纽约时报中文网 - 中英对照版-中英中国正经历人才流失美国并非理想目的地

They went to the best universities in China and in the West. They lived middle-class lives in Beijing, Shanghai and Shenzhen and worked for technology companies at the center of China’s tech rivalry with the United States.

他们毕业于中国和西方的顶尖大学，曾在北京、上海、深圳过着中产阶级生活，为处于中美技术竞争中心的科技企业工作。

Now they are living and working in North America, Europe, Japan, Australia — and just about any developed country.

现在，他们在北美、欧洲、日本和澳大利亚，以及差不多所有的发达国家生活和工作。

Chinese — from young people to entrepreneurs — are voting with their feet to escape political oppression, bleak economic prospects and often grueling work cultures. Increasingly, the exodus includes tech professionals and other well-educated middle-class Chinese.

包括年轻人和企业家在内的一些中国人正在用脚投票，以逃避政治压迫、黯淡的经济前景，以及往往令人疲惫不堪的职场文化。离开的人中有越来越多的技术人才和其他受过良好教育的中国中产阶级。

“I left China because I didn’t like the social and political environment,” said Chen Liangshi, 36, who worked on artificial intelligence projects at Baidu and Alibaba, two of China’s biggest tech companies, before leaving the country in early 2020. He made the decision after China abolished the term limit for the presidency in 2018, a move that allowed its top leader, Xi Jinping, to stay in power indefinitely.

“我离开中国是因为我不喜欢那里的社会和政治环境，”现年36岁的陈良时（音）说，他曾在百度和阿里巴巴的人工智能部门工作，那是中国最大的两家科技企业，他于2020年初离开了中国。中国在2018年取消了国家主席任期限制，让最高领导人习近平能无限期留任后，陈先生做出了离开的决定。

“I will not return to China until it becomes democratic,” he said, “and the people can live without fear.” He now works for Meta in London.

“我不会再回去，除非中国变成一个民主国家，”他说，“除非中国人民不再生活在恐惧之下。”他现在在伦敦为Meta工作。

I interviewed 14 Chinese professionals, including Mr. Chen, and exchanged messages with dozens more, about why they decided to uproot their lives and how they started over in foreign countries. Most of them worked in China’s tech industry, which was surprising because the pay is high.

我采访了包括陈先生在内的14名中国专业人士，并与另外几十人进行了交流，了解了他们为什么决定舍弃中国的生活，并是如何在国外重新开始的。他们大多数人都曾在中国科技行业工作，这令人惊讶，因为科技行业的工资很高。

But I was most surprised to find that most of them had moved to countries other than the United States. China is facing a brain drain, and the United States isn’t taking advantage of it.

但最令我惊讶的是，他们中的大多数去的是美国以外的国家。中国的人才正在流失，而美国不是获益国。

In the 1980s and 1990s, when China was poor, its best and brightest sought to study and work — and stay — in the West. Emigration, on net, peaked in 1992 with more than 870,000 people leaving the country, according to the United Nations. That number fell to a low of roughly 125,000 in 2012, as China emerged from poverty to become a tech power and the world’s second-biggest economy.

在上世纪八九十年代中国还很贫穷的时候，这个国家最优秀聪明的人才都会努力争取去西方读书、工作，并留在那里。据联合国的数据，中国移居国外的净人口在1992年达到最高值，逾87万人在当年离开了中国。随着中国摆脱贫困，成为科技大国和世界第二大经济体，移居国外的净人口在2012年降到了约12.5万人的低点。

The Chinese government worked hard to keep them, rolling out incentives to lure back scientists and other skilled people. In 2016, more than 80 percent of Chinese who studied abroad returned home, according to the Ministry of Education, up from about a quarter two decades earlier.

中国政府曾努力留住人才，推出了吸引科学家和其他技术人才回国的激励措施。据中国教育部的数据，2016年，80%以上的中国留学人员回了国，而20年前只有约25%的人回国。

The trend has reversed. In 2022, despite passport and travel restrictions, more than 310,000 Chinese, on net, emigrated, according to the U.N. data. With three months to go this year, the number has reached the same level as the whole of 2022.

