布什回忆录评胡锦涛和江泽民

choi

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VOA Chinese, Nov. 22, 2010.
http://www.voanews.com/chinese/news/20101122-BUSH-MEMOIR-CHINA-109988394.html
("布什总统在回忆录的第一章里就提到了中国。他说，在哈佛大学毕业以后，到中国去看望父母，时间是1975年。那时候，特别让他感叹的是，一个历史上有过如此辉煌的国家，怎么会落到如此'凄凉'的地步")


My comment:
(a) The pertinent paragraphs in Decision Points:

"For the second time in my life, I made the move from Houston to Massachusetts. The cabdriver pulled up to the Harvard campus and welcomed me to ―the West Point of capitalism.

"I had gone to Andover by expectation and Yale by tradition; I was at Harvard by choice. There I learned the mechanics of finance, accounting, and economics. I came away with a better understanding of management, particularly the importance of setting clear goals for an organization, delegating tasks, and holding people to account. I also gained the confidence to pursue my entrepreneurial urge. The lessons of Harvard Business School were reinforced by an unlikely source: a trip to visit Mother and Dad in China after graduation. The contrast was vivid. I had gone from the West Point of capitalism to the eastern outpost of communism, from a republic of individual choice to a country where people all wore the same gray clothes. While riding my bike through the streets of Beijing, I occasionally saw a black limo with tinted windows that belonged to one of the party bigwigs. Otherwise there were few cars and no signs of a free market. I was amazed to see how a country with such a rich history could be so bleak.

"In 1975, China was emerging from the Cultural Revolution, its government‘s effort to purify and revitalize society. Communist officials had set up indoctrination programs, broadcast propaganda over omnipresent loudspeakers, and sought to stamp out any evidence of China‘s ancient history. Mobs of young people lashed out against their elders and attacked the intellectual elite. The society was divided against itself and cascading into anarchy. China‘s experience reminded me of the French and Russian revolutions. The pattern was the same: People seized control by promising to promote certain ideals. Once they had consolidated power, they abused it, casting aside their beliefs and brutalizing their fellow citizens. It was as if mankind had a sickness that it kept inflicting on itself. The sobering thought deepened my conviction that freedom—economic, political, and religious—is the only fair and productive way of governing a society.

(b) 'O Sole Mio
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%27O_Sole_Mio
(Neapolitan song written in 1898; usually sung in the original Neapolitan language [rather than Italian language]; translates literally as "My Sun" (not "Oh My Sun").

(c) Pres. Hu Jintao's reply was "how to create 25 million new jobs a year."
(d) The VOA reports. "他 [Bush] 在书里写到，他和江泽民初次会面时就告诉江，'我每天都要研读圣经。'  江泽民回答，'圣经我也看，但是我不信上面说的。'

"In one of our first meetings, I explained to President Jiang that faith was a vital part of my life and that I studied the Word every day. I told him I planned to raise freedom of worship in our conversations. 'I read the Bible,' he replied, 'but I don't trust what it says.'



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