中国，我不见外

文/潘维廉（William Brown） 译/刘畅

潘维廉在讲授MBA课程

1988年，我举家搬到厦门。那时候我们从来没想到，中国的变化将如此之大，我们的生活也会随之改变。即使最近为了实现长期可持续发展，中国经济速度放缓，步入新常态，中国的改变依然更加广泛、更加精细。这为中外人民创造了前所未有的机遇，让我萌生了推迟几年，甚至几十年再退休的想法。

2012年，我的书《老厦门——现代中国商业与工商管理教育的摇篮》由厦门大学出版社出版。我写这本书是为了说明：如果你真的了解中国的历史和文化，中国的巨大进步便不足为奇了。习近平总书记还是福建省省长的时候，我有幸见到他，他鼓励我要多多了解中国的历史。2001年的一次晚宴上，他曾说：“你写的是厦门，你的第二故乡。你也应该写写泉州（古代海上丝绸之路的起点），它是你的第三故乡。”

2012年，我还帮一个曾经获奖的电影团队来福建为《美国国家地理》杂志拍摄关于郑成功的纪录片。我加入这个团队之前，虽然郑成功平生大部分时间在大陆生活，但这个团队只打算在日本和中国台湾省，也就是他的出生地和逝世地取景。这让我意识到，尽管中国很了解世界，世界还不了解中国。

2012年本文作者（左）在阿联酋

2013年，我帮助厦门举办国际花园城市大赛，该赛事也被称为“宜居社区界的奥斯卡奖”。2002年厦门夺得国际花园城市大赛的金奖，我也帮助13个中国城市获得16金。2009年起，我成为国际花园城市大赛志愿活动协调员。2013年，我便辞去这一职位，专心教书和写作。此时恰逢其时。

2013年，我很荣幸应厦门市政府的邀请写一本有关于海沧区的书，名为《我爱海沧——七个理由》。这本书让我认识到，我对福建知之甚少，更不要说是整个中国了。

同年，我在老鼓浪屿照片博物馆担任顾问，助力鼓浪屿申报联合国UNESCO遗产保护地区，2017年鼓浪屿申遗成功。

很多中国人，特别是年轻人，都没有充分意识到中国丰富的文化遗产和惊人的变化。2013年，我开始共同创作和主持一些有关于中国历史、文化、旅游、食物的电视节目。我一共参与了362期中文节目，其中学到的中文比我过去25年学到的还多。

2013年的大事之一，也包括我的小儿子Matt在美国与Jessica完婚（2015年我荣升为爷爷）。我们也非常期待我们的儿子Shannon和他的厦门妻子Miki的儿子快快将临。

2014年，在国家外国专家局成立60周年之际，我入选了“十大功勋外教”，我备觉感动。我听到其他九位获奖者的事迹之后，深觉自己还不够格。但是我知道，新的机会就在我的面前。

2015年，我非常荣幸地成为厦门大学管理学院MBA中心“2014先进工作者”，也成为厦门大学OneMBA项目的教务主任。OneMBA是一个联合项目，由5个国家的5所学校共同组成。我们有100名来自30多个国家的学生，他们住在世界上7个国家（中国、印度、巴西、墨西哥、荷兰、波兰和美国）。运行这个项目不那么容易，2014年是人数最少的一年，2017年学生人数达到新高！

我是管理学教授，知道厦门需要战略营销。所以2016年，当我听说厦门航空推出直飞美国的航班时，我给他们想了新的宣传口号“厦门航空带你大开眼界（New Horizons With Xiamen Airlines）”。2017年，厦门市也采用了我设计的旅游宣传口号“享受厦门！（Enjoy Amoy!）”（Amoy是17世纪以来外国人对厦门的称呼）。

最让我兴奋的项目是我的新书《我不见外》。1988年以来，我一直坚持写信帮助朋友们和家人了解中国的生活。虽然我自己没有留下这些信的复印件，但我的朋友们保留了数百封信，他们甚至保留了信封。北京外文出版社将出版这本书的中英文版。我希望这本书能帮助中外人民感受中国过去三十年间的巨大变化。

在《我不见外》中，我也写了一些了不起的人的故事。比如有一位，她从农场少女而后成为教授的女佣，再到现在创办国际学校、生物科技公司，成为为贫困儿童建学校的富翁。她的故事，和其他无数像她的人一样，证明中国的成功不仅仅在于富有远见的领导人自上而下制定的政策，也在于自下而上群众不屈不挠的积极进取、几千年来的“前人栽树，后人乘凉”。

1919年Mary Ninde Gamewell写道，“中国不似古埃及，国家犹存但风采已逝。中国举足轻重，她发展的潜力就在眼前。一种鲜活的生命力正贯穿着整个国家的血脉”。

如今Gamewell的预言和百年之前一样准确！2018年是中国改革开放40周年，我很幸运能亲眼见证了其中的30年，我也希望能见证未来30年的发展——我100岁的时候，厦门大学都还没有解雇我！

When our family moved to Xiamen in 1988, we never dreamed China would change so quickly, and that our own lives would change with it. And even with the economy's recent slowdown to the “new normal” needed for long-term sustainability, the scope and quality of China's changes have continued to improve. This has created more opportunities than ever for both Chinese and foreigners-and moved me to delay retirement for a few more years, maybe decades.

