One of my friends who once worked as a volunteer in Tibet, recently came to see me in Xiamen and told about his experiences in Tibet. We knew each other in high school and kept connection even after I graduated from Nankai. Although we are close friends, it's interesting that we have no common ground on political issues.
The difference between me and him is that, he called the western human rights researchers and activists the "anti-china forces", but I still keep hopes for western concepts of freedom and democracy, which I thought will reshape china and make great changes to Chinese people, including improve the spirits and mental outlook, and also increase the productivity which is largely depended on the diversity, etc.. I need to tell you that he worked in the Propaganda Department in a district government. The most notorious department in China is the Propaganda Department, which is always set to control the thoughts of people and once critisized by a professor Jiao Guobiao from Bejing University. He said to me, if someone ask which department you served, he didn't tell the exact department, because he didn't want to be despised if someone known his duty. So even this guy know what the impression made on the general people. I like him, despite we have quite different views on politics and always argue with an unhappy ending. I have ever discussed one an issue about Tibetan's life on such a long distance phone call for one hour, caused debt down of my cell phone; I never made such a long time phone call with another, especially with a man. Frankly, I don't like his job. The government wants to maintain one-party ruling, so it must keep a large group of thougt polices to be used as the mouthpieces. Even in his working unit (danwei), the department is divided into several divisions, a team with large figures, so you can image how huge the number of people work for the party's ideology.

He told me his daily job was to write something good for the party and show the foreigners with the good side of Tibant's life. He don't like the foreign reporters, in his words, those guys are discribed as stunborn, without an eye to see and an ear to listen. Everyday, he must do THE same job repeatedly, write THE article resembled with THE one written THE day before. If there come foreign journalists, he and his colleague will lead them to the places which are designated by the government. Normally, the reports aren't interested in the places where they will be led to, so the circumstance was always quite unhappy. I think he was greatly infuenced by officialism, because he always used a bureaucratic tone to talk to me.

"when i read Dalai Lama's book, I think he is a good guy, but he had run into a wrong track; he shouldn't transform himself from a religion servant to a politician", "the policy to the Tibetans from the central government is quite good, if I was a Tibetan, I wouldn't consider independency", "there was no slaughts on Tibetans when the Liberal Army entered the Tibet"

I must clarify the following points on what he had said:

1. Dalai Lama can be seen as a hero for Tibetans. Because Tibet is a place for religion, when the atheist communist party began to brainwash the Tibetans, as the leader, everyone will consider to separte from this nation. At least, my friend mistook the order. If not suppression from communism, Dalai wouldn't have been forced to make such consideration. Why Tibet is relative quite before 1949. The Communist Party should clearly know that no one can replace Dalai & his infleunce will never have an end to the Tibetans.

2. If the policy to the Tibetans is quite well, why there are so many people ignore, i think the Tibetans are not stupid. They are strong believers, but the communist party designate their spirit leader, they think they are humiliated. I feel quite strange that how can a atheist party designate religion leaders, such as for Christians.

3. Even Han people were not well treated during that terrible years, how could they be such merciful when they broke into the Tibet?

The Olympic Game comes close and close. The issue of Tibet is increasingly discussed. And I heard of that there was monk demonstration in Lhasa. Actually, I don't agree with independency of Tibet, but I hope the party will make some practical actions to improve the human rights status quo in this region. At least, they must release THE hands from controlling THE religion there.

This guy not only brought his stories to my ears, but also took some beautiful pictures to my eyes. On the left, the photos were taken at Namtso Lake. I never seen such beautiful place in my life time. THE sky is so blue and THE water in THE Lake is so clear through which you can see THE stones. In THE polluted China, it's THE last heaven. I should go to there to have a look.

今早打開看到路透社的一篇報道，寫的是廈門，有很多溢美之詞，對于我這樣朝夕處于廈門的人來說，記者對廈門的看法我很認同，即廈門是干凈漂亮的，永遠給人舒服的感覺。有鑒于此，特別是生活在廈門的人都應該來看一下，因此我就把全篇報道給翻譯出來了，以饗讀者。

Coastal Chinese city offers respite for Olympic tourists

中國沿海城市為奧運遊客提供了喘息之地

By Ben Blanchard

XIAMEN, China (Reuters) - Dirty, polluted, and congested -- China's large cities have an unenviable poor reputation.

中國廈門（路透社）—骯髒、污染、擁擠——中國的大城市聲名狼藉。

But Xiamen, located on the southeast coast two-and-a-half hours by plane from Beijing, is so different from that image that you could be forgiven for thinking you are no longer in China.

但廈門，這個位於于東南沿海，從北京乘飛機兩個半小時可到達的城市的形象是如此不同，以致你產生已身不在中國的想法，都可能會被諒解。

Long, clean beaches, lush vegetation, fresh seafood, beautiful old buildings and a relaxed atmosphere, Xiamen is refreshingly different, a hidden treasure.

