China is so big and so complicated that most scholars have viewed it in glorious isolation.
中国地域之大、情况之复杂导致多数学者都以“光荣孤立”的视角看待中国问题。
In 'Beyond the Middle Kingdom,' a new collection of essays edited by Indiana University professor and China-hand Scott Kennedy, some of the world's leading China scholars attempt to turn that around exploring China in comparative perspective.
美国印第安纳大学(Indiana University)教授、中国问题专家甘思德(Scott Kennedy)最新主编出版了一部名为"Beyond the Middle Kingdom"的论文集，在这部论文集中，一些世界一流的中国问题学者尝试转换角度──以比较的视角来探讨中国问题。
China Real Time recently caught up with Mr. Kennedy to get the lowdown on the new approach.
“中国实时报”(China Real Time)栏目近期采访了甘思德，以深入了解这种新的思路。
Most China experts look at the middle kingdom in isolation, why is that?
《华尔街日报》：多数中国问题专家都以孤立的视角看待中国，为什么会是这样呢？
Because of China's size, the complexity of Chinese culture, and the country's long history, many experts begin with the untested assumption that China is unique, and that comparison would only yield contrasts.
甘思德：中国的地域，中国文化的复杂性以及漫长的历史让许多专家一开始就做出想当然的假设，认为中国是与众不同的，如果进行对比只能发现差异。
Just as important, learning Chinese and doing field work in China requires a huge amount of time and energy. Since Chinese is not the main language in any other country, save perhaps in Singapore, the skill set China specialists have is not as portable as say for experts who do research on countries where people speak Spanish, French, or Arabic.
同样，学习中文和在中国进行田野调查也需要耗费大量时间和精力。由于中文在任何其他国家都算不上主要语言（也许除新加坡以外），与在西班牙语、法语或阿拉伯语国家做研究的专家相比，中国问题专家所具备的一套技能搬到中国并不那么好用。
You've uncovered a misunderstanding in what the term 'middle kingdom' actually means?
《华尔街日报》：你发现人们对“middle kingdom”这个名词的理解有误？
The Chinese word for China, zhongguo, is often mis-translated as 'Middle Kingdom.' In fact, a more accurate rendering is 'central states,' plural, not singular. The central states were those kingdoms that existed in what is today central, east and southeastern China during the Spring and Autumn Period prior to the Qin Dynasty and the creation of a unified country.
甘思德：汉语“中国”一词常常被错误地翻译成“Middle Kingdom”。其实更准确的译法应该是“central states”（注：中部列国），“states”为复数，而不是单数。“中部列国”是指秦朝(Qin Dynasty)统一中国之前，春秋战国(Spring and Autumn Period)时期位于今天中国中部、东部和东南部的王国。
Given this history, the more contemporary meaning of zhongguo likely is more about unifying the country than being in the center of the world. Foreigners ─ not Chinese people ─ use the term 'Middle Kingdom' to imply Chinese see themselves as part of a superior civilization. But Chinese do not conceive of 'zhongguo' as 'Middle Kingdom.' So if there's a Middle Kingdom complex, it's the West's, not China's.
从这段历史来看，“中国”一词更现代的含义可能与统一国家（而不是处于世界中心）联系更为紧密。外国人──而非中国人──用“Middle Kingdom”一词暗示中国人认为自己的文明更优越。但中国人并不把“中国”理解成“Middle Kingdom”。所以，如果说存在“Middle Kingdom”情结的话，那也是西方的，而不是中国的情结。
What's wrong with looking at China in isolation?
《华尔街日报》：如果以孤立的视角看中国，会存在什么问题？
Whether we like it or not, we all compare China to other places. When you say that China is large, isn't pro-environment, is ethnically homogenous, has a lot of inequality, or is highly corrupt, you are implicitly making comparisons. I advocate being explicit about cross-national comparisons because doing so reveals unexpected similarities and differences.
甘思德：不论我们喜不喜欢，我们都会把中国与其他地区进行对比。当你说中国很大，中国不重视环境保护，民族单一化，不平等或者腐败问题严重时，你其实是在进行隐性比较。我提倡进行显性的跨国比较，因为这样可以揭示出让人意想不到的共同点和不同点。
One obvious comparator is Asian neighbors like Korea and Japan. But there are some important differences in China's growth story.
韩国和日本等亚洲邻国显然可以作为中国的比较对象。但中国的发展历程与这些国家之间存在一些重要区别。
Many Chinese officials have hoped that China would follow the lead of its East Asian neighbors. There is a common commitment to active industrial policy and limited faith in the ability of free markets to generate socially valuable outcomes.
许多中国官员期望中国追随其东亚邻国的脚步。东亚国家普遍致力于推行积极的产业政策，同时认为自由市场产生社会价值的能力有限。
But there are substantial differences between China and its neighbors. Policymaking in China is less coordinated and exhibits greater infighting and turf battles. Many of China's economic policies are geared toward helping state-owned enterprises, more so than elsewhere in the region. And unexpectedly, China largely had lower trade and investment barriers than its neighbors in part because South Korea and Japan were given greater leeway until the 1980＇s because they were American allies during the Cold War.
