It was a dark banquet hall, filled with over 100 people in suits or cocktail dresses. Each table was fitted with an ice sculpture and its own liquor cabinet. Reporters were trying to sneak in. A banner on the wall read “Wealth & Wisdom Party.”
Though no one was listening, the on-stage performance completed the experience. A young Chongqing woman in a sequined red dress was on stage singing “Born This Way,” a Lady Gaga song about being yourself and sexual equality, in rather stilted English, to the Nobel Prize-winning father of Reaganomics and a bunch of drunk local Chinese politicians.
What?? At that moment, I just couldn’t help but take a video clip. As soon as it finished, I started to realize how difficult explaining the situation would be. I’ll give it a try.
I was attending an early May 2012 banquet in honor of my Fulbright professor’s esteemed guest, Robert Mundell, a 1999 recipient of the Nobel Prize in economics. You might remember learning about the Mundell-Flemming Model in economics class. It’s that Mundell. Not only is he still an active professor at Columbia, but he’s also making trips to Western China (not for free, of course) to give lectures.
Mundell was visiting Chongqing for one week. My professor, something of a big-wig in the local academic sphere, had taken him around the city, visiting tourist sites, meeting government officials, and giving speeches. This banquet was his farewell ceremony.
The Vice-Mayor of Chongqing, a colleague of the now infamous Bo Xilai, was in attendance, along with dozens of high-level government, academia, and business folks. I was luckily invited by my professor to attend.
It started with an extravagant reception. He introduced me to fabulous housewives dressed for the Oscars who wanted to pay me to teach their children English. He introduced me to powerful politicians whose government departments I had never even heard of. We had expensive (but still tasteless) wine. Then it was time to go inside. The honored guest would be arriving soon.
Mundell was greeted like a president. As he walked in, the speakers blared horn-filled orchestral music and everyone stood, clapping, to greet him. The hosts, a sharply dressed young man and woman came on stage. They made jokes and introductions of all the VIPs, one by one, in both Chinese and English. Mundell was the only non-Chinese-speaker in the crowd. He was called on stage to give remarks.
Then we ate. Lobster, steak, abalone, any type of amazing Chinese food that you can imagine was placed plate after plate family-style onto our table. By the end of the night, not a single dish was finished.
Though over 100 executives and government officials attended in his honor, perhaps five people attempted to speak with Mundell throughout the entire night. They simply didn’t speak English. But they showed up to honor him.
I won’t even attempt to parse the relationship between the song’s lyrics and the value systems of those in attendance, the cross-cultural conundrum of events that took place, or explain what it all means. Suffice it to say that everything I’ve described makes sense and is totally normal from a Chinese perspective. Maybe I’ll write a sociology book about it someday. But why all the pomp and circumstance? Why would the highest officials and businesspeople in a city of 30 million come out to honor a single economist who they cannot even speak to?
Well, Chongqing’s in a state of transition. With an economy nearly the size of New Zealand (about $160 billion annually) and growing at 16%, Chongqing is no small city. But, when it comes to international awareness, Chongqing is virtually unkown (barring the recent Bo Xilai scandal, of course). When big CEOs, celebrities, and politicians visit China, they always go to Beijing and Shanghai, and perhaps a few other coastal cities. They don’t tend to visit Chongqing.
That’s why bringing a Nobel Prize-winner is such a big deal. This is the kind of international engagement that Chongqing’s leaders hope will put it on the map. They want Mundell to go home to his friends and tell them he was treated like a king, and that they should visit Chongqing too.
Maybe he will. As a foreigner, I’ll never really understand. But I can listen, I can learn, and I can enjoy the absurdity of trying to explain Chinese events in English.
As the night wound down, I had a chance to speak with the singer. Though she had never lived in an English-speaking country or even left Chongqing, she managed to learn English well enough to become a university English teacher and singer on the side. Her English, though perfectly fluent, was stiff and textbookish in conversation. It did little justice to the radiant, gregarious personality that appeared as soon as we spoke Chinese.
Just like her city, she had worked hard to be perceived as cosmopolitan and make international friends. This event was another big milestone along the way.
Mundell’s remarks at the event were brief. He noted that he had not prepared remarks. He said he had always wanted to come to Chongqing, but never could, and was now glad that he had. The next day he went back to Beijing, where all his important meetings were.
