乌坎民主梦幻灭突显基层民主局限

For a few heady weeks last year, this fishing village in southern China became a testing ground for an experiment in grass-roots democracy.

去年的几个星期曾令人振奋，华南渔村乌坎成为一轮基层民主实验的试验常

But almost a year after Guangdong provincial officials, led by the reformist party secretary Wang Yang, promised to return to Wukan villagers land seized illegally by their local government leaders, only about 20% of the land has been handed back, according to village activists. That is despite the election of a new village committee after a popular revolt drove out the old leaders.

以改革派省委书记汪洋为首的广东省官员承诺，将把村干部非法征收的土地归还给乌坎村民。然而将近一年之后，据村里的活动人士说，归还的土地只有20%左右。这还是当地村民发动抗议、逐出原来的村干部并选举成立新的村民委员会之后的情况。

'I was full of hope but now I realize how naive I was back then,' said Zhuang Liehong, a member of the new committee, recalling efforts by villagers starting in 2010 to petition Guangdong authorities for help that culminated in the election of protesters. 'I feel disappointed,' he said, sipping tea with his wife in their living room just off Wukan's main street. 'Things are obviously not as easy as I thought they were.'

新村委员会成员庄烈宏回忆起村民从2010年开始去省里上访的行动说，我原来是充满希望的，但现在意识到当时是多么幼稚。这些活动以示威者开展选举而达到高潮。他在乌坎主干道旁边的自家客厅里，一边和妻子饮茶一边说，我感到失望，事情明显没有我们原先所想的那么容易。

Disillusion in Wukan serves as a symbol of the limits of bottom-up, small-town democracy in China, and how hopes of political liberalization are shifting to the possibility of reforms inside a Communist Party increasingly pushed by a Web savvy generation expressing discontent online.

乌坎的幻灭感象征着中国自下而上的基层民主面临的局限，以及政治自由化的希望正如何向党内改革的可能性转移。熟稔网络的一代人在网上表达的不满，正在越来越多地推动着这种改革。

What comes out of the 18th Party Congress now under way in Beijing may hint at how far the incoming generation of leaders is willing to rethink the party's top-down and opaque approach to governance, which grew out of revolutionary ideals but today looks increasingly out of step with a diverse, pluralistic society.

中国共产党第十八次全国代表大会目前正在北京召开，大会的成果或将透露出即将上任的新一代领导人有多大的意愿，去反思中共自上而下、晦暗不明的执政方针。这种方针发源于革命理想，然而在今天多元化的中国社会面前，已经显得越来越跟不上节奏。

Protesters in Wukan largely escaped harsh government retributions after demonstrations subsided, and many former protest leaders were elected to the village's new governing committee. Nonetheless, Mr. Zhuang and other villagers have quickly come to realize that the power of the village leaders are severely limited by the heavy hand of higher-level party officials.

乌坎的游行示威平息之后，示威者基本上没有遭到政府的严厉报复，很多原来的示威领袖也被选进了新的村委会。但庄烈宏和其他一些村民很快意识到，由于中共更高级别官员的干预，村干部的权力严重受限。

The Wukan revolt required delicate balancing by Mr. Wang and other Guangdong officials to appease villagers on the ground─not to mention legions of critical observers in cyberspace─without exposing leaders elsewhere to violent uprisings over perceived injustices.

乌坎事件要求汪洋和广东省其他官员仔细权衡，既要安抚当地村民（更不用提网上大批持批评态度的观察人士），同时又不能让其他地区的领导人遭遇民众觉得不公而发起的暴力反抗。

Questions over whether experiments and promises in Wukan have been successful highlight a frequent disconnect between the party's lofty rhetoric and what's it's capable of delivering.

乌坎的实验有没有成功，承诺有没有兑现，这些问题凸显中共的高谈阔论与它能够兑现的东西之间常常存在的脱节。

In addition, the party is now increasingly being pushed to explain and account for its inner workings on every level. Such pressure has been magnified by the rise of new channels for dialogue that has connected hundreds of millions of Chinese into an often raucous conversation over the country's direction.

除此以外，中共现在还越来越多地被迫解释、说明每一个级别的内部运作机制。这种压力已经因新对话渠道的出现而放大，数亿中国人得以参与有关国家走向的讨论，并且不乏刺耳言辞。

The party says it has an ear to the ground. 'The country has expanded orderly public participation in political affairs, and the people are extensively involved in decision making,' TingVoa.com news agency said in a pre-Congress report on political development.

中共声称它在倾听民意。新华社在十八大之前发表一篇谈论政治发展的报道，报道说，在各个层次、各个领域扩大公民有序政治参与，最广泛地动员和组织人民依法管理国家事务和社会事务。

It is certainly true that the Chinese public now has more ways than ever to question government action, and influence policy. But that is not by official design. The party's main rival may be an Internet soapbox launched several months after Beijing hosted the Olympics in 2010─Sina Corp.'s SINA -1.32% Weibo microblog. The Twitter-like service with over 360 million registered users, and others like it, has given the Chinese public a far greater voice than tightly controlled local village elections, which were once touted as the first step toward a broader democracy, but which are now increasingly discredited.

