人人上市令Facebook在中国进退两难

　　The stock market debut of Chinese social network Renren will have turned heads at Facebook. The sky-high valuation when shares were priced on Wednesday (at more than 70 times 2010 revenues) conveyed a simple message: investors are hungry for growth. And there is no other growth story with the allure of the Chinese internet.

　　中国社交网站人人(Renren)上市首日的表现应会傲视Facebook。人人股票周三定价时获得的天价估值（超过了2010年收入的70倍），传递出一个简单的信息：投资者渴望增长，而有了中国互联网的吸引力，其他什么都算不上增长故事了。

　　For Facebook, which has itself never known anything but outsized growth, this is a sobering thought. Its high penetration among internet users in many established markets is starting to make it reliant on populous, less-developed markets for continued expansion – and they don’t come any bigger than China.

　　对于除了超快增长不知道其他的Facebook，这是个发人深省的念头。Facebook在许多成熟市场的互联网用户中已经有了很高的普及率，为了继续扩张，它开始依赖于人口众多的欠发达国家市场——而中国就是其中最大的一个。

　　The US company’s service is blocked by China’s Great Firewall. It had already been exploring ways to get a local foothold, and this week’s events have only heightened the urgency. But a move into China also carries great risk. If handled badly it could turn out to be a defining moment for the company – for all the wrong reasons.

　　Facebook的服务遭到了中国防火长城(GFW)的屏蔽。这家美国公司已经在探索如何才能在中国落地，本周的事件更是加重了其紧迫性。但进军中国也有巨大的风险。若处理不当，可能会让Facebook限于危急时刻——出于种种错误的理由。

　　At least there is one reliable guidepost to follow: learn from Google’s mistakes.
　　至少有一个可信的路标作为参照：从谷歌(Google)的错误中吸取教训。

　　This is partly a question of style. As described by author Steven Levy, in his recent book In the Plex, Google arrived in China in the middle of the last decade with its hubris freshly polished. The search company also chose not to ally itself with a local partner with the heft and the connections to provide cover from hostile bureaucrats and politicians. Through its own missteps, the clever manoeuvring of local rival Baidu and the antagonism of the Chinese authorities, it eventually came to be seen by many Chinese as an arrogant and out-of-touch foreigner.

　　 这部分是风格的问题。如史蒂芬?列维(Steven Levy)在最近的新书《走进谷歌》(In the Plex)中所述，五六年前，谷歌带着光可鉴人的傲气来到了中国。这家搜索公司还选择了不与有权有势、能在不友好的官员和政治家面前为其打掩护的当地合作伙伴结盟。由于谷歌自身的失误，本土竞争者百度(Baidu)高明的运作，以及中国有关部门的对抗，在许多中国人的眼中，谷歌最终变成了一个傲慢而又孤陋寡闻的外国佬。

　　Mark Zuckerberg shows every sign of having learnt from this, as evidenced by the Mandarin lessons the Facebook chief executive has been taking. And reports (so far unconfirmed) have linked his company with both China Mobile and Baidu as allies to smooth Facebook’s entry.

　　所有迹象都显示，Facebook首席执行官马克?扎克伯格(Mark Zuckerberg)从中吸取了教训——他一直在上普通话课程就是明证。迄今未获证实的报道则把中国移动(China Mobile)和百度都列为Facebook在中国平稳落地的盟友。

　　Of course, this does not address the most vexing questions: Is it right to bow to Chinese censorship in the first place? And, since it hosts a great deal of personal information, would a successful Chinese Facebook become a handy data warehouse for an oppressive regime?

　　当然，这并没有解决最棘手的问题：向中国的审查制度低头究竟对不对？存有大量个人信息的Facebook在中国获得成功，会不会成为专制政权方便的信息库？

　　Facebook must be prepared to take the hits that will inevitably come in the court of public opinion. But the reality, for Chinese internet users, is that none of their online information can be deemed to be out of reach of the authorities.
　　 Facebook必须做好准备，接受在舆论法庭上必然会受到的抨击。但中国互联网用户面临的现实是，他们在网络上的一切信息注定都逃不出政府的掌握。

　　Also, Facebook has at least never confused its goal of connecting people with a moral mission of the “Don’t be evil” kind: it is an agnostic communications platform. It is true that the core values of “sharing” that it espouses rely on a level of openness that does not exist on the Chinese internet. Any compromise will look like a betrayal of this ideal.

　　另外，Facebook至少从没有将“沟通互联”的目标与“不作恶”的道德使命混在一起——它是个不可知主义的沟通平台。确实，它所推崇的“分享”的核心价值观，依赖于中国互联网所不具备的开放水平。任何妥协都会看起来像是对这一理念的背叛。