2007年11月29日 星期四

中國的"魔妖化"

如何正確翻譯"China"


bbc
我們已經看不到一個有歷史的中國"
北京故宮
北京古城牆四合院如今還有多少?
2007中國歷史文化名城年會召開之際,中國建設部官員透露,2006至2010年中國將補助約10億元人民幣用於保護名城、名村、名鎮等歷史文化遺產。

雖然中國是一個有數千年歷史的文明古國,但是現在確認為國家級歷史文化名城的只有109座,名村和名鎮157個。

上海復旦大學文化遺產研究中心的陸建鬆教授向BBC中文網表示,中國政府各級官員和民眾的文化遺產保護意識比十年前有了很大的提高,文物保護法也已經頒布了五周年,但是中國的文化歷史保護工作仍然任重道遠。

他說,各界高度重視圓明園遺址修復工程、南海一號沉船打撈、大運河申遺,海上絲綢之路問題都說明政府在資金投入、政策方面的進步,但是建設部用於保護名城的補助只有10億元,也說明政府在歷史文化遺產方面的工作還遠遠不夠。

haveyousay
危機四伏

陸建鬆教授認為,今天中國處於經濟、社會快速發展的轉型期,這樣的時期本身也是文化遺產的高危險期。

政府主導的基礎設施建設、城市化、以及過度看重文化遺產的經濟價值都對文化遺產的保護造成重大影響和衝擊。

另外受經濟利益的驅動,盜掘、走私、文物黑市泛濫對文化文物保護造成破壞。

而經濟發展過程中對環境保護的忽視導致的污染也嚴重侵蝕現有的古建築、古雕刻等文化遺產。

上海
繁華并不能掩飾“千城一面”的缺陷
體制是關鍵

陸建鬆認為,今天中國文化文物保護並不是某一個重大遺址的保護問題,而是應該從整個文化遺產保護的體制著手。

"如果我是一個地方的文物局局長,我的烏紗帽都是市長或者省長給我的,那麼省長和市長(對文物)的破壞我怎麼敢去干預。"

"對一個文物究竟應該如何保護,它在行政決策中的專家諮詢過程實際上是一個形式而已。如果專家認為政府的決策不行,我可以換一批專家。"

"儘管文物法規定,縣級以上的行政部門每年用於文物保護的經費應該隨GDP增長,但是這個規定實際上是沒有約束力的。我高興就給,不高興就不給。"

據陸建鬆的介紹,中國的文物保護缺乏標準規範,各地對文物古跡的修復完全憑個人的意願與想法。

亡羊補牢

中國雖然有一百多座國際級歷史文化名城,陸建鬆卻提出了這樣一個問題:"從北京到西安,你看看現在有哪一座歷史文化名城還有歷史?"

"我們作為世界文化遺產的平遙跟麗江實際上是中國的恥辱。正是因為能夠代表我們不同文化歷史的北京、西安和上海都被破壞了。"

"我們現在已經看不到一個有歷史的中國。"

破壞何時休

陸建鬆說,中國的官員和民眾對文化遺產保護有一個誤區。

"關係到國家民族感情的遺產受到重視,有重大經濟利益價值的受到重視,但是對普通的文物卻往往忽視。"

"雖然現在說對重大遺產重視,但是每天、每時全國普遍存在的還是破壞,還在不斷地破壞。



中國:外國媒體"魔妖化三峽工程"
三峽大壩(2004年檔案照片)
三峽大壩等水利工程被指破壞生態環境。

中國官員周二(27日)舉行特別新聞發佈會,為三峽大壩對環境的負面影響作出辯護,稱所有對環境不利的因素在建壩前都已經被估計到了。

三峽工程建設委員會副主任汪嘯風說,"三峽工程環境影響報告書的結論指出:生態環境問題不影響工程的可行性,總的來說,三峽工程對生態環境的影響利大於弊。"

“危機公關”

他表示,"大家知道環境評價書是1991年做的,那時候就提出來利大於弊,就說明存在弊端,我相信隨著時間的推移證明,這項工程所作的結論是科學的。"

美聯社報道說,汪嘯風的講話似乎似乎是中國當局對三峽工程受到環保人士和壩區居民的批評而作出的危機公關努力。

三峽工程歷經15年建設,已接近尾聲。自去年進入初始運行期以來,大壩對長達600公里庫區的生態環境以及長江河道形態產生的影響,也逐步顯現,其間發生過庫區山體滑坡和水污染等事件。

三峽專家表示,三峽工程生態環境安全存在諸多新老隱患,如不及時預防治理,恐釀大禍。

身兼國務院三峽辦主任的汪嘯風澄清說,"我要給大家表明,這是中國政府一貫的立場,就是從項目研究開始,就十分重視存在的隱患和問題,而不是某些輿論所說的中國"始料未及"。也不是某些輿論說的'中國政府官員首次承認這個問題'。"

“魔妖化”?

中國科學院院士潘家錚則表示,外國部分傳媒"魔妖化三峽工程"。

他說,一些外國記者和媒體對中國的偏見太深,對中國的一些問題進行誇大歪曲的報道,這對溝通沒有好處。

他說:"作為我個人,三峽工程耗盡了我後半輩子的全部精力,現在這個工程被人們形容為妖魔、炸彈、一庫醬油,心裡很不好受,我希望這些先生們能夠客觀地報道中國。"

潘家錚院士表示“歡迎朋友們的批評和監督”,“但是請不要'妖魔化'"。

中國當局早些時候表示,為了在今後10至15年保護三峽庫區的"生態安全",重慶市將把大約400萬人轉移到 距離都市區一小時路程的經濟圈內居住。

2007年11月28日 星期三

Protests Reflect Turmoil Ahead Of New China Labor Laws

中國打工族﹐漫漫維權路

| | |
2007年11月28日10:54
港數家勞工團體就深圳打工者中心(Dagongzhe Migrant Worker Centre)負責人黃慶南受襲一事舉行抗議﹐此舉凸現出中國新勞動法實施前的動盪正愈演愈烈。

這些香港勞工團體指出﹐由於在深圳從事勞動者維權事業﹐黃慶南遭到了暴力侵害。據探視過他的朋友透露﹐黃慶南傷勢嚴重﹐儘管已住院治療但感染可能造成其腿部截肢。

進入11月份以來﹐不法分子手持鋼管、木棍等兇器兩度襲擊了黃慶南一手創建的打工者中心﹐該中心現已被迫關閉。深圳警方證實了襲擊事件﹐並表示正在進行調查。

香港勞工團體在週一發表的聲明中指出﹐如果此次事件得不到公正處理﹐將向不法分子發出錯誤信號﹐更多的勞工組織和工作人員將受到侵害。

這 些香港勞工團體包括:勞動力(Workers' Empowerment)、中國勞動透視(Labor Action China)、亞洲專訊資料研究中心(Asia Monitor Resources Centre)、全球化監察(Globalization Monitor)以及大學師生監察無良企業行動(Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior)。

這些勞工團體促請中國政府協助打工者中心重新開始運作﹐給予黃慶南適宜的治療並加強對民間團體的保護。

中國新的勞動合同法即將於明年年初實行﹐這是十年來中國在勞動法規方面做出的最大調整。

根據新法﹐企業在僱傭和解雇員工時將面臨更為嚴格的監管。其中一條規定﹐已經為企業連續服務十年的員工有權簽署無固定期限勞動合同﹐基本等同於獲得了永久職位。

儘管受到了政府的高度重視﹐但中國的貧富差距仍在不斷擴大﹐在此情況下﹐中國新生的勞工運動更多地關注了這一問題。不過﹐由於香港毗鄰中國南方的製造業重鎮﹐且許多中國的勞工組織總部都設在香港﹐所以在大陸的勞工事務中往往能看到香港勞動者維權組織的身影。

深圳打工者中心大約成立於四年前﹐只有五名工作人員。他們向打工者提供咨詢幫助﹐例如建議下崗工人如何才能獲得合理賠償等。

國 際工會聯盟(International Trade Union Confederation)駐香港的發言人多米尼克•穆勒(Dominique Muller)表示﹐這幾個月來﹐前來咨詢類似問題的人似乎多了起來﹐因為此前有報導顯示中國南方小工廠中發生了越來越多的解雇員工事件。

勞工問題分析人士指出﹐雇主相信新法將加大監管力度﹐所以趁現在紛紛裁員。

據國有媒體新華社報導﹐本月早些時候﹐中國最大的通訊網絡設備生產商華為技術有限公司(Huawei Technologies Co.)要求連續工作了八年的員工主動請辭、再重新申請崗位﹐這一做法引起了軒然大波。

據新華社報導﹐後來華為在與中國全國總工會(All China Federation of Trade Unions)進行探討後同意暫時擱置該計劃。

華為並未及時回應記者的置評要求。

黃慶南現年34歲﹐1999年他在一家食品廠打工受傷後就開始走上了為勞動者維權的道路。據他的律師、也是中國著名的民法律師周立太表示﹐黃慶南在工廠宿舍休息時曾被酸液嚴重燒傷﹐並導致毀容。

黃慶南花了四年時間來起訴工廠要求給予賠償﹐但未能成功。

黃慶南後來建立了打工者中心。亞洲專訊資料研究中心主任Apo Leung表示﹐香港勞工團體非常尊敬黃慶南。

Mei Fong

Protests Reflect Turmoil Ahead Of New China Labor Laws

| | |
2007年11月28日10:54
Protests by Hong Kong worker groups over the stabbing of Shenzhen labor leader Huang Qingnan reflect the unrest bubbling up ahead of China's new labor laws.

