【英语中国】中国公司的“白人战略”

Caroline Swartz was hired as a project manager at a Chinese public-relations firm in Beijing in 2006. For the majority of the year she worked there, she was never asked to do anything except sit in meetings, quietly. She would be called in with no knowledge of what the meetings were about or even who the clients were. Afterwards, she would be told to go back to her desk.

'I was presented, always visible and on display. But I didn't have any responsibility,' says Ms. Swartz, now a student in New York City. She got paid to do basically nothing because she's white, she says. The firm had both Chinese and Western clients so they wanted to look international. This business approach may not seem politically correct but it reflects a new dynamic between China and the West: Westerners, especially Caucasians are getting employment opportunities because some Chinese firms want to use them to portray an image of high status and sophistication.

The relationship between China and the West has been fraught with ambiguity since the two Opium Wars in the mid-1800s, which triggered both a nationalistic reaction against imperialism and feelings of national self-loathing and idolatry for anything Western. In the early 1900s, following the collapse of the Qing Dynasty, some Chinese literati argued that China's military, economic and spiritual weakness made it an easy prey for aggressive foreigners. In order to save the nation, they said, China needed 'total Westernization,' rejecting traditional ideals embodied in the Confucian system and adopting European systems and values—so-called Mr. Democracy and Mr. Science.

The Chinese superiority/inferiority complex is rooted in what is known as the 'one-hundred years of national humiliation,' and has never resolved itself, even after Chairman Mao announced in 1949, 'The Chinese people have stood up.' It exists even though China has transformed itself into an economic power in the past three decades. On the one hand, China demands more respect from the West in the international arena, but it treats Westerners as superior on a personal level.

Having said that, I think these attitudes are changing among the younger generation, especially in bigger cities.

Two to three decades ago, Westerners could go to hotels, restaurants and department stores that catered to them exclusively and paid in a special currency called 'foreign exchange certificates.' Now at restaurants and department stores Chinese are often the ones who splurge on champagne, designer clothes and luxury cars. But even in Beijing and Shanghai it's not uncommon for anybody who works or socializes with Westerners to suffer from less favorable treatment from the service people. Some restaurants give Westerners better tables and serve them first. A friend, married to a European, has had trouble getting into her Beijing apartment complex when she forgets her security pass while the guards have never bothered to ask her husband for his pass. The truth is my friend owns the place.

Some Chinese have gone to the extremes to take advantage of the notion of Western superiority. A top Chinese executive at a multinational manufacturer in China (one with a U.S. permanent resident card) has a 'white guy' business strategy: when he travels to smaller cities: He always makes sure he brings along a Caucasian employee. 'The locals always treat us better when there's a white guy around,' he says. The guy is often an engineer who doesn't need to open his mouth at the meetings. But his presence somehow makes things go more smoothly or, at least, makes the atmosphere friendlier.

But there's a drawback in the 'white guy' strategy: when locals meet the executive and his team for the first time, their initial reaction is always that the white guy is the boss and the executive his interpreter. The executive says he doesn't mind at all as long as they get the business done.

For some white people hired for this purpose, it's not an easy situation to deal with. Ms. Swartz felt she was treated like a child and even a 'zoo animal' at the firm. But she needed the job to take care of her newborn baby. She didn't start taking on any real responsibility, such as overseeing clients, until a manager overheard her speaking Mandarin. 'They didn't even read my résumé,' says Ms. Swartz, who studied eight years of Mandarin before moving to China. But she also believes that it's good for white people to experience racism because most people on earth have to deal with it, and 'it doesn't feel good.'

The European husband of my friend provided a different perspective. When I asked him what he thinks of the way the guards treat him better than his wife, he says there's nothing wrong with that. He says the guards should treat everybody like him, but that won't change until Chinese learn to treat migrant workers and poor people with more respect. I think he has a good point.