In 2012, the year of the 18th National Congress, I published my book“Old Xiamen-Birthplace of Modern Chinese Business and Business Education”with Xiamen University Press. I wrote this book to show that, if you understand Chinese history and culture, the country's amazing progress is not really that surprising. Fortunately for me,when Xi Jinping was Fujian governor, he encouraged me to learn more about China's history. During a dinner in Fuzhou in 2001, he said, “You wrote about Xiamen, your 2nd home. You should write about Quanzhou (start of the ancient maritime silk road), your 3rd home.”

In 2012, I also helped an award-winning film team come to Fujian for a National Geographic documentary on Koxinga (Zheng Chenggong). Until I intervened, they'd planned tofilm only in Japan and Taiwan, where he was born and died, though he lived most of his life in the mainland. It reminded me that Chinese have learned much about the world but the world still needs to learn more about China.

In 2013, I helped Xiamen host the International Livcom Awards, the “Oscar of Livable Communities”. After helping Xiamen win Livcom's gold medal in 2002, I helped 13 Chinese cities win 16 golds, and in 2009 I agreed to be the Livcom volunteer Operations Director, but in 2013, I resigned from Livcom to focus my time on teaching and writing-and it was perfect timing.

In 2013, I was very honored when Xiamen government asked me to write a book about Haicang District, which I entitled, “7 Reasons I Love Haicang” . Researching that book reminded me of how much I myself still had to learn about Fujian, much less China.

That same year, I became a consultant for an Old Gulangyu Photographic Museum to help bolster Gulangyu's application for UNESCO World Heritage Site. (I became a consultant for Gulangyu in 2010 and Gulangyu received the honor in July of 2017. )

Because many Chinese, especially youth, also don't fully appreciate the country's rich heritage or amazing changes,in 2013, I also began co-writing and co-hosting TV programs about China's history, culture, travel, food, etc. As I cohosted and co-wrote 362 episodes in Chinese, I learned more of the language than I had in the past 25 years.

The biggest event of 2013, of course, was our youngest son Matt's marriage in the U.S. to Jessica (and I was promoted to grandpa in 2015). We're still anxiously awaiting a Sino-American joint venture grandchild from Shannon and his Xiamenese wife Miki.

In 2014, at SAFEA's 60th anniversary, I received a very moving honor in Beijnig: China's top 10 foreign educators.But when I learned of the amazing achievements of the other nine recipients, I realized I'd not really done that much-but new opportunities were right on my doorstep.

In 2015, I was honored by XMU's School of Management for my teaching and also became Academic Director of our OneMBA program. Listed by Financial Times as one of the planet's Top 30 Executive MBAs, OneMBA is a unique consortium of 5 universities in 5 countries. Our 100 students from over 30 countries attend classes and residencies in 7 countries (China, India, Brazil, Mexico,the Netherlands, Poland and the U.S. ) , It has been challenging, but SMXMU has gone from the smallest class in 2014 to the largest in 2017！

As a management professor, I know that Xiamen needs strategic marketing, so in 2016, when I learned Xiamen Airlines was flying direct to the U.S., I gave them their new slogan, “New Horizons with Xiamen Airlines”. And in 2017, Xiamen adopted my tourism slogan, “Enjoy Amoy!”(Amoy was the foreigners' and Overseas Chinese' name for Xiamen since the 17th century. )

My most exciting project is my new book “Letters from China”. Since 1988, I've written letters, “Off the Wall,”to help friends and family understand life in China.Though I did not save copies of the letters, my friends saved hundreds-they even saved the envelopes-and in December, 2018, Beijing's Foreign Languages Press will publish the book in Chinese and English versions. I hope the book will help both foreigners and Chinese appreciate China's tremendous changes over these 3 brief decades.

In “Letters from China,” I also share the stories of amazing people such as the farm girl who became a professor's maid and today is a multimillionaire who has started international schools, a biotech company and 1,000 schools for poor children. Her story, and many others like hers, are proof that China has always owed its success not just to top-down policies from farsighted leaders but also to bottom-up initiatives from an indomitable populace that through the millennia have “planted trees that future generations may enjoy the shade.”

In 1919, Mary Ninde Gamewell wrote, “China is not like ancient Egypt, whose greatness has departed though she still lives on. China is a vital force whose largest possibilities of development lie before and not behind her. A new fresh life is beginning to course through the nation's veins... ”

Gamewell's prophetic words are as pertinent today as they were a century ago！

I've been blessed to witnessfirsthand 30 of China's 40 years of reform and opening up and I hope to see the next 30 years as well-and that XMU doesn't retire me until I'm 100！