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发表于 2017-8-6 23:39:08
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译文:
About Hong Kong
-Xiao Qian
Most people, apart from those familiar with modern history, are unaware
that as early as the turn of the century (after the Sino-Russian War), Britain
entered into alliance with Japan. The special relationship lasted until the
outbreak of the Pearl Harbor Incident in 1941. Meanwhile, however, the British
people remained firm in siding with China. It was in the year when the July 7
Incident (1) broke out that I first became aware of the said alliance between
Britain and Japan. In those days, there were foreign settlements in Shanghai.
And The Dagon Bao (2) had its office successively located in the
foreign-controlled districts of Tianjin, Shanghai and Hong Kong. In 1936, one
year before the July 7 Incident, because I had one of Chen Baichen’s (3) plays
published, in which there appeared several times the expression “X foreigner”
(the cross X had been added by the editor), I was summoned three times to court
by the Shanghai Municipal Council under British and Japanese control. Finally,
thanks to the cross put into the manuscript, I was exempted from
imprisonment.
From 1938 to 1939, when I was in charge of editing the Art and Literature
Supplement of The Dagong Bao, I often got into disputes with British censors (or
rather with my masters) over manuscripts. When a British censor put in a red
cross at will, all I could do was withdraw the entire manuscript. Sometimes,
being hard pressed to find a replacement for it, I had to leave a blank on the
page to show that something had been suppressed by censorship. Take a look at
The Dagong Bao published in Hong Kong in those days, and you’ll find lots of
blanks. Once the British censor even had half a page killed.
Why? Because China and Japan were at war, and Britain and Japan were
allies. The Hong Kong colonial authorities prohibited any protest staged in a
region under their jurisdiction against the atrocities of the Japanese troops in
China. Their word was law. There was no reasoning with them!
In the autumn of 1939, I went to England to teach at the invitation of the
College of Oriental Studies of the University of London. I sailed on a French
steamer. When the ship arrived at Saigon, it was requisitioned and all
passengers were to look for hotels for themselves except the several scores of
Chinese who were escorted to concentration camps. Luckily, I was instead put
under house arrest after I asked somebody to pass on my visiting card to the
local Chinese consul general, who happened to be a former schoolmate of mine at
Yenching University, Beijing.
After going through a lot of trouble, I finally arrived at the port of
Folkestone, England, in October. But, while going through entry formalities, the
entry certificate issued me by the British officials turned out to be one for an
“enemy national residing abroad”. When I asked the official in charge for the
reason why, the answer he gave was very simple, “China and Japan are at war
while Britain and Japan are allies. So, that’s that!”
I remained a scapegoat until 1941 when I became a “great ally” overnight at
the outbreak of the Pearl Harbor Incident. The alliance between Britain and
Japan then vanished into the air with the flames of war raging over the
Pacific.
As to Hong Kong, I of course cherish many beautiful memories. I had my love
affair on that island, I played on the fine sands of its beaches, and I many
times climbed up its mountains to watch the night scenes. From 1986 to 1987, in
particular, I spent a period of unforgettable days as a visiting scholar at the
Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, New Territories, which had the most
picturesque campus in the world. All that accounted for my redoubled joy over
the return of Hong Kong to our motherland.
Notes:
(1)The July 7 Incident (also known as the Lugouqiao Incident) of 1937 was
an incident staged at Lugouqiao, being on July 7, 1937, by the Japanese
imperialists, which marked the beginning of an all-out war of aggression against
China by Japan.
(2) The Dagong Bao (formerly known as L’impartial ), a Chinese newspaper
first published on June 17, 1902 in Tianjin, later in Beijing on October 1, 1956
and now in Hong Kong known as The Tak Kung Pao.
(3) Chen Baichen (1908~1994), born in Huaiyin, Jiangsu Province, was a
well-known playwright and novelist. In the 1960s, he was vice editor-in-chief of
the magazine People’s Literature.
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