中国和新闻报道

西方对中国的新闻报道向来有失公正，如今有人认为这种不公更是愈演愈烈。事实上，现状远比以往任何时候都更加错综复杂。

主要问题在于，这些观察者未能将中国置于其独特的社会背景与历史坐标中进行评判，他们全然囿于自身地域和价值体系来审视一切，仿若从未迈出过国门一样。他们甚至没有尝试去获得必要的视角来理解他们在中国的所见所闻。例如，某驻华记者描写中国的公交车是何等拥挤，这纯属浪费时间！还有一些记者则连篇累牍地报道中国的街道上有多少辆自行车，这纯属浪费笔墨！试问，在一个十亿人共同生活的国家，这算什么新闻？

当然，新闻报道包罗万象。业界素有“首年不落笔，经年难成章”之说。初次旅行者和探险者的外部视角就像一种娱乐形式一样弥足珍贵，因为这些体验皆能唤起读者的情感共鸣。在这一层面上，你所做的无非是将异国与故土进行比较和对照，却始终无法超越或突破这一狭隘视角。一个即便在中国城市生活多年的人也未必真正理解“中国综合症”——而这类人群恰恰就是驻华或第三世界地区的那些记者。在外派报道任务中，两人协作尤为必要——《时代周刊》目前采用的就是“多名研究人员+撰稿人”的协作模式。我倾向于将此模式命名为“工合新闻报道”，即团队协作、全力以赴的报道模式。在汉语中，“工合”特指“齐心协力”或“精诚合作”。

在这一新闻报道模式下，团队由两人构成：一位精于新闻研究和精准观察，另一位长于信息传播和公众研究——后者实为与生俱来而非后天习得的一种伟大艺术。二者若能紧密结合，即使在完成重大报道任务后便各奔东西，亦可节省大量资金、时间和精力。以我们斯诺夫妇为例，我始终专注于研究与学习各类报道议题，却鲜少尝试直接与普罗大众沟通，这对我而言确非易事——尽管我深信，文本自身的质量与体量也是一种传播形式。为此，我付出了巨大代价！海量的研究成果最终未能抵达公众视野。我终究未能写出如埃德加·斯诺1937至1938年间完成的《红星照耀中国》那样的传世之作。这部杰作堪称伟大的经典，实乃众因使然。

首先，《红星照耀中国》是一次真正的新闻探索，同时兼具旅行文学特有的魅力与直观体验。其次，斯诺的中国之旅不仅充满愉悦，而且意义非凡——这份心境贯穿全书：他乐在其中，受访者亦然。再次，他具有美国人与生俱来的亲和力，其根源在于世代传承的民主精神与待人之善。诚然，这种特质也源于与形形色色的新移民及其不同传统、观念的共处之道，尽管这些外来元素本身常陷入部落式的宗族纷争，矛盾丛生，难以调和。埃德加·斯诺——这位来自美国密苏里州堪萨斯城的记者——堪称这种典型美国特质的完美化身。他始终抱持一个基本信念：中国人民首先是人类大家庭的成员，不仅“与我们有别”，更有其独特的气质。毛泽东很快便理解了他，并对他产生了好感。由此，斯诺成为了毛泽东的“美国先生”，也是唯一配得上这一称谓的外国记者。

密苏里大学毕业生能在中国新闻界形成颇具影响的“密苏里新闻帮”，绝非偶然。他们怀抱破釜沉舟的决心。埃德加·斯诺——这位已成为中美新闻交流象征符号的人物——无疑是该群体的杰出代表。然而，所有密苏里新闻人皆秉持着一种独特的专业禀赋：能在初次接触时便建立报道所需的信任感，这为他们以后的深入采访奠定了基础。在他这样一个真正的美国人身上，根本看不到类似“令人反感”或“难以相处”的不足之处——他自幼便浸润于一种独特的文明土壤：开放、自然、极度纯真且慷慨，同时兼具惊人的干练、敏捷与从容气度。

1931年我初抵中国之时，尚无一位以中国题材闻名的作家或记者——彼时赛珍珠刚携其《大地》崭露文坛。我怀揣着父亲斯坦福校友写给若干“中国通”及其他校友的引荐信，这些人脉皆属“赫伯特·胡佛总统在中国影响圈”的一部分。当时的“最佳”的著作当属斯坦福校友、《纽约时报》记者哈雷特·阿班撰写的《苦难的中国》——其笔触虽尖锐揭露现实，却充满悲悯色彩。彼时唯一知名的作家当属汤姆斯·费尔法克斯·密勒。尽管他出版了一系列书名冗长、内容乏味的著作，但其人脉深远：他提携了约翰·本杰明·鲍威尔——这位远东地区资深的美籍记者代表，二人共同创办了远东顶尖外文刊物《密勒氏评论报》；此后，密勒又资助了埃德加·斯诺。值得注意的是，密勒、鲍威尔与斯诺，皆为密苏里大学新闻学院的杰出校友。我持有美国矿业大会（时任该大会秘书）董事会成员致上述人士（斯诺除外）的多封信件。该大会旗下的“白银游说集团”主张中国应维持银本位制，抵制金本位制——而英国恰于我24岁生日当天（1931年9月21日）放弃了金本位。那些资历尚浅的密苏里新闻人，有的任职于合众社等新闻机构，有的则在北平的燕京大学新闻系执教。值得注意的是，斯诺也曾于1934至1935年间在该校新闻系任教。