The Hong Kong groups say Huang, who runs a center counseling migrant workers, was attacked because of his work there. He is in the hospital with severe injuries and could lose a leg from infection, according to friends who have visited him.

Huang's labor center, the Dagongzhe Migrant Worker Centre, has been vandalized twice this month by assailants with pipes and is now closed. Shenzhen police confirmed the incidents and said they are investigating.

'If justice is not done for this case, it will give a misleading message to the attackers, and more labor groups and their staff would be harmed,' a consortium of Hong Kong labor groups said in a statement issued Monday.

They include Workers' Empowerment, Labor Action China, Asia Monitor Resources Centre, Globalization Monitor, and Students and Scholars Against Corporate Misbehavior.

The consortium is appealing to the Chinese authorities to help re-start the Dagongzhe center, provide Huang with appropriate medical treatment and improve the protection of civic groups.

The new labor laws, to take effect at the beginning of next year, are China's most significant overhaul of workplace regulation in a decade.

Companies will now face more stringent regulations in the firing and hiring of staff. In one proviso, employees who have worked 10 consecutive years are entitled to sign labor contracts with no fixed terms, essentially granting them permanent jobs.

China's nascent labor movement is growing more vocal with the nation's widening gap between rich and poor, a concern the Chinese government takes very seriously. But because of Hong Kong's proximity to southern China's manufacturing heartland and because many China-related labor groups are based in Hong Kong, the city's worker-rights groups have become involved in mainland matters.

The Dagongzhe center has been in operation for about four years. Its tiny staff-some five workers-has offered counseling, including advising laid-off workers on how to seek fair compensation.

Such advice appears to have been in more demand in recent months, following increasing reports of layoffs at small factories in southern China, said Dominique Muller, Hong Kong spokeswoman for the Brussels-based International Trade Union Confederation.

Labor analysts believe employers are laying off workers now in anticipation of the stricter laws.

Early this month, China's biggest telecommunications network equipment maker, Huawei Technologies Co., sparked controversy when it asked staff who had worked for eight consecutive years to re-apply for their positions, according to state news agency Xinhua.

Huawei later agreed to suspend the plan after discussions with China's umbrella trade group, the All China Federation of Trade Unions, according to Xinhua.

Huawei didn't respond in time to requests for comment.

Huang, 34 years old, became involved in labor rights after being injured while working in a food factory in 1999. He was disfigured after acid was thrown on his face while he was sleeping in a factory dormitory, according to his lawyer, Zhou Litai, a well-known civil rights attorney.

Huang unsuccessfully sued the company for compensation in a court case that lasted four years.

He later established the Dagongzhe center. Huang is a respected figure among Hong Kong labor groups, said Apo Leung, director of Asia Monitor Resources.

Mei Fong


2007年11月27日 星期二

消逝的海南黎族文化

WSJ 留住消逝的黎族文化
2007年11月23日17:31 | |
效文站在半山腰﹐透過一張描圖紙看著下方蔥郁山谷里的村庄。從這個位置看去﹐谷底那些草頂泥牆的房屋就像麥片﹐浮在由稻田和椰子樹組成的綠色大碗裡。

一個村民在編織籃子紙上是建筑師手繪的地圖﹐展示出路徬的一組房屋。黃效文指著它們﹐轉身對繪圖的匈牙利建築師Ildiko Choy說﹕“我們得保住這些房屋。”

黃效文並非土地投機者﹐也不是房地產巨頭。他是一位經驗豐富的探險家﹐到過中國許多邊遠地區。過去二十年里他一直力圖保護自己所發現的東西﹐不光是動植物﹐還有這個國家的本土文化。

他 保護中國少數民族文化遺產的努力引出了一個尖銳問題﹕在中國這樣一個急於奔向未來的國家﹐過去究竟價值幾何﹖尤其值得關注的是﹐保護論者在將邊緣文化從其 自我忽略和漠視之下挽救出來方面應走多遠﹖或者說﹐經濟發展是否應該優先﹖黃效文這次要保護的是海南島土著居民黎族人的文化遺產。

退休教 授科林•馬克拉斯(Colin Mackerras)說﹐有的少數民族可能會抵製現代化﹐因為他們害怕失去自己的文化。但很多人都想多掙錢﹐提高生活水平﹐在中國的經濟發展中佔據一席之 地。馬克拉斯退休前在澳大利亞的格里菲斯大學(Griffith University)從事亞洲研究﹐他對中國的少數民族文化進行了研究。

黎 族是中國正式承認的55個少數民族之一。海南是個其狀如梨的海島﹐有著近800萬人口﹐其中大約120萬為黎族。海南有時被稱為中國的夏威夷﹐因為它吸引 了這個國家的很多新興中產階級前來度假﹐而它在中國之外最為人所知的可能是這裡舉辦的世界小姐(Miss World)選美比賽。傳統上﹐黎族人從事農耕、狩獵、捕魚和經商。他們的紡織品以應用傳統染料和精美的織錦而聞名﹐但這些紡織品的製作工藝即將失傳。如 今﹐大多數黎族人住在城里﹐在跟佔人口絕大多數的漢族同化過程中失去了自己的語言和文化。

但也還有如洪水村這樣的文化孤島。洪水村隱身於海南西南山區。這裡的村民大多自給自足﹐種植水稻和蔬菜以及養豬。通向這個村子的最後12公里道路直到1997年才鋪砌完畢﹐從海南省會海口市開車到這裡需要5個小時。

59 歲的黃效文曾經是攝影記者。吸引他前來的是這裡的傳統建築──泥牆、茅草頂的房屋﹐這種設計可以在海南濕熱的夏季保持屋內涼爽。海南像洪水村這樣完好保留 著傳統民居的村庄已所剩無幾。今年3月﹐黃效文得知當地政府准備拆毀這個村庄﹐以現代的磚結構房屋取代原有建築。這位香港人立即行動起來。身為一名保護論 者﹐黃效文眼見一個杰出的文化瑰寶面臨損毀。而他企業家的直覺也被觸動了﹕他認為旅游者會花大價錢在真正的黎族村庄過夜﹐尤其如果將民宅改成博物館、研究 檔案室甚至禮品店的話。

四個月後﹐黃效文回到了洪水村﹐與一群專家共同為這裡制定遠景規劃﹐其中就有建築師Choy﹐以及一位來自瑞士的 社會人類學家﹐名叫蓋坦•留斯(Gaetan Reuse)。他還帶了兩名電影攝製者﹐將村民的生活拍攝成記錄片﹐以備將來在博物館內播放。與此同時﹐黃效文開始游說持贊同態度的當地政府官員同意修改 規劃﹐為他的項目保留大批泥牆房屋﹔這批共54幢房屋將作為一個整體在村中被相對原汁原味地保存下來。

黃效文短小精悍﹐淺褐色的眼睛閃閃 發亮﹐頭發已經開始花白。他似乎很自信﹐覺得自己的設想能行得通。的確﹐在短短幾日內他就成功說服當地官員作出了讓步﹕14座房屋將會留作保護區﹐村子的 旅遊開發將由黃效文的中國探險學會(China Exploration & Research Society)負責﹐後者是一個非營利性組織﹐總部位於香港。另一片房屋被劃為社區活動中心。黃效文還得知﹐如果附近能找到修建新房的土地﹐其餘的房屋 也可能會保留。

不過﹐他的說服工作並非面面俱到。黎族村民就仍一頭霧水。他們世世代代都住在泥牆房子裡﹐非常希望將老屋翻建成現代式磚房。

從2006年4月起﹐村民們就一直期待著住進新房。當時村長在學校操場上召開大會﹐宣佈洪水村即將改建。興奮不已的村民開始囤積石塊﹐以備他們將來的磚房打地基。

因此﹐當黃效文一行今年7月來到此地時﹐村民們還以為蓋新房的一天終於到來了。

村民林春賢(音)問道﹕“你們是來給我們建新房子的嗎﹖”她家房屋格子狀的木椽上挂著蜘蛛網﹐一輛摩托車靠牆放著﹐滿身泥漿的豬在後院哼哼嘰嘰。林春賢指著貼滿了舊報紙的牆說﹕“我不喜歡這個地方。看看這牆﹐全是洞。我們想要新房子。”

