Last week, the Chinese government sent a delegation to Europe led by Lou Jiwei, the chairman of China’s sovereign wealth fund, to get a sense of just how bad things were and how much worse they might get. In the fancy hotel lobby lounges of Beijing, the whereabouts of senior Chinese officials such as Wang Qishan, the vice-premier of China, and the heads of the Chinese banks are the subject of constant speculation.

　　本月早些时候，中国政府派出了一个访欧代表团，由中国主权财富基金董事长楼继伟率队，到实地去考察局势究竟有多糟糕、以及还能糟糕到什么程度。在北京各豪华酒店的大堂休息室里，猜测一些中国高层官员（如国务院副总理王岐山，以及各中资银行的头头们）的行踪，成了人们不变的话题。

　　There are rumours that the Chinese have been buying Bunds and will make a fortune when (not if) Germany leaves the eurozone and reinstates sound Deutschmarks for the ill-fated euro. There are tales of desperate Italian and Spanish bankers offering stakes in their banks to possible buyers from the mainland as they plead for cash infusions.

　　有传闻称，中国一直在买进德国国债，当（不是“如果”）德国退出欧元区，抛弃倒霉的欧元、重新采用稳健的德国马克时，中国将会大赚一笔。还有人传言，走投无路的意大利和西班牙银行家在四处筹钱时，向来自中国内地的潜在买家提议出让自家银行股权。

　　The US turned to the Chinese for rescue finance in 2007 and 2008. Now it is Europe’s turn to seek a slug of the $3,200bn in China’s coffers. The developed world is turning to the developing world for cash – which of course isn’t the way capital is supposed to flow.

　　2007-08年期间，美国请求中国出资纾困。如今则轮到欧洲请求中国从其3.2万亿美元的金库中拿出点零钱救急。发达世界请求发展中世界出钱——这显然不是资本的合理流动方向。

　　Capital is supposed to go to countries where growth is faster and productivity can be improved by capital investment. It isn’t supposed to go to more tired economies to support consumption from already overleveraged households and governments.

　　按理说，资本应当流向经济增长速度更快、生产率能够通过资本投资得到提升的国家，而不应当流往疲态尽显的经济体，用于支持本已负债累累的家庭和政府的消费。

　　Still, in some ways, it is hardly surprising that the world is turning to China for financial aid. China has arguably been the biggest beneficiary of globalisation.

　　不过，从某些方面来说，世界请求中国提供资助，也算不上令人惊讶，因为中国可谓是全球化的最大受益者。

　　When the rest of the world grows, China prospers. Every 1 percent of growth in the US translates into 5 percent growth in Chinese exports, according to data from JPMorgan.

　　当世界其余地区在增长时，中国在兴旺发达。据摩根大通(JPMorgan)估算，美国经济每增长1%，中国的出口额就会相应增长5%。

　　Yet European hopes for Chinese cash may be dashed – at least in the near term.

　　然而，指望中国拿钱的欧洲恐怕要失望了——至少近期内指望不上。

　　The glib explanation is that one lesson that Chinese officials have absorbed from the first chapter of the global financial crisis is that there is little upside in catching a falling sword.

　　一种简要的解释是，中国官员已从全球金融危机的第一阶段吸取了一个教训：接住一把下落的剑是没什么好处的。

　　But another is that China’s agenda is still overwhelmingly domestic. It is much less bothered about the rest of the world than one might expect from the world’s second-largest economy.

　　还有一种解释是，中国目前仍然把绝大部分精力放在国内事务上。中国操心世界其他地区的程度，远低于人们对这个全球第二大经济体所抱有的希望。

　　It is natural for China to focus inwardly at a time when the country is outgrowing the model that brought the country so far so fast in recent years.

　　近年来推动中国迅速发展的模式越来越不合时宜，在这种关头，中国自然要把心思放在国内事务上。

　　In some ways it is making progress as it tries to shift gears. It is becoming less reliant on exports (something that Japan never achieved). Wages are rising, helping the transformation into a domestic demand led economy. Income differentials between the eastern coast and the rest of the country are diminishing.

　　在某些方面，中国正在取得进步，因为中国正努力“换档”。中国正在不断减少对出口的依赖（在这方面日本从未获得成功）。工资持续上涨，有利于朝着内需主导型经济的转变。东部沿海与内陆地区的收入差距不断缩小。

　　Beijing has done a good job in slowing rising residential property prices (and calming the anger of its people who find housing increasingly unaffordable).

　　在遏制住宅价格上涨（以及化解越来越买不起房子的民众的愤怒）方面，中国政府也做得不错。

　　But in other ways, progress has – if anything – gone into reverse, especially in dislodging the grip of the state-owned enterprises on the economy and the financial system. In other ways, though, China is less fair today than it was a few years ago. Inflation is part of the problem, especially when combined with the failure to dismantle other controls.

　　但在其他方面，中国非但没有取得什么进步，反而是在倒退，尤其是在减少国有企业对经济和金融体系的控制方面。还有，当今中国比前些年更加不公平。通胀是问题的一部分，而当局未能废除其他控制手段更是使情况雪上加霜。

　　Thus, for example, China’s workers get negative real rates of interest on their deposits because of controls on interest rates at a time when inflation remains at more than 6 per cent, while state owned enterprises get to borrow at artificially low rates.

　　比如说，在通胀维持在6%以上的形势下，由于当局对利率的管控，中国劳动者的存款只能得到实际利率为负的回报，而国有企业却能以人为的低利率贷款。

　　In effect, that lets less wealthy households subsidise rich enterprises (which then go on to put the proceeds into the shadow banking system for far higher returns – and incidentally make serious money from their inappropriate financing activities).  

　　这实质上等于让不富裕的家庭补贴富裕的企业（后者转身就把贷款投入到影子银行体系，去获取高得多的回报——偶尔还能从不正规的金融活动中获得高额收益）。

　　China is also becoming far less open. When, for example, HSBC was told to sell its stake in the Bank of Shanghai, it was explicitly informed it needed to sell to a Chinese buyer, a message that International Finance Corp, a unit of the World Bank, also received when it sold its minority stake in the same bank.

　　中国也正变得远不如以往开放。例如，当有关部门要求汇丰(HSBC)出售其所持上海银行(Bank of Shanghai)的股份时，它收到了一条明确的指示：必须卖给中国买家。世界银行(World Bank)旗下的国际金融公司(International Finance Corp)在出售同一家银行的少数股权时，也收到过同样信息。

　　Partly, of course, China has learned that western capital is not stable capital. But regulatory interference in what should become market-driven processes has become more pervasive.

　　当然，一方面中国已经认识到西方资本是变化无常的。但在另一方面，中国监管部门对本应由市场驱动的过程横加干预的现象，如今已经变得更加无所不在。

　　The perception here in Beijing is that the world continues to treat China shabbily, despite all evidence to the contrary. What is startling to a visitor to this ever more prosperous capital is how little trust for the rest of the world has come with the prosperity. There is a sense that when foreigners make money in China, it is a zero sum game and that China itself is somehow diminished.

　　中国流行一种观点，认为世界仍在不公正地对待中国，尽管一切证据都说明事实恰恰相反。造访这个越来越繁荣的国度，你会惊讶地发现，在走向繁荣的同时，中国对世界其他地区的信任少得可怜。这里的人们觉得，当外国人在中国赚到了钱，那就是一场“零和游戏”，中国自己多少就是吃亏的。

　　Much of China’s agenda is good but it won’t help the world nearly as much as the world hopes – at least not any time soon.

　　中国所关注的许多事务都无可厚非，但是，中国不会像世界所希望的那样大力帮助世界——至少在短期内不会。