Han Suyin's China

　　韩素音笔下的中国

　　China: her size roughly that of Canada or the United States. Her population one billion onehundred million, 22 per cent of the planet's human beings.

　　中国面积大致相当于加拿大或美国，人口11亿，占全球人口的22%.

　　China: very young, 60 per cent of the Chinese under 25 years of age. Very old, millennia ofaccumulated and still potent history, pride of remembered greatness motivating her marchtowards the new technological era which is changing the world, and changing her.

　　中国非常年轻，60%的中国人年龄在25岁以下。中国又非常古老，具有数千年累积起来、现仍具有强大影响的历史，对往昔文明鼎盛的自豪激励着她迈步走向新技术时代。这个时代正在改变世界，改变中国。

　　China: her history not unitary, but made up of many histories; as she is made up of manydifferent peoples, altogether 56 nations. Yet she is a oneness, coherent, whole. THE GREATWITHIN.

　　中国的历史并不是一部单一的历史，而是由许多部历史组成，因为中国是由许多不同的民族组成的——总共有56个民族。然而她却是一个紧密完整的统一体。真是一个伟大的、自成一统的国家。

　　There is a China of the plains, easily travelled, a tourist delight. Here are the wealthiest, themost advanced metropolises: Beijing, Tianjin, Shanghai, Nanjing, Guangzhou...fertilealluviallowlands which seem vast, yet are less than 15 per cent of her total territory. AndChina's arable, cultivable acres make up only seven per cent of the world's total acreage. Onthis she feeds almost a quarter of the world's people. A prodigious achievement!

　　中国的一部分地区是平原，旅行便利，为游览胜地。这里有最富庶、最先进的大都市：北京、天津、上海、南京、广州……肥沃的冲积平原似乎广阔无边，而实际还不到总领土的15%。中国的耕地面积只占世界耕地总面积的7%。她凭这么少的耕地却养活几乎占世界人口四分之一的人，真是一个了不起的成就!

　　This China of the plains stretches from Manchuria to Hong Kong; most of it lies eastwards, witheasy access to the ocean. Here both urban and rural areas have greatly profited from therecent economic reforms. Most of the foreign investments, the special economic zones, the newindustrial plants,are sited here. Here are the skills, the manpower, the markets, thecommunication network. Most of the universities are also here, and more than 80 percent ofthe population. Prosperity is evident-over 60 per cent of new houses in the villages, over 20 per cent of families with television installed in the last ten years, large new apartment housesfor urban dwellers, modem hotels...

　　中国平原地区从满洲里一直延伸到香港，多半位于东部，临近海洋。新近的经济改革使这里城乡地区都受惠匪浅。多数外资企业、经济特区、新兴工厂都在这一地区。这里拥有先进的技术、充足的人力、广大的市场和发达的交通网络。多数大学也在这里，还有这个国家。80%以上的人口。繁荣景象是显而易见的——农村60%以上的房屋是新建的，20%以上的家庭在过去十年中添置了电视机，城市居民住上了宽敞的新公寓，还有现代化的旅馆……