这是一个昏暗的宴会大厅，其间聚集着一百多个穿着讲究，派头十足的人们。每张桌子上都摆放着精美的冰雕和酒柜。记者们都纷纷想偷偷地参与到这场宴会中去。墙上的横幅上赫然几个大字“财富与智慧之派对”。
尽管鲜有人在聆听观赏，但台上的表演还是让这场派对变得圆满完整。台上一个穿着带闪亮装饰的红裙子的重庆女生用生硬的英语，对着里根经济理论之父诺贝尔经济学奖获得者以及一些喝醉的当地政客，演唱着Lady Gaga的“生来如此”，歌词大意就是表达要做真正的自己和追求性别平等。
那是什么？就在那一刻，我忍不住拍下了一段视频片段，它刚一结束，我就意识到要解释这样的一个情况和场景会是多么的难。但是我决定要试一试。
早在今年的五月，我参加了一场专为欢迎罗伯特.蒙代尔，我们富布莱特教授特别敬仰的一位客人，而举办的宴会。蒙代尔是1999年的诺贝尔经济学奖获得者。你也许还能依稀记得我们经济学课上曾经学过的那个蒙代尔-弗莱明模型。这个模型的缔造者正是这位尊贵的客人蒙代尔教授。他不仅是一位活跃在哥伦比亚大学的知名教授，他还经常去中国的西部进行演讲（当然这些并不是免费的）
蒙代尔教授到访重庆一周。我的教授，在当地的学术界也算是一个学术大咖，就带着蒙代尔教授周游重庆，四处观光，会见政府官员，安排各种各样的演讲。而此次的宴会正是为给他践行而举办的。
重庆副市长，也是现在臭名昭著的薄熙来曾经的同僚，也带领着一批政府高级官员，知名学者和商界领袖出席了此次告别晚宴。我很荣幸的应了我老师的邀约也出席了这次晚宴。
先是奢华的热情接待。然后我被介绍给了一位穿的像要走奥斯卡红地毯的美艳贵妇，这位贵妇还想雇我教她的孩子们英语。接着老师介绍我认识了一些当权的政客，但是他们所属的政府部门及职能我却从来没听说过。我们喝着非常昂贵但却令人难以下咽的酒。到了入场的时间，尊贵的客人们马上就要来了。
蒙代尔得到了总统级的热情欢迎和迎接。当他走进来的时候，音响放着空前盛大的音乐，在场的每个人都起立致敬，鼓掌欢迎他的到来。紧接着两位盛装打扮的主持人登上了舞台。他们用中英双语幽默风趣地一个接一个的介绍着今天到场的重要人物们。蒙代尔是被介绍的人群中唯一一个不会讲中文的。他被邀请上台致辞。
当晚的宴席上，龙虾，牛排，鲍鱼，凡是你能想到的那些令人叹为观止，瞠目结舌的中国美食应有尽有，并且就像家常便饭一般的摆在我们面前。直到宴会结束，没有一个盘子的里的食物被全部吃光。
尽管有超过一百人次的总经理和政府官员参加了这次盛会，但也许当晚只有五个人试图和蒙代尔进行交谈。原因很简单，他们中的大多人不懂英语。但是他们却盛装出席盛情款待来表达对蒙代尔的敬意。
我甚至都不愿意去分析赞美歌和与会人的价值观之间的关系，也不愿意去想文化的交叉所带来的难题，以及对发生的这一切做出什么解释。只能说世间发生的一切都有其发生的原因和道理，而且以中国人的观念看待这一切，都是再正常不过的了。
重庆现处在一个过度转变的过程。重庆一年的经济产值将近是新西兰整个国家一年的GDP（大概每年有1600亿美元左右），并且以每年十六个百分点的速度在增长。重庆不是个小城市，但当谈及到国际知名度的时候，重庆却是鲜有人知，默默无闻的（当然除了近期的薄熙来丑闻）。当那些大CEO们，名人，政客到访中国的时候，他们总是会去北京，上海也许还有一些沿海城市，但是他们很少会造访重庆。
这就是为什么一个诺贝尔奖获得者的到来会是如此惊天动地的一件大事。因为这就是所谓的国家化的标志，重庆的领导者们希望借此来把重庆推向世界。他们希望蒙代尔回到美国之后能够告诉自己的亲朋好友，在重庆他受到了国王一般的款待，让他的亲戚朋友们也应该有机会到重庆走走。
也许蒙代尔会这样做。作为一个外国人，我真的很难理解这种行为和想法。但是我可以听，可以学，我可以享受着用英文来解释这样可笑的中国事件。
深夜将至，我有幸能和歌者进行交谈。尽管她从来都没有在说英语的国家生活过，甚至从来都没有离开过重庆，但是她努力学好英语成为了一名大学英语老师并兼职做歌手。他的英语虽然非常的流利，但是仍旧很生硬，在对话中刻板的如教科书一般。当我们开始讲中文的时候，她却显得不再那么容光焕发和爱交际了。
就像她的城市一样，她非常努力地工作想被大家认可是一个国际化的世界主义者，结交着各种各样的国际友人。而当晚的宴会则是这条通往国际化大道的里程碑似的大事。
蒙代尔在宴会上的发言很简短。他说他并没有准备致辞，并且一直以来都盼望着能够来重庆，但是总是没有机会。他很高兴这次他终于来了。接下来的一天，蒙代尔就会回到北京，所有的真正重要的会议都在那里等着他。