但中国与其邻国之间存在相当大的差别。中国的决策协调性较差，内部纠纷和部门之间的地盘之争比较严重。中国的许多经济政策都是向国有企业倾斜的，这种倾向性比该地区其他国家要强。令人意外的是，中国的贸易和投资壁垒总体而言要比邻国少，这在一定程度上是因为，由于韩国和日本在冷战(Cold War)期间是美国的盟友，它们二十世纪八十年代之前一直能获得较大的自由空间。
Economic performance has also differed. China has actually enjoyed a longer 'high-growth' era than any of its neighbors, but wealth there is much more unevenly distributed.
中国与邻国的经济表现也存在差别。中国的“高增长”期事实上比任何邻国都要长，但中国财富分配的不均程度也要比邻国严重得多。
Russia, as a former Communist state, also yields some fruitful comparisons.
我们也可以用曾为共产党国家的俄罗斯与中国做一番有意义的比较。
The Chinese state may be less functional than that of its East Asian neighbors, but China's bureaucratic institutions and economy are much more robust than those of Russia. Take the auto sector. Cross-provincial competition and joint ventures with foreign partners have led Chinese automakers to substantially improve their performance over the last 15 years. By contrast, Russia's auto companies have been far less successful as a result of Russia's more chaotic inter-regional competition and less well-designed national policies.
中国政府的效能可能不如东亚邻国高，但中国的官僚机构和经济却比俄罗斯强大得多。我们以汽车行业为例。在过去15年中，跨省竞争以及与海外伙伴组建合资企业显著提升了中国汽车生产商的表现。而俄罗斯的汽车企业则远不如中国成功，因为俄罗斯的跨地区竞争比较混乱，国家政策的设计也不如中国合理。
And other emerging markets like Mexico, Brazil and India?
《华尔街日报》：如果将中国与墨西哥、巴西、印度等其他新兴经济体进行比较呢？
These three democracies are excellent reference countries to understand the extent to which China's authoritarian system shapes its political economy. There are clear differences, such as more aggressive business lobbying within these three countries as compared to China. For example, Mexican banks have successfully lobbied to be part of cross-national mergers and acquisitions, while their state-controlled Chinese cousins have not. But there are also surprising similarities across the four countries. Corruption levels, income inequality, and the unevenness of social welfare systems are similar. In addition, all four have faced similar difficulties moving higher up within the global supply chains.
甘思德：这三个民主国家为我们理解中国权力体系如何塑造其政治经济提供了很好的参照。差异是明显的，比方说，这三个国家企业界的游说活动要比中国有力。例如，墨西哥银行业曾成功游说政府允许银行业参与跨国并购，而中国国有银行则尚未获得成功。但这四个国家之间也存在惊人的相似。腐败程度、收入差距以及社会福利体系的不平等都是相似的。此外，这四个国家在提升自身在全球供应链中的地位时都面临类似的难题。
What does all this mean for our understanding of the 'Beijing Consensus?'
《华尔街日报》：以上这些对我们理解“北京共识”(Beijing Consensus)有什么意义？
The 'Beijing Consensus' is a myth propagated by observers who have not bothered to compare China's development experience to that of others. Systematic comparison yields both differences and similarities. Asserting that China is unique is no more valuable than recognizing that each of the world's 192 countries has something special about themselves. Slogans such as the Beijing Consensus or China Model are more useful for advertising campaigns than for genuine understanding.
甘思德：“北京共识”是一些观察家宣传的没有真正获得太多认同的说法，他们未将中国的发展经历与其他国家进行比较。通过系统的比较，我们既能认识到不同之处，也能认识到相似之处。所谓中国与众不同的说法并不比承认全球192个国家均有独特之处更有价值。“北京共识”或“中国模式”(China Model)等口号在广告宣传中用处更大，它们并不是对问题真正的理解。
What's the next step for the study of China through the comparative lens?
《华尔街日报》：通过比较视角来研究中国的话，下一步要做什么？
There are still many areas of governance, economic policy, business performance, and international behavior that await more in-depth and systematic comparisons. Equally important, comparativists typically operate at the national level. But there is a tremendous amount that can be learned by sub-national comparisons. We may be able to gain more insights by comparing, for example, the growth strategies of Shanghai to Los Angeles, Cairo, and St. Petersburg, than comparing China with the United States, Egypt, and Russia.
甘思德：现在仍有许多与治理、经济政策、企业表现及国际行为相关的领域有待更深入、更系统的比较。同样值得一提的是，持比较视角的学者一般是在国家层面上考察问题的。但我们也可以通过次国家对比学到很多东西。我们可以把上海的经济增长战略与洛杉矶、开罗、圣彼得堡进行对比，这可能会比对比中国、美国、埃及和俄罗斯更有启发。