老潘来信：那一年，菲律宾的华侨听到了我讲的中国故事
用英语给海外华人讲好中国故事
We Must Use English to Tell China's Story to Chinese Abroad
潘维廉与菲律宾 Grace School 的孩子们
我在菲律宾讲中国故事
In 2005, I spent 10 days sharing Fujian's history and culture to youth in the Philippines and I was amazed how excited they were to learn about China!
2005年，我在菲律宾花了十天的时间向那里的青年分享了福建的历史与文化，他们想要了解中国的热情令我大为震惊。
他们之中很多是海外华人，但他们不会说也不会读中文，此外，除了我的网站和书籍，他们很少见到有关于他们的祖籍地福建的信息。他们知道福建是一千年前海上丝绸之路的起点，知道哥伦布曾试图来到这里，知道马可·波罗曾从这里启航回程，但他们却对近500年的福建历史一无所知。
潘维廉在菲律宾学校给孩子们演讲
In spite of this ignorance of Chinese history, youth of all ages seemed proud of their Chinese heritage. I spoke to two elementary schools, and I could tell some had Chinese parents. The students' book bags were as big as they were!
尽管他们不了解中国的历史，这些年轻人，不论年龄大小，似乎都对他们的华裔血统感到自豪。我和两所小学的学生进行了对话，我发现他们的父母很多都是中国人。这些学生的书包就和他们本人一样大！
菲律宾华裔孩子装满作业的书包
I also spoke to a middle school, a high school, a university and a seminary. At each school, students were excited by my stories and photos, and they asked many questions.
我还和一所中学，一所高中，一所大学以及一所神学院的学生进行了对话。每所学校的学生们都对我的故事和照片感到兴奋，他们问了许多的问题。
One of the most common questions was, "Can we learn Chinese in Fujian?" I was of course happy to tell them that my own Xiamen University opened China's first Overseas College in 1956, and that we had thousands of overseas students learning not just Chinese but also many other subjects. Best of all, we had the most beautiful campus in China, between the sea and Five Old Men Mountains, so study in Xiamen is like being on vacation!
其中一个最为常见的问题是：“我们可以在福建学习中文吗？”我十分高兴地告诉他们，我所在的厦门大学在1956年创办了第 一个面向海外留学生的学院，而且我们有着数以千计的海外学生在这里学习中文以及其他的各种专业。最重要的是，厦门大学有着中国“最美校园”的美誉，坐立于大海与五老峰之间。在厦门学习就像是在度假一样！
I also spoke to Chinese businesspeople's groups, like the Anchor Group in Manila, and met with government leaders. In Cebu, Xiamen's sister city, I saw the fire trucks Xiamen had donated to them. I liked this because during my years in Taiwan in the 1970s I was a volunteer firemen and I drove the fire truck.
我还和许多海外华人的企业集团进行了对话，比如马尼拉的Anchor Group，还和一些政府领导人见了面。在厦门的姐妹城市——宿务，我看到了厦门捐赠给他们的消防车。我很喜欢这些车子，因为在20世纪70年代的时候我曾在台湾当过志愿消防员，也驾驶过消防车。
中国故事需要你的讲述
Many Chinese adults, like their children, knew very little about China, but they wanted to learn! Thankfully, we now have Confucius Institutes all over the world, and China offers generous scholarships for people to study in China—and not just overseas Chinese but foreigners. XMU has scholarship students from every corner of our planet. And given China’s advanced space program, I would not be surprised to learn we even had students from the dark side of the moon.
许多成年的华人和他们的小孩都对中国大陆了解不多，但他们都很想去了解！幸好我们现在在世界各地都创办了孔子学院，而且中国政府为到中国学习的海外学生提供了丰富的奖学金——不仅仅是给海外华人，还给那些外国人！厦门大学为来自世界各个角落的留学生都开设了奖学金。而且考虑到中国的航天工程如此先进，即便有学生是月球来的，我也不会感到惊讶。
Today, China as a nation is doing a much better job of telling its story to the world, but individual provinces, like Fujian, are still not doing so well. Even now, over 20 years since I made my first Fujian websites, there is very little online in English about Fujian, but Chinese abroad are desperate to learn about it.
今天，中国在给世界讲述中国故事这一方面已经做得更好了，但是每一个单独的省份，比如说福建，还没有做得很好。即便是现在，自我创立我的第 一个福建网站已经过了20年，关于福建的英文网站仍然少之又少，但是身处海外的华人仍然十分需要这样的门户去了解福建。
In the 1830s, foreigners wrote that almost every S.E. Asian nations had Chinese whose ultimate dream was to earn their fortune and return home to China. If they failed to return, they dreamed of their descendants returning their ashes to China. Whether one generation or ten, they never forgot their homeland.
在19世纪30年代，有外国人写道，几乎所有的东南亚国家里都有把赚钱回国当作自己最终目标的中国人。如果他们终生没回故土，他们还会梦想着他们的子孙能够带着他们的骨灰回到中国。无论是一代人还是十代人，他们永远都忘不了自己的祖国。
Today, Chinese are scattered not only across S.E. Asia but the entire world, and they still have deep feelings for their homeland. but few of the 2nd, 3rd and 4th generation Chinese read and speak Chinese.
今天，中国人分散在世界的各个角落，他们仍然对自己的祖国抱有深厚的感情。但第二代、第三代和第四代海外华人很少会说中文。
So I hope that you and I will work to do a better job of telling China's Story in English to the world—to overseas Chinese as well as to Laowai! And maybe next year you can join the 3rd Telling China's Story in English event hosted by China Education TV and New Channel Education.
所以我希望你与我能一起努力，用英语把中国故事讲给世界听——讲给那些海外的华人和老外们听！或许明年你可以参加由中国教育电视台和新航道教育联合举办的第三届“用英语讲中国故事”活动。
In 2020, the first event had over 100,000 entries. This year, it had over 170,000 entries—including stories told by overseas Chinese and foreigners in many countries. In 2022, I hope to hear you tell YOUR China story to the world.
在2020年，第 一届活动有超过10万选手参加。今年，有超过17万的青少年参与，包括海外华人和许多外国人讲述的中国故事。2022年，我希望，我能听到你讲给世界听的中国故事。
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