有著綿長而潔淨的沙灘、茂密的植被、新鮮的海鮮、漂亮的舊建築物以及讓人放鬆的空氣，廈門這個隱藏的瑰寶，令人耳目一新。

It makes an ideal place for a long weekend city break, especially as an escape from the chaos and construction of capital city Beijing, host of this year's Summer Olympic Games.

它是一個漫長的週末休息的理想所在，尤其是逃離在喧鬧和建設之中的、今年夏季奧運會的主辦城市首都北京。

Tourism is booming in Xiamen, helped in part by the opening of low cost flights from Southeast Asia. Last year, Xiamen played host to more than one million overseas visitors.

廈門的旅遊業蓬勃發展，部分得益於從東南亞地區低成本的航班的運行。去年，廈門接待了100多萬海外遊客。

Xiamen is one of the country's wealthier cities, thanks to its strategic coastal position which has helped it attract billions of dollars in foreign investment, and it's only a hour's flying time from Hong Kong.

廈門是這個國家的富裕城市之一，由於其沿海的戰略地位，已幫助它吸引數十億美元的外國投資，並且從香港到這僅需一個小時的飛行時間。

It is the ancestral home to large overseas Chinese communities in Southeast Asia, and to many in Taiwan. The Hokkien dialect spoken in Xiamen is broadly similar to what is generally known in Taiwan as Taiwanese.

她是東南亞和臺灣許多大型海外華人社群的祖籍地。在廈門所講的福建方言口語與一般為人所知的在臺灣稱為台語大致相同。

Xiamen is famous in China for two, very different, reasons.

廈門在中國出名，有兩個非常不同的原因。

The first is Gulangyu, a tiny island less than two sq km once home to foreign diplomats, which has managed to preserve its unique colonial architecture despite decades of Communist rule.

首先是鼓浪嶼，一個不到兩平方公里的小島，曾經是外國外交官家園。儘管經過數十年的共產主義統治，這裏獨特的殖民建築已經設法得到保留。

The second is Xiamen's proximity to a group of islands administered by Taiwan since defeated Nationalist forces fled the mainland at the end of a brutal civil war in 1949.

第二是，廈門與自從1949年殘酷的內戰結束，戰敗的國民黨軍隊從大陸撤退，就被臺灣管轄的一些島嶼很接近。

Gulangyu can be easily visited. Kinmen, the main island occupied by Taiwan forces and also known as Quemoy, cannot be visited by the ordinary foreign tourist, at least not directly from China. It's still a sensitive military zone.

鼓浪嶼可以很容易地旅遊。臺灣軍隊佔領的主要島嶼金門，也被稱為金門（Quemoy），普通外國遊客不能參觀，至少不是直接來自中國。它仍然是一個敏感的軍事禁區。

GULANGYU

鼓浪嶼

Literally meaning "drum and wave island," Gulangyu was made a so-called "foreign concession" at the end of the Opium War in 1842, meaning foreigners were allowed to open consulates and live on the island.

字面的意思是"鼓聲與波浪之島"，在1842年鴉片戰爭結束，鼓浪嶼就成為一個所謂的"租界"，這意味著外國人被允許建立領事館和在該島上居住。

Many of those buildings are still standing today, and give the island a laid-back, old-world feeling, similar to the French Concession in Shanghai, now rapidly being gentrified with boutique hotels and high class shops and restaurants.

今天，許多這樣建築物仍然屹立，賦予了這個島輕松、恍如隔世的感覺，與上海的法國租界相似，正迅速被裝修成豪華酒店和高檔商店和餐館。

Some buildings, like the old U.S. consulate, have been magnificently preserved or restored.

有些建築物，如舊美國領事館，已得到很好的保護或修繕。

Others await their turn to be returned to their former glory.

其他的建築正等待輪到自己回復到昔日繁華的樣子。

"House of an overseas Chinese, don't damage. Violators will be reported to the police," has been scrawled onto the wall of one house, where weeds have grown between the neo-classical pillars.

“華僑之家，請勿損壞！違者將被舉報給員警”被塗寫一棟房屋的牆上，在那裏新古典主義的支柱之間雜草生長。

"Don't use as a toilet," another sign on the same house reads.

"不要作為廁所使用 "，同一所房子寫著另一個標語。

The island has a disconnected, laid-back, old world feel to it, despite being only a five-minute ferry trip from Xiamen.

盡管從廈門島僅有5分鐘的渡輪行程，這個島嶼孤立在海中，給人輕松、恍如隔世的感覺。

The only vehicles allowed are little white electric buggies, with most goods being moved by men pulling hand carts.

