白宫前年开通请愿网站,中国网民爆发"上访潮"

When the White House created a petitioning website in 2011, it probably did not count on Barack Obama being asked to invade China, rule on the flavour of tofu and investigate a two-decade-old Chinese poisoning case.

白宫在2011年开通一个请愿网站时，很可能想不到会有人请求巴拉克·奥巴马(Barack Obama)入侵中国、就豆腐脑应该是甜还是咸做出裁定、或者调查20年前中国的一宗投毒案。

But that is exactly what has happened over the past week as Chinese people, motivated variously by a sense of justice, powerlessness or just plain humour, have flooded the White House “We the People” website.

但这恰恰是过去一周内发生的情形，中国人在各种动机（包括正义感、无助感，或只是想幽默一下）的驱使下，蜂拥访问白宫“我们人民”(We the People)网站。

The catalyst for the surge in Chinese petitions was a sad one. Since late April, Chinese internet users had been calling for authorities to reopen an investigation into the 1995 poisoning of Zhu Ling, a student at the prestigious Tsignhua University. She was left disabled and the perpetrator was never found.

促使中国人在美国白宫请愿网站发起请愿的事件之一，是一起悲剧。自4月下旬以来，中国网民一直在呼吁当局对1995年的一宗投毒案重启调查，该案受害人朱令当时是知名学府清华大学的学生。中毒使她身陷残疾，而当局却从未找出谁是肇事者。

But the appeals went no-where and Zhu’s name was soon blocked on Chinese social media, perhaps be-cause the unsolved crime reflected badly on the government and perhaps be-cause a suspect, Zhu’s former roommate, was supposedly the granddaughter of a former high-ranking official.

但是，这些呼吁并没有引起什么反响，反倒是朱令这个名字很快就在中国的社交媒体上被屏蔽，这也许是因为未能破案给政府带来不良形象，也许是因为犯罪嫌疑人（朱令的前室友）据信是一名前高官的孙女。

Whatever the exact cause of the censorship, attention quickly shifted to the White House website. There, the case could be raised without impediment. What’s more, Zhu’s former roommate, previously questioned but released by Chinese police, had moved to the US, so it made sense to Chinese internet users to ask US authorities to look into her story.

无论这一网络审查的具体原因是什么，反正人们的注意力很快就转向上述白宫网站。在那里，人们可以不受阻碍地谈论此案。更重要的是，朱令的那名曾被中国警方讯问、但随后获释的前室友，早已移民美国，因此中国网民有理由促请美国有关部门调查她的过往经历。

On the White House website, a petition must collect 100,000 signatures within one month for the administration to review the request and issue a response. The Zhu petition – which calls for the investigation and deportation of the alleged suspect – had collected more than 135,000 signatures as of Wednesday, just five days after it was launched.

在上述白宫网站上，一项请愿只要在一个月内收集到10万个签名表示支持，奥巴马政府就会审议相关请求，并作出回应。有关朱令的请愿（具体内容是呼吁调查并遣返那名涉嫌投毒的嫌疑人）截至周三已收集逾13.5万个签名——要知道，这是这项请愿发起短短五天之后的数字。

Given legal and diplomatic realities, the Zhu petition is unlikely to amount to much. But it did at least have one immediate impact. As word spread on Chinese social media of the White House petitioning website, advocates for other causes in China came out in droves. At last count, five China-related petitions have been started over the past three days. Two urge US military intervention: one to liberate the Chinese people and the other to liberate the people of Hong Kong.

考虑到法律和外交现实，有关朱令的请愿不太可能产生什么实质结果。但它至少很快产生了一个影响。随着有关白宫请愿网站的信息在中国社交媒体上传开，中国其他种种诉求的倡导者趋之若鹜。据记者最新统计，过去三天里发起了五项涉及中国的请愿。其中两项请愿敦促美国发动军事干预：一项是解放中国人民，另一项是解放香港人民。

Another two raise environmental concerns. The first asks Mr Obama to tell China to halt the construction of chemical plant in the southwestern city of Kunming. The second calls for an assessment of the safety of a petrochemical plant in Sichuan province.

另外两项请愿提出环境方面的关切：一项请求奥巴马要求中国在昆明停建化工厂，另一项呼吁评估四川省一家石化厂的安全性。

The other petition is lighter hearted. “We politely request that the US government establish that the official flavour of tofu curd should be sweet, by adding syrup, granulated sugar, brown sugar or other sweeteners.” Many consumers of tofu curd, a goopy breakfast concoction, like it salty; others prefer it sweet.

还有一项请愿是轻松性质的。“我们请求美国政府将豆腐脑的官方味道定为甜味，即加入糖浆或砂糖、红糖等甜味食品调味。”豆腐脑是一种黏糊糊的早餐食品，许多消费者喜欢咸的；但也有一些人喜欢甜的。

The sudden popularity of the White House petitions website in China users owes something to China’s traditions. In imperial times, people took their grievances directly to officials to ask for their help, believing that high-ranking civil servants were fair and just. That practice has carried on to the modern day with the government establishing the State Bureau for Letters and Visits to receive petitions from ordinary citizens.

白宫请愿网站在中国网民中突然走红，在一定程度上也可归因于中国的某些传统。封建年代，民众直接向官员陈冤、请求帮助，他们相信高层公职人员是公平公正的。这种做法延续至今，中国政府设有国家信访局，由其负责接收民间的请愿。

On Sina Weibo, the popular microblogging service, an account was created for “Obama, director of the Letters and Visits Office”. A crudely digitally manipulated picture spreading around Weibo and Twitter transforms the White House into the Letters and Visits Office, depicting Mr Obama reviewing petitions.

在人气颇高的微博服务——新浪微博(Sina Weibo)上，有人开设了“信访办公室主任奥巴马”的账户。新浪微博和Twitter上都流传着一张经过粗糙数字篡改的图片，图中的白宫变成了信访办公室，奥巴马则在审阅请愿书。

The joke is tinged with criticism of domestic politics: if only Chinese could get such attentiveness from their officials. Every provincial capital in China has a petition office, often receiving millions of requests a year. Those who feel justice has not been served locally take their requests to the national petition office in Beijing. When the national parliament sits in March, the Letters and Visits office is inundated with petitioners from around the country.

这个玩笑带有对中国国内政治的批评意味：假如中国人能从本国官员那里得到这样的关怀……中国的每一个省会城市都设有信访局，它们每年往往接到数以百万计的请求。那些觉得在当地得不到公正的人，还会把自己的请求带到北京的国家信访局。每年3月全国人大举行年会时，国家信访局都会面对大量来自全国各地的上访者。

Concerned that criticism would make them look bad, some provinces expend vast amounts of energy on preventing their residents from reaching the Beijing office, detaining them in illegal jails or barring them from travelling to the capital in the first place.

担忧批评声音使自己脸上无光的一些省份，会花大气力阻止当地居民到北京上访，把他们非法关押起来，或者干脆一开始就不让他们前往首都。

“The contrast with the White House’s approach is jarring,” writes David Wertime, co-editor of Tea Leaf Nation, a digital magazine about China. “It’s a valuable reminder of American soft power in the digital age.”

“这与白宫的做法形成鲜明反差。”《茶叶之国》(Tea Leaf Nation)联席主编大卫·沃泰姆(David Wertime)表示，“这件事很有价值，它提醒世人注意到美国在数字时代拥有的软实力。”《茶叶之国》是一份关于中国的数字杂志。