《华尔街日报》中文网专稿（阅读本文的英文版请点击这里）

袁莉

2006年，卡萝琳·斯瓦兹(Caroline Swartz)受雇成为北京一家中资公关公司的项目经理。她在那儿干了一年，但大部分时间没有任何具体工作任务，只需要安静地坐在会议室里列席会议就行了。

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她常常根本不知道会议内容是什么、甚至不知道客户是什么人，就被叫去开会。开完会以后，又会被告知回到自己的座位上。

现在在纽约上学的斯瓦兹说：“我被摆在那里，很显眼，但没有任何职责。”

她说，自己之所以什么都不用做就能拿工资，只在于她是白人。那家公司的客户有中国的也有外国的，她这个白人的出现可以让公司显得更国际化一些。

这样的商业策略或许不能算“政治正确”，却反映出中西方之间的新态势：西方人，尤其是白种人，目前在中国的一些工作机会是因为某些中国公司想利用他们来彰显一种高级别、高层次的形象。

关于“来来往往”
“来来往往”专栏尝试用西方人熟悉的语言与语境写中国商业文化。专栏每两周在《华尔街日报》报纸及网络版以中英文双语同步发表。专栏作者袁莉2004年在纽约加入《华尔街日报》，先后担任记者和专栏作者。她2008年回到北京担任《华尔街日报》中文网主编。袁莉毕业于哥伦比亚大学和乔治•华盛顿大学，并曾在新华社担任编辑以及驻泰国和阿富汗记者。欢迎读者发送邮件至li.yuan@wsj.com或在评论栏中发表评论和建议，也可以在新浪微博上追踪她。自19世纪中叶两次鸦片战争以来，中西方之间的关系就一直模糊不清，甚至自相矛盾。鸦片战争引发了中国人的复杂情绪，既有反帝国主义的民族主义情怀，也有厌憎本国落后、盲目崇拜西方的心理。20世纪早期，随着清王朝的垮台，一些中国文人认为中国因军事、经济和文化方面的疲弱而成了外国列强蚕食鲸吞的对象。对此，他们提出的解决方法却是：只有“全盘西化”才能救中国，摈弃儒学等传统观念，接受西方的体制和价值观──也就是所谓的“德先生”（民主）和“赛先生”（科学）。

中国人这种自大又自卑的复杂心理即便在1949年毛泽东宣布“中国人民从此站起来了”，也未彻底消解。过去30多年，中国迅速成为了经济大国，但这种心理也依然萦绕不去。这表现为：中国在国际舞台上要求西方给予自身更多尊重，但一些中国人内心却仍认为西方人高人一等。

不过，我认为这样的态度在中国年轻一代中已经有所转变，尤其是在大城市。

二三十年前，西方人可以去专门为他们服务的酒店、餐馆和百货商店，并以名为“外汇券”的特殊货币付款。现在，在餐馆和商场出手阔绰、享用香槟、名牌服装和豪华汽车的往往是中国人。

但是，即便在北京和上海，与西方人共事或交往的中国人在服务人员那里遭到冷遇也并不鲜见。一些餐馆会把好位置留给西方人，并优先为他们提供服务。我的一位朋友嫁了个欧洲人，住在北京一幢公寓楼里，她忘记带门卡时会被保安盘诘，而保安却从未要求她先生出示门卡。事实上，我这位朋友才是业主。

一些中国人甚至利用这种崇洋心理。

中国一家跨国制造企业的高管（中国籍，持美国绿卡）就有一套“白人战略”：当他去小城市谈生意时，一定会带一位白人下属。

他说，如果有白人同行，当地人一定会给他们更好的待遇。同行的白人下属通常是工程师，开会时无需张口发言。但由于他的在场，无形之中办事就顺利多了，至少气氛会更友好一些。

即便是这个“白人战略”也有个小缺陷：地方上的人第一次与他们见面时，一开始总是以为那位白人是老板，这位高管是翻译。但这名高管说，只要生意能成，他就不介意。

对于一些被雇佣来实施“白人战略”的白人来说，这种情况下的感受并不好。斯瓦兹就觉得自己在公司里被人当成小孩子，甚至是动物园里供人参观的动物。但她当时非常需要这份工作来抚养自己出生不久的孩子。

直到公司里的一位经理偶然听到她说普通话之后，她才开始承担诸如负责客户关系等职责。斯瓦兹说，显然，他们雇她之前连简历都没看过。要知道，她在移居中国之前学习了八年的普通话。

不过她也认为，白人感受一下种族歧视是好事，因为世界上大多数人都会面临这一问题，而且那种“感觉不好受”。

我那位朋友的欧洲丈夫看待这一问题的角度有所不同。我问他对于保安对他的态度比对他妻子好有何看法，他说这没什么。他觉得保安应当像对他一样对待所有人，不过，除非中国人学会更尊敬农民工和穷人，否则这种情况不会改变。

我觉得他说的有一些道理。