中国在发展，在影响世界，在不知不觉中改变世界；中国应该拿什么影响世界…

8月23日，腾讯网转载南方报网的一篇文章，谈及一本名为《guanxi》的书。看书名就知，这是一本“描述”中国人（或与中国人）打交道的书。关于中国文化里的“关系”，几年前曾与一位美国人谈起过，他对这个“关系”很感兴趣，并努力凭借他作为一个外国人的理解力来理解这个对他来说是极为神秘的东西。他感觉新奇，并努力地探究…

中国应该拿什么影响世界…

“送礼”到底是破坏市场规则的恶行，还是和中国人跨文化交往的必备工具？

梁文道　　作者为凤凰卫视主持人

很多年前的某一天，我在机场书店候机的时候，就隐隐约约感觉到“力拓”（Rio Tinto）这类案件迟早是要发生的。

那天我在英文商业书的新书架上，注意到一本书的书名特别奇怪，叫做《Guanxi》，打开一翻，原来里头全是教外国人在中国做买卖的实用知识。从我这个中国人的角度，这本书的内容也可说得上是相当全面了，由各省的环境物产一直谈到中国人的心理学，几乎所有刚刚抵达中国这片土地的老外所需要知道的事情，它全都粗略囊括进去了。问题是它为什么要用“关系”的英文音译来做书名呢？莫非它的作者认定“关系”才是和中国人打交道的终极诀窍？放下这本书，我再四处看看，赫然发现同类的书还有不少，并且不约而同地强调了“关系”的重要。

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7月30日，《凤凰网》以《一个法国人的中国观察》为题转引了一位在华法国人关于“世界公民”观点的博客文章。这位名叫何诺的作者，在他题为《我们是谁?》的文章中提出他关于“我们”、“你们”的理解，以及一个在中国的老外所体会的“内外观”。他认为：

其实，我们人类基本都有两个身份。

第一个身份来自大自然，我们首先都是人，属于共同脱氧核糖核酸的种类，可以互相交配。

第二个身份来自文化和社会，我们都是他国的外国，外地人。 这个第二个身份主动，又被动。国旗，国歌，运动比赛，爱国主义的目标都是要让一堆人感觉属于同一个家庭，因为政治的原因把一群人在同样一个权力下团结起来。这个过程建造了“我们”和“别人”的概念。

他同时认为：

出生的国家，母语我们都不能选择。不过文化呢？我认为21世纪的世界公民是一个“文化混血”，可以选择吸取各文化的优点，享受一个多重丰富的身份。

他文章中谈到的中国新闻周刊《我们是谁》一期，我们在这里也曾转引。

“Welcoming”, “Diverse”, “Voluminous”… are the words for China.

On September 1st, a group of 12 American talented high school students were invited to a CCTV program. At the end of the program they were invited to briefly express their impressions on the country after the 15-day visit to China.

All the students are U.S. President Award winners (the program did not tell us exactly which award that is, and it is mostly likely to be the U.S President’s Award for Educational Excellence).

It is inspiring to see how these young American students view the differences in a almost entirely different culture, particularly at the time only just after the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics which has in fact ‘triggered’ a discussion of intercultural mutual learning in the country. It is also interesting to notice the differences between students from two educational system at the time when there is discussions over the strength and weakness of the both educational systems.

Here is the full list of terms we got from the program given by students to describe China:

“Welcoming”, “Diverse”, “Voluminous”, “Intellectually stimulating”, “Many many stories”, “Spirited”, “Crowded”, “Honest”, “Cyclical”, “Inspiring”, and “Amazing opportunities”.

And here is the online version of the program: China in Your Own Words: U.S. President Award Winners.

“China in Your Own Words” is in fact a CCTV program, which, by their own words, invites people “to tell in your own words, in your own way, the China that you know or experienced, regardless of your age, nationalities, or any other background”. And through this report we know that the visit was sponsored by Wall Street English, the biggest foreign English training company in China specialized in business English programs.

Picture source: “China in Your Own Words“, CCTV