给年轻的朋友们的一篇小文。。。

周老师UID: 2217062

我曾经给朋友撰写和修改的Stanford GSB (商学院）的申请短文： What matters most to you and why...期间包含的一些情愫，可能对现在的浮躁有些疗效。。。
7 |9 P2 A+ F( M, {
; `$ h( y$ E2 V: D! T- v: h
The creek wanders south, taking my soul to the harbor, laying me in the chest of the Eastern Pearl. Oh, my harbor, my lover. My sleepless night is for you, for your today’s glory and your yesterday’s sorrow. For every Chinese born in the 70’s, whenever and wherever they hear this lyric, they would immediately come up with the image of the grandiose Hong Kong and Victoria Harbor.

& J4 N, _2 [3 J/ c2 W. AUnfortunately, the Victoria Harbor was going to disappear. The government of Hong Kong SAR decided to fill up the Harbor to make more land for office buildings. Every conscious Chinese found they were cornered as they saw the Harbor as their source of allegiance toward this land. Finally, the will of the people burst into a spectacular demonstration in May this year. Thousands of men and women, old and young, stood hands in hands and shoulder by shoulder, with the blue ribbon over their heads in the air encircling the whole bank of Victoria Harbor, to protect their spiritual home. While I strode on the blue-stone road and preceded along the narrow streets with Chinese calligraphies everywhere from restaurants fascias to bus stop signs, seeing everyone in dragon t-shirt and waving little flags with “protect Victoria Harbor” in Chinese, my eyes wetted, and I never felt stronger that I am a Chinese and I am loyal to this land.
5 j0 d+ U- u. Z+ @4 |2 B' c
# v3 i% K- p. |! bSo what matters most to me? My answer is allegiance. But this simple answer didn’t come easily. This questioning, denying, searching, and redefining process is also how I realigned my career goal and regained my strength and courage.

Indoctrinated from childhood with orthodox values such as being patriotic and loyal to our Party and country, I never thought what if I were betrayed by them. But, it came a year ago when I was arrested as an opposition movement leader to voice our disapproval of the demolishment of Cantonese Xiguan House. The Guangzhou municipal government planned to vacate this historical site – a site that had existed for more than five hundred years and witnessed the evolution of the famous Silk Road on Water for centuries – for modern real estate development. Seeing the place where generations of our ancestors were born, grew, aged and died, being swept off while I couldn’t do anything, I cried hard – for the first time in my life – with pain and hopeless disappointment of being betrayed. I felt ashamed to be a Chinese, and I even attempted to deny my identity as a Chinese.
  r7 |! `! t8 \7 p
7 A+ b# q. j: y  hWhile staying in the custody cell with my soul empty, I could not help missing the Xiguan House badly. Right after being released, I left the city and rushed back to my hometown to have a farewell to the Xiguan House. At night, I slept on the bare floor, listened to the sounds of the cricket in the room corner and indulged myself with the recollection of childhood memories: sitting on the flower boat over the Litchi River, sipping a bowl of Tsinzai porridge, listening to the Canton opera performance on the nearby boats, and watching blue kingfishers flying above the reeds… I regained peace and tranquility in my heart and began to reflect where my allegiance toward the country lies. Then I remembered the words by Aitsing, a well-known poet and dissident, “why are my eyes always full of tears, because I love this land so deeply.” All of sudden, I felt a sense of inspiration in my heart: isn’t my allegiance toward this land the very force that made me disappointed and felt hurt so much? I realized that my allegiance toward this country was not superficially attached to the national flag, the central government, or any exciting political slogan, but deeply connected to all those “trivialities” around me. It’s a provocative folk melody, old Tsinzai porridge, and home-woven clothe that made me a true Chinese and allegiant to this country.

