煤都撫順 因煤而興因煤而困

FUSHUN, China — The descent into the pit was steep, and the car skidded down a bumpy serpentine road.

中國撫順——礦坑的坡度很陡，車在蜿蜒的顛簸道路上向下滑行。

“The road is supposed to be smooth, but last night’s storm and the following landslides make it so rough,” said Cui Yuan, 44, who as the head of the Fushun Geological and Environmental Monitoring Station is in charge of monitoring the landslides, which leave the road littered with coal byproduct.

“路本來是暢通的，可是昨天晚上的暴雨和接下來的泥石流讓路很不好走，”撫順地質環境監測站站長崔原說。崔站長今年44歲，負責監測泥石流的情況。泥石流導致路上到處散落着採煤的副產品。

Toward the bottom of the pit, a decrepit four-story building slanted at a dangerous angle. Half of the tall, thin pillars supporting the conveyor belts that transport coal to the surface were tilted precariously.

礦坑底部附近，一座四層樓高的破舊建築以危險的角度傾斜着。將煤炭運至地面的傳送帶由又高又細的柱子支撐着，其中一半搖搖欲墜地歪了。

The few miners at Fushun’s West Open Mine, the largest open coal mine in Asia, were not mining coal but clearing roads blocked by landslides and putting out coal fires, which erupt spontaneously when buried coal is exposed to air for the first time in millions of years.

這座撫順西露天礦是亞洲最大的露天煤礦。此時礦坑裏人數寥寥的礦工並未從事開採工作，而是在清理泥石流堵塞的通道、撲滅煤火。當深埋地下的煤炭數百上千萬年來首次接觸到空氣的時候，便會自燃。

The city of Fushun, one of many so-called coal capitals of China, is struggling. Two-thirds of its estimated 1.5 billion tons of coal has been mined, and today the mineral that helped turn the city into a booming metropolis of 2.2 million threatens to bury it.

撫順是中國的衆多“煤都”之一，目前陷入了困境。該市的煤炭儲量估計爲15億噸，其中三分之二已被開採。煤炭曾經助推撫順成爲人口220萬的繁榮都市，如今卻可能將它埋葬起來。

The coal mines here are winding down and shedding jobs. Decades of destructive mining techniques are causing frequent landslides that threaten to sink the city.

這裏的煤礦在縮小規模、削減工作崗位。數十年的破壞性採礦工藝導致威脅城市安全的泥石流頻發。

As miners scrape out the last layers of minable coal, buildings near the mine have been abandoned and the city’s underground water pipes are cracking.

礦工挖掘最後的可開採煤層的同時，礦場附近的建築遭到遺棄，市政地下水管線紛紛破裂。

Today, Fushun produces less than three million tons of coal a year, a drop from a peak of 18.3 million tons in 1962. All five main coal mines here could close by 2030, Mr. Cui said.

撫順目前的煤炭年產量不到300萬噸，距離1962年的歷史峯值1830萬噸相去甚遠。崔站長表示，到2030年的時候，這裏的五大煤礦或許會悉數關閉。

At the bottom of the West Open Mine, a 4.2-square-mile pit some 1,000 feet below the surface, coal glistened in the sun. “We are at the lowest point in China,” Mr. Cui said. “We have another 60-meter layer right beneath our feet, but there’s no way we can dig further.”

西露天礦佔地面積4.2平方英里（約合11平方公里），底部位於地面千尺之下，煤在陽光下閃着光。“我們現在是全中國的最低點，”崔站長說。“就在我們腳底下還有60米的煤層，但沒辦法繼續挖了。”

Digging deeper would cause more landslides and more damage that the city is ill equipped to handle.

再往深處挖掘可能會導致更多的泥石流和環境破壞，讓撫順無力應對。

When the Japanese occupied the region in the early 20th century, they refilled the pits as they mined to prevent landslides.

