纽约时报中文网 - 中英对照版-中英外国网红游客中国宣传机构的互联网嘴替

Spend some time browsing YouTube or Instagram and you might come across a growing new genre: China travel vlogs.

花些时间浏览YouTube或Instagram，你也许会偶尔看到一个正在兴起的新视频类型：去中国旅游的视频博客。

There’s the American who made a four-hour “vlogumentary” about eating dumplings in Shanghai. There’s the German traveler marveling at how quickly China’s bullet trains accelerate. There’s a British couple admiring colorful traditional clothing in the far western region of Xinjiang. All have hundreds of thousands of views.

一名美国人制作了一段四小时长的“视频博客纪录片”，讲述了他在上海吃生煎包的经历。一名德国游客对中国高铁的加速之快大为赞叹。一对英国人赞誉新疆西部地区色彩缤纷的传统服装。这些视频的观看次数都已达数十万次。

The videos are even more popular on Chinese social media. YouTube and Instagram are banned in China, but Chinese users have found ways to reshare them to Chinese sites, to avid followings. The bloggers have been interviewed by Chinese state media and their experiences promoted with trending hashtags such as “Foreign tourists have become our internet spokespeople.”

这些视频在中国的社交媒体上更受欢迎。虽然YouTube和Instagram在中国被禁，但中国的用户已找到将这些视频转发到国内网站上去的办法，让它们在国内获得了狂热的追随者。中国官媒采访了这些视频博客的博主，还给他们记述的经历贴上了“#外国游客成了我的互联网嘴替#”等热门标签。

The emergence of these videos reflects the return of foreign travelers to China after the country isolated itself for three years during the Covid pandemic. The government has introduced a slew of visa-free policies to attract more tourists. Travel bloggers have leaped at the chance to see a country to which they previously had limited access.

中国曾在新冠病毒大流行期间闭关锁国长达三年时间，这些旅行视频的出现反映了外国游客正在重返的趋势。中国政府推出了一系列免签政策，以吸引更多游客。旅行博客的博主们抓住机会前往这个他们不久前还难以进入的国家。

But for China, the videos do more than help stimulate its economy. They are a chance for Beijing to hit back at what it calls an anti-China narrative in the West. China in recent years has encouraged locals to treat foreigners as potential spies; expanded its surveillance state; and expelled or arrested journalists at Chinese and foreign media outlets. But it points to the carefree travel videos as proof — from Westerners — that criticisms about those issues are manufactured.

但从中国的角度来看，这些视频的作用不仅是帮助刺激经济。它们为中国政府提供了反击其称之为西方反华言论的机会。近年来，中国鼓励国人将外国人视为潜在的间谍，扩大了政府监控，驱逐或逮捕了为国内媒体或外媒工作的记者。但政府以这些西方人制作的轻松愉快的旅游视频为例指出，针对上述问题的批评缺乏证据。

“Overseas audiences find that through these videos, they see a real, fast-developing China that differs from the one under the mainstream narrative in the West,” said one article in The Global Times, a Communist Party-controlled tabloid.

“海外观众发现，他们通过这些视频看到了一个真实的、快速发展的中国，与西方的主流叙事不同的中国，”中共控制的小报《环球时报》在一篇英文文章中写道。

The bloggers themselves sometimes feed the official Chinese argument, with video titles such as “The Media Lied to EVERYONE about China? We Share the TRUTH.”

一些海外博主本人有时也迎合中国的官方说法，比如一个标题是“媒体在报道中国上对所有的人撒了谎？我们来分享真相”。

“This is considered as one of the most controversial areas in China if you rely on the Western media,” the British couple, Libby Collins and Tauseef Ahmed, said in their video about traveling to Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region. Western countries and human rights groups have accused China of abuses in the region, including the mass detention and surveillance of Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities. China says tight security measures are needed to root out terrorism.

“如果你只看西方媒体，这里是中国最具争议的地区之一，”名叫利比·柯林斯和陶西夫·艾哈迈德的两名英国人在他们记录去新疆首府乌鲁木齐旅行的视频中说。西方国家和人权组织指责中国在新疆侵犯人权，包括对维吾尔族和其他穆斯林少数民族进行大规模拘禁和监视。中国则表示，为了根除恐怖主义，有必要采取严格的安全措施。

“The Uyghur people, everyone seemed fine,” Mr. Ahmed said.

