Thank you all for being here today and the late comers as well. Thank you for coming in quietly.

謝謝在座的各位，也謝謝晚來的聽眾安靜的進來

I wanna start off today just to take a moment of silence

今天開始之前，我想要先替

for the victims of the Sichuan earthquake and also for the victims of the Boston marathon bombing.

四川大地震和波士頓馬拉松爆炸事件的受害者們默哀

So let's just take a minute to pay our respect to them.

讓我們用一分鐘的時間為他們祈福

Thank you.

謝謝你們

I never thought I would be addressing you, the esteemed members of the Oxford Union

我從沒想過能向各位敬重的牛津同學們演講

without a guitar or an Erhu, without my crazy stage hair, costumes.

而且是在沒有吉他、二胡、誇張的髮型和表演服裝之下

But I did perform in the O2 Arena in London last week. I'm not sure if any of you were able to make that.

但上週確實有在倫敦的 O2 體育館表演。不知道你們有沒有去

But in many ways, that was similar to what I'm talking about today, that is, introducing Chinese pop music to you.

從各方面來說，那場表演跟今天我要講的是類似的事情，都是在推廣中華流行音樂

See, I'm actually an ambassador for Chinese pop, whether I like it or not, both music and movies.

其實不論我喜不喜歡，我就像是在擔任中文流行歌或電影的大使

And today, I'm here to give you the state of union address.

那麼今天，我就要向各位做「國情咨文」的報告

It's not the Oxford union. It's the union of East and West.

這個「國」並不是牛津，而是東西方的聯合

I wanna frankly, openly, and honestly talk about how we've done a good job or how we've done a bad job of bringing Chinese pop to the West.

我想要很坦誠的跟各位聊聊我們在引介華流進入西方世界這塊到底做得好不好

And I also want to press upon all of you today the importance of that soft culture,

同時我也想讓你們永遠記得軟實力交流的重要性

that soft power exchange and how each of us is involved in that exchange.

還有這樣的交流會如何影響到我們每個人

Soft power, a term I'm sure you're all familiar with at this point.

軟實力這個詞我相信大家都不陌生

Coined by Rhodes Scholar and Oxford alumnus Joseph Nye is defined as the ability to attract and persuade.

這是由 Rhodes Scholar 和 牛津校友 Joseph Nye 所提出的，被定義為一種吸引和說服的能力

ShashiTharoor called it, in a recent TED talk, the ability for a culture to tell a compelling story and influence others to fall in love with it.

ShashiTharoor 在最近的一次 TED 演講上，把這種能力解釋為「一個文化說了令人讚嘆的故事，讓其他文化足以因此改變、接納、並愛上那個文化」

I like that definition.

我喜歡這樣的解釋

But I want to put it in collegiate term for all you students in the audience: The way I see it, East and West are kind of like freshman roommates.

但我想用更貼近在座大學生們的言語來解釋：對我來說，東西方文化就像大一剛入學的室友一樣

You don't know a lot about each other but suddenly you're living together in the same room.

你們還來不及了解對方之前就被分到同一間房間

And each one is scared that the other's gonna steal his shower time, or wants a party when the other wants to study.

雙方都害怕著對方會影響到他洗澡的時間，或當其中一個想要開趴的時候另一個卻想讀書

It has the potential to be absolute hell, doesn't it?

這很有可能會像住在地獄一樣悲慘，不是嗎？

We all had horror stories of that roommate. We've all heard about those stories.

我們都曾有過，也曾聽過那些恐怖室友的故事

I know a lot of students here in Oxford have your own separate bedrooms.

我知道很多在牛津就讀的學生有自己的房間

But when I was a freshman at Williams College, I was not so fortunate.

但我剛進入威廉姆斯學院時，可沒有那麼幸運。

You're kidding me. Woo-hoo! Alright, alright. Great.

你是我們學校的？好極了！

Well, I had a roommate, and he was that roommate. Let's just call him Frank.