這些村民知道其他黎族聚居區已經蓋起了新房﹐但對自己什麼時候能住上卻一無所知。在中國像洪水村這樣的偏遠落後地區﹐村民們幾乎沒有參與商討公共事務的機會﹐在少數民族地區這一點尤其突出。

澳 洲國立大學社會學家、長期研究中國華南地區少數民族的約翰遜•昂吉亞(Jonathan Unger)說﹐地方官員明顯瞧不起少數民族群眾﹐認為他們“落後”、原始﹐各方面都不開化﹐日常生活也跟漢族人不一樣。他認為﹐許多少數民族也逐漸接受 了這種說法﹐也認為自己是二等公民﹐天生窮命﹐因此希望擺脫這種局面。

黃效文認為﹐政府有責任讓村民們瞭解保護計劃﹐這不該是他的職能。此外﹐他也意識到必須儘快跟保護區里的黎族居民簽下房屋租賃協議﹐否則房價會飛快上漲。此時﹐附近到處都在傳言﹐說有個香港商人正在村里四處買房產。

洪水村部分居民還聽說﹐上級可能已經下命令保護他們的住房﹐他們似乎挺讚成這個主意。復員軍人林澤成(音)說﹐如果我們保護好房子﹐它們將來說不定能拍電視或電影。他現在靠種水稻和橡膠生活。不過﹐村民們感到不可理解的是﹐怎麼會有遊客想到他們這種破舊的地方來玩呢?

吃 完早飯﹐黃效文召集團隊成員們圍著桌子分配任務。除了研究洪水村的本地建築和風俗文化之外﹐他還要求大家查閱整理有關當地社會和經濟狀況的檔案資料。之後 ﹐他會開始讓他所在的非盈利組織跟房主們談判租用他們房屋的事﹐這將是一個舖墊﹐今後他們有可能買下這些房子、最終再歸還給當地村民。由於黃效文的計劃打 斷了村民們蓋新房的計劃﹐有14幢茅屋裡的村民搬到附近親戚家住了。

黃效文將自己的方 式比作一種行動迅速的風險資本﹐它採取一種近似於BOT(建設-擁有-移交)的運作方式﹐先向資本接受方提供種子資本和專業經驗﹐然後將資產交給當地人監 護。這種方式與國際援助組織通常採取的指導活動權益各方通過漫長的協商談判達成方案的方式很不一樣。黃效文認為﹐村民們在急切希望過上現代化生活的同時﹐ 可能沒有意識到他們那些真正的老房子所蘊含的價值﹐保護這些房子不僅能給他們帶來收入﹐同時還能為後人保留下他們的文化。他相信﹐將來﹐隨著越來越多的遊 客來到這裡﹐年輕一代黎族人會對自己的傳統文化產生越來越大的自豪感﹐黃效文說﹐歸根到底﹐我們這些計劃是為了他們﹐雖然他們自己還沒認識到這一點。

但就在他開始實施拯救計劃的同時﹐這裡的人口正在萎縮。

包括林澤成家的孩子在內﹐過去兩年中村里只出生了兩個新生兒。村小學校長說﹐今年﹐全校4個年級一共只有20個學生﹐去年還有26個。

越來越多的黎族婦女開始到城里打工﹐返鄉跟本地男子結婚生子的越來越少。

而對林澤成的祖母韓金花(音)那輩人來說﹐這樣的生活選擇是不可能的。韓金花自稱今年已98歲。她這個年紀的人經歷過日軍入侵。日本人撤出海南後﹐黎族抗日戰士加入了共產黨的部隊跟國民黨作戰。

韓金花與很多上了年紀的黎族婦女一樣在臉上、手腕和腳腕上有刺青﹐這是一種古老的黎族風俗﹐據說能防止她們被外人搶走。這種習俗正在消失。韓金花回憶起當年還是姑娘的時候被刺青的感受時說:我當時感到很痛﹐痛得簡直眼珠子都要掉出來了。

黎族還有其他一些古老風俗也在迅速消亡。現在﹐沒有多少年輕女性還會學習編織草墊子或縫制傳統服裝的手藝﹐這些服裝平日裡也沒人再穿了。美國聖勞倫斯大學歷史學家、研究黎族文化保護工作的安妮•塞特(Anne Csete)說﹐這造成了黎族編織工藝瀕臨失傳。

洪水村的大部分居民現在難得表演一次本民族歌舞了﹐他們只慶祝漢族的節日。黎族民間英雄故事也鮮有被搬上電視屏幕的。和黃效文一起的社會人類學家留斯甚至擔心﹐現在才開始整理黎族過去的資料是不是已經太晚了。他說:傳統已經消失了。我們現在搶救的只是房子。

其 實﹐就連讓房子完好地保存下來也不是件輕鬆的事。村民們抱怨說﹐很難在當地找到適合的草來替換舊的茅草屋頂。這種茅草要在燒荒之後的地上才能正常生長﹐但 現在政府禁止燒荒。另外﹐燒木柴的爐子散出的煙霧能保證用泥巴和茅草混合起來壘的牆不致腐爛﹐所以﹐沒人住的房子很快就會塌掉。

但對文化 保護充滿激情的黃效文並沒有被嚇倒。黃效文曾因發現長江新源頭及倡導保護世界最古老的犬種藏獒而受到讚譽。他準備嘗試在茅草下面墊上一層塑料﹐以延長茅屋 的壽命。他們還在租借的房子裡裝上空調﹐並開始考慮將房子改造成渡假屋。對外展覽的茅屋裡將展示這一地區的自然景觀及黎族手工藝品。黃效文的夢想是﹐在村 里創造一些就業機會﹐讓年輕人有充分理由留在這裡工作生活。

黃效文說:對待少數民族聚居區除了簡單地拆散、將其融入主流社會﹐應該還有其他方式。這是多元化的一個範例。我們現在經常說生物多樣性﹐我想﹐文化的多樣性也是上帝賜予我們的一件禮物。

Simon Montlake

2007年11月26日 星期一

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Forged Barefoot in India

幾小時之前看紐約時報的這篇前"圖本"
想起約1972年暑假在台中縣"宗達"工業公司 初次知道什麼是 PISTON RINGS (活塞環)的鑄造 (這篇標題 Forged 應該是錯誤或比喻用法)
當然 當時工作環境還不至於像這篇這般險惡.....

New York Manhole Covers, Forged Barefoot in India

J. Adam Huggins for The New York Times

Workers in Haora, India, have few protections while making manhole covers for Con Edison and some cities’ utilities.


Published: November 26, 2007

NEW DELHI — Eight thousand miles from Manhattan, barefoot, shirtless, whip-thin men rippled with muscle were forging prosaic pieces of the urban jigsaw puzzle: manhole covers.

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The Shakti Industries foundry is in West Bengal State.

Seemingly impervious to the heat from the metal, the workers at one of West Bengal’s many foundries relied on strength and bare hands rather than machinery. Safety precautions were barely in evidence; just a few pairs of eye goggles were seen in use on a recent visit. The foundry, Shakti Industries in Haora, produces manhole covers for Con Edison and New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection, as well as for departments in New Orleans and Syracuse.

The scene was as spectacular as it was anachronistic: flames, sweat and liquid iron mixing in the smoke like something from the Middle Ages. That’s what attracted the interest of a photographer who often works for The New York Times — images that practically radiate heat and illustrate where New York’s manhole covers are born.

When officials at Con Edison — which buys a quarter of its manhole covers, roughly 2,750 a year, from India — were shown the pictures by the photographer, they said they were surprised.

“We were disturbed by the photos,” said Michael S. Clendenin, director of media relations with Con Edison. “We take worker safety very seriously,” he said.

Now, the utility said, it is rewriting international contracts to include safety requirements. Contracts will now require overseas manufacturers to “take appropriate actions to provide a safe and healthy workplace,” and to follow local and federal guidelines in India, Mr. Clendenin said.

At Shakti, street grates, manhole covers and other castings were scattered across the dusty yard. Inside, men wearing sandals and shorts carried coke and iron ore piled high in baskets on their heads up stairs to the furnace feeding room.

On the ground floor, other men, often shoeless and stripped to the waist, waited with giant ladles, ready to catch the molten metal that came pouring out of the furnace. A few women were working, but most of the heavy lifting appeared to be left to the men.