唯一許可的車輛是小型白色電動車，大部分貨物是通過搬運工用手推車來運送的。

The food is great.

食物不錯。

The island is famous for its fish ball soup, and visitors should also not miss out on "er-ah jian," scrambled egg and oyster pancakes served with a sweet and sour chili sauce, which is also a popular street food in Taiwan.

這個島嶼因魚丸湯而出名，遊客們可不能錯過“海蠣煎”，打碎雞蛋和牡蠣做成煎餅，再加上甜和酸的辣椒醬，在臺灣這也是一個受歡迎的街頭食品。

COLD WAR FRONTIER

冷戰前線

The Cold War may have finished almost everywhere -- North and South Korea being an obvious exception -- but little known to much of the outside world, Xiamen has its own militarized frontier from the same era.

冷戰幾乎已經在大部分地方結束了——朝鮮和韓國是一個明顯的例外——但很少外面的世界知道，廈門在同一個時代有自己的軍事化前線。

Just opposite Xiamen lies Taiwan-held Kinmen, where thousands of troops are dug in to repel a feared Chinese invasion.

正對著廈門是台灣控制的金門，那裏有成千上萬的部隊正蜷縮等待擊退可怕的中國入侵。

Tourist boats leave regularly for the 30-minute trip to see Ta-tan, the only part of the island group most captains will dare to get close to, lest they spark a military incident.

定期有遊艇前往大彈島，行程要30分鐘，只有部分的島群船長敢接近，以免引發軍事事件。

Police give a cursory check of passports or identity cards before boarding, and otherwise give no further interference.

警察會在登船前粗略核對護照或身份證，否則不作進一步干預。

It is a very surreal experience. The boats draw up so close to the shore you can clearly see propaganda signs on the Taiwan side, and large flags of the Republic of China, still the island's official name.

這是一種十分莫名其妙的經歷。該艇如此接近岸邊，你可以清楚地看到臺灣方面的宣傳標誌和中華民國大型國旗，仍是島內的正式名稱。

Bunkers on shore keep a close watch of the boats, even if there is little sign of soldiers.

岸上的碉堡繼續密切留意該艇，即便沒有什麼士兵的跡象。

The pristine beaches have spikes driven into them, to help repel invaders, which appear to all be rusting fast.

在海灘上有許多尖刺，以用來擊退侵略者，似乎快被完全銹蝕了。

The military build-up is far from one-sided. Chinese warships moor not far from where the tour boats leave, and large swathes of land in the hills overlooking Xiamen and Kinmen are off-limits to civilians.

軍事集結遠遠不只這些。中國的軍艦停泊在不遠處的遊艇離開的地方遊覽船，並且俯瞰廈門和金門的山嶺上的大片土地都限制平民入內。

On the way back to Xiamen you may also be able to catch a glimpse of one of China's propaganda signs.

在返回廈門途中，你也能看到中國的宣傳標語一瞥。
"Reunify China using one country, two systems," proclaim giant red Chinese characters on a Xiamen beach, referring to Beijing's policy of giving Hong Kong and Macau a large degree of self-rule that it hopes one day Taiwan will also accept.

"一國兩制，統一中國" ，幾個巨型紅色漢字在廈門某處海灘招搖，反映了北京對香港和澳門的自治政策，希望有一天，臺灣也會接受。

-- Xiamen is connected by air to all of China's major cities, and many of its smaller and more obscure one. Regular flights also go to Hong Kong, Macau, Bangkok, Singapore, Toyko, Kuala Lumpur, Manila, Jakarta and Seoul.

——廈門與中國所有的主要城市，與許多較小或是更小的城市都有航班。還有飛抵香港、澳門、曼谷、新加坡、 東京（作者打錯字，應該是tokyo ，譯者注）、吉隆玻、馬尼拉、雅加達、漢城的定期航班。

-- Try and stay on Gulangyu. There are some gorgeous little guest houses, and one or two more upmarket resorts, though they are rather tacky.

——儘量留在鼓浪嶼。那裏有一些華麗的小招待所，以及一個或兩個以上的高檔酒店，盡管它們相當附庸風雅。

-- www.whatsonxiamen.com is a good site to browse before going to Xiamen. http://english.xm.gov.cn/ is the government's official English language Web site.

(Editing by Megan Goldin)

——w ww.whatsonxiamen.com是一個很好的網站，去廈門之前請流覽。 http://english.xm.gov.cn/是政府的官方英文網站。
（Megan Goldin編輯）

create your own China map

偶然發現，我去過的地方太少了，只有東部的幾個省份去過。還好的是在天津讀的大學，有機會去這么一些僅有的地方，假設我的大學是在福建念的，我估計這個地圖上只有福建這塊地方是紅的。你去過中國的哪些地方呢？肯定要比我多。