美劇《紙牌屋》刻畫真實中國?

Warning: This post contains mild spoilers

警告：本文有輕微劇透內容

Not since counterterrorism agent Jack Bauer stormed the Chinese consulate in the fourth season of '24' has there been a major story line about China featured on a mainstream U.S. TV series.

在《反恐24小時》(24)第四季中，反恐特工傑克・鮑爾(Jack Bauer)在中國領事館橫衝直撞，這是美國主流電視劇中首次出現有關中國的重要故事情節。

U.S.-China relations are front and center in the new season of 'House of Cards,' which has scheming U.S. Vice President Frank Underwood, played by Kevin Spacey, backchanneling with a corrupt Chinese businessman. The show's 13-episode second season was simultaneously released Friday on Netflix Inc.'s online-video-streaming service in the U.S. and on Inc.'s service in China. In China, the first episode of the new season already has racked up more than 3.5 million views on Sohu.

在新一季的《紙牌屋》(House of Cards)中，美中關係成爲重點。由凱文・史派西(Kevin Spacey)扮演的詭計多端的美國副總統弗蘭克・安德伍德(Frank Underwood)在劇中與一名腐敗的中國商人祕密交易。該劇第二季13集上週五在美國Netflix在線視頻服務和中國搜狐網( Inc.)視頻服務同時開播。在中國，第二季的第一集在搜狐上被觀看的次數已經超過350萬次。

The show deserves kudos for the unusual authenticity of its China story line, which has plot points ripped straight from the headlines. Chinese cyber-theft, currency manipulation, a trade dispute involving rare-earth minerals, and escalating tensions between China and Japan in the East China Sea all make an appearance in the show, rendered with the kind of detail the average U.S. viewer might not notice but that will ring mostly true with China watchers.

這部電視劇有關中國的劇情極其真實，值得稱讚，其中一些情節直接來自新聞報道。中國的網絡間諜活動、匯率操縱、涉及稀土礦物的貿易爭端以及中日之間在東中國海日漸升級的緊張局勢全都在劇中有所體現。普通美國觀衆可能不會注意到其中的一些細節，然而中國觀衆卻會深有感觸。

'When we created the story lines, we were certainly keeping our eye on what was happening (in China), and the happy result, I believe, is a story line that earns its relevance by resonating with the headlines,' Kenneth Lin, one of the writers on the show, told China Real Time by email.

該劇編劇之一Kenneth Lin在發給“中國實時報”(China Real Time)欄目的電子郵件中說，我們打造劇情時當然會注意中國時事，我認爲這樣做帶來的良好效果是，劇情與重要新聞相呼應，讓觀衆覺得與自己相關。

The attention to detail even extends to a Chinese foreign ministry news briefing early on in the show, which replicates the real thing almost exactly, from the familiar blue backdrop to the terse and irritated tone. The only inaccuracy -- it has the Chinese spokesman delivering his comments in English, which almost never happens -- was likely introduced for expedience.

該劇對細節的關注甚至還擴展到了早先情節中的一場中國外交部新聞發佈會上，劇中場景幾乎完全複製了真實情景，從熟悉的藍色背景到發言人簡練惱怒的語調。唯一不對的是，劇中的中國發言人是用英文發表評論，這種情況幾乎從未發生過。

How did they get so many details right? By doing their homework, according to Mr. Lin, who said the writers spoke beforehand to a variety of China experts, including Columbia University political scientist Xiaobo Lu.

他們是怎麼做到讓這麼多的細節都準確無誤的？據Lin說，他們做了充分的準備工作。他說，編劇們事先與衆多中國專家交流，包括哥倫比亞大學(Columbia University)政治學家呂曉波。

Mr. Lu told CRT he met the 'House of Cards' writers on campus a year ago to discuss Chinese politics, society and U.S.-China relations. After watching the entire season 'I thought, overall, the writers were successful in putting in the China storyline with a mix of sensational fiction and possible reality,' he said.

呂曉波告訴“中國實時報”記者，他一年前曾與《紙牌屋》編劇在學校見面，討論中國政治、社會和美中關係。他說，看完整季之後，他覺得編劇們總體上成功地打造了有關中國的劇情，集合了轟動的虛構情節和合理的現實。

'House of Cards' isn't the most popular U.S. TV show in China (the first season only has 23.5 million views when compared with No. 1 ranked 'Nikita,' whose first season has almost 270 million views). However, the new season of 'House of Cards' was the most-watched American show on Sohu between Sunday and Monday, and ranked fifth overall for drama after four Chinese programs during that period. Viewership will likely rise once Sohu finishes adding Chinese-language subtitles to every episode (the Chinese video service is adding them at a rate of two episodes per day).

《紙牌屋》並非在中國人氣最高的美劇（該劇第一季僅被觀看2,350萬次，排名第一的《尼基塔》(Nikita)第一季觀看次數接近2.7億）。但從週日到週一，《紙牌屋》新一季是搜狐上被觀看次數最多的美劇，在同期電視劇總排名中位列第五，前四名都是中國節目。等到搜狐爲每集都加上中文字幕後，觀看人數可能還將增加（搜狐以每天兩集的速度添加字幕）。

Chinese Internet users largely seemed to embrace the prominent role their country plays in the show's second season, though one user of Sina Corp.'s Weibo social media platform took the show to task for misrepresenting China in a crucial manner. 'The most irritating thing: Chinese representatives aren't nearly so young or handsome,' he wrote.

中國互聯網用戶似乎整體上接受了中國在該劇第二季中的重要地位，但新浪微博的一名用戶認爲，該劇在一個重要方面沒有很好地代表中國。他寫道，最可氣的一點是：哪裏來那麼年輕又那麼帥的中國代表？