The temperature outside the factory yard was more than 100 degrees on a September visit. Several feet from where the metal was being poured, the area felt like an oven, and the workers were slick with sweat.

Often, sparks flew from pots of the molten metal. In one instance they ignited a worker’s lungi, a skirtlike cloth wrap that is common men’s wear in India. He quickly, reflexively, doused the flames by rubbing the burning part of the cloth against the rest of it with his hand, then continued to cart the metal to a nearby mold.

Once the metal solidified and cooled, workers removed the manhole cover casting from the mold and then, in the last step in the production process, ground and polished the rough edges. Finally, the men stacked the covers and bolted them together for shipping.

“We can’t maintain the luxury of Europe and the United States, with all the boots and all that,” said Sunil Modi, director of Shakti Industries. He said, however, that the foundry never had accidents. He was concerned about the attention, afraid that contracts would be pulled and jobs lost.

New York City’s Department of Environmental Protection gets most of its sewer manhole covers from India. When asked in an e-mail message about the department’s source of covers, Mark Daly, director of communications for the Department of Citywide Administrative Services, said that state law requires the city to buy the lowest-priced products available that fit its specifications.

Mr. Daly said the law forbids the city from excluding companies based on where a product is manufactured.

Municipalities and utility companies often buy their manhole covers through middlemen who contract with foreign foundries; New York City buys the sewer covers through a company in Flushing, Queens.

Con Edison said it did not plan to cancel any of its contracts with Shakti after seeing the photographs, though it has been phasing out Indian-made manhole covers for several years because of changes in design specifications.

Manhole covers manufactured in India can be anywhere from 20 to 60 percent cheaper than those made in the United States, said Alfred Spada, the editor and publisher of Modern Casting magazine and the spokesman for the American Foundry Society. Workers at foundries in India are paid the equivalent of a few dollars a day, while foundry workers in the United States earn about $25 an hour.

The men making New York City’s manhole covers seemed proud of their work and pleased to be photographed doing it. The production manager at the Shakti Industries factory, A. Ahmed, was enthusiastic about the photographer’s visit, and gave a full tour of the facilities, stopping to measure the temperature of the molten metal — some 1,400 degrees Centigrade, or more than 2,500 degrees Fahrenheit.

India’s 1948 Factory Safety Act addresses cleanliness, ventilation, waste treatment, overtime pay and fresh drinking water, but the only protective gear it specifies is safety goggles.

Mr. Modi said that his factory followed basic safety regulations and that workers should not be barefoot. “It must have been a very hot day” when the photos were taken, he said.

Some labor activists in India say that injuries are far higher than figures show. “Many accidents are not being reported,” said H. Mahadevan, the deputy general secretary for the All-India Trade Union Congress.

Safety, overall, is “not taken as a serious concern by employers or trade unions,” Mr. Mahadevan added.

A. K. Anand, the director of the Institute of Indian Foundrymen in New Delhi, a trade association, said in a phone interview that foundry workers were “not supposed to be working barefoot,” but he could not answer questions about what safety equipment they should be wearing.

At the Shakti Industries foundry, “there are no accidents, never ever. Period,” Mr. Modi said. “By God’s will, it’s all fine.”

Heather Timmons reported from New Delhi and J. Adam Huggins from Haora, India.

2007年11月19日 星期一

三篇WSJ 關於台灣與中國"工程"

灣《經濟日報》週一報導﹐台灣電力公司(Taiwan Power Company (Taipower))計劃為其籌建的兩座火力發電廠追加新台幣1,220億元左右預算﹐因土木建築成本增加及機組設備價格上揚﹐但報導未說明消息來源。

據《經濟日報》報導﹐台灣電力公司計劃將位於台北縣的林口火力發電廠的預算由新台幣830億元增至新台幣1,525億元﹔並將位於基隆市的深澳火力發電廠預算由新台幣580億元增至新台幣1,111億元。預算調整尚待台灣政府審批。





取材 Shai Oster (wsj)

長江三峽大壩的建設初衷是為了控制這條中國最長河流的洪水﹐並產生清潔能源。近一個世紀以來﹐中國領導人一直希望馴服暴虐的長江。三峽工程1994年開工建設﹐而此前由於對大壩利弊存在爭議﹐開工時間曾被延期數年。

批 評人士擔心﹐如此大規模的項目將會帶來一系列的生態、環境和社會問題。批評意見在過去經常受到壓制﹐直到不久前政府才前所未有地承認三峽工程帶來了一系列 問題﹐如山體滑坡增多、污染加劇和移民失業率上升﹐等等。移民還抱怨說﹐普遍存在的腐敗現象讓國家撥出的本應屬於他們的安置費進入了當地政府的腰包。

長江三峽大壩建設所形成的400英里長庫區已經淹沒了近140萬人的家園。三峽大壩於2006年完工﹐目前正在對水庫分階段注水﹐2009年將達到175米的最終水位。

三峽工程的大多數移民都被重新安置到直轄市重慶週邊地勢較高的地區。

但工程淹沒了成百上千英畝的農田﹐移民也令庫區週圍人口密度過高和貧窮問題進一步惡化。重慶市研究人員曾經計算過﹐為了緩解水污染加劇、同時防止滑坡帶來的危險﹐還有約230萬人需要遷離庫區週邊地區﹐其中就包括一些以前的移民。

政府表示﹐希望鼓勵這些居民離開三峽庫區週邊地區﹐讓數百萬人搬出貧困的農村山區﹐這也是重慶市城市化進程的組成部分。

上 週四﹐重慶市政府發言人文天平否認了將有數百萬人被強行重新安置的說法。根據國有媒體報道﹐文天平在例行記者會上說﹐有關還將有400萬人被遷移出三峽庫 區的報導是不準確的。重慶市政府希望在2020年前吸引300萬至400萬人從農村轉移到城市地區﹐以縮小城鄉貧富差距。.....







腦手術治療精神病在中國大行其道

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2007年11月16日15:21
父母一起住在安徽某地的25歲小夥米戰濤(音)患有抑鬱癥﹐與人交往有障礙。醫生說他得了精神分裂癥﹐建議他做腦外科手術。

米的家人帶他來到離家不遠的江蘇省會城市南京的解放軍四五四醫院﹐花了36,000元給他做了手術。如此大一筆錢相當於這家人四年的全部收入﹐一家人省吃儉用一輩子恐怕也難攢下這麼多。

米所接受的腦外科手術當前在國際醫學界存在高度爭議。這種手術要在病人的顱骨上鑽幾個小洞﹐然後將一根長19厘米的長針通過小洞伸入病人腦中將被認為是病灶的小塊組織燒毀。

點擊下圖查看更多圖片

border=0據首次見到米當天就給米做了手術的王一芳大夫說﹐自從他所在的醫院2004年開始提供這種手術服務以來﹐他已經做了近千例這樣的手術﹐接受手術的大多是精神分裂癥患者﹐另外也有抑鬱癥和癲癇癥病人。

米的父母說﹐這次手術沒有治好小米的病﹐倒是讓他新添了右臂偏癱、語音含糊的毛病。他的母親說﹐術後他依然像以前一樣抑鬱、孤僻。王大夫則說﹐他查了病例紀錄﹐就他所知﹐這位病人離開醫院時一切正常。

米戰濤的母親、現年50歲的孔令霞(音)說﹐這個決定會讓她後悔一輩子。“我很生氣﹐”她說。“可我實際上是生自己的氣。我怎麼就會讓這樣的事情發生呢﹖”

小米在四五四醫院接受的這種不可逆腦外科手術在中國相當普遍﹐但是在幾乎所有發達國家﹐這種手術用於治療精神疾病時要受到嚴格限制。中國醫療體系當前存在的諸多弊端由此可見一斑﹕公共資金投入的嚴重缺乏導致醫療機構採取各種手段獲取商業利潤。

一些外國醫生聽說了王一芳大夫所做的手術數量以及他這些手術所要治療的疾病時都感到非常震驚。

“這 簡直是不可思議﹐”美國立體定向和功能神經外科學會(American Society for Stereotactic and Functional Neurosurgery)主席麥克爾•舒爾德(Michael Schulder)說。“(別說近千個)﹐他就算做10個這樣的手術就已經會引起極大爭議了。”這種手術涉及到精確定位腦部特定“靶點”並對其進行外科操 作。

腦外科手術通常用於治療腦部腫瘤和行動失調等疾病﹐但在當今的主流醫學界﹐像米戰濤所接受的這種被稱為“燒蝕手術” (ablative surgery)的腦外科手術﹐只有在萬不得已的情況下才會用來治療精神疾病。在美國﹐沒有一家醫院使用手術方法治療精神分裂癥。世界範圍內每年的精神外 科手術數量目前尚無法得知﹐但據美國麻省總醫院(Massachusetts General Hospital)的艾馬德•伊斯坎達(Emad N. Eskandar)估計﹐美國和英國每年這類手術的數量加在一起不到25例。