這個嘛，我當時就有那樣的恐怖室友，就叫他 Frank 吧

So, Frank was my roommate and Frank like nothing more than to smoke weed. And he did it everyday.

Frank 是個除了抽大麻外就沒有其他嗜好的人，而且每天都抽

And Frank had a two-foot long bong under his bed that was constantly being fired up.

他床底下有個兩英呎長的煙斗，無時無刻都會被點燃

For those Chinese speakers in the audience Frank would "火力全開–‹" on that bong everyday.

我來形容一下給會講中文的人聽， Frank 每天都對著那個煙斗火力全開

So, I guess I was kind of the opposite of Bill Clinton who tried Marijuana but didn't inhale. I didn't try Marijuana but I did inhale.

所以我猜我應該是跟 Bill Clinton 相反，他嘗試大麻但沒有吸進去，而我沒有想要吸卻吸進去了

Every single day, second hand.

每天都吸，二手的

And strangely enough every time I go into our bedroom I mysteriously end up late for class.

奇怪的是，每當我進去我們的房間，我上課就會離奇的遲到

I don't know how that happened. It was like, "Dude, is it already 10 o'clock?"

我不知道發生了什麼是，就好像「什麼？已經十點了？」

So, how many of you have lived with the Frank? Or, could be a Frank Gat?

所以，有多少人曾經有過這樣的室友？還是你們就是那種室友？

Having a roommate can be a recipe for disaster, but it also has the potential for being the greatest friendship you've ever had.

擁有一個室友可能會是災難的開始，但也可能造就一段最珍貴的友誼

See, Frank, he didn't make it to second year. And I got two new roommates second year.

Frank 第二年就輟學了，我也因此有了兩個新室友

Stephan and Jason. And in this day, the three of us are the best friends.

Stephan 和 Jason 。直到今天，我們仍是最好的朋友

So going back to my analogy of East and West as roommates.

所以回到我對於東西方文化就如同室友的比喻

Do we wanna be Frank, or do we wanna be Stephan and Jason?

我們要像 Frank 那樣，還是要像 Stephan 跟 Jason 那樣呢？

And I think, in this day and age of 2013, we should all striving for the latter, shouldn't we?

我想，在現在這個年代，我們應該要為後者那樣的結果努力，對吧？

I mean, I'm assuming that we all agree that this is the goal we should all be striving for.

我的意思是，我假設我們應該都要朝著這個目標前進。

Now, let'€™s look at where we are in reality, in recent headlines, in the media include

現在，讓我們來看看目前的進展。看看最近出現在媒體上的頭條：

Foreign Policy magazine, China'€™s victim complex, Why are Chinese leaders so paranoid about the United States

「外交政策」雜誌上的，「中國的受害者情結：為什麼中國領導人如此猜忌美國？」

or the AFP, Agence France Presse, Human rights in China worsening, US finds.

或是 AFP ，法新社，「美國指出中國人權每況愈下」

Bloomberg says, on the cover of this magazine, Yes, the Chinese army is spying on you.

「彭博商業周刊」的封面標題說，「是的，中國軍隊正在監視你」

And it’s such a great one that I just want to show you the cover of the magazine. Yes, be very afraid!

這真的讓我驚艷到想跟你們分享一下。沒錯，請戒慎恐懼

There’s actually an extremely high amount of negativity and fear and anxiety about China, Sinophobia,

這事實上是對於中國投射了非常多的負面能量、恐懼、和焦慮，

that I think is not just misinformed but also misleading and ultimately dangerous. Very dangerous.

我認為這不僅是誤傳，也是一種非常危險的誤導。

And what about how Westerners are viewed by Chinese?

那華人又是怎麼看待西方人的呢？

Well, we have terms for Westerners. The most common of which are gwailo, in Cantonese which means “the old devil”,

這個嘛，我們有很多形容詞。最常見的是「鬼老」，就是廣東話的「老妖」

laowai, meaning “the old outsider” in Mandarin, ang moh, which means “the red hairy one” in Taiwanese, and the list goes on and on.

