中國高校借上海踩踏事件爲聖誕禁令辯護

A Chinese college that banned Christmas festivities has stirred up a new controversy with its assertion that the New Year’s Eve stampede in Shanghai that left at least 36 people dead has vindicated its restrictions on merrymaking.

一所禁止了聖誕慶祝活動的高校稱，新年前夜在上海發生的導致至少36人死亡的踩踏事件證明，該校對歡慶活動的限制是合理的。這番言論引發了新的爭議。

On Friday, the Modern College of Northwest University in Xi’an published a statement on its website titled, “The unfortunate Shanghai holiday stampede tragedy confirms that our school’s position on holiday management is indisputably correct.”

週五，位於西安的西北大學現代學院在網站上發佈了一則聲明，標題是“上海節日踩踏慘劇不幸證明我院對節日管理無比正確”。

The statement, by the college’s cultural work office, continued: “If the Shanghai incident had occurred in Xi’an, if the Xi’an incident had occurred on Christmas Eve and if students had been killed in the stampede incident, then the value of the Modern College’s Christmas Eve management would be even more clear.”

西北大學現代學院文化工作辦公室發佈的這則聲明說：“如果上海事件發生在西安，如果西安事件發生在平安夜，如果西安平安夜發生踩踏事件後有大學生遇難，現代學院管理平安夜的本次輿論事件價值就更加突現出來了！”

On Sina Weibo, a popular microblog service in China, many users criticized the school for using the events in Shanghai to justify its prohibition on celebrating Christmas.

在中國人氣頗高的微博平臺新浪微博上，許多用戶指責了該校利用上海的事件爲聖誕節禁令辯護的做法。

“Lighting a fire to cook a meal can also lead to a fire disaster! Go back and starve your mother then!” a user named Bai Bu Za De wrote. “Drinking water can lead to fatal choking! Go frighten the headmaster!”

“吃飯點火還能引起火災呢！回去把你媽餓死吧！”一名用戶寫道。“喝水還能嗆死呢！慫包校長！”

Another user, Messy Winds Drunken Hearts, wrote: “Really an idiotic school. According to what they say, all colleges should prohibit the celebration of Christmas?”

另一名用戶寫道：“真是白癡學院！這樣說來全國高校禁止過聖誕才正確？”

Still, some commenters supported the school’s effort to play down Christmas festivities.

不過，仍然有一些評論對該校限制聖誕慶祝活動的做法表示了支持。

“Rationally approach the foreign holidays, don’t be so fanatical and remember which country you belong to,” Centenarian-O-Yang wrote.

“理性對待洋節，不要過於狂熱，記住自己是哪國人，”一名用戶寫道。

The statement was posted just over a week after the college barred its students from taking part in Christmas celebrations and forced them to watch patriotic films, with faculty members guarding doors at the screening.

在發佈這份聲明的一週前，該學院禁止學生參加聖誕慶祝活動，並強迫他們觀看愛國主義影片，教職工把守在放映室的門口。

By Monday afternoon, the statement had been removed from the college’s website, though images of it were still available online.

到了週一下午，這份聲明已從該院網站上刪除，但網上依然能找到相關圖片。

In an interview on Monday, a university spokesman, Cao Fenghe, said that the statement was written with concern for the students’ safety.

週一接受採訪時，西北大學發言人曹鳳和表示，寫這份聲明是出於對學生安全的擔心。

He said it was taken down Monday afternoon because that time is an exam period at the college, and the heavy traffic on the school’s website was preventing many students from finding their exam locations online.

他表示，週一下午刪除相關聲明是因爲那個時間是學院的考試周，學校網站流量過大導致許多學生沒法在網上查詢考試地點。

“One of the reasons we wrote the statement is that we feel have to manage the holidays,” Mr. Cao said. “Because we’re a school, we have to manage our students. We have to help students rationally pass the holidays.”

“我們寫這份聲明的原因之一，是覺得有必要對節日進行管理，”曹鳳和說。“因爲我們是學校，我們必須管好學生。我們必須幫助學生理性地過節。”

He said the curbs on Christmas celebrations had more to do with student welfare than with antiforeign sentiment. “A lot of our buildings are European style, and we respect the integration of Western culture,” he said. “Many foreigners come to our universities.”

他表示，禁止慶祝聖誕節更多的是和學生利益有關，而非排外情緒。“我們的很多樓都是歐式的，我們尊重與西方文化的融合，”他說。“也有很多外國人來我們學校。”

But he added that the university had a responsibility to watch out for its students. “Even during our annual winter vacation, we often publish notices on our website reminding students that during holidays they should keep in touch with their parents, and if they go out they should let their parents know where they are,” he said.

但他接着表示，學校有義務照看學生。“即便是每年寒假，我們也經常在網站上發佈通知，提醒學生放假期間應該和父母保持聯繫，如果外出應該讓父母知道自己在哪兒，”他說。