張藝謀因超生受調查 網民熱議一胎政策

Chinese family planning officials revealed on Thursday that they are looking into whether celebrated film director Zhang Yimou violated the country's one-child rule, prompting a froth of conflicted commentary online as Internet users struggled to balance frustrations with population control against disdain for the privileges enjoyed by the wealthy.

中國計劃生育官員週四披露，他們正調查知名電影導演張藝謀是否違反了本國的計劃生育政策，由此引發網友莫衷一是的評論。有人對中國人口控制的做法表示失望，也有人對富人享受特權予以鄙視。

Mr. Zhang, celebrated internationally for films like 1991's 'Raise the Red Lantern' and 1994's 'To Live,' is being investigated by the family planning committee in the city of Wuxi, in eastern China's Jiangsu province, the official Xinhua news agency reported on Thursday. Wuxi is where Mr. Zhang's current wife lives, according to Xinhua.

張藝謀因1991年的影片《大紅燈籠高高掛》和1994年的《活着》等佳作而在國際上享有盛名。中國官方媒體新華社週四報道說，江蘇省無錫市人口和計劃生育委員會正在調查張藝謀。據新華社報道，張藝謀的現任妻子住在無錫。

The brief Xinhua article followed local media reports, which China Real Time has been unable to confirm, quoting Wuxi officials as saying the 61-year-old director may have as many as seven children and could face fines as high as 160 million yuan ($26 million).

這則簡短的新華社文章發表前曾有多篇地方媒體報道，“中國實時報”欄目一直無法證實那些報道。文章援引無錫官員的話說，這位現年61歲的導演可能有七個子女，或將面臨最高人民幣1.6億元的罰款。

An official with the Jiangsu provincial family planning commission confirmed that Mr. Zhang was under investigation and said it was ongoing but gave no other details. 'We don't know yet how we will deal with it, if it turns out to be true,' said the official, who gave only his surname, Li.

江蘇省人口計生委一位官員證實，張藝謀接受了調查，並說調查還在進行中，此外沒有透露其它細節。這位李姓官員說，如果情況屬實，我們還不知道要怎麼處理。

Calls to Mr. Zhang's assistant rang unanswered on Thursday.

週四記者打給張藝謀助手的電話無人接聽。

News of the investigation comes at awkward time for the China's family planning authorities. Beijing officially continues to defend the one-child policy, saying it has prevented 400 million births and helped lift the country out of poverty. But public anger over forced late-term abortions, anxiety over gender imbalances and shifting demographics have prompted increasing calls for the policy to be scrapped, or at least relaxed.

調查張藝謀的消息出現在對中國計劃生育部門來說頗爲尷尬的時候。中國官方仍在爲獨生子女政策辯護，說該政策令中國少生了4億人口，幫助國家脫了貧。但民衆對於妊娠晚期強制墮胎的憤怒和對性別比例失衡及人口結構變化的焦慮促使越來越多的人們呼籲，廢除或至少放鬆這一政策。

Shifting attitudes toward the one-child rule were evident online Thursday, as a number of Internet users rushed to defend Mr. Zhang.

人們對於一胎政策態度的轉變週四在網上顯而易見，很多網友紛紛爲張藝謀說話。

'I applaud Zhang Yimou for having more than one child,' wrote one user of the Twitter-like Sina Weibo microblogging service. 'Having children is a right bestowed on man by Heaven.'

新浪微博的一位用戶寫道，張藝謀生了不止一個孩子，我鼓掌歡迎，生孩子是天賦人權。

'So quick to investigate this kind of thing -- why don't you jump to investigate all those other problems?' wrote another.

另一位網友寫道，這種事調查得這麼快，你們怎麼不跑去查其它那些問題？

Yet for critics of China's family planning policy, Mr. Zhang is not exactly an ideal champion. Though once admired in art circles as a defiant figure unafraid of irritating censors, he has since moved into the mainstream -- so much so that he was tapped to direct the opening ceremonies for the 2008 Olympics -- and is now widely considered to be a part of the establishment elite.

然而，對中國計劃生育政策的批評者來說，張藝謀並非一個完美的支持者。儘管在藝術領域曾經被尊崇爲一個不畏懼惱人審查機構的桀驁不馴的人物，張藝謀後來已經融入主旋律，他甚至被任命爲2008年北京奧運會開幕式的總導演。現在，外界普遍認爲張藝謀是體制內精英中的一員。

The wealthy and powerful in China often find it easy to skirt the one-child rule by simply paying fines -- a phenomenon that has been cause for widespread resentment and calls for the rule to be more rigidly enforced.

中國的權貴階層常常可以通過交罰款輕鬆擺脫獨生子女政策的限制，這一現象已經引發了普遍不滿以及對更嚴格執行該政策的廣泛呼籲。

'Rich people can have as many kids as they want? Having more than one is illegal, but pay a fine and suddenly it's legal,' poet Chen Xuelin wrote on Sina Weibo. 'Rich people's money is their own, but social resources belong to the masses. Who gave rich people the right to dominate public resources?'

詩人陳學林在新浪微博上寫道，富人可以隨意超生？本來超生違法，但交了罰款就合法了……錢雖然是他們自己的，社會資源確是公衆的，是誰給了他們擠佔公共資源的權利？

Mixed reactions to news of the investigation to a large extent mirror mixed signals from the government on the future of the one-child policy. In March, Beijing stripped power from the National Population and Family Planning Commission and folded it into the Ministry of Health -- a move that suggested reforms were in the offing. Yet the central government has continued to insist that the policy will remain in place.

對張藝謀超生進行調查的消息引發的反應各有不同，這很大程度上折射出了政府在一胎政策的未來方面釋放出的不同信號。今年3月，中國政府將國家人口和計劃生育委員與衛生部合併，此舉意味着改革正在醞釀之中。然而中央政府隨後又說，計劃生育政策將繼續存在。

Reform advocates remain optimistic that major change is coming, arguing that the government needs time to overcome resistance from bureaucrats with a vested interest in maintaining the family planning machinery.

改革的支持者仍然相信重大變化即將出現，他們認爲，政府需要時間戰勝來自一些官員的阻力，這些官員在保留計劃生育政策的做法中存在既得利益。

In a certain sense, the brouhaha over Mr. Zhang may help their cause by highlighting the political costs of maintaining a policy that seems to lead to frustration all around.

從某種意義上說，張藝謀超生調查引發的關注可能會有助於廢除計生政策，因爲這件事凸顯了繼續實施一項明顯會引起各方不滿的政策的政治成本。

'Surprising that some people are praising the investigation. You curse family planning, then turn around and say others should be fined -- isn't that an inherent contradiction?' wrote newspaper commentator Zhao Jicheng. 'You've been a eunuch so long, you can't stand virility?'

報紙評論員趙繼成說：竟然有人爲調查叫好。一邊罵計生，一邊希望罰別人，劣根性？太監久了，見不得勃起？