诚然，中国公众质疑政府行为、影响政策的途径比以往任何时候都要多。但这并非官方的意图。中共的主要对手可能是2010年北京奥运会结束几个月后推出的网络议事平台、门户网站新浪(Sina Corp.)的微博服务。这个类似Twitter的微博客平台拥有超过3.6亿注册用户。相比受到严格控制的地方村委会选举，以新浪微博为代表的微博客平台给了中国民众一个发出更大声音的机会。中国的村委会选举曾被大肆宣传为迈向更广泛民主的第一步，但现在越来越受到怀疑。

The election system is confined to scattered individual Chinese villages, whose leaders despite their popular mandates have diminishing power to make decisions or spend money. New research into village finances across China led by Stanford University professor Jean C. Oi illustrates how power is being drained from villages, by showing that 71% of Chinese villages in 2005 had a higher-level cadre stationed there, compared with 28% in 1995.

这一选举制度仅限于分散的单个中国村庄。村领导尽管受到村民的拥护，但做决策或进行财政支出的权力却越来越校斯坦福大学(Stanford University)教授戴慕珍(Jean C. Oi)领导的一项对中国各地乡村财政状况的新研究发现，村一级政府的权力正在被抽干：2005年71%的中国村庄有派驻到村里的级别更高的干部，而1995年这一比例只有28%。

At this week's Congress, analysts are looking for signs the party intends to make good on past pledges to introduce more competitiveness and transparency in the selection of top leaders. One sign they are leaning in this direction would be for the party to publicly announce tallies of internal party votes for those tapped for promotion, including Xi Jinping's elevation to Party general secretary to succeed President Hu Jintao.

在本周召开的十八大上，分析人士正在寻找种种迹象，以便观察中共是否兑现此前的承诺，即在选择高层领导的时候引入更多竞争和透明度。在他们看来，中共是否会朝这个方向改变的一个迹象是，十八大是否会公开宣布那些获得提拔的候选人得到的党内票数，其中包括将接替现任国家主席胡锦涛成为下一任中共中央总书记的习近平。

'I don't think they are going to publish the numbers but if they would that would be major progress,' said Bo Zhiyue, a senior research fellow at the East Asian Institute of the National University of Singapore. Possibly, he said, procedures may be publicized through Chinese media once the congress concludes.

新加坡国立大学(National University of Singapore)东亚研究所高级研究员薄智跃说，我不认为他们会公布投票数据。但如果他们真这样做，那将是一个重大进步。他说，十八大结束后投票程序可能会通过中国媒体对外公布。

China under President Hu's leadership showed little tolerance for political dissent and moved to crush those perceived as threats to the party's rule. In the name of building a 'harmonious society' they invested heavily in law and order, budgeting more for domestic security than national military defense. Criminal-defense lawyers were arrested, ethnic minorities harassed, and activists punished.

在中国国家主席胡锦涛的领导下，中国几乎无法容忍政治异见人士，并对那些被认为是对中共统治构成威胁的人士进行镇压。在建设“和谐社会的名义下，中共在法律和秩序上投入大笔资金，投入国内安全的预算高于国防预算。刑事辩护律师遭到逮捕，少数族裔遭到骚扰，活动人士遭到惩罚。

In 2010, a court jailed writer Liu Xiaobo for circulating a manifesto calling for democracy─and left him there after he won the Nobel Peace Prize.

2010年，中国作家刘晓波因散布呼吁民主的宣言在中国法院被判入狱。刘晓波获得诺贝尔和平奖之后依旧在狱中服刑。

Mr. Hu's generation of leaders made only incremental progress on initiatives launched earlier, like the village elections, public comment periods for municipal plans and publication of more government financial records. None of it has checked the Party's control.

胡锦涛那一代的领导人在此前提出的多项倡举上只取得了很小的进步，比如村级民主选举、市政规划征求公众意见以及加大政府财务公开的力度。所有这些都没有脱离中共的控制。

'New leaders must adapt to deep changes in society. Otherwise they'll be unable to maintain political stability,' said Yang Xuedong, deputy director of the World Development Strategy Research Department at the party's Central Compilation and Translation Bureau.

中央编译局世界发展战略研究部副主任杨雪冬说，新一届领导人必须适应社会的深刻变化，否则他们将无法保持政治稳定。

The populations of more than 60 nations this year will elect national-level leaders but the one-man, one-vote notion is thought to be unthinkable to China's senior leaders, as well as to many ordinary people who fear policy gridlock or the creation of a populist strongman.

逾60个国家的民众将在今年选举国家领导人，但无论是中国高层领导人，还是担心陷入政策僵局或导致民粹主义政治强人上台的很多普通民众，都认为一人一票的直选无法想象的。

'We will never copy a Western political system,' President Hu told party cadres Thursday, even as he pledged to extend democracy.

