- On 22 June 1993, I flew first class to Shanghai, starting a 3-month contract to produce Western pop radio shows.
- My role was to sell coffee through radio programs, but I initially questioned if moving to China was a mistake.
- A creative editing test in Scotland secured my job, leading to a life-changing adventure in China for 32 years.
- Early 1990s China was challenging for foreigners, but I learned to embrace cultural differences and reject notions of superiority.
Sweltering it was that humid Saturday night in Shanghai. The date was 22 June, 1993. I was sat in seat 2A of Northwest Airlines flight NW001 from Detroit to Tokyo, and the flight’s then-recently added leg into Shanghai. Aboard the mighty Boeing 747 jumbo jet, it was the first and only time I flew first class (a free upgrade for that final leg).
上海那個潮溼的週六晚上悶熱。 日期是1993年6月22日。 我坐在西北航空公司从底特律飞往东京的NW001航班的2A号座位上，该航班最近增加了飞往上海的航站。 乘坐强大的波音747巨型喷气式飞机，这是我第一次也是唯一一次乘坐头等舱（最后一站的免费升级）。
As we were waiting to deplane, an adorable flight attendant did a remarkable thing. We had got chatting during the flight, and as I gathered my things, the African American, overly tall for a flight attendant in my opinion, came up and handed me a bottle of the ship’s champaign. “This is the last piece of civilisation you’re going to be seeing for a while”, he said.
當我們等待下飛機時，一位可愛的空姐做了一件了不起的事情。 我们在飞行中聊天，当我收拾东西时，那个非裔美国人走过来递给我一瓶香槟，在我看来，对于空姐来说太高了。 他说：“这是你一段时间后看到的最后一块文明。”
3 months to be precise. That was the length of my contract; to come to China to produce radio programmes of western pop music. To be beamed to millions.
确切地说，是3个月。 那是我合同的期限；来中国制作西方流行音乐的广播节目。 被传送到数百万人。
More accurately, or cynically, as I was to find out later, I had in fact come to China to sell coffee. Those radio programmes were the vehicle for that endeavour.
更准确地说，或者愤世嫉俗地说，正如我后来发现的那样，我实际上是来中国卖咖啡的。 那些广播节目是这一努力的载体。
Sounded great in principle, but looking out of the window into the darkness, I saw nothing but drab grey concrete. Shanghai International Airport needed to work on its PR. And buy some more light bulbs. And I simply thought, “I’ve either made the worst decision of my life, or the best decision”. It was to turn out to be the latter, but I’d need around 15 years to figure that one out.
原则上听起来很棒，但向窗外的黑暗望去，除了单调的灰色混凝土，我什么也没看到。 上海国际机场需要进行公关工作。 再买一些灯泡。 我只是觉得，“我要么做出了人生中最糟糕的决定，要么做出了最好的决定”。 结果是后者，但我需要大约15年的时间才能弄清楚。
The sky was also grey, and it was to to stay that way for the next 20-plus years, but my decision was going to also turn out to be one hell of an adventure, and the best education on the human spirit and geopolitical relations for which one could ever hope. Much of it was even to take place without the internet, and somehow, 3 months was to turn into 32 years.
天空也是灰濛濛的，在接下来的20多年里，它将保持这种狀態，但我的决定也将变成一场地狱般的冒险，也是人们所希望的关于人类精神和地缘政治关系的最佳教育。 其中大部分甚至是在没有互联网的情况下发生的，不知何故，3个月变成了32年。
But before I got to my business class and first class seats, I had a test to pass.
但在我坐上商务舱和头等舱座位之前，我有一个考试要通过。
It was utterly surreal that I was about to start work for a company that had its bases of operations as a three-star hotel room in Shanghai and an idyllic stone cottage in a tiny Scottish Highland village (comprising seven stone cottages to be precise).
我即将开始为一家公司工作，这完全超现实，该公司的运营基地是上海的三星级酒店房间和苏格兰高地小村庄的田园诗般的石头小屋（准确地说，包括七栋石头小屋）。
Banging on the door of the one belonging to my boss-to-be and former Programme Controller of the UK’s most listened to (and then smallest) radio station, the legendary Brian Anderson of Radio Caroline fame, I said, “I need a job”. He said, “You can go to Chengdu. But first I need to go buy some milk”.
敲了敲我的前任老板和英国收听次数最多（然后是最小的）广播电台的前节目总监的门，卡罗琳电台的传奇布莱恩·安德森的门，我说：“我需要一份工作”。 他说：“你可以去成都。 但首先我需要去买点牛奶。”
As he walked out of the door for his 30-minute run to the town of Nairn for milk, I was assigned the task of making Billy’s Joel’s “We didn’t start the Fire” China friendly.
当他走出门去奈恩镇喝牛奶30分钟时，我被分配了让比利·乔尔的《我们没有生火》对中国友好的任务。
That meant cutting out the line that says, “China’s under martial law”, while still keeping the musical structure of the song intact. But that’s only one bar of 4/4 time. I’d need to replace it and another to preserve the rhyme and do it with just a razor blade; no digital effects then to cover any slip-shod editing.
这意味着删掉“中国处于戒严状态”的台词，同时保持歌曲的音乐结构完整。 但那只是一个4/4次的酒吧。 我需要更换它，另一个来保留韵律，只用一把剃刀刀片做；然后没有数字效果来覆盖任何滑溜溜的编辑。
The test was passed and for my efforts I was rewarded an Apple Powermac 100, US$1,500 in travellers’ Chequers, a business class ticket to Shanghai and a lift to Glasgow Airport. Then I was on my own, as a 23 year old about to cross the world and go live and work in Shanghai (and Chengdu).
测试通过了，作为我的努力，我获得了Apple Powermac 100、1500美元的旅行支票、一张去上海的商务舱票和去格拉斯哥机场的电梯。 然后我独自一人，作为一个23岁的人，即将穿越世界，去上海（和成都）生活和工作。
But I was also provided with explanation as to why I had been given a 3-month contract. I had, naturally, presumed it to be a probationary period. But no. Brian simply said, “It’s to see if you like China. And more importantly, if it likes you”.
但我也得到了解释，为什么我得到了一份3个月的合同。 我自然认为这是一个试用期。 但是不。 Brian简单地说：“这是为了看看你是否喜欢中国。 更重要的是，如果它喜欢你。”
It was a telling point. Many a foreigner comes to China to initially enjoy a “honeymoon period”. There is the initial excitement at all that is splendid and new. But the practicalities of life could back then weigh heavily on some; the language barrier seemingly insurmountable, the culture too far removed from that to which one is familiar.
这是一个说明要点。 许多外国人来中国最初是为了享受“蜜月期”。 最初的兴奋是所有精彩而新的。 但生活的实用性在那时可能沉重地拖累了一些人；語言障礙似乎無法克服，文化與人們熟悉的文化相去甚遠。
The early 1990s were without doubt a tough time for foreigners to live in China. The flip side of the coin was that many Chinese appeared to be in adoration of the West, assuming it to be somehow better.
毫无疑问，20世纪90年代初是外国人在中国生活的艰难时期。 硬币的另一面是，许多中国人似乎崇拜西方，认为西方在某种程度上会更好。
This attitude was partly political in sentiment, but it was also based on a few Hollywood movies that had somehow been smuggled in. As I arrived in China, my first lesson learnt was that there is no better, there is no worse, there is only different.
這種態度在情感上部分是政治性的，但它也是基於一些以某種方式被偷運進來的好萊塢電影。 当我到达中国时，我学到的第一课是，没有更好的，没有更坏的，只有不同。