这个趋势已出现了逆转。尽管有护照和旅行限制，2022年中国移居国外的净人口超过了31万，据联合国的数据。虽然今年还有三个月的时间，但中国移居国外的净人口已达到了2022年全年的水平。

Quite a few people I interviewed said, like Mr. Chen, that they had started thinking of leaving the country after China amended its Constitution to allow Mr. Xi to effectively rule for life. The “zero-Covid” campaign, with nearly three years of constant lockdowns, mass testing and quarantines, was the last straw for many of them.

我采访的人中，有不少跟陈先生一样，他们说，自己开始考虑离开是在中国修改宪法、让习近平能终身执政之后。动辄封城、全民核酸、大规模隔离的三年“新冠清零”运动则成了压垮许多人的最后一根稻草。

Most people I interviewed asked that I use only their family names for fear of government retaliation.

我采访的大多数人都要求只给出他们的姓，以免遭到政府报复。

One of them, Mr. Fu, worked as an engineer at a state-owned defense tech enterprise in southwestern China when he decided to leave. He found that after the constitutional amendment, he and his colleagues spent more time participating in political study sessions than working, forcing everyone to work overtime.

其中一名决定离开的付姓男子曾是中国西南部一家国有国防科技企业的工程师。他说，修宪后，他和同事们参加政治学习的时间更多了，大家不得不加班工作。

As Mr. Xi increasingly ruled by fear and propaganda, the social and political atmosphere grew tense and suffocating. Mr. Fu said he had become estranged from his parents after arguing about the necessity of the strict pandemic restrictions, which he objected to. He barely spoke with anyone and lived in a political closet. Late last year, he quit and applied for a work visa in Canada. Now, he and his wife are on their way to Calgary, Alberta.

随着习近平的统治越来越依赖恐惧和宣传工具，社会和政治气氛变得紧张和令人窒息。付先生说，在政府是否有必要采取那么严格的疫情限制措施的问题上，他与父母发生了争论，导致他们的关系疏远。他反对政府的做法。他几乎不与任何人谈想法，生活在政治深柜的状态中。去年年底，他决定离开中国，申请了加拿大的工作签证。现在，他和妻子准备落户阿尔伯塔省的卡尔加里。

Most of the emigrants I spoke to, explaining why they did not pick the United States, cited America’s complicated and unpredictable process for applying for visas and permanent resident status.

我采访的大多数离开中国的人在解释为什么不选择美国时，提到了美国申请签证和永久居民身份的程序复杂且无法预测。

The number of student visas granted by the United States to Chinese nationals, long a starting point for promising future emigrants, began to fall in 2016, as relations between the countries deteriorated. In the first six months of 2023, Britain granted more than 100,000 study visas to Chinese nationals, while the United States granted roughly 65,000 F1 student visas.

随着中美关系恶化，美国向中国公民发放的学生签证数量从2016年起开始下降，获得学生签证长期以来一直是前景光明的未来移民者的起点。在2023年的头六个月里，英国发给中国公民学生签证已超过10万个，而美国只发给中国公民大约6.5万个F1学生签证。

Mr. Fu said he hadn’t considered the United States because he studied at a university that is on Washington’s sanction list and he worked at a defense company — both could make it tough for him to pass the U.S. government’s security screening procedure. But he said he would eventually like to work in the country, which he idolizes.

付先生说，他没有考虑去美国，因为他上过的大学在美国的制裁名单上，而且他曾在一家国防企业工作，这两件事都可能让他难以通过美国政府的安全审查程序。但他说，他最终想去美国工作，那是个他很憧憬的国家。

Some tech professionals chose Canada and European countries over the United States because of their better social benefits, work-life balance and gun control laws.

一些科技人才选择了加拿大和欧洲国家，而不是美国，因为那些国家在社会福利、工作与生活的平衡、以及枪支管制法律方面都更完善。

When Ms. Zhang decided to emigrate in July 2022, she made a list: Canada, New Zealand, Germany and Nordic countries. The United States didn’t make it because she knew it would be extremely difficult for her to get a work visa.