Later that night, when I went back home and explained to my mother on my imprisonment, she just nodded and looked at me with love and warmth floating in her eyes. Then I knew no word was necessary – the love that connects me to my mother, to my people, and to my land, is the source of my allegiance to my country – China.
& [( I3 X2 y' f1 c+ E5 U
% x8 w2 N  r0 `/ {; h3 d- W1 CIt is this allegiance that led me to where I am today and will be in the future and forced me to listen to the calling from my heart. Despite my own decent job and pleasant living environment, I do realize that China is far from a fairyland. Actually, for more than fifty years, the good-will and allegiance of the Chinese people have been continuously distorted and abused: I saw human rights activists arrested and environment protectionist threatened and detained; I saw poets threatened and tried because their works touched the dark and social sensitivity zone; I saw private companies owned by the homegrown entrepreneurs were denied from fair game with state owned enterprises and foreign companies; and I saw thousands of law-abiding peasants were forced to leave cities even though all they want were minimum paid temporary jobs to support their children’s schooling. I am concerned that, should the current trend continues, this country is about to marginalize any values system and topple China’s five thousand years civilization. What China needs most at this point is not mere material affluence, but a value system that could guide its people, just like the sea needs beacons to guide the sailors. Therefore, the only way out of the predicament is to restore the values system so that the good-will and allegiance of people could be sparkled, respected, cherished, and retained.
/ [* V; o' z8 ]4 J, Y
/ J* C  D% y( W+ D0 e7 A9 `Under the current deafening silence, I have quietly aligned my life to this cause, and started contributing my share to save and inspire people’s allegiance. Knowing that the private companies received biased treatment from the government, I lobbied the decision-makers to better the environment for the entrepreneurs; knowing that the people were shielded from the true information on AIDS, I founded Aids Concern and worked with the government to promote public awareness. However, what I have been doing is still quite limited in terms of scale and influence. Through my years of experience exploring the social maze in China, I found that the best way to influence and transform the system is form strategic alliance within the system and seize any opportunity to help people at disadvantage thrive.
9 G! h# v  F4 I4 q) [# ?' \* L
& e& ~  L& a/ d4 G8 ~/ a6 z+ fThe most effective collaboration comes from the most vibrant partners. One of the revolutionary forces on China’s social arena today is the private enterprises, in particular those small and medium-sized. Having helped them in a variety of projects, I clearly know what their pains are. As the backbone of China’s economy who contributed enormously to the society as both tax-payers and employers, the private small- and medium-sized enterprises, however, are always victims of policy prejudice. They face more difficulty securing loans from stated-owned banks, have higher tax bracket than state-owned enterprises and foreign companies, and are unfairly kept away from some special industries reserved for state owned capital or foreign investments. Yet from those entrepreneurs, I saw the most impressive creativity, assiduity and tenacity. They constitute the reason why China remains as a great country and represents the hope of fostering true prosperity among Chinese people. As a Chinese, the more I feel proud of them, the more responsibility I feel on my shoulder to help them with my perspectives and expertise.
( |, d0 s4 N2 G0 R
Aspired by my life and career, I have decided to devote my whole life to the advocate, promote, and growth of small- to mid-sized enterprises and expect that from them, more people will benefit, and feel proud of being a Chinese. I hope to achieve the goal by collaborating with investors from all over the world who share my values and visions on China and forming a fund specifically focused on private small-medium-sized enterprises. Hopefully, with the growth of the private entrepreneurs and their companies, the blossom of civil fortune, generation after generation, Chinese people will see a brighter future and their allegiance toward this land will be retained.
/ h5 j* U: c8 t# Z
Every time I read the Chinese modern history by John King Fairbanks, I had a mixed feeling of regret, anxiety, despair and hope. However, I know whatever my emotion is, the driving force underneath is my allegiance toward this country, and it explains many of my actions from founding the Aids Concern, to joining the “Protect Victoria Harbor” demonstration, to strategizing my career. I know, as a Chinese, my allegiance to this land is born and will be always with me and guide me. Just as James Baldwin said: “My inheritance was particular, specifically limited and limiting. My birthright was vast, connecting me to all that lives, and to everyone, forever. One cannot claim birthright without accepting the inheritance”. He was so right.

solv6868UID: 2244156

枪手？

杀生玲UID: 2204304

太长了。。。留点儿精神做cr……闪......

86525882UID: 2229962

Teacher Zhou has changed his/her style:from "fucking,stupid" into "allegiance"
7 d4 J2 S5 y- o! f% {" rWho could explain why?

周老师UID: 2217062

原帖由 solv6868 于 2006-11-24 09:27 发表
枪手？

/ j+ Y+ K6 Q, B
) ?% s* M$ y5 s6 U+ u( O' E哈哈，枪手没意思，我是炮手。:D
4 W1 G. G7 J" I4 D开个玩笑。此君算一个自由主义分子，曾经受到当局政府的迫害，我只是帮他逃离迫害而以。
期间包含的深沉、理性、挚爱、前瞻的情绪，希望能给大家一些稍稍的平静。
( c5 o8 I( t( f3 l3 d这里的人都很出色，而且很多人在申请，谣言满天飞的环境中，人容易浮躁。希望能够让大家能够静静地思考，理性地交流。。。

周老师UID: 2217062

今后有机会也会合大家聊聊工作、就业的问题。
绝大部分去美国上大学本科的中国学生，都很聪明，都很优秀。
但再聪明的人，都受环境的影响，视野不免偏于狭隘。
( C5 F4 h3 o) V& A6 R5 O: Z不是说进华尔街的顶级投行就是上策，说不定找一个贸易公司做两年自己单干更有前途。

9 X0 @6 a4 r; U8 A' K& k看到高燕定的那些文章，我觉得是要误导人的。现在世界都不想错过中国，作为中国人更不可错过。整天统计在美国做会计赚多少钱，做编程员赚多少。。。如果这是你的生活目标，那么不去美国也罢。。