麻省總醫院的醫生每年針對精神疾病患者進行的燒蝕手術數量在 6到12例之間﹐但是據擔任該院立體定向和功能神經外科主任醫師的伊斯坎達稱﹐所有這些手術都是在經過極其仔細嚴格的篩選後才進行的﹐而手術的目的也只是 為減緩病人的難治性抑鬱癥和強迫癥。接受手術的病人自身必須有知情同意能力﹐而手術也需經過一個由精神病學家、神經科專家、倫理學家、外科醫生和一位普通 人組成的專門委員會批准後方能實施﹐而整個審批過程通常需要至少一年的時間。

據不久前剛剛卸任的世界衛生組織(World Health Organization)駐中國首席代表貝漢衛(Henk Bekedam)稱﹐中國現存的醫療體制很容易滋生醫療腐敗行為﹐因為醫生的收入中﹐獎金的比例可高達90%﹐而一名醫生獎金的多少是和他給醫院帶來的收 入直接掛鉤的。

上海交通大學醫學院附屬瑞金醫院功能神經外科中心主任孫伯民說﹐在今天的中國﹐腦科中心是一些部隊醫院的利潤中心。中國的大多數醫院都歸屬衛生部﹐但也有一些醫院歸靠軍隊系統﹐這些醫院以前只接治軍隊系統的病人﹐如今它們也對平民開放。

孫伯民說﹐他每年大約做20到30例精神分裂癥腦外科手術﹐但都是在精神病專家的監督下進行的。他說這種手術本身沒有問題﹐有問題的是這種手術的使用是否得當﹐比如說對病人應否接受這種手術事先是否進行了充分的研究。

毛澤東時代的中國給幾乎所有國民提供基本的公費醫療保障﹐但是自政府從上個世紀八十年代開始實行醫療制度改革以後﹐公費醫療制度被逐漸取消﹐致使許多國人以及數以千計的國有醫院被迫去自尋出路。

中國一直在試圖進行醫療體制的整改﹐但是備受腐敗醜聞餘波困擾的醫藥監管部門眼下可謂是舉步維艱。國家食品藥品監督管理局(State Food and Drug Administration)前局長鄭筱萸因收受藥品公司巨額賄賂今年夏天才剛剛被執行死刑。

對於《華爾街日報》就腦外科手術提出的書面問題﹐中國衛生部沒有予以答復﹐而國防部辦公室的一位發言人給予的答復是﹐軍隊衛生部門答應對此進行“徹底調查”﹐但在調查進行期間拒絕就此發表任何評論。

據王一芳大夫說﹐政府調查人員10月中旬來到他所在的醫院﹐詢問了一些有關他所做的那類腦外科手術的情況。10月26日﹐孔女士在接受電話採訪時說﹐當地政府官員找到了她﹐問她為什麼讓外國記者來自己家裡採訪。

至少是從上個世紀30年代開始有醫生做額葉切除手術起﹐腦手術治療精神病就一直是一個存在爭議的問題。這種切除術最後被受到嚴格限制。不過﹐贊成此類手術的人說﹐如今做這類手術與當年不同﹐現在對手術部位的定位要精確多了。

2004年﹐有報導說﹐中國某些醫院在對吸毒者實施腦部手術戒毒﹐政府不久下發通知禁止這種做法。但這類手術仍被繼續用於治療精神疾病。

四五四醫院神經外科負責人王一芳大夫認為﹐這種手術治療精神疾病有它的合理之處。他說﹕現在有那麼多精神病患者﹔在許多精神病院﹐30%到50%的病人藥物治療無效。這些病人給他們的家庭乃至社會造成了極大負擔。

現年44歲的王一芳1987年畢業於南京醫科大學﹐隨後被分配到這家空軍醫院做外科醫生。他說﹐現在他月薪5000元﹐獎金多少與業務量的多少不挂鉤﹐也不會因為多做手術就能多拿錢。不過﹐王大夫說﹐他經常到附近省市的其他醫院做腦手術﹐掙些額外收入。

據王大夫說﹐四五四醫院約有600名醫護人員﹐去年一年該院的收入大約9,000萬元, 其中約有700萬元來自這類手術。四五四醫院在推廣這種立體定向手術上花了很大力氣﹐印製了介紹成功病例的宣傳冊﹐還開通了一部熱線電話﹐方便病人諮詢相關信息。

四五四醫院副院長石海明拒絕接受採訪。

據 王大夫介紹﹐所有患者手術前都要經過檢查﹐而手術幫助很多病人減輕了痛苦。他說﹐今年早些時候﹐醫院向接受過腦手術的患者家庭發放了500多份問卷﹐詢問 病人手術後的日常活動──比如跟朋友談話、乘車、購物──及總的生活狀況是否有改善。調查收到了317份答卷﹐王大夫和同事根據答案對每位病人的病情按五 分制逐一打分、對照。他說﹐根據打分﹐他們認定93%的受訪病人現狀有了改善。

但患者鄧堅的家人說﹐她的病情沒有好轉。他們起訴了四五四醫院。

今年42歲的鄧堅20多歲的時候被診斷患有精神分裂癥﹐2004年她接受了立體定向多靶點毀損手術﹐但手術過程中發生腦出血﹐現在﹐她右腿需要借助支架才能站立﹐右臂沒有了知覺﹐另外她還唾液分泌失調﹐需要不停地往一個痰桶里吐口水。

她的父親鄧雋回憶說﹐以前﹐鄧堅能自己騎車到離家不遠的中山陵去玩。母親冉玉華說﹐手術前﹐她頭腦是有問題﹐不過生活還能自理﹐但手術之後﹐她什麼也做不了了﹐就連擰毛巾或穿衣服這麼簡單的事都不行。

冉玉華記得﹐到四五四醫院登記住院的那天早上﹐他們看了有關手術風險的資料。她當時問醫生﹐“腦出血”是什麼意思。她說﹐王大夫一直沒有回答這個問題﹐只是催她趕快交錢。冉玉華說﹐當時王一芳說﹕快點快點﹐否則就來不及了。我們還有其他手術要做。

但王一芳否認他當時曾催促鄧堅家人快做決定的說法。他說﹕這麼說就不公平了。他們到醫院後﹐我們多次告訴他們手術可能存在的風險。他說﹐必要的檢查就要三到四個小時﹐包括心電圖、X光胸片、肝功能和大腦CT掃描等。

他說﹐鄧堅的問題是手術併發癥造成的﹐這樣的病例極少。

鄧 堅家庭向南京白下區人民法院起訴了四五四醫院﹐要求該院賠償手術費、護理費和傷殘賠償等共計約570,000元。據鄧家出示的法院文件顯示﹐今年5月﹐法 院判決鄧家勝訴﹐並判四五四醫院賠償364,091.20元。白下區人民法院審判長方建國證實了5月份的判決。法院在判決書中也指出﹐鄧堅家屬當初應對手 術風險有更充分的考慮。

除四五四醫院外﹐還有其他一些醫院也在通過腦部手術治療精神疾病。比如陝西寶雞的解放軍第三醫院。據該院一名醫生 說﹐他們醫院共完成了800多例此類手術。瀋陽的解放軍四六三醫院稱﹐從2001年起﹐他們做過的這類手術累計已有2,000多例﹐幾乎所有患者都反映術 後病情有改善。

解放軍第三醫院姜克明大夫說﹐在美國﹐精神病人能找到專業的治療機構﹐但在這裡﹐大多數病人沒有依托﹐對社會安全構成了威脅﹐他們會作出打罵別人、放火燒東西等舉動。患者家庭急切希望能讓他們通過手術得到治療。

長沙湖南腦科醫院及廣州空軍醫院也都做這類腦手術。據醫院方面的人說﹐他們每年要完成至少100例這樣的手術。也有醫生給病人用藥物治療精神疾病﹐但很多時候﹐高昂的藥費限制了藥物治療的推廣。

米戰濤的父母最早注意到兒子有異常是在2004年夏天﹐當時21歲的米戰濤突然連續幾天高燒不退﹐隨後開始失眠、經常感覺身體不适。他母親孔令霞說﹐他整日精神抑鬱、喜怒無常。

不久﹐他不再到父親工作的玻璃廠實習了。父母隨後帶他看了好幾家醫院。有的醫院說他有精神問題﹐但沒有更具體的診斷結論﹔上海和北京的醫生看了他的腦部掃描後告訴他父親﹐沒什麼可擔心的。

