VOA常速英语:中国打造粤港澳大湾区与美国硅谷竞争

China is stepping up its efforts, so announcing a long-awaited plan to link up its southern Pearl River Delta into a massive hub of technology, research finance and innovation.
中国正在加紧力度，宣布期待已久的计划，打造一个连接南部珠江三角洲的、规模巨大的技术、研发、金融和创新中心。
The possibilities and challenges of the project are both equally challenging and promising, according to analysts.
分析人士说，该计划的可能性和挑战既具有挑战性，也充满希望。

Some describe the plan as an attempt to create a mega-city to rival Silicon Valley, the U.S. technology powerhouse that is home to companies such as Google, Facebook, and Apple.
一些分析人士认为，这项计划试图打造一个特大城市，与曾经诞生谷歌、脸书和苹果公司的美国科技中心硅谷竞争。

But while Silicon Valley has a population of 3.1 million, the Greater Bay Area will link up nine cities together with Hong Kong and Macau with a total population of about 70 million, and the economic heft, state media argues, to drive the Chinese economy, let alone the world.
但是硅谷拥有310万人口，而大湾区将连接香港和澳门的九个城市，总人口约为7000万。官方媒体认为，该地区具有驱动中国经济的经济实力，更不用说世界了。

The plan was announced recently is expected to be a prominent topic during high-level political meetings going on this month in Beijing. It is not necessarily new. China’s opening up to the world more than four decades ago began in the south and the Pearl River Delta has long been home to some of the country’s leading companies from telecommunications – such as Huawei to Internet giant Tencent and host of other technology and manufacturing enterprises.
这项最近宣布的预计会成为本月北京召开的高层政治会议上的一个热点题目。这个计划并不一定耳目一新。40多年前，中国的对外开放始于南部城市，珠江三角洲历来是中国一些主要公司的发祥地，从通信行业的华为，到互联网巨擎腾讯，以及很多其他技术和制造业企业。

“It’s (the plan) a natural evolution of economic growth and the growth engine,” said Adam Xu, partner at OC&C Strategy Consultants. “If you really look at history in China, a lot of top down plans always have some bottom up support. A lot of economic activity has already happened there, then you have a grand plan to first officially recognize, then to promote and to further accelerate.”
欧洲企业战略咨询公司合伙人徐晋说，“这项计划是经济增长和增长引擎的自然发展。如果你仔细审视中国的历史，很多从上而下的计划总是有从下而上的支持。很多经济活动已经出现，然后再制定一个全盘计划，首先得到官方的认可，然后推动，继而进一步加速发展。”

Xu said that as labor costs rise in China, the country is looking to move up the industrial value chain and the program seeks to do just that to push the region on to the next wave, be it the manufacturing of electric cars, financial services or telecommunications.
徐晋说，随着中国劳动力成本的上升，中国开始寻求提升产业价值链。这项计划的目的正是要推动该区域下一波的发展，无论是制造电动车，发展金融服务，还是通信。

It also aims to drive investment to the area at a time when foreign funds flowing into the country are sagging.
这项计划也旨在推动该地区的投资，因为进入中国的外资正在减少。

One key challenge, he adds, will be execution. The plan will tie together three different legal jurisdictions and that makes the plan unique compared to the two other major mega-city projects in China – the Beijing, Hebei, Tianjin merger and the Yangtze River Delta integration plan near Shanghai.
徐晋说，主要的挑战是如何落实这项计划。这项计划将连接三个不同的司法管辖体系，与中国另外两个特大城市项目相比-北京、河北和天津的京津冀协同发展，以及上海附近的长江三角州整体发展计划相比，粤港澳大湾区的计划独具特色。

“We don’t know how effective the top down grand plan will (be in) guiding the many independent growing forces at the city level to coordinate and be successful,” Xu said. “This part will be quite an important challenge.”
徐晋说：“我们不知道，从上而下的这项宏伟计划在指导很多城市层面的独立发展力量协调和成功方面效果将会如何，这部分将是一个非常重要的挑战。”

China has long had deep pockets when it comes to making investments that push forward technological advances. In many cases, however, that has led to overlaps in development and spending on technology and in turn oversupply, according to C.Y. Huang, partner of FCC Partners.
蓝筹亚洲合伙人黄齐元表示，在涉及推动技术进步的投资方面，中国长期以来一直资金充沛。不过，很多时候，这会导致在技术发展和投资方面的重叠，从而造成过剩。

“Each city on its own doesn’t have anything new,” said C.Y. Huang,  “The biggest challenge and the biggest beauty - if they can pull it off - will be linking all of these together."
黄齐元说：“每个城市本身的发展计划没有任何新意。最大的挑战和最美的蓝图，如果他们能够成功的话，是将这些城市都连接起来。”

One way the plan could do that is not just by lifting physical barriers, but the flow of people, information and money.
该计划能达到这个目的的一个途径是，不仅要去掉有形的屏障，而是要确保人员、信息和资金的流动。

China has already taken major strides to overcome some of the physical obstacles such as linking Hong Kong with Guangzhou and Shenzhou by high-speed rail and its recent opening of the 55-kilometer Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge.
中国已经采取重大措施克服一些有形的障碍，如建设高速铁路，把香港和广州以及深圳连接起来，以及中国最近建成通车的长达55公里的港珠澳大桥。

But other barriers may prove to be a bigger challenge.
但是其他的一些障碍可能会是更大的挑战