马云——China’s Carnegie 中国的卡内基

　　Jack Ma’s establishment of a new charitable foundation offers his country an important opportunity

　　马云建立的新慈善基金为中国带来了重要契机。

　　May 3rd 2014 | From the print edition

　　“THE problem of our age is the proper administration of wealth,” wrote Andrew Carnegie in 1889. More than a century later, the citizens of supposedly Communist China could hardly disagree. Carnegie, one of the wealthiest men of America’s Gilded Age, soon set about giving his money away, and on April 24th Jack Ma, one of the wealthiest men of China’s Gilded Age, suggested he would start to do the same. Mr Ma and Joseph Tsai, co-founders of Alibaba, an online marketplace, announced the creation of philanthropic trusts that could be worth as much as $3 billion. “Somebody has to do something,” says Mr Ma of China’s environmental and health-care problems. “Our job is to wake people up.”

　　安德鲁.卡内基（Andrew Carnegie）在1889年写道：“我们年代的问题是如何合理管理财富。”一百多年后，所谓的共产主义中国的国民只能同意他的观点。作为美国镀金年代世界首富之一的卡内基树立了捐赠财产的榜样。4月24日，作为中国镀金年代首富之一的马云宣布将效仿这种做法。马云及其阿里巴巴合伙人蔡崇信宣布将成立价值30亿美元的慈善基金。马云在讨论中国环境和医疗问题时说道：“必须有人来做点什么，我们的工作就是警醒大家。”

　　It is easy to be cynical about this. The gift is a move taken straight out of a Silicon Valley public-relations playbook, ahead of Alibaba’s expected initial public offering this year, which could value the company at $150 billion. But it could still have a remarkable effect not just on China’s fast-expanding class of super-rich, but also on its government.

　　此事很容易引人怀疑。阿里巴巴预计今年上市，公司价值可达1500亿美元。选在上市前的时机成立基金，是直接从硅谷公共关系准则中学得的一招。但是此举会对中国快速壮大的超级富豪阶层和政府都产生重大影响。

　　It’s alright, Ma (He’s only giving)

　　没问题，马云（他只是在付出）

　　China’s wealthy are a notoriously stingy lot. When two of America’s best-known philanthropists, Bill Gates, who has advised Mr Ma, and Warren Buffett, visited the country in 2010, a meeting they held was notable for the number of Chinese tycoons who stayed away. Of 122 billionaires around the world who have signed the Giving Pledge promoted by Messrs Buffett and Gates, promising to give away half their wealth by the end of their lives, not a single one is Chinese, even though China now has 358 billionaires, one-fifth of the global total.

　　中国富豪的吝啬臭名远扬。美国着名慈善家比尔.盖茨（盖茨曾给过马云建议）和沃伦.巴菲特于2010年与马云在中国会面，此次会晤备受关注，因为缺席的中国富豪人数庞大。全球有122位亿万富翁签署了由巴菲特和盖茨发起的捐赠誓约，承诺将在去世后捐赠一半财产，其中没有一位中国人——尽管中国有358位亿万富翁，占了全球的1/5。

　　The main reason for this is fear: many have made their money in the shadows of a supposedly socialist country, so few of China’s rich are keen to identify themselves publicly. China’s princelings, related to the leadership, are often the least enthusiastic of all, especially when the regime of Xi Jinping, China’s president, is condemning corruption, albeit selectively. Having made his money more publicly, Mr Ma may be an exception, but his foundation still adds pressure on other Chinese tycoons. Mr Xi should help, by publicly applauding Mr Ma and by making all donations tax-deductible.

　　造成这一现象的主要原因是恐惧：很多富豪是在所谓的社会主义国家阴影下致富的，因此鲜有富人愿意公开身份。与中国领导层紧密相关的太子党最不情愿，特别是在国家主席习近平的新政权反腐之际（尽管反腐是有选择性的）。发家之路较为透明的马云算是特例，但他的基金仍增加了其他中国富豪的压力。习主席应该公开称赞马云，为所有捐赠减税以助其一臂之力。

　　It is also a prompt for Mr Xi to promote civil society. With its countryside teeming with poor children needing education and old people needing health care, the regime has decided to give non-governmental organisations (NGOs) more freedom to operate, under party scrutiny. Mr Xi needs to let them play a larger, more independent role. This highlights the party’s central dilemma: it is scared of allowing independent groups of citizens to flourish and help solve problems, and yet that is exactly what China needs. As long as civil society is kept weak, China’s social problems will get worse. Passing a new charity law, stalled for years, to clarify charities’ legal status would be a useful step in the right direction.

　　这也有助于习近平推动社会发展。中国农村满是急需教育的穷孩子、亟待医保的老年人，因此政府允许非政府组织在其监督下获得更多运营自由。马云应该推动这些组织获得更多自主权，发挥更大作用。此事也突出了中共的主要困境：政府担心独立民间团体过于强大，但民间团体发展壮大，帮助解决社会问题又正是中国需要的。只要民间团体的依旧衰弱，中国的社会问题就会进一步恶化。中国的新慈善法已经搁置多年了，通过该项法律以明确慈善团体的合法地位将是有效的、正确的一步。

　　The question for Mr Ma is how far he is prepared to nudge the regime in this direction. His public stance is, sensibly, that he wants to work with the government, not confront it. But the areas he is likely to focus on—education, health care and the environment—matter enormously, and technology can spur political change. Mr Ma recently launched kits for smartphone users to crowdsource data on poor water quality across China, a sly dose of insurrection. Carnegie became famous not just for the money he gave away and the example he set to other philanthropists, but for the way he prompted the American government to embrace education, civic programmes and social reform. Mr Ma’s money and example can do the same for China, if only the Communist Party will allow it.

　　马云面临的问题是，他准备推动政府走多远。马云明智地公开表明愿意与政府合作，而非与之对抗。但他可能关注的领域——教育、医疗和环境——都至关重要，而科技可以推动政治变革。近日马云发行了水质检测包，用户可以以此检测中国糟糕的水质，并用智能机上传数据。卡内基举世闻名不只因为他捐赠的财富和他为其他慈善家树立的榜样，还因为他促使美国政府进行了教育改革和社会改革。只要中共允许，马云的财富和榜样作用同样可以为中国做到这一点。