the writers of these essays -- are mostly better-fed, better-educated, and enjoy access to global information sources in ways which would have been unimaginable even a generation ago. So what are the top categories of concern which these young tigers are focused on? Perhaps not surprisingly, their concerns fall broadly into two groups: Asia's people, and Asia as a region. The book's editors and contributing essayists review the issues relating to Asia's people, with insight and valuable perspective, including education, income inequality, and demographics. Likewise in the Asian regional context, the writers highlight the environment, governance, geopolitics, and issues relating to Asian identity. It is reassuring to see how bright and well-informed Asia's tiger cubs are. At the same time, as a member of their parents' generation, we have left them a world -- and a region -- facing many serious challenges. We owe them our full support in pursuing their ideals and ambitions. The significance and value of this book goes well beyond the insight and ideas of the emerging young thinkers it showcases. We can safely assume that their success in this essay contest will be an important milestone and mark of encouragement in the early stages of their careers. This in itself is a noble endeavor on the part of the project sponsors, editors and publisher. We need more books like this one. |