“For a long time I have hoped that one of these few would write us all a book about his own China, a real book, permeated with the essential spirit of the people. Time after time I have opened a book, eagerly and with hope, and time after time I have closed it again in disappointment, because it was too fervent in defense of that which was too great to need defense. It was written to impress the foreigner, and therefore it was unworthy of China.”
“长期以来，我就希望他们中的某个人可以为我们所有的人写一本有关他自己的中国的书，一本真正的书，渗透着中国人基本精神的书。我多少次满怀渴望，急切地打开一本本这样的著作，然而又多少次失望地把它们合上。因为其中的内容是虚假的，言过其实的，作者在狂热地为一个伟大到不需要为之辩护的国家辩护。那些著作是为了取悦外国人，而于中国则不配。”

Nearly 80 years ago, the great American writer Pearl S. Buck encouraged her Chinese friend Lin Yutang to write a book explaining China to the West. When Lin finished his masterpiece My Country and My People, Pearl wrote the preface for his book, expressing her appreciation for Lin’s work and disappointment for many other Chinese writers — which can be seen from the paragraph quoted above.
近80年前，美国大作家赛珍珠鼓励她的中国朋友林语堂写一本书，向西方介绍中国。林语堂完成他的大作《吾国吾民》后，赛珍珠为书作序，她在序言中表达了自己对林书的赞赏，也表达了对许多其他中国写作者的失望——从上面引用的那段话当中，我们可以读到。

Pearl’s criticism towards those incompetent Chinese writers is still valid today, though profound changes have taken place in China during the past decades. Writing about China is much more difficult now than it was in Lin’s time, though nowadays much more people — including Chinese and foreigners — are writing about this huge country.
时间过去了几十年，中国已经发生深刻的巨变，但赛珍珠对那些不称职的中国写作者的批评在今天依然适用。和林语堂的时代比起来，今天要想写好中国变得更难，尽管如今有更多的人——包括中国人和外国人——正在写这个庞大的国度，

Several years ago, I started to write a Chinese blog focusing on Chinese media and social issues. I have been trying to offer my independent opinion about my country. This continuous work got some attention, including Danwei’s recommendation for my blog to netizens wanting to learn about China.
几年前，我开始写一个中文博客，主要关注中国的媒体和社会问题，提供自己的独立意见。这种持续的努力得到了一些关注，桥梁博客“单位”曾向希望了解中国的网民推荐我的博客。

Before this recommendation, several of my blog posts were introduced and translated by Danwei. Thanks to Danwei’s work, my voice has been heard by more netizens, especially Westerners. Gradually, I began to consider writing a blog in English. At the same time, the independent blogger Michael Anti encouraged me to write about China in a language which can be understood by the largest number of people in the world.
在推荐我的博客之前，“单位”曾经译介过我的一些博客文章，我的声音得以被更多的网民听见，特别是西方网民。渐渐地，我开始考虑写作一个英文博客。同时，独立博客作者安替也鼓励我用英语写作，他说，只有用英语，才可以让自己的见解被世界上最多的人听见。

With the hope (and some ambition) of telling the ancient oriental nation in my eyes and in my thoughts as well as communicating with the world, I decided to start an English blog concerning on various aspects of China and Chinese people. Compared to native English bloggers writing about China, the advantage of me is that I myself am deeply rooted in this country.
我希望向世界讲述我所见到和我所理解的这个东方古国，也希望同这个世界交流，怀着这样的愿景（以及一点雄心），我决定开启一个英文博客，写下吾国吾民的方方面面。和那些写作中国话题的英语国家博客作者比起来，我的优势在于：我深深扎根于这个国家。

As a Peking University (also known as Beida) graduate majoring in Journalism and Human Rights, I am chiefly interested in the topics of the functioning and changing of China’s political system, the role played by China’s media in the reform, and the development of civil society. However, topics on China’s economics, culture and other social issues will also be introduced and analyzed in this blog.
我毕业于北京大学，专业是新闻学，也修读了人权。我最关注的话题是中国政治体制的运行和变革，中国媒体在改革中的角色，以及中国公民社会的发展。当然，这个博客也会涉及有关中国经济、文化和其他社会问题的话题。

I graduated from Peking University this July and became a journalist working for Southern Weekly. The tagline of my newspaper is “to understand China”. As mentioned above, to understand this unique country is not an easy task, but I will try my best, for my newspaper, and also for my blog.
今年7月，我从北大毕业，成为了《南方周末》的一名记者。这份报纸的口号是“在这里，读懂中国”。如前所述，要想读懂这个独特的国家并不是一件容易的事情，但我会尽我所能，为我所供职的报纸，也为这个博客。

As you can see, I borrowed the title of Lin Yutang’s book for my blog. It’s a salute to Dr. Lin, and also a spur to me. In the blog description, I chose the phrases “changing China” and “awakening citizens”. I believe that China is in the transition to a modern democratic country and Chinese people are getting off their knees. As the Chinese saying goes, “while the prospects are bright, the road has twists and turns.” I am going to write about the prospects, and also, the twists and turns.
如你所见，我借用了林语堂的书名用作博客的名字。这是对林语堂的致敬，也是对我自己的鞭策。在博客说明中，我选择了“变化中的中国”和“觉醒中的公民”这两个短语。我相信，中国正在向现代民主国家转型的过程中，中国人正从跪着的臣民变成站着的公民。中国人常说：“前途是光明的，道路是曲折的。”我将描写中国的前途，记录曲折的道路。

Undoubtedly, there will be many malapropisms, mistakes and misuses of words in my blog posts. If you happen to notice them, please do not hesitate to tell me. Of course, discussions on my blog posts are also welcomed. Thank you.
无疑，我的英文中将会有许多错误和不当的用词和表述。如果你发现了，请马上告诉我。当然，十分欢迎针对我的博客文章进行讨论。谢谢。

My English Blog: My Country and My people
我的英文博客：吾国吾民



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