张女士2022年7月决定移民后，把想去的国家列成清单：加拿大、新西兰、德国以及北欧国家。美国没上名单，因为她知道获得美国的工作签证极其困难。

Ms. Zhang, 27, a computer programmer, felt the hustle culture of Silicon Valley was too similar to China’s grueling work environment. After putting in long hours at a top tech company in Shenzhen for five years, she was done with that. She also sought a country where women were treated more equally. This year, she moved to Norway. After paying taxes for three years and passing the language exam, she will get permanent residency.

现年27岁的张女士是一名计算机程序员，她觉得硅谷的奋斗文化与中国艰苦的工作环境很相似。她在深圳一家头部科技企业工作过五年，每天的工作时间都很长，她不想再像那样工作。她也想去一个女性受到更平等对待的国家。今年，她搬到了挪威。纳税三年并通过语言考试后，她将获得永久居留权。

Ms. Zhang said she didn’t mind that she was making about $20,000 less than in Shenzhen, and paying higher taxes and living expenses. She can finish her day at 4 p.m. and enjoy life outside work. She doesn’t worry that she will be considered too old for employment when she turns 35, a form of discrimination that many Chinese experience. She doesn’t live in constant fear that the government will roll out a policy like “zero Covid” that will turn her life on its head.

张女士说，她在挪威的收入比在深圳时少了约两万美元，而且纳税更高，生活费用也更高，但她并不介意。她现在能在下午4点下班，享受工作之外的生活。她也不用担心“35岁魔咒”，那是许多中国人面临的一种歧视，雇主不愿意雇35岁以上的人，认为他们太老了。她也不用担心政府会推出类似“新冠清零”那种彻底颠覆个人生活的政策。

Most of the tech professionals I talked to took a pay cut when they emigrated. “I feel like I’m paying for liberty,” said Mr. Zhou, a U.S.-educated software engineer who quit his job at an autonomous-driving start-up in Beijing. He now works at an automobile company in Western Europe. “It’s worth it,” he said.

我采访过的大多数科技人才移居国外后挣的钱都比以前少。“我觉得那是我为自由付出的代价，”曾在美国接受教育的软件工程师周先生说，他辞去了北京一家自动驾驶初创公司的工作，目前在西欧的一家车企工作。“我觉得这值得，”他说。

Another emigrant, Mr. Zhao, described his long and anxious journey to the United States.

另一名赵姓移民讲述了他试图留在美国的漫长且充满焦虑的历程。

He grew up in a poor village in China’s eastern Shandong Province and came to the United States for a doctoral degree in engineering five years ago. At the beginning, he intended to return after graduation later this year — China was on the rise, he believed, unlike America.

赵先生在山东一个贫困乡村长大，五年前来美国攻读工程学博士学位。刚到美国时，他曾打算在今年晚些时候毕业后回国，他认为中国正在崛起，美国则不然。

But China’s response to the pandemic caused Mr. Zhao to start questioning his beliefs.

但中国应对疫情的做法让赵先生开始怀疑他的信念。

“I can’t go back to a country where everything was built on lies,” he said.

“我不能回到一个一切都建立在谎言之上的国家，”他说。

But it won’t be easy to stay in the United States. Mr. Zhao has a job offer and will get temporary employment status as a graduate in a STEM, or science or engineering, field. That will last three years. He will participate in a lottery for an H-1B work visa. He did the math: There’s a 40 percent chance he won’t win the lottery by the end of the three years. He might have to go back to school to remain in the United States, or ask his company to transfer him to a foreign post.

但在美国留下来并不容易。赵先生收到了一份工作聘书，将获得为科学或工程等所谓STEM领域的毕业生设置的临时就业身份，这个身份有效期可持续三年。他将参加H-1B工作签证的抽签。他算了一下：三年后他仍未抽中工作签证的概率是40%。为了留在美国，他可能需要再回学校读书，或让公司把他调到美国以外的地方去。

“Sometimes when I think about this at night, I feel that life is full of misery and uncertainty,” Mr. Zhao said. “Then I can’t sleep.”

“有时候夜里想起这个，我觉得生活充满了痛苦和不确定性，”赵先生说。“让我无法入睡。”