日本人在上世紀初佔領這一地區時，他們會在開採的同時進行回填，以此防止泥石流。

“But after Chairman Mao came, the open mine only got bigger and bigger,” said Zhang Jun, 52, former head of the project department at Fushun’s Development and Reform Commission, the local agency that oversees economic development. “Since the 1980s, we have been in what I call a ‘savage mode’ of mining.”

“但毛澤東上臺以後，露天礦場就越挖越大，”52歲的前撫順發改委重點項目辦公室主任張君說，發改委是監管當地經濟發展的行政機構。“自1980年代以來，我們一直處在我稱之爲‘野蠻開採的模式”之中。”

The state-owned mining companies cut dangerously steep angles into the ground without refilling, a practice that has put Fushun’s future at risk, he said. Landslides now threaten 42.5 percent of Fushun’s urban areas, according to a 2012 government report.

他表示，國有煤礦企業在地下挖出非常危險的陡峭角度，而且不進行填埋，這一做法給撫順的未來帶來風險。2012年的一份政府報告顯示，42.5％的撫順市區面臨塌方的危險。

The city has begun refilling part of the West Open Mine with soil from another active mine, the East Open Mine, but it may come as too little too late.

撫順已經開始用從另一座開採中的煤礦東露天礦(East Open Mine)挖出來的土填埋西露天礦，但這一舉措可能來得太晚，而且是杯水車薪。

The damage already done at the West Open Mine is evident. Walking past a sign that warned “Geological Disaster Danger Zone: Do Not Enter,” Mr. Cui pointed to two empty, destroyed buildings about 70 feet below him. “Those sank a few years ago, and it sometimes sinks as many as 20 centimeters a day,” or about eight inches, he said.

西露天礦已經形成的損害顯而易見。走過一個寫着“地質災害危險區，禁止入內”的警示牌，崔原指向位於自己腳下70英尺（約合21米）深處兩座已經被毀壞的空置建築。“這些樓幾年前沉了下去，它有時一天就可以下移20釐米，”他說。

Just south of the mine, groups of bungalows are half immersed in water. Abandoned factories, shut down because of falling coal production and sinking ground, silently testify to the consequences of unsustainable development.

就在西露天礦南邊，可以看到成片的平房半淹在水中。一些因煤炭產量下降和地表下陷而被關閉的廢棄工廠，沉默地顯示着不可持續的發展帶來的後果。

Also sinking is the city’s “vegetable basket,” once the city’s main farming area, some 13,000 acres of once-arable land. Now, 5,500 acres are completely useless, Mr. Zhang said.

同樣在下沉的還有這個城市的“菜籃子”，也就是曾擁有約1.3萬英畝（約合7.9萬畝）可耕種土地的撫順重點農業區。張君表示，如今這裏有5500英畝（約合3.3萬畝）土地已經完全無法使用。

Rows of new apartment buildings have replaced the infamous Fushun shantytown, where miners and their families had lived for decades. One of several relocation projects, it had, by the end of 2014, taken in 413,300 former shantytown residents.

一排排新公寓樓，取代了臭名昭著的撫順棚戶區，礦工及其家屬們曾在那裏居住了幾十年。作爲幾個搬遷安置項目的一部分，這些新公寓樓在2014年底前已經吸收了41.33萬前棚戶區居民。

But the displaced workers have other concerns.

但是，這些被重新安置的工人還有其他擔憂。

“We don’t receive much help finding new jobs, and the old factories don’t have funds to rebuild,” said one woman, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of reprisal. She had recently moved with her family, mostly factory workers, from a landslide zone to a new apartment.

“在找新工作方面，我們得到的幫助不太多，老工廠也沒有資金進行重建，”一名女子說道，因爲擔心被報復，她選擇匿名。最近，她和大多數都是工廠工人的家人，從一個塌方區域，搬進了一套新公寓。

Although Fushun’s coal was discovered centuries ago, it was not exploited on a mass scale until 1901, during the Qing dynasty. Fushun was near the hometown of the early Qing emperors, and upsetting the land of royal ancestors was considered taboo.