「老外」，也就是普通話的「蠻夷」。還有「紅毛」，是台語的「紅頭髮的人」的意思

So are these roommates heading for a best friend relationship? I think we need a little help.

所以這些室友有想要變成好朋友嗎？我想我們需要一些幫助

And as China rises to be a global power, I think it is more important than ever for us to be discerning about what we believe because after all,

隨著中國勢力不斷增強為世界強權，我們現在看清楚該相信什麼比以前都還重要

I think, that’s the purpose of higher education, and that’s why we are all here, to be able to think for ourselves and make our own decisions.

我認為這就是高等教育的目的，也是為什麼我們坐在這裡，去獨立思考、自主判斷

China’s not just those headlines. The burgeoning economy with unique politics.

中國絕不只是那些頭條所說的那樣，不只是一個在特殊政策下快速成長的經濟體

It is not just the world’s factory or the next big superpower.

更不只是世界的工廠或是下一個超級大國

It’s so much more, a billion people with rich culture, amazing stories, and as a product of both of those cultures, I want to help foster an understanding between the two.

中國的意義遠比那些來得多，是一個擁有十幾億人口，伴隨著豐富的文化與故事的國家。身為中西文化的共同產物，我想幫忙兩種文化相互理解

And help create that incredible relationship, because knowing both sides of the coin, I really think that there is a love story waiting to be told, ready to unfold.

並建立無可比擬的美好關係。正因為了解到事情的兩面，我真心認為其中蘊含著一段愛情故事等著我們去講述

And I’m only half joking when I said love story because I believe it is the stories that will save us and bring us closer together.

當我說到愛情故事時，我並不完全在說笑。因為我認為這正是會拯救我們並讓大家更靠近彼此的故事

And my thesis statement for today’s talk is that the relationship between East and West needs to be and can be fixed via pop culture.

我今天演講的主旨就是：中西方文化的關係可以藉由流行文化來改善

That's a big fat claim, and I’m going to try to back it up.

聽起來像是在說大話對吧，我會努力為它負責的

Now, the UN Sec-Gen Ban Ki Moon said,

聯合國秘書長潘基文曾說過

“There are no languages required in the musical world. That is the power of music. That is the power of heart.”

「在音樂的世界裡，溝通是不需要言語的。那就是音樂的力量。是人心的力量」

Through this promotion of arts we can better understand the culture and civilization of other people.

透過推廣藝術，我們能夠容易去了解其他民族與文化。

And in this era of instability and intolerance, we need to promote better understanding through the power of music.

在這個動盪不安與缺乏寬容的世代，我們更需要藉由音樂的力量來更加了解彼此

The UN Sec-Gen thinks that we need more music, and I think that he is right.

聯合國秘書長認為我們需要更多的音樂，我很認同。

Music and arts have always played a key role in my life, in building relationships, replacing what once were ignorance, fear and hatred, with acceptance, friendship and even love.

音樂與藝術在我人生中一直扮演非常重要的角色。在建立情誼中，幫助我用包容、友誼，甚至是愛來取代無知、恐懼和憎恨

So I have a strong case for promoting music between cultures because it happened to me early in my life.

在不同的文化推廣音樂這點上，我童年的經歷就是非常好的例子

I was born in Rochester, New York, I barely spoke a word of Chinese. I didn't know the difference between Taiwan or Thailand.

我生長在紐約的羅切斯特，幾乎不會講中文。我連台灣和泰國都分不清楚

I was...It's true.

...這是真的

I was as American as apple pie, until one day on the 3rd grade playground, the inevitable finally happened: I got teased for being Chinese.

我當時就是個美國人，直到三年級的某一天，我在操場遊玩時，無法避免的事情發生了：我被取笑了，因為我是中國人

Now every kid gets teased or being made fun of in the playground, but this was fundamentally different and I knew right then and there.