米 戰濤有個姨媽住在上海﹐有一天﹐她給米戰濤母親寄去了一份2004年7月16日的《揚子晚報》﹐上面有一篇題為《七年“武瘋子”終於醒啦》的報導。文中介 紹四五四醫院開展的一項腦部新手術效果很好﹐還提到一位22歲的患者在施行手術後病情大為改善的例子。文章引述王一芳大夫的話說﹕該上學的上學﹐該工作的 工作﹐不會跟正常人有什麼兩樣。

正擔心兒子病情會越來越重的孔令霞心想﹐這種手術或許對兒子有幫助。2005年10月﹐他們從銀行里取出 一家人全部的29,000元存款﹐還向親戚和以前的老同學借了一些錢﹐湊足了手術費。幾百張鈔票被他們藏在毯子和衣服里。10月9日﹐他們帶著這些鈔票登 上了去南京的火車。

第二天早晨﹐孔令霞夫婦帶兒子到了醫院。這也是他們第一次到這裡。醫生隨即讓他們交錢登記。

其中一位醫生遞給孔令霞一份診斷報告﹐讓她簽字。滿滿一頁的報告上列出了米戰濤的一些具體癥狀﹐並將他診斷為精神分裂癥。孔令霞夫婦以前從沒聽到過這個術語。報告的複印件顯示﹐其中還有諸如米戰濤經常“打罵”家人、“亂摔東西”、有幻聽現象等病癥描述內容。

孔 令霞說﹐當時她根本沒有好好看報告﹐但還是按醫生要求簽了字。從報告複印件上可以看到末尾有她的親筆簽名和“情況屬實”字樣。但她現在說﹐報告內容根本就 是醫生自己編的﹐她和她丈夫從沒反映過兒子在家裡打他們或摔東西的情況。王一芳對於下屬編造診斷報告的說法予以了否認。

孔令霞簽完字後﹐護士很快將她兒子安置到一輛擔架車上﹐並用帶扣把他固定起來。她說﹐她當時還以為是要給兒子作檢查。她說﹕“他們至少應該讓他先住幾天院再說啊。我們當時完全沒有思想準備。”

王一芳說﹐帶患者來做手術的家庭大多數都要求他“儘快手術”﹐因為病人很難控制。

醫院方面出具的治療報告上描述了米戰濤做手術時醫生在其頭部四週固定支架及在腦顱上鑽洞的情況。王一芳說﹐做手術時﹐他把一根頂端加熱到攝氏80度的針探進腦顱﹐然後用大約一分鐘時間破壞掉裡面的某個特定部位的組織。

當天下午三點左右﹐護士用擔架車推著米戰濤出了電梯。當晚﹐米戰濤突然醒過來﹐然後開始嘔吐。孔令霞說﹐當時醫生告訴她﹐嘔吐是正常現象﹐手術是按計劃進行的。

她說﹐兒子的兩個耳朵都在出血。在接下來的五天時間里﹐他一會兒清醒﹐一會兒昏迷﹔即使是清醒的時候﹐他的右臂也沒有知覺﹐說話含糊不清。

王一芳則說﹐他當時檢查了醫院紀錄﹐從上面看﹐米戰濤出院的時候情況挺好。不過他也說﹐這種手術對某些人可能沒什麼效果。

孔令霞說﹐手術幾個月後﹐也就是2006年2月春節期間﹐她發現兒子站在陽台上(他們住在六樓)﹐茫然地看著附近的街道﹐工人們正在那裡雕石刻。她說﹐當時兒子的脖子上纏著電線﹐後來兒子告訴她﹐當時他想自殺的。

8月份﹐米戰濤在父母陪同下到解放軍一二三醫院作了檢查。醫院對他進行了高壓氧倉治療和理療﹐試圖幫助他緩解腦損傷。據該院神經科醫生吳倩說﹐這些損傷或許與手術有關。

米戰濤的母親看著坐在椅子上搖來搖去不停眨著左眼的兒子說﹐他以前不像這樣。“以前他就不大愛說話﹐可現在﹐他就是說話也沒人聽得懂。”

Nicholas Zamiska


轉載BBC三則

BBC
"氣候變化將抹殺亞洲經濟發展"
印度河水泛濫
溫室效應導致的水平線不斷上升。

一份由世界各地多個非政府組織聯合撰寫的報告提出,氣候變化將導致整個亞洲社會和經濟發展的後退。

這份由環境保護組織和救援組織合作的報告要求各國立即處理採取行動避免威脅。

這個自稱"氣候變化和發展工作小組"的聯盟表示工業國家要在本世紀中葉前減低碳排放。

工作小組還提出英國政府就使用再生能源作模範。

這個名為《煙霧彌漫?亞洲和亞太》的報告警告說,有著全球三分之二人口的亞洲目前是處理氣候變化的最前線。

溫室效應導致水平線不斷上升,威脅到數十億住在海岸線附近的民眾的生命。

報告作者之一西蒙斯說:"當經過辛苦經營的社會和經濟發展被越來越多的極端氣候變化而破壞之際,我們要重新想清楚怎樣才能夠滿足人類的基本需要。"

氣候變化和發展工作小組包括包括國際行動援助、基督教援助、地球之友、綠色和平、樂施會和世界自然基金會等21個組織。

新經濟基金和國際環境與發展研究所負責協調報告的寫作和發表。

氣候變化和發展工作小組在2004年曾發表報告警告說,溫室效應威脅到國際扶貧努力,並要求工業國家降低碳排放量。

最新的報告指出,現在的情況比當時更為嚴峻。

聯合國會議

各國領袖正準備下月出席於印尼巴厘島舉行的聯合國氣候會議。

環保人士表示,環保組織要在聯合國會議前表達意見,要求國際領袖採取行動,否則亞洲以及世界各地的弱勢群體將繼續成為氣候變化的最大受害者。

西蒙斯希望聯合國氣候會議可以改變發展中國家對氣候變化的根本態度。

西蒙斯對BBC說,會議應該是依照科學的需要而不是各國底線規定減少碳排放的量度。

氣候變化和發展工作小組所發表的報告提出世界範圍碳排放量在2050年減少80%,並要求富裕國家在使用再生能源方面立下模範。

報告告誡亞洲國家在能源利用方面要放眼長遠,不要僅顧一時的經濟利益。

但西蒙斯承認實際困難以即富裕國家缺乏榜樣效應等問題意味著亞洲國家不會在可見的將來放棄使用傳統能源。

他說:"如果我們沒有自己都沒有表現改變的意願並為發展中國家提供進行改變所需的資源的話,單單指責中國碳排放量不斷增加是毫無意義的。"



日本打破44年禁令開始捕殺座頭鯨

日本大型補給船“日新丸”號再度領銜這支捕鯨船隊
日本大型補給船“日新丸”號是捕鯨船隊的主力
日本的一支捕鯨船隊周日(18日)起航前往南太平洋捕殺鯨魚,其中包括瀕危物種座頭鯨。

這支捕鯨船隊將從南部港口城市下關出發,前往南太平洋地區,計劃捕殺50頭座頭鯨、935頭南極小鬚鯨以及50頭長鬚鯨。

長鬚鯨也是世界瀕危物種之一。這將是日本迄今規模最大的一次"科學研究"捕鯨活動。

自1960年代以來,座頭鯨一直受到國際公約的保護。但日本說,座頭鯨的數量現在已經恢復到了可以重新進行捕殺的水平。

日本一直宣稱他們的捕鯨行動是出於科學研究的目的。但環保人士對此予以駁斥,指責日本利用冠冕堂皇的科研理由開展商業捕鯨活動。

由於環保人士去年開展的一次護鯨活動導致他們的船隻和日本捕鯨船相撞,因此,在這次捕鯨船隊出發之前,日本官員再次把環保人士形容為環境恐怖主義分子。

日本捕鯨船隊這次計劃捕殺50頭座頭鯨。澳大利亞警告說,這樣做將會損害日本的國際信譽。

與此同時,環保人士說,座頭鯨是一種極為敏感的動物,過著密切的群體生活,其中任何一隻的死亡都會給鯨群造成傷害。

環保人士說,他們將追蹤座頭鯨群的活動,想法設法阻止日本船隊的捕殺行動。

由於座頭鯨能夠發出複雜的聲響和進行雜技式的水面跳躍,他們對鯨魚愛好者具有極大的吸引力。


列印文稿
達賴喇嘛參拜日本伊勢神宮
達賴喇嘛參拜日本神道教重要神社伊勢神宮
達賴喇嘛參拜日本神道教重要神社伊勢神宮

西藏流亡精神領袖達賴喇嘛星期日(11月18日)參拜了日本西部的著名神道教寺廟伊勢神宮,這是他致力進行的團結世界各宗教的努力的一部分。

達賴喇嘛在伊勢神宮大祭司的陪同下,向神宮所供奉的天照大神鞠躬,並根據日本傳統用神宮內的河水淨身。

達賴喇嘛表示,他多年來前往世界各國都會努力前往當地的的宗教聖地進行參拜,因為他致力實現宗教間的和諧。

達賴星期四抵達日本,他是應全日本佛教會組織的邀請抵達日本訪問的。

他在日本期間將發表公開演講並訪問學校,但不會會晤任何政府官員,同時根據日本政府的條件,也不會進行任何政治活動。

論壇討論

中國此前警告日本不要接待達賴,並對日本政府允許達賴訪問日本表示"遺憾"。

達賴喇嘛最近對德國、加拿大和美國的訪問,並受到這些國家元首的接見,令中國政府感到憤怒。

伊勢神宮位於日本西部三重縣的伊勢市,是日本神道教最重要的神社。

神宮內供奉著據稱是日本天皇祖先的天照大神,據說天照大神派自己的孫子帶著稻種教會日本人種稻,並成為第一代天皇。

2007年11月11日 星期日

馬來西亞將設計生產‘穆斯林汽車’