“维族人看上去过得挺好的，”艾哈迈德说。

The influencers have denied any ties to the government. Many of the videos in the genre appear authentic, without the typical hallmarks of state involvement, said Fang Kecheng, a professor at the Chinese University of Hong Kong who studies Chinese propaganda. The market for the videos — in the West as well as China — points to a real hunger for more diverse, human-oriented stories about China, Professor Fang said.

这些网红已否认与中国政府有任何联系。香港中文大学研究中国宣传的教授方可成说，这个类型中的许多视频看起来是真的，没有政府参与的典型特征。方可成说，这些视频在西方和中国有市场表明，人们真的渴望看到更多有关中国的多元化、讲述老百姓生活的故事。

“It actually reflects that the mainstream media do have their problems in terms of China coverage,” he said. “They do tend to focus more on geopolitics.”

“这实际上反映了主流媒体在报道中国上确实存在问题，”他说。“主流媒体的确更多地关注地缘政治。”

But he cautioned that the travel videos, in making sweeping statements about the “real China,” risked being equally one-dimensional. “It’s also another kind of not respecting the agency or autonomy of people actually living in this country.”

但他警告说，这些旅游视频一概而论地宣称看到了“真实的中国”，也有可能被认为同样以偏概全。“这也是一种对真正生活在这个国家的人的能动性或自主权不尊重的表现。”

In interviews, Western influencers who were featured in Chinese media said they had not set out with the goal of disproving any narrative. They had merely wanted to experience for themselves a country they had heard so much about in daily headlines.

中国媒体在报道对这些西方网红的采访时说，他们制作视频的目的不是要反驳任何说法。他们只是想亲身体验一下这个他们每天在新闻中多次听到的国家。

Mac Candee, who posted the four-hour Shanghai video on YouTube, said he had been anxious before his six-day trip, having heard that he would not be allowed to film. That was not an issue: He documented dancing with retirees in a park, sampling dumplings and getting a massage.

麦克·坎迪在YouTube上发了一条长达四小时的上海旅行视频，他说，在这次六天的上海行之前，他一直很焦虑，因为听说不会允许拍摄。但那不是问题：他拍了在公园里和退休者一起跳舞、品尝生煎包，以及做按摩的视频。

“I don’t pay as much attention from the concern of the country’s politics, religion, all these types of more general things,” Mr. Candee, 31, said. “I want to meet the individuals.”

“我不太关心这个国家的政治、宗教等所有这些更笼统的东西，”现年31岁的坎迪说。“我想结识一些个体。”

But the videos do not avoid those questions altogether. Many contrast their travel shots with dramatic clips from Western news shows. Some ask locals about freedom of speech or religion, as apparent proof that restrictions do not exist.

但这些视频并没有完全回避那些问题。许多博主把他们的旅行镜头与西方新闻中令人吃惊的报道做对比。有些博主向当地人询问有关言论或宗教自由的问题，显然将其作为不存在限制的证据。

Those seeming contradictions are especially central to the videos about Xinjiang.

这些看似矛盾的场景在有关新疆的视频中尤为突出。

In the British couple’s video, they watch women in traditional dress give a dance performance. They point out mosques. At one point, strolling past a security checkpoint to enter a market, the woman, Ms. Collins, says, “They can control who comes in and out. Makes it nice and safe for everybody.”

那两名英国人拍的视频中有身着传统服装的女子的舞蹈表演。他们把清真寺指给观众看。视频中的一刻是进入市场时经过一个安检站，名叫柯林斯的女子说：“他们能控制进出。让市场里面的所有人有舒适的安全感。”

Then they pass an armored vehicle parked on the street. They note how a guard suddenly appears from inside. “It’s like Jack in the Box,” Mr. Ahmed notes with a laugh.

后来，他们从一辆停在街上的装甲车边走过。他们记录了一名警卫突然从车里出现的情形。“就像从玩偶匣中跳出来一样，”艾哈迈德笑着说。

In an interview, Mr. Ahmed said he did not worry about how their content was used by Chinese propaganda or others. “At the end of the day, people can give it any narrative they want. It’s just two people going around and recording their travel adventures,” he said. “From our end, we were happy with what we saw.”