彼时，大名鼎鼎的女记者为数不多，驻外女记者更是凤毛麟角。即便偶有几个稍有名气的记者，能认识他们的读者也是寥寥无几。少数女性担任杂志编辑，如斯诺的资助人威廉·布朗·梅洛尼夫人时任《纽约先驱论坛报》杂志主编，该杂志的实际掌门人为奥格登·里德夫人。对我产生深远影响的是艾达·塔贝尔的著作，而非其杂志文章。塔贝尔曾采访美国商界传奇人物欧文·D·杨，并了解过他那令人钦羡的成功事迹。当被问及他的成功秘诀时，欧文答道，他从不重蹈自己的覆辙，且善于发现他人的失误，从而引以为戒。这番话令我深有感触，此后我便将其奉为圭臬，竭力避开他人曾跌入的泥淖。然而讽刺的是，我自身却未能幸免于重蹈覆辙——自撰写《续西行漫记》起，我便只顾拼命赶稿，不求销路，只求速速付梓。这种写作方式积习难改，以致时至今日，书稿完成后我通常不再校读，遑论编辑修订——当然，那些确定要发表的文章则另当别论。我将这种写作称为“行善主义”新闻——意指其文字旨在服务公众，而非建立个人声誉或扩大读者群体。我总打算以后再做认真修改，然而这“以后”却从未到来。八岁那年，读完《绿野仙踪》，我便立志成为一位“大作家”，最终却只落得个“长篇信件写手”的名号，用IBM电动打字机写作时，总要垫上至少四张复写纸。我甚至写过一部鸿篇巨制《中国为民主奠基》，读者却仅有五六人——这才是名副其实的“行善项目”。

The Drama I Want to Go to Yan’an Selected into Jiangsu Mount Zijin Drama Script Support Program

On December 6, 2024, the appraisal results on the 2024 Jiangsu Mount Zijin Drama Script Support Program, which received great attention from the public, were announced. I Want to Go to Yan’an, a drama by Yang Jun, a playwright in Shaanxi Province, was successfully selected into support works.

The program was undertaken by Jiangsu Provincial Dramatic Literary Creation Institute. Through strict organization, application, initial and final selection and other procedures, 10 support works and 10 attention works were selected from numerous excellent ones. Yang Jun took the story of Helen Snow as the prototype of his drama I Want to Go to Yan’an. The drama has unique perspectives and profound connotations, thus attracting the attention of referees and becoming one of 10 support works.

The drama was adapted from the story of Helen Snow, wife of American journalist Edgar Snow. As the adventurous story in Xijing Guesthouse went, in 1937, Helen Snow alone went to the North Shaanxi Soviet Base Area via Xi'an to interview for her news stories.

 After the Xi’an Incident, the Kuomintang tightly blocked any news from the Central Soviet Base Area in North Shaanxi, and no foreign journalists were allowed to go there to cover news items. Helen Snow adventured into the Soviet Base Area to enrich materials for her husband Edgar Snow’s book Red Star over China. On departure, Edgar presented a packet of bright-colored lipsticks to her and advised that she must take it with her any time. In her life time, Helen used countless lipsticks, but this packet that had special significances she had always taken with her. Behind the mysterious lipsticks was hidden an unknown secret.

In Xi’an, when Helen climbed over a wall and escaped late at night to go to Yan’an, “she could well throw away any other belongings of hers but could not lose her lipsticks.” During her stay at Xijing Guesthouse, she was placed under the strict surveillance of the Kuomintang’s secret agents and their tight obstruction. However, with the help of people from various walks of life, after going through various hardships and dangers, she finally arrived at the North Shaanxi Soviet Base Area, completing her report work. It turns out that the origin of the packet of bright red lipsticks is special. Different from the ones she used at usual time, they have the color of red stars, which are forever shining over China. Helen became one of the first international friends who told the world the true news stories of the Red Army and built a friendship bridge for the peoples of China and the US.

Sources say that the drama I Want to Go to Yan’an has the three acts: Beset with Crises, Working out Stratagems in Xijing, Narrow Escape from Dangers, with its prelude being Putting up Rainbow and its epilogue being Friendly Emissary. It cleverly delves into Helen Snow's life details in the form of her recollections and uses a mysterious lipstick as the mainline. It narrates her past three days of thrilling experiences on her way in Xi’an in the stages of encountering crises, working out stratagems, narrow escape, revealing secrets etc. The gripping stories go deeper and deeper and are closely linked with one another, moving round their rigorous logical lines and strong plots.

On January 27, 2022, in reply to a letter to President Xi Jinping by Adam Foster, chairman of the Helen Foster Snow Foundation in the US, Xi Jinping pointed out that the Chinese people will always bear in mind the contributions made by international friends such as the Snows to the causes of Chinese revolution and construction, as well as their sincere friendship with the Communist Party of China (CPC) and the Chinese people. The drama I Want to Go to Yan’an tells the story that Helen Snow, irrespective of her personal safety, truly reported on the CPC members’ anti-Japanese struggle spirit, thus letting people remember what has happened before and playing a certain role in promoting the world peace and building a community with a shared future for mankind.

第十二届“海伦·斯诺”国际翻译大赛评审组专家

（按姓氏首字母排列）

成天娥教授 西北大学

胡伟华教授 西安工程大学

李伟教授 宝鸡文理学院

刘晓峰教授 西安外国语大学

阮红梅教授 西北工业大学

杨晓峰教授 西北农林科技大学