馬來西亞將設計生產‘穆斯林汽車’

BBC新聞網記者布倫特從吉隆坡發回的報道:

馬來西亞寶騰汽車
寶騰汽車認為,市場對穆斯林汽車有著巨大需求。
馬來西亞汽車製造商"國家汽車控股有限公司"(PROTON,即寶騰)宣佈,馬來西亞將為穆斯林司機設計生產一種專門的"伊斯蘭汽車"。

馬來西亞寶騰汽車正計劃與伊朗和土耳其的汽車製造商聯合設計和生產這種特別的汽車。

這種汽車是專為穆斯林司機而設計,車內設有專門指向聖地麥加的指南針,以及方便駕車者存放《古蘭經》或穆斯林頭巾的空間。

據報道,這個概念是馬來西亞政治家和商人組成的一個代表團不久前訪問中東時形成的。

馬來西亞媒體說,是伊朗的官員首先提出了這個建議。

現在新車的賣點一般是安全性能和經濟節能。但寶騰汽車認為,綜觀全球的汽車市場,目前還缺乏專門為穆斯林司機生產的汽車。

寶騰汽車是馬來西亞最常見的汽車,但近來由於馬來西亞政府允許進口更多的外國汽車,寶騰汽車的銷售遭遇不少阻力。

目前,寶騰汽車最近正與德國大眾汽車洽談被收購的事宜。

2007年11月8日 星期四

China's powers of invention and India's genius

TECHNOLOGY IN INDIA AND CHINA

Running fast

Nov 8th 2007
From The Economist print edition

China and India have much to offer the world of technology, argues Simon Cox (interviewed here), but more still to gain from it


The Royal Society

TOWARDS the end of the 11th century, while tardy Europeans kept time with sundials, Su Sung of China completed his masterpiece: a water clock of great intricacy and accuracy. Standing almost 12 metres (40 feet) tall, Su's “Cosmic Engine” wavered, it is said, by only a few minutes in every 24 hours. From twin tanks filled by servants, a steady flow of water was cupped and spilled by a series of buckets mounted on a wheel. The rotation of the wheel turned the clock, as well as an astronomical sphere and globe that charted the movement of the sun, moon and planets. Drums beat 100 times a day; bells chimed every two hours. A replica, painstakingly built with contemporary methods, now turns in Taiwan's National Museum of Natural Science.

Clockmaking was only one scientific endeavour in which China and India comfortably led the world before the 15th century. China outstripped Europe in its understanding of hydraulics, ironsmelting and shipbuilding. Its machines for ginning cotton, spinning ramie and throwing silk seemed to lack only a flying shuttle and a drawbar to match the 18th-century contraptions that launched Britain's Industrial Revolution. Clean your teeth with a toothbrush, rebuff the rain with a collapsible umbrella, turn a playing card, light a match, write, pay—or even wipe your behind—with paper, and you register a debt to China's powers of invention.

India's genius, then as now, was in software not hardware. Its ancient civilisations ushered in a “mathematical revolution” from the fifth century, when Aryabhata devised something like the decimal system. In the seventh century Brahmagupta explained that a number multiplied by zero was zero. By the 15th century, Madhava had calculated pi to more than ten decimal places.

After the 15th century, however, the technological clock stopped in both countries, even as it accelerated in Europe. This peculiar loss of momentum, noted Joseph Needham, a great historian of Chinese science, takes some explaining. Why, he asked, did the science of Galileo emerge “in Pisa but not in Patna or Peking”?

(Patna A city of northeast India on the Ganges River northwest of Calcutta. It served as Asoka's capital in the 3rd century B.C. and as a Mogul viceregal capital in the 16th century. Population: 1,370,000.)


In his book “The Lever of Riches”, Joel Mokyr settles on a simple explanation for China's technological stagnation: the country's imperial state lost interest. Its purposes were better served by continuity than by progress, and there was no rival source of power and patronage to pick up the threads it dropped. Roddam Narasimha of India's National Institute of Advanced Studies reaches a similar conclusion for India. “Up to the 18th century, the East in general was strong and prosperous, the status quo was comfortable, and there was no great internal pressure to change the global order,” he writes.

That diffidence no longer hampers either state. Both China and India are now restless with technological ambition. China's government does not have the luxury of choosing between progress and stability; it cannot enjoy social peace without economic advance. For the past 30 years it has tried to turn the clock forward. By 2015 its research scientists and engineers may outnumber those of any other country. By 2020 it aims to spend a bigger share of its GDP on research and development (R&D) than the European Union.

India, for its part, surveys the future with uncharacteristic optimism. Its technological confidence has grown immeasurably thanks to the success of its software and IT firms. The heirs to Aryabhata and Brahmagupta, India's digital ambassadors have won acclaim for their mastery of ones as well as zeros.

But even as India's technological powers make a splash in the world, they stir only the surface of its own vast society. India produces more engineering graduates than America. But it has only 24 personal computers for every 1,000 people, and fewer than three broadband connections. India's billion-strong population cuts both ways. Whenever an Indian demographic appears as a numerator, the resulting number looks big. But whenever its population is in the denominator, the number looks small. It is like looking at the same phenomenon from opposite ends of a telescope. As of now, India matters more to technology than technology does to India.

This is a pity. India and China still have more to gain from the adoption and assimilation of technology than from invention per se. Some of their best minds are adding generously to the world's stock of knowledge, but the more urgent task for the countries themselves is to make wider use of know-how that already exists. Indeed, the World Bank has calculated that India could quintuple the size of its economy if it only caught up with itself—that is, if the mediocre firms in its industries closed the gap with the best. Both countries miss out when policies to promote invention, such as China's push for “indigenous” innovation or India's recent patent laws, serve to stymie diffusion.

A year in China, foreign residents say, is like ten years outside. Its clock is already turning rapidly. But the cogs and levers that drive technological progress are as intricate and delicate as Su Sung's mechanism. China's government is in danger of trying to do too much. Its monumental efforts to educate and train have filled the tanks of its innovation engine. Now it is time for it just to let the water flow.

解甲歸田領事端

China 解甲歸田領事端

Beware of demob

Nov 8th 2007 | YANTAI
From The Economist print edition

A reserve army of unemployed ex-servicemen worries China's leaders

Reuters

IT IS the army's recruitment season in Yantai, a port in Shandong province in northern China. A poster in one fishing village calls on citizens to report any attempt to secure one of the coveted vacancies by paying bribes or forging papers. But the Yantai authorities are far more worried about what happens when servicemen are discharged. Here and elsewhere angry ex-soldiers have been taking to the streets.

Over the past couple of years protests by demobilised soldiers have become a potent challenge to local governments trying to keep the lid on unrest during a period of wrenching social and economic change. The unrest has embarrassed the ruling Communist Party, which came to power militarily and might have fallen in 1989 but for the army's crushing of pro-democracy protests in Tiananmen Square.

The ex-servicemen's main grievance is the difficulty of settling back into civilian life. Most soldiers from towns are assigned jobs in the civilian sector when they leave the army. But this has become increasingly difficult because of the dismantling of state-owned enterprises (SOEs) in recent years and the resentment of surviving SOEs at having ex-soldiers foisted on them. Rural soldiers—the bulk of the non-officer ranks—are being sent back to villages where there is next to nothing to do.

In Yantai around 2,000 ex-soldiers gathered in mid-July outside the local legislature to demand better benefits. They also wanted to make the point that the toothless legislature should be doing a better job of supervising the government. The Yantai authorities responded unfavourably. Activists say that police have stepped up surveillance of their homes and that plainclothes officers often follow them. Police broke up your correspondent's meeting with a group of ex-servicemen, on the pretext of a passport check.