所有的小孩在操場上都會被取笑，但我清楚了解這是完全不一樣的情況

So this kid let’s call him Brian McKilroy. He started making fun of me, saying “Chinese, Japanese, dirty knees, look at these!”

就叫那個孩子 Brian Mckilroy 吧。他開我這樣的玩笑：「中國人，日本人，髒膝蓋，快來看」

I can't believe you're laughing at that - that hurts! Ok, I'm just kidding.

你居然笑得出來，真是傷了我的心！好啦我只是開個玩笑

I could still remember how I felt, I felt ashamed, I felt embarrassed. But I laughed along with him, with everyone.

我還記得當時的感覺，我覺得被羞辱且很丟臉。但我跟著他和其他所有人一起笑

And I didn't know what else to do. It was like having an out of body experience.

我不知道該怎麼辦，好像身體不是我的一樣

As if I could laugh at that Chinese kid on the playground with all the other Americans because I was one of them, right?

好像我能夠像操場上其他美國孩子一起嘲笑中國人，我就是他們的一份子了，是這樣嗎？

Wrong, on many levels.

大錯特錯，非常不可取

And I was facing the first and definitely not the last time the harsh reality was that I was minority in Rochester, which in those days had an Asian population of 1%.

而那是我第一次，且絕不是最後一次，感受到殘酷的現實：我屬於少數群體，那時的羅切絲特只有1%的亞洲人。

And I was confused. I wanted to punch Brian.

我感到不解，想要揍 Brian 一拳

I wanted to hurt him for putting me in that situation but he was faster than me, and he was stronger than me,

我想要傷害他，讓他為自己的行為負責。但他比我靈活又比我強壯

and he would kick my butt and we both knew that, so I just took it in.

我知道我會被打得落花流水，他也知道，所以只好忍著

I didn't tell anyone or share with anyone these feelings, I just held them in and I let them fester.

我從來沒有跟別人分享過這些感受，就這樣悶在心理並且讓自己更痛苦

And those feelings would surface in a strangely therapeutic way for me through music,

神奇的是，這些感受對我之後學習音樂的過程有很大的幫助

and it was no coincidence that around at that time I started getting good with the violin, and the guitar and the drums.

而且就是在那時我在小提琴、吉他、打鼓上面都表現得更好了，這不是巧合

And I’d soon discovered that by playing music or singing that the other kids would for a brief moment

我也發現在我演奏音樂或唱歌時，其他孩子在那個當下會暫時

forget about my race or color and accept me and then be able to see me for who I truly am:

忘記我的種族和膚色，並接納我，進而看到真實的我：

a human being who is emotional, spiritual, curious about the world, and has a need for love just like everyone else.

一個富有感情、靈魂、對於世界充滿好奇的人類，並且需要被關愛，就像其他人一樣

And by the sixth grade, guess who asked me if I would be the drummer of their band? Brian McKilroy. And I said yes.

接著到了六年級，猜猜看誰邀請我當任他們樂團的鼓手？就是 Brian McKilroy，我也答應了

And that’s when we together formed an elementary school rock band called… Nirvana.

就是那時我們組成一個小學搖滾樂團，叫做 Nirvana

I’m not kidding, I was in a rock band called Nirvana before Kurt Cobain's Nirvana was ever known

我沒有在開玩笑，我在一個叫做 Nirvana 的樂團，而當時 Kurt Cobain 的 Nirvana 還沒有出現

So when Nirvana came out, Brian and I were like, hey he’s stealing our name!

所以當 Nirvana 出現時，Brian 和我就表示「嘿！他偷了我們的名字」

But really what attracted me to music at this young age was just this, and still is what I love about music,

但對我來說音樂真正吸引當時年幼的我直到今天的地方在於

is that it breaks down the walls between us and shows us so quickly the truth that we are much more alike than we are different.

