北京市長承諾疏解北京非首都功能

Beijing’s new mayor has vowed to gut the city of all functions unrelated to its status as national capital, in an effort to push the growing population into the surrounding provinces.

北京新任市長蔡奇承諾疏解北京所有的非首都功能，努力把不斷增長的人口疏散到周圍省份。

The city’s functions would be reduced “like peeling off cabbage leaves”, with the economy and cityscape restructured to make it “leaner and more efficient”, Cai Qi said.

蔡奇表示，將減少北京市的功能，就像剝掉“白菜幫子”一樣，優化北京市的經濟結構和空間結構，“瘦身健體、提質增效”。

Asian states have historically moved capitals when they have become too crowded and have depleted local resources. Most recently, Myanmar and Kazakhstan have built new capitals from scratch, moving the government away from historic commercial cities that were the traditional centres of power. But Mr Cai, a rising political star, may be the first to seek to move the city away from the capital.

從歷史上說，亞洲國家在首都變得過於擁擠並耗盡當地資源時會遷都。不久前，緬甸和哈薩克斯坦都從零開始建起了新首都，把政府遷出了曾是傳統權力中心的歷史悠久的商業城市。但冉冉升起的政治新星蔡奇可能是第一個試圖把城市遷出首都的人。

Beijing has been the Chinese capital and a centre of power and culture for most of the past 750 years. It was founded as a walled city in the 11th century BC on a well-watered plain. After serving for centuries as a military garrison and capital of several independent states it first became the national capital in the 13th century AD during the Yuan dynasty, when Mongols ruled what is now China.

在過去750年的多數時間裏，北京都是中國的首都和權力與文化中心。它始建於公元前11世紀，最初是一座位於水源充沛的平原上的有圍牆的城市。在若干個世紀裏，它曾是一個軍事重鎮，先後作過幾個小國的都城。在公元13世紀的元朝，北京首次成爲全中國的首都，當時統治中國的是蒙古人。

Its population expanded rapidly after the Communist party took power in 1949 and created the headquarters of a Leninist state. The population boomed again in the reform era, as relaxation of China’s strict hukou, or residency, regulations combined with a property bubble near the centre of power.

中國共產黨1949年奪取政權並在這裏建立起一個列寧主義國家的大本營後，北京市人口迅速增加。在改革開放時代，北京市人口再次迅猛增長，當時中國嚴格的戶口制度有所放鬆，而且在這個權力中心附近出現了房地產泡沫。

Almost 22m people now live in Beijing or surrounding satellite cities, up from 4m in 1950 and 9m in 1980. Most of the ancient city’s unique architecture and distinct hutongs, or lanes, have been bulldozed to make way for highways, shopping malls, office buildings and state-owned banks and enterprises.

如今有近2200萬人居住在北京或周邊的衛星城，而1950年爲400萬人，1980年爲900萬人。這座古老城市的許多獨特建築和別具一格的衚衕被拆除，給高速公路、購物中心、辦公樓以及國有銀行和企業騰出地方。

The result has been traffic jams, increasing strain on water resources, and rising public dissatisfaction with the city’s choking pollution.

結果是交通堵塞、水資源日益緊張、公衆對北京令人窒息的污染越來越感到不滿。

Mr Cai said he would reduce Beijing’s land zoned for construction and cap the city’s population at 23m.

蔡奇表示，他將削減北京的建設用地，把常住人口控制在2300萬人以下。

Administrative action could temporarily reduce the city’s population, says Dai Qing, an environmental activist who has long argued that Beijing’s growth is dangerously depleting its underground aquifers. “But if you don’t restructure the system whereby interests and resources are concentrated in the capital, people will come flooding back in.”

環保活動人士戴晴早就指出，北京的發展正在危險地耗盡該市的地下水資源。她表示，行政措施可能會臨時降低北京的人口。“但如果你不調整這個利益和資源集中於首都的體制的結構，人們還會如潮水般涌回來。”

Mr Cai’s announcement is a twist on central government Plans revealed in 2014 to shift some of the national bureaucracy to Baoding, a nearby military and industrial city that was denoted the nation’s most polluted that year.

蔡奇的表態是中央政府2014年披露的將部分國家機關遷到保定的計劃的一個變化版本。保定是鄰近北京的一個軍事和工業城市，是當年中國污染最嚴重的城市。

Plans to develop the “Jing-Jin-Ji” area (a shorthand for Beijing, the port city of Tianjin and the surrounding province of Hebei) have resulted in economic stimulus and new property development across the region.

發展“京津冀”地區的計劃導致這一地區出臺了經濟刺激措施，進行了新的房地產開發。

They have been accompanied by campaigns within Beijing to tear down neighbourhood shops and wholesale markets where migrant workers work, in an attempt to force lower-income residents out of the city. Schools have closed their doors to the children of migrants. The number of new migrants to Beijing halved in 2015.

與此同時，北京市採取行動，拆除外來務工人員打工的小區商店和批發市場，以求迫使低收入居民離開這座城市。學校則拒絕招收外來務工人員子女入學。2015年，北京新增外來務工人員數量減少了一半。

Areas that have been cleared would not see new construction, and would instead be turned into green and public space, Mr Cai vowed.

蔡奇承諾，對於城區騰退後的空間不再建設，而是將其變成綠地，變成公共服務設施。

Beijing has also encouraged its universities to develop new campuses in satellite cities.

北京還鼓勵該市高校在衛星城發展新校區。

Hollowing out the city may help Mr Cai in his December pledge to prevent property prices in Beijing from rising this year. On Monday he also vowed to cut coal use in the capital by 30 per cent. The city is phasing out its last coal-fired power plant in favour of a gas-fired plant. It already sources much of its power from the smoke-shrouded city of Zhangjiakou, four hours’ drive to the north-west, which will host the Winter Olympics in 2022.

蔡奇去年12月承諾北京房價今年不再上漲，疏解非首都功能可能有助於他兌現承諾。本週一，蔡奇還誓言要將北京煤炭使用量削減30%。北京正淘汰其最後一座燃煤電廠，建設燃氣電廠。北京現在所用的許多電力已然由煙霧籠罩下的城市張家口提供。張家口位於北京西北方向，距北京車程4個小時，該市將在2022年承辦冬季奧運會。