Despite the harassment, unrest has continued. On September 19th several hundred protesters, including former servicemen from across Shandong, gathered outside the provincial government headquarters in the capital, Jinan, say activists in Yantai. In early September apparently co-ordinated unrest broke out in at least three cities in other provinces. Hundreds of ex-soldiers rampaged through centres run by the Ministry of Railways where they were undergoing training. The activist say that last week around 300 ex-servicemen protested outside the city government's offices in Tai'an, also in Shandong.

Veterans have also taken their grievances to Beijing. In April 2005 hundreds of them from around the country, some dressed in their old uniforms, staged sit-ins outside the army's General Political Department, responsible for demobilised soldiers. Such big gatherings outside a sensitive official building are highly unusual in the capital. But smaller groups of ex-army petitioners still visit, despite efforts by police to round them up and send them back to their hometowns.

China is no stranger to protests. Thousands occur every year involving disparate groups of people: peasants enraged at being turfed off their land by local governments; city-dwellers whose houses are being bulldozed to make way for development; migrant workers complaining about not being paid; and workers laid off from SOEs. But these demonstrations are usually poorly organised, ill co-ordinated and easily contained by local governments.

Given the army's vital importance to the maintenance of party rule, the official press is especially reticent about publicising unrest among ex-servicemen. Chinese academics rarely mention the topic. But in an article that appeared in the spring edition of China Security, a quarterly published in Washington, DC, Yu Jianrong of the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said that demobilised soldiers could act as a “bond” to bring together isolated disaffected groups. Mr Yu said ex-servicemen in the countryside, who he said numbered 20m, had the “social capital, organisational, networking and mobilisation capabilities to be the bridge between workers and peasants”. In the southern province of Hunan, he said, veterans had formed an “anti-corruption brigade” including laid-off workers, peasants and intellectuals of 100,000 members. This number is unverifiable, given the underground nature of any such movement.

Party leaders have called on local governments to give priority to keeping veterans happy. But this is not easy. In addition to the regular turnover, hundreds of thousands have been demobilised in recent years as a result of efforts to trim the military's enormous size. In the decade up to 2004, some 7m enlisted people left the military. Another 600,000 officers were given jobs in the civilian sector. Between 2003 and 2005 the army was trimmed by some 200,000 people, leaving it 2.3m-strong.

Local governments are supposed to find jobs for ex-officers. Since 2001, in response to dwindling opportunities in the state sector, the central government has been encouraging officers to accept cash pay-outs and find their own work. But local governments do not have enough cash to provide much of a cushion. The majority of officers apparently still prefer the supposedly safer option of being assigned positions. Xinhua, a state-run news agency, said in September that 256,000 officers had been given civilian jobs in the past three years. Only 49,000 had chosen to find work by themselves. Despite government promises of employment, veterans complain, some end up destitute.

Hu Xingdou, of the Beijing Institute of Technology, says peasant-soldiers are the government's biggest headache. Taught idealism in the army, he says, they go back to no work and a countryside rife with corruption. Former soldiers, he says, are often at the forefront of peasant unrest. Let the party beware.

2007年11月2日 星期五

Brunch ( 韓流 )

Seoul Journal

A New Lifestyle in South Korea: First Weekends, and Now Brunch

Seokyong Lee for The New York Times

Restaurants in Seoul, South Korea, offer popular American-style brunches on Sundays.


Published: November 2, 2007

SEOUL, South Korea, Nov. 1 — When she returned to Seoul in 2000 after 10 years in New York City, Park Su-ji introduced her fellow South Koreans to an exotic way to socialize over food: brunch.

Skip to next paragraph
Seokyong Lee for The New York Times

Restaurant owners and local newspapers say there may be as many as 200 restaurants in Seoul that offer or even specialize in brunch.

Seokyong Lee for The New York Times

The sudden embrace of the leisurely pastime reflects greater exposure to Western customs and cuisines.

Seokyong Lee for The New York Times

It also relates to a watershed development: the mandatory weekend.

“I really missed brunch but didn’t find any brunch restaurants,” Ms. Park said. So in the spring of 2005 she opened Suji’s, which serves toasted bagels and blueberry pancakes, among other brunch staples, in a setting that features black-and-white photographs of the Chrysler Building and Union Square in New York.

Ms. Park said that she had thought her restaurant would primarily attract Western expatriates. But two years later, scores of restaurants in Seoul offer or even specialize in brunch — and they are filled with South Koreans. Restaurant owners and local newspapers say there may be as many as 200 such restaurants.

The sudden embrace of the leisurely late-morning repast reflects greater exposure to Western customs and cuisines as more South Koreans travel, work and study abroad. But it also is related to a watershed development at home: the mandatory weekend.

For decades South Korean governments have stressed hard work and making money, which has helped to turn the country’s economy into one of the most robust in the world. But starting in 2004, the government began shortening the official workweek from six days to five. Now, all enterprises with 50 or more employees are required to provide two days off. By 2011, all companies must do so.

The discovery of the weekend has meant an explosion in new activities. Inns have opened up all over the country to accommodate overnight excursions. The new opportunity for short trips to neighboring countries has helped catapult South Koreans to the top ranks of tourists in the region.

The unaccustomed free time has also meant that South Koreans can start indulging themselves like the young New Yorkers they had been watching in syndicated television sitcoms like “Sex and the City,” whose characters always seemed to be whiling away enjoyable hours over brunch.

Now, on weekends female friends, male buddies, couples, parents with toddlers and three-generation families all line up outside crowded brunch restaurants like Suji’s, Butterfinger Pancakes, Tell Me About It, Flying Pan Blue, Stove and All Day Brunch. Some restaurants are so packed that reservations must be made days in advance. Once inside, if they can get inside, people spend two to three hours chatting away.

“Before the five-day workweek started, we were always tired after drinking until late, because nighttime was the only time to socialize,” said Suh Yang-ho, a 29-year-old who was having brunch with a colleague one recent Saturday at Stove.

“I think it’s healthier to relax like this over home-cooked-style food in the late mornings,” said Mr. Suh, who works at Credit Suisse in Seoul.

His colleague Choi Hey-rung, 30, gave another reason for preferring brunch. “I don’t want to cook,” she said. “So on Sundays, I bring my family, including my parents-in-law, to brunch a little after noon.”

Traditionally, married Korean women have stayed home with their families; they did not go out with friends on weekends. Now, married as well as single women avoid cooking when they can and are leading the move toward eating out. They regularly get together with friends over brunch. Daughters are introducing their mothers to this laid-back way of passing a weekend morning. Wives are trying to get their husbands to appreciate the leisurely lifestyle it represents.

On a recent Sunday, Han Kye-soon, 29, was catching up with three other single women at a corner table at Suji’s.

“I feel like a New Yorker or a Parisian, like the characters of ‘Sex and the City,’” said Ms. Han, a pottery designer.

What makes the brunch fashion somewhat surprising is that Koreans tend to be reluctant to try non-Korean foods. Even when traveling abroad, they gravitate toward kimchi (fermented vegetables) and bibimpap (rice with vegetables and chili paste). Eating steak and potatoes with knives and forks can be considered an act of sophistication.

Brunch is popular even though some Koreans do not really like the food served at the meal: eggs and bacon, pancakes and toast are all a marked contrast to the usual Korean breakfast of rice, soup and vegetables. The portions are huge by Korean standards. And brunch can be expensive, typically around 25,000 won, or $27.50.

Will the brunch boom last? Clearly it has not taken with some people here.

On a recent Sunday, Jegal Min-jung, 22, and her parents were sitting at a table in the middle of Suji’s. Fashionably world-weary patrons occupied seats by the wide-open windows, while young couples perched on high bar stools.

Ms. Jegal, who had heard about Suji’s from a friend, had wanted to experience brunch with her parents.

Her mother, Kang Deok-hee, had agreed: “It sounded like it would be less greasy than other Western food, like steak with gravy.”

Wishing to sample a variety of dishes from the English-language-only menu, the family ordered eggs sunny side up with toast and sausages; blueberry pancakes; and egg salad with fried potatoes and a toasted bagel. But the time it was taking for all that food to show up tested the father’s patience.

After steaming silently for some time, the father, Jegal Yoon, shouted to the waiter to serve the food more speedily.

“Bring each dish when it’s ready,” he said. “I’m busy and need to leave as soon as possible.”

His wife made a face, then smiled. She explained, “My husband has to go to work after this.”

三篇

玄米茶 世界お茶まつり()

Cognitive Dissonance in Tokyo

印度三部曲(V. S. Naipaul)