Rise at 11? China’s Single Time Zone Means Keeping Odd Hours
上午11時起床？中國的單一時區意味奇怪的生活習慣
Some days, the sun doesn’t come up until 10 a.m. or later. People eat lunch after 2 p.m. or even after 4 if they’re not in a rush. The school day stretches so late that children can’t get home in time to catch their favorite cartoon shows.
有些日子，太陽要到上午 10時或更晚才出來。如果不急，人們在下午2點或甚至 4點才吃午飯。學校的上課時間拖延太長，以致兒童不能及時趕回家，看他們最喜歡的卡通節目。
Why are the clocks in Urumqi, China, so far out of kilter with the cycles of the sun? Because of a legacy of Mao Zedong and the Communist Party’s desire for unified control. Though China is almost as wide as the continental United States, the whole country is officially in just one time zone — Beijing time.
為何新彊烏魯木齊的時鐘，與太陽的每日週期如此不協調？由於毛澤東的遺傳和共產黨的希望統一的控制。儘管中國是美國大陸幾乎一樣寬潤，整個國家僅使用一個統一時間- 北京時間。
So when it’s 7 a.m. in the Forbidden City, it’s also officially 7 a.m. 2,000 miles to the west in Urumqi, the capital of the Xinjiang region — even if the stars are still out there.
所以當北京紫禁城是上午7時的時辰，離北京2000 英里，西部的新疆地區首府烏魯木齊，也是官式時間的上午７時— 即使當地仍是星星高掛的晚上。
That can lead to headaches — and lost sleep. “It’s hard to adjust,” says GAO Li, a sanitation worker in Urumqi. “I often think we must be the only people who eat dinner at midnight.”
這可以使人頭痛和失眠。李高，烏魯木齊市一名環境衛生工人說:"它很難調整，我常想我們必定是唯一在午夜吃晚飯的一群人”。
So schools, airports and train stations operate at odd hours; national exams are sometimes given in the dead of night; and restaurants stay open for dinner into the wee hours.
學校、 機場和火車站在奇數的時間內運作;國家考試有時在深夜 舉行，餐館晚餐時間一直開到淩晨。
The eccentricities of the clock also tend to divide people in Xinjiang by ethnicity. The Uighurs, Turkic-speaking Muslims who consider the region their homeland, tend to set their clocks two hours earlier, to more closely match the local day. But the Han Chinese, who live there, members of China’s predominant ethnic group, generally follow Beijing time. The discrepancies can be a source of confusion and frustration, especially for younger people who frequently socialize across ethnic lines.
時鐘的怪癖也傾向于按種族來劃分新疆地區的人種。講突厥語並認為該地區是穆斯林家鄉的維吾爾人，往往傾向於把時鐘撥快兩個小時，以便更好配合當地時間。但住在那裡，屬於中國的主要族群成員的漢族，普遍地遵循北京時間。時間的差異可以造成混亂和挫折，特別是年輕人，他們常常跨越種族，彼此交往。
Jin Xiaolong, 28, who teaches parkour, a French athletic discipline, says scheduling classes with his Uighur friends in Urumqi can be a challenge.
金小龍，28，任教跑酷，一個法國的體育訓練學科說，與他在烏魯木齊的維吾爾族朋友安排課程時間可能是一項挑戰。
“I used to arrive early, all alone,” he said. “I’d go to a restaurant to eat, wait some more, and eventually grow impatient and start practice by myself.” Now, he makes a point of clarifying to his friends: He only deals in Beijing time.
"我一向獨自一人上課早到，"他說。"然後，我會去一家餐館用餐，等待學員大半天，最後不耐煩，因為學員還不來，只好自己開始練習"。
現在，他向他的朋友强調澄清︰他和人約時間做事，僅依照「北京時間」。
【譯者評論】：
中國幅員遼闊，東,西經度(time difference) ，即從極東的秦皇島到新疆的烏魯木齊之時差應在4-5小時，北京人吃中飯，新疆人才開始早餐。若凡事依北京時間，是極不合理的。但中國人，凡事以『北京』兩字掛帥，是『霸權主義』(hegemony) 的心態。
中國人追求進步，有時很重時效，有時僵硬。1980年代的警察，英文一律寫“Gong An” ，2000年以後，才更改為 “police”. 1992年首次赴桂林，看到「陽朔」風景區的英文介紹文字，連一個字也看不懂，原來他們找來的是不懂英文的工人，把所有英文字全連寫成一起：
“ThesccenicspotinGuilin…..”
“The scenic spot in Guilin...” (桂林的風景區….)
Justin Lai 譯評
于美國南加州
05/07/2017
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