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经济学人下载:澳洲移民 希望之地

2014-05-16来源:Economist

Migrants in Australia
澳洲移民

The promised land
希望之地

Chinese immigrants are remaking entire suburbs of Australia's biggest city
中国移民重构悉尼郊区

Dinkum incomes in China Town
繁华的唐人街

NANCY LIU arrived in Sydney from China as a “skilled immigrant” with an economics degree 14 years ago. With her husband, she set up a business consultancy in the suburb of Hurstville, once an Anglo-Celtic working-class stronghold. Since then, Chinese investment has transformed it: most of its shop signs are now in Chinese. Last year, Ms Liu was elected Hurstville's deputy mayor.
14年前,拥有经济学学位的刘南希作为“技术移民”从中国来到悉尼,与丈夫一起成立了一家商业咨询公司。这家公司位于赫斯特维尔的郊区,曾一度是英国凯特尔工人的大本营。自那以后,中国投资便改变着它:如今大部分商店的标示都是中文。刘女士也在去年当选赫斯特维尔的副市长。

经济学人下载:澳洲移民 希望之地

Ms Liu was a forerunner of a new wave of Chinese immigrants to Australia's oldest and biggest city. Hong Kong once supplied most of Australia's Chinese settlers, but over the past few years the pattern has shifted. Now it is the rising middle classes from mainland China who go there, looking for a cleaner, more relaxed lifestyle. About 4% of Sydney's 4.6m people were born in China. Hurstville's China-born population is about a third of its total and almost half its residents claim Chinese ancestry.
刘女士是新一轮中国向澳洲历史最悠久也是最大城市移民潮中的先行者。澳洲中国移民中一度以香港移民为主,不过在过去几年中,这种格局已经悄然改变。如今越来越多的中产阶级从中国大陆来到这里,期冀一种洁净、轻松的生活。悉尼460万人口中大约4%生于中国。赫斯特维尔中生于中国的人口大约有1/3,而且近半居民有中国血统。

But China's emergence as Australia's biggest trading partner, and its largest source of foreign university students, has revolutionised the relationship. In the fiscal year 2011-12, more than 25,000 Chinese people obtained permanent residence in Australia. Most of them were from the new middle classes. Then in late 2012 Australia launched a “significant investor” visa, aimed at China's super-rich. To get one, people need A5m to sink in “qualifying” investments. After investing for four years, successful applicants can apply for permanent residence.Sydney's first Chinese immigrants arrived as farm workers in the 1840s. The gold rush a decade later drew more. “Celestial City: Sydney's Chinese story”, an exhibition at the Museum of Sydney, shows what happened next. By the 1880s, political fears of a “Chinese invasion” sparked anti-Asian immigration laws known as the White Australia policy, which lasted well into the 20th century.
不过中国成为澳大利亚最大的贸易伙伴、最大留学生来源,这让两国关系有了翻天覆地的变化。在2011—2012财年中,超过25000中国移民获得了永久居住证。他们中的大部分来自新兴中产阶级。此后的2012年,澳大利亚又针对中国超级富豪推出了“重要投资者”签证。在澳投资5百万澳元就可以获得这一签证。投资4年后,优秀申请人可以申请永久居住证。悉尼第一位中国移民在19世纪40年代抵达后,成为农场工人。十年后的黄金热吸引了更多移民。在悉尼博物馆展出的“天空之城:悉尼的中国故事”展也讲述了接下来的事情。19世纪80年代,出于“中国入侵”的政治担忧,澳大利亚发布了反中国移民法案,业即“白色澳大利亚”事件。这一状况直持续到20世纪才得以改善。

The visas are called “subclass 188” and “subclass 888”. As the number eight represents luck and prosperity in Chinese culture, the visa's main target is obvious. More than 90% of 702 applicants so far have been Chinese.
这种签证被称为“幸运188”和“幸运888”。因为在中国文化中数字8代表着好运和财富,所以这种签证针对对象也显而易见。目前,702名申请者中超过90%的是中国人。

Many of the emigres are media-shy. But their influence is visible in Chatswood, another formerly Anglo-Australian suburb. Towers of apartments, many owned by Chinese immigrants, now overlook the Edwardian-era stone and timber bungalows. Shops on the main street are crammed with Chinese noodles and vegetables, and Mandarin is the chief language among shoppers. Stacks of Chinese newspapers outnumber English ones.
许多流亡者避免出现在媒体前。不过他们在查斯伍德区的影响力显而易见,后者是另一个原英属澳洲的郊区。许多公寓楼由中国移民拥有,这里可以俯瞰爱德华时代的石头和木平房。中央街区的店面满是中式面条和菜式,普通话则是商家们的官方语言。成堆的中国报纸比英国的还多。

Yan Zhang, who settled in Sydney after studying at Macquarie University, orders a lunch of pork dumplings at the New Shanghai restaurant. He reckons the new wave of middle-class Chinese immigrants, who arrive with residence already granted, come to Australia for the same reasons he did. “They want to make life more enjoyable and more secure,” he says. “If I'd returned to China, I'd have had to be more selfish to survive.”
杨正从麦考瑞大学毕业后便定居于悉尼 。在新上海饭馆点了份猪肉饺子后,他认为,这次中产阶级移民浪潮中取得居住许可的移民们,多与他出于同样的原因。他说:“他们想让生活更加舒适、稳定。如果我想回中国,那我将为了生存而更加自私。”