周四胡锦涛在十八大开幕式上讲话，在承诺要扩大民主的同时对中共领导干部说，（我们）绝不照搬西方政治制度模式。

Still, Chen Dingding, a China specialist at the University of Macau, is among those who predict public pressure will increasingly force China toward democratization, though he isn't betting on how liberalization might develop. 'I think the leaders are trying to find something to sustain their legitimacy but they aren't sure what to do,' he said.

不过，澳门大学(University of Macau)中国专家陈定定同样认为，来自公众的压力将会日益迫使中国走向民主化，不过他不敢确定中国的自由化将如何发展。他说：我认为中国的领导人们正在寻找维持其统治合法性的东西，但他们不确定该怎么做。

Wukan residents rejoiced late last year after Guangdong officials promised to investigate allegations of corruption and later recognized an elected local government made up of protest leaders.

去年年末，广东官员答应调查腐败指控，并且后来承认了由抗议活动领导者组成的乌坎民选政府，这让乌坎村民喜出望外。

Wukan's former longtime party chief, Xue Chang, was sacked from his post and later expelled from the Communist Party for corruption. Meanwhile, a prominent protest leader, Lin Zuluan, replaced him as the village party chief while others who led demonstrations against the government were elected to serve on Wukan's village committee.

之前在乌坎村长期担任党支部书记的薛昌被解职，他后来因为腐败被开除党籍。与此同时，抗议活动中的一名突出领袖林祖銮接替他成为村党支部书记，反政府示威活动的其他领导者经过选举进入乌坎村委会任职。

The apparent victory was held up by reform activists and some political analysts as a landmark advance for all those struggling against corrupted local leaders. Seizures of villager land by local officials eager to embark on lucrative property development and other projects are among the most profound sources of discontent across the Chinese countryside.

改革活动人士和一些政治分析师认为，对于所有正在与地方官员的腐败行为抗争的人们来说，这次有目共睹的胜利是一次里程碑式的进步。地方官员为了从房地产开发和其他项目中获利而攫取农民土地的事件，是中国农村地区公众不满情绪的主要来源。

But hope has now faded in Wukan. Authorities in the nearby city of Lufeng, which is administratively above Wukan, are resisting calls to help return the seized land, according to Wukan villagers. Instead, village leaders say, Lufeng officials are trying to soothe villager discontent with economic inducements, such as improving local roads. Wukan households were given new microwaves as gifts recently, according to villagers.

但是现在，乌坎的希望已经破灭。乌坎村民说，乌坎附近陆丰市的政府正在拒绝要求其帮助归还被强占土地的呼吁。乌坎村归陆丰市政府管辖。乌坎的领导者说，陆丰市官员正在试图用经济上的诱惑平复村民的不满情绪，比如改善当地的道路状况。乌坎村民说，乌坎的一些户村民最近得到了陆丰市政府的礼物：新的微波炉。

'Candies are not what we really want,' one villager said.

一名村民说，这些小恩小惠不是我们真正需要的。

Frustration of slow progress climaxed in September when more than 100 villagers protested outside Wukan's government offices.

进展缓慢引发的失望情绪在9月达到了顶峰，当时，100多名村民在乌坎政府外举行了抗议。

Villagers appear conflicted on what type of reform China needs. Many say their protests were about winning back their land, not on promoting wider democratic change. Still, others believe that democracy and other reforms are essential.

村民们似乎在中国需要何种类型改革的问题上存在分歧。许多人说，他们抗议是想夺回自己的土地，不是推动更广泛的民主改革。不过另外的一些人认为，民主和其他改革是很关键的。

'We need democracy to make sure there won't be conditions for corruption to grow on in the future,' said Zhang Jianxing, a young protest leader who has developed close ties to Mr. Lin, Wukan's elected village chief.

年轻的抗议活动领导者张建兴说：我们需要民主，从而确保未来不会有滋生腐败的条件。张建兴与乌坎的民选村党支部书记林祖銮建立了密切的关系。

Mr. Zhuang, the village committee member, turned despondent not long after Guangdong authorities created a working group to investigate and repair problems in Wukan. Mr. Zhuang said the group's duties were being carried out by local Lufeng officials who are deeply distrusted by Wukan residents. Villagers widely believe some Lufeng officials colluded with Wukan's former leadership on shady land deals.

在广东政府建立了一个调查和解决乌坎问题的工作组之后，没过多久，乌坎村村委会委员庄烈宏就感到了沮丧。庄烈宏说，这个工作组的责任由陆丰市的官员承担，乌坎村民对这些官员极其不信任。村民们普遍认为，陆丰的一些官员与乌坎村前任官员暗中勾结，秘密进行土地交易。

Repeated attempts to reach officials in Lufeng for comment were unsuccessful.

记者多次尝试联系陆丰市官员置评，但没有成功。

Mr. Zhuang says he recently attempted to quit the village committee out of frustration, but Mr. Lin, the village chief, has so far refused to accept the resignation.

庄烈宏说，由于失望，他最近试图退出村委会，但是村党支部书记林祖銮一直拒接接受他的辞职请求。

'I feel they just want to postpone the problem rather than solve it,' he said.

他说：我感觉他们只是想拖延问题，而不是解决问题。