儘管撫順在幾個世紀以前就發現了煤炭礦藏，但它直到清朝時期的1901年纔開始進行大規模開發。撫順離清朝初期幾位皇帝的故土不遠，打擾皇室祖先的清靜曾被認爲是種禁忌。

Japan joined the coal rush in 1903, first by renting land and then, in 1931, by seizing it. According to an exhibit at the Fushun Coal Mine Museum, Japan mined 223 million tons of coal here at the expense of nearly 300,000 casualties among Chinese miners before the end of World War II.

日本在1903年加入了煤炭開採的熱潮，一開始是租用土地，之後則在1931年強徵土地。撫順煤礦博物館的一個展覽顯示，在二戰結束前，日本以造成30萬中國煤礦工人傷亡的代價，在撫順開採了2.23億噸煤。

“But it was the Japanese who laid the industrial foundation for Fushun, and Fushun became a city built around coal mines,” Mr. Zhang said.

“不過，正是日本人爲撫順的工業發展奠定了基礎，撫順成爲了一個圍繞煤礦發展的城市，”張君說。

Later, under Communist rule, Fushun became a pillar of the Chinese economy, a leading center for not only coal but also the production of aluminum, steel and excavation machinery.

後來，在共產黨的統治下，撫順變成中國經濟發展的一個支柱，不僅是主要的煤炭工業中心，也是鋁、鋼和挖掘機械生產的中心。

Fushun’s decline began in the 1980s, when China’s economic liberalization drive no longer favored heavy industry. Now, mired in a chronic economic slowdown like much of the rest of the country’s industrial northeast, Fushun is grappling with the slow death of the coal mining industry.

撫順從1980年代開始走向衰敗，當時中國的經濟自由化進程並不青睞重工業。現在，像中國東北部工業區的許多其他城市一樣，撫順也長期深陷於經濟滑坡的泥淖，在努力應對本市煤礦工業緩慢消亡的問題。

“Without reform, the city waits for its doom,” Mr. Zhang said. “With the wrong reforms, the city may be asking to be doomed.”

“如果不進行改革，撫順只能等死，”張君說。“如果進行了錯誤的改革，可能就是找死。”

Mr. Zhang has helped draft plans to shift the city’s economy away from its dependence on coal and heavy industry, but progress has been limited because of the enormous costs, which the city can ill afford.

張君曾參與起草撫順經濟改革計劃草案，該計劃試圖使撫順擺脫對煤炭和重工業的依賴，但他們取得的進步非常有限，因爲改革成本太高，這個城市難以承受。

In the long run, Fushun aims to become a consumption-based economy, he said, but given the wave of factory shutdowns, worsening job market, decreasing birthrate and declining population, that transition may not happen soon.

他表示，撫順的長期發展目標是打造以消費爲基礎的經濟，但考慮到工廠紛紛停工，就業市場惡化，生育率下降和人口減少，這種轉變可能不會很快實現。

Fortunately, besides fossil fuel, Fushun has 70 percent forest coverage and rich water resources. In recent years, the city has taken on infrastructure projects outside the industrial center and revived the landscape along the Hun River, which runs through the city.

幸運的是，除了礦物燃料，撫順還有70%的森林覆蓋和豐富的水資源。最近幾年，這個城市已經在工業中心之外開啓基礎設施建設項目，要恢復流經撫順的渾河兩岸的風景。

“When people first started exploiting the mines, no one thought about what the future would be,” Mr. Zhang said. “With some luck, if we explore a healthy development approach, Fushun will become a beautiful city along a river, what we call ‘Budapest of the East.’ ”

“當人們最初開始開採煤礦時，沒人考慮過未來會怎麼樣，”張君說。“運氣好的話，我們採取一些健康的發展策略，撫順有可能會成爲一座我們稱之爲‘東方布達佩斯’的美麗的濱河城市。”