它打破了人們之間那道無形的牆，讓我們了解到彼此其實是相似的

And then in high school, I learned that music wasn’t just about connecting with others, like Brian and I were connected through music.

到了高中，我更學到了音樂不只是連結彼此而已（就像 Brian 和我）

It was a powerful tool of influence and inspiration.

它更是能夠影響並鼓舞他人的強大工具

Sam Nguyen was my high school janitor. He was an immigrant from Vietnam who barely spoke a word of English.

Sam Nguyen 是我高中的工友。他是來自越南的移民，幾乎不會講英文

Sam scrubbed the floors and cleaned the bathrooms of our school for twenty years.

Sam 已經在我們學校打掃了二十年了

He never talked to the kids, and the kids never talked to Sam.

他從不跟學生們講話，學生們也從來沒跟他講過話。

But one day before the opening night of our school’s annual musical, he walked up to me holding a letter,

但有一天，在我們學校一年一度的音樂劇表演開始前，他走向我，手裡拿著一封信

and I was taken aback and I was thinking, why is Sam the janitor approaching me?

我向後退並想著， Sam 為什麼要靠近我？

And he gave me this letter that I’ve kept it to this day, it was scrawled in shaky hand written in all capitals and it read,

接著他給了我這封我一直保存到今天的信。這封信被他顫抖的手捏得皺巴巴的，且全部用英文大寫寫道：

in my all years working as a janitor at Sutherland, you were the first Asian boy to play the lead role.

在 Sutherland 當任工友那麼多年來，你是第一個當上主角的亞洲人

I’m going to bring my 6-year-old daughter to watch you perform tonight because I want her to see that Asians can be inspiring.

我要帶我六歲的女兒來看你今晚的表演，因為我想讓她知道亞洲人也有能力鼓舞其他人

And that letter just floored me. I was 15 years old and I was absolutely stunned.

那封信嚇到我了。我當時才15歲，我完完全全被驚呆了

That was the first time I realized how music was so important.

那是我第一次了解到音樂是如此的重要

With Brian, it helped two kids who were initially enemies to become friends, but with Sam, music went beyond the one-on-one.

遇到 Brian 時，音樂讓兩個敵對的孩子成為朋友，但在 Sam 的情況，音樂的意義遠超過了一對一的範疇

It was an even higher level; it influenced others I didn’t even know, in ways I could never imagine.

達到了更高的境界：它影響了我完全不認識的人們，用我完全無法想像的方式

I can’t tell you how grateful I am to Sam the janitor to this day. He really is one of the people who helped me discover my life’s purpose,

我無法形容我有多感謝 Sam，直到今天都是。他是其中一位幫助我找到人生意義的人

and I had no idea that something I did could mean more than ever imagined to an immigrant from Vietnam who barely even spoke English.

而我從來沒想過，我做的事情會對一個從越南來的，連英文都不太會講的人有如此大的意義

Pop culture, music, and the other methods of storytelling, movies, TV dramas, they are so key, and they do connect us, like me and Brian, and do influence us, and inspire us.

流行文化、音樂、還有其他像是說故事、電影、戲劇，它們是如此的重要，並且連結人們，像我跟 Brian，同時也能影響和鼓舞我們

Then let’s take another look at this state of union, the East and West union, with this soft power bias.

再讓我們回頭看一下這個東西方聯盟的國情諮詢，其實存在著軟實力的偏見

How is the soft power exchange between these two roommates?

這兩個室友間的軟實力交流的如何呢？

Are there songs in English that have become hits in China? For sure.

在中國有暢銷的英文歌嗎？當然有

How about movies? Well, there are so many that China has had to limit the number of Hollywood movies imported into the country so that local films could even have a chance at success.

電影呢？這個嘛，實在是太多了所以中國必須限制好萊塢電影進軍的數量，好讓國產電影能有一點生存的機會

What about the flip side of that, well, the Chinese songs that have hit in the west?

