【英语中国】国美股权之争触动中国民族主义情绪

An ownership battle between the chief executive and imprisoned founder of Gome, one of China’s largest electronics retailers, has spilt over into an angry and sometimes nationalistic debate in the country’s media and internet.

Executives and advisers working for Gome say they have received death threats in recent weeks from people claiming to be supporters of Huang Guangyu, the company’s founder and once China’s richest man.

Mr Huang is serving a 14-year sentence for bribery and insider trading but he remains the largest single shareholder in Hong Kong-listed Gome, with about 34 per cent of its shares.

In spite of his incarceration, he has been able to exercise his shareholder rights to campaign from prison to have directors removed and block investment in the company by US private equity group Bain Capital.

Mr Huang’s battle with Chen Xiao, Gome’s chief executive, for control of the company has triggered a public outcry, much of which has been sympathetic to Mr Huang.

“We’ve received a lot of harassing e-mails and calls, including death threats, and it seems to be systematic and co-ordinated,” according to a Gome adviser.

Much of the vitriol is reminiscent of previous cases in which nationalist sentiments have been stirred up over foreign investors’ attempts to take over Chinese companies.

Many Chinese web contributors have described Mr Chen as a traitor for trying to wrest Gome from Mr Huang and have accused him of selling out the nation and his former boss.

In a recent article, a writer named as Zhao Weimin called for Chinese to “be wary of the Americanisation of Gome when it gets rid of Huang Guangyu”.

The writer warned that if Bain Capital was to take a controlling stake in Gome it would raise “serious questions over who controls China’s retail business and the safety of household electrical appliance industry”.

On the other side of the debate, Lin Delin, a senior editor at Capital Week magazine and author of bestsellers The True Story of Huang Guangyu and Goldman Sachs Conspiracy has received hundreds of harassing phone calls and death threats for criticising Mr Huang.

“There is obviously a co-ordinated, organised campaign under way to manipulate opinions, incite emotions and whip up cheap nationalism,” Mr Lin said.

中国最大家电零售商之一国美电器(Gome)董事局主席与狱中创始人的所有权之争，已经在中国的媒体与互联网上发展成一场充满怒火、甚至带点民族主义色彩的辩论。

效力于国美的高管与顾问表示，最近几周，自称为黄光裕支持者的人向他们发出了死亡威胁。黄光裕是国美的创始人，曾经的中国首富。

黄光裕因行贿与内部交易罪正在服刑，刑期14年，但他仍然是香港上市的国美最大的股东，持有国美约34%的股权。

尽管身陷囹圄，但他在狱中仍能行使股东参与权，成功赶走了公司董事，并阻止了美国私人股本集团贝恩资本(Bain Capital)的投资。

黄光裕与国美董事局主席陈晓对公司控制权的争夺，已经致使群情激昂，很多人都站在黄光裕一边。

“我们收到了许多骚扰电话和电子邮件，其中包括死亡威胁，这像是一场有计划、有组织的行动，”国美的一名咨询顾问表示。

许多刻薄言辞令人想起了之前的一些案例：外国投资者收购中国国有企业的意图激发了中国人的民族主义情绪。

中国的许多网络撰稿人将陈晓描绘成一个企图从黄光裕手中夺走国美的叛徒，指责他出卖了自己的国家与过去的老板。

在最近的一篇文章中，作者赵为民提醒中国人：“国美，警惕啊！‘去黄光裕化’后的‘美国化’！”

作者还警告，一旦贝恩资本获得国美的控股权，摆出的将是“中国零售业与家电产业安全掌握在谁手中的大问题”。

在辩论的另一方，《证券市场周刊》资深编辑、畅销书《黄光裕真相》及《高盛阴谋》的作者李德林因为抨击黄光裕而接到了大量骚扰电话和死亡威胁。

李德林表示：“显然有人正在发动一场有协调、有组织的运动，试图操纵民意，煽动民情，鼓动廉价的民族主义情绪。”

译者/何黎