艾哈迈德在接受采访时说，他并不担心他们拍的内容会被中国宣传机构或其他机构利用。“到头来，人们可以赋予视频他们想要的叙事。这只不过是两个人随便走走，记录他们的旅行经历而已，”他说。“从我们的角度来看，我们对看到的东西感到满意。”

The couple also acknowledge that their perspective, as short-term visitors, may have been limited. Journalists living in China are followed constantly when they are in Xinjiang and people they speak to are harassed.

这两名英国人也承认，作为短期访客，他们的视角可能有限。在中国的外国记者去新疆时总有人跟踪，与记者交谈的当地人会受到骚扰。

Cheng Lei, an Australian journalist who was recently released after serving three years in prison in China on charges of endangering national security, has described China as a “locked paradise” where prosperity and technological prowess help whitewash the abuses of authoritarianism.

澳大利亚记者成蕾曾被中国判处三年有期徒刑，罪名是危害国家安全，最近刑满释放，她把中国描述为“锁起来的天堂”，用繁荣和技术力量来帮助粉饰威权主义的滥用。

“If you are a visitor, you can have a great time biking around the alleys, trying the food, talking to locals, taking the high-speed train,” she wrote this month. “You forget that you are on a massive movie set, seeing a facade of freedom.”

“如果你是游客，你能骑着自行车在胡同里转，品尝美食，与当地人交谈，乘坐高铁，度过美好时光，”她本月写道。“你会忘记自己处在一个巨大的电影场景中，你看到的是自由的假象。”

Inevitably, though, as China has allowed in more foreign visitors — and cameras — it becomes harder to shape the narrative that emerges. Some bloggers have shared experiences that the government is less eager to promote.

然而，不可避免的是，随着中国允许更多的外国游客和他们的相机进入，塑造叙事会变得更加困难。一些博主已在网上分享了政府不太愿意宣传的经历。

An Australian blogger who posts to YouTube under the handle “josie lifts things” recently traveled to Tibet, which is only open to foreigners by permit, on a trip paid for by a state-owned tour company. The blogger had previously been featured on the Shanghai government website for her video about her travels there.

一名澳大利亚博主在YouTube上用“josie lifts things”的网名发了她最近去西藏旅行的视频，外国人去西藏需要得到许可，她的旅行费用是一家国有旅游公司支付的。上海市政府的网站曾发过这名博主以前去上海旅行的视频。

In the Tibet video, she praised the scenery and temples. But, she added, “While I try to travel without the bias that the media might have shown me in the past, it was hard to ignore some of the obvious signs of confirmation that were before me,” while showing footage of her seventh security checkpoint that day.

她在西藏旅行的视频中称赞了那里的风景和寺庙。但她补充说，“虽然旅行时，我试图不让媒体过去可能带给我的偏见表现出来，但很难对我面前的一些明显的确认迹象视而不见”，说这句话时录制的视频是那天她通过的第七个安全检查站。

Another traveler, Sara Qiu, a Spanish cyclist who has been riding through western China, shared exuberant posts on Facebook and Instagram about her journey: being invited by strangers to join their son’s wedding or to eat dinner at their homes. Her travels have expanded her understanding of the country her parents immigrated from, Ms. Qiu, 32, said in an interview.

另一名旅行者是西班牙自行车手萨拉·邱（音），她一直骑着自行车在中国西部旅行，并在Facebook和Instagram上热情地分享着旅行经历：被陌生人邀请参加他们儿子的婚礼或到家中吃晚饭。现年32岁的邱女士在接受采访时说，旅行让她增加了对中国的了解，她的父母是从那里移民西班牙的。

But she has also shared stories about being tailed by police cars, especially while in Xinjiang, and being turned away from hotels because she is foreign.

但她也在网上分享了被警车跟踪的经历，尤其是在新疆旅行时，以及因为她是外国人而被旅馆拒之门外的情况。

When she shared a video of her experience booking a room — a hotel employee said he had to make a call before he could accept her and the police later visited her — some commenters who appeared to be Chinese accused her of smearing China.

她在一段视频中分享了她预订旅馆房间的经历：一名旅馆员工说，在允许她入住之前需要先打个电话，后来警察来旅馆找她。一些似乎是中国人的评论者在这段视频下发的评论中指责她抹黑中国。

“They say why are you posting this, what is the meaning,” she recalled. “I just wanted to reflect the situation.”

“他们问你为什么发这个帖子，这是什么意思，”她回忆道。“我只是想反映实际情况。”