那反過來呢？中國歌曲有席捲西方國家嗎？

Well... [inaudible answer from an audience member], yeah, and movies, well there was Crouching Tiger [Hidden Dragon], that was 13 years ago.

摁...是的，還有電影，喔對了有臥虎藏龍，但已經是十三年前的事了

Well, I think there’s a bit of an imbalance here.

我覺得這有點失衡了

And I think it's “soft power deficit”, let's call it that, when we look in this direction, that is to say the West influences the East more than vice versa.

我認為這是種「軟實力赤字」，就這樣稱呼吧。當我們朝這個方向望去時，也就是說西方對東方的影響遠大於東方對西方的影響。

Forgive me for using “East” and “West” kinda loosely, it’s a lot easier to say than “English-speaking… language” or “Asian-speaking… language/Chinese”,

原諒我如此隨變得使用東方和西方，因為這比起稱呼「以英文為母語的國家」或是「講中文或講粵語的國家」還要簡單得多

I’m making generalisation and I hope you can go with me on this.

我在使用一種概括的方式去表達，希望你們能夠理解

And it’s just intrinsically a problem, this imbalance in pop culture influence.

這在本質上是個問題，這種流行文化影響的失衡

And I think so. In any healthy relationship, friendship, marriage, isn’t it important for both sides to make an effort to understand the other?

而我也這樣認為。在任何健全的關係中，不論是友情還是婚姻，雙方都盡力去了解對方不是很重要的事嗎？

And that this exchange needs to have a healthy balance.

這樣的交流必須取得健全的平衡

And how do we address this?

那麼該怎麼做到這點呢？

As an ambassador for Chinese pop music and movies, I have to ask myself a question: Why does this deficit exist?

身為一個中華流行音樂與電影的大使，我必須問我自己一個問題：為何這樣的赤字會產生？

Is it because Chinese music just is.. lame? Don't answer that, please.

是因為中文歌很...無聊嗎？拜託不要那樣回答

Yeah I think I see some of you are like, stop complaining and write a hit song! Psy did it!

對，我想你們有些人可能會覺得，別再抱怨了！趕快寫一首會爆紅的歌吧！Psy 大叔就辦到了！

But there’s truth in that. The argument being that, the content that we’ve created just isn’t as internationally competitive. And why shouldn’t it be?

其實那背後是有些道理的。爭執的點在於，我們所創作的東西確實少了國際競爭力，然而這是為什麼呢？

Look at Korean pop, look at K-pop for example.

看看韓國流行文化

Korea is an export-based economy and they are outward looking and they must be outward looking.

韓國的經濟是以出口為主，所以他們必須向外發展，沒有退路

Chinese pop on the other hand can just stay domestic, tour all over China, stick in territories and comfortably sustain.

中國流行文化不同的地方在於可以只著重國內市場，只要在中國各地巡迴，專注在某些地區，也可以維持的很好

So when you’re that big and powerful, with over 160 cities in China with a million or more people

所以當你的國家是如此的強大，擁有超過160個城市和上百萬的聽眾

you tend to kinda turn inward and be complacent. So this certainly can be made an argument

你會傾向滿足於自己的舒適圈裡。所以這確實能成為一個論證

made for Chinese pop not being marketed with international sensibilities in mind.

對於中華流行文化沒有透過國際的視野去做行銷

but the other side of the argument I think is more interesting and thought-provoking and even more true

但我認為另外一個論證更有趣、更令人深思、且更有道理

is that Western ears aren’t familiar with and therefore don’t really understand how to appreciate Chinese music.

也就是，西方人的耳朵聽不慣中國歌曲所以無法去理解和接受

Ouch!

噢！

Okay.

好吧

The reason I think that the argument holds water though is because that’s exactly what I went through

我之所以認為這個論證是真的，是因為那就是我所經歷過的

so I happen to know a thing or two about learning to appreciate

我剛好有這個機會學習用西方人的角度

Chinese pop as a Westerner

去接納中文流行歌

'cause I was 17 years old