香港人追憶撒切爾夫人 評價褒貶不一

Margaret Thatcher may have been Britain's 'Iron Lady, ' but in China, state-run media said Tuesday, she met her match.

說撒切爾夫人(Margaret Thatcher)在英國是有名的“鐵娘子”，但中國國有媒體週二報道說，她曾經在中國遇到過對手。

After extensive negotiations, Mrs. Thatcher inked her signature to the Sino-British Joint Declaration in 1984, thus agreeing to return Hong Kong--Britain's last remaining major colony--to Chinese rule, a memory that nearly three decades later continues to reverberate as the city navigates its at times stormy relations with the mainland.

在經過多次談判之後，撒切爾夫人1984年簽署了《中英聯合宣告》(Sino-British Joint Declaration)，同意將英國最後的主要殖民地香港歸還給中國，在30年後的今天，在這個城市與內地的關係也時常掀起波瀾之際，這一記憶仍然時不時發出迴響。

Mrs. Thatcher had originally hoped that the British could continue to administer the city after it returned to Chinese sovereignty. Instead, under the terms of the declaration, the Chinese agreed the city could continue to retain a high degree of autonomy, including its own political and economic system, for a period of 50 years.

撒切爾夫人最初希望在香港主權迴歸中國之後，英國能夠繼續管理這座城市。但根據《中英聯合宣告》，中國同意香港將繼續保持高度自治，包括保留獨立的政治和經濟體系，50年不變。

'We can say that she made her biggest compromise as prime minister in this issue, ' wrote the nationalist tabloid Global Times in a Tuesday editorial .

中國的民族主義小報《環球時報》在週二的一篇社論中說，應當說，在香港迴歸問題上，這位“鐵女人”做了她在首相位置上的最大一次正確“妥協”。

In a sign of just how deep an impression she left on the former British colony, newspapers across Hong Kong Tuesday splashed numerous full-page eulogies commemorating Mrs. Thatcher across their front pages, adorning them with images of white roses, chrysanthemums and lilies. In Chinese tradition, white flowers are used to signify mourning.

香港的各大報紙週二紛紛在頭版用整版篇幅悼念撒切爾夫人，用白色的玫瑰、菊花和百合的圖案做裝飾，這凸顯了她給這個前英國殖民地留下了多麼深刻的印記。在中國的傳統中，白花代表哀悼。

Since Hong Kong returned to Chinese control in 1997, the city's identity has grown increasingly enmeshed with that of the mainland, particularly as tens of millions of Chinese tourists have flooded Hong Kong to shop, buy property and even give birth.

自從香港1997年迴歸中國，香港的身份認知與內地的身份認知越來越密切地交織在一起，尤其是在數千萬的內地遊客湧入香港購物、買房甚至產子之際。

For many Hong Kong locals, the iconic memory of Mrs. Thatcher remains the image of the blue-clad prime minister tripping and tumbling down the steps as she exited the Great Hall of the People in Beijing in 1982, a video clip that aired widely in Hong Kong at the time and was reprised in various stills in newspapers across the city Tuesday. Mrs. Thatcher would later go on to praise the 'brilliance' of her Chinese negotiating partner, Deng Xiaoping.

對於許多香港本地人來說，對撒切爾夫人印象最深的記憶仍然是1982年她一身藍裝在人民大會堂的臺階上跌倒的情景，撒切爾夫人跌倒的視訊當時在香港廣泛傳播，週二，在香港的報紙上又刊登了昔日的照片。在跌倒之後，撒切爾夫人還是對他在中國的談判對手鄧小平的智慧進行了讚揚。

In reflecting on Mrs. Thatcher's passing, several Hong Kong democratic activists were critical of her legacy in Hong Kong. Emily Lau, a former reporter and current legislator, recalled asking Mrs. Thatcher during a 1984 visit to Hong Kong after she signed the Joint Declaration whether it was morally defensible to deliver six million Hong Kong residents into the hands of a communist dictatorship. Mrs. Thatcher replied that she believed most Hong Kong locals accepted the arrangement, and suggested Ms. Lau was perhaps the 'solitary exception.'

在對撒切爾夫人的追憶中，幾名香港民主活動人士對她在香港留下的遺產提出了批評。在簽署完聯合宣告後，曾經當過記者的立法會議員劉慧卿在撒切爾夫人1984年訪問香港時問她，把600萬香港市民交到共產主義獨裁統治的手裡，這在道義上說得過去嗎？撒切爾夫人回答說，他相信大多數香港人會接受這個安排，並暗示劉慧卿可能是唯一的例外。

'That marked a very, very dishonorable chapter in the history of the British Empire, ' said Ms. Lau, who argues that the former British prime minister 'didn't look after the well-being of Hong Kong people.'

劉慧卿說，這是英國曆史上非常非常不光彩的一章，她說，這名前英國首相沒有考慮香港人的福祉。

Still, though, Martin Lee, a former Hong Kong legislator and the city's best-known crusader for democracy, said that those years were a time of greater optimism about the city's political future. At this point, whether Hong Kong will be able to directly elect its own leaders without interference from Beijing remains an open question. But at the time, Mrs. Thatcher wasn't alone in believing Hong Kong would have a good chance at self-determination, he says.

不過，前香港立法會議員、香港最知名的民主人士李柱銘說，當年人們對香港的政治未來更加樂觀。他說，眼下，香港是否能夠不受中國政府的干預直接選舉領導人仍然是個問題；但在當時，撒切爾夫人並不是唯一一個相信香港非常有可能實現自決的人。

Mr. Lee recalled his pre-handover exchanges with Mrs. Thatcher fondly, and said that she seemed genuinely concerned about Hong Kong's future.

李柱銘回憶了他與撒切爾夫人在香港迴歸之前的愉快交流，他說，她似乎真心地關切香港的未來。

'It was a different time, ' he said. 'We all thought we'd just wait 10 years and then we'd have democracy.'

他說，那時不一樣，我們都認為只需要等待10年就會擁有民主。

On the eve of the 1997 handover, Mrs. Thatcher sounded an optimistic note in an interview, saying that she hoped Hong Kong would one day be a model for all of China. 'Chinese people will come to Hong Kong, they'll see and they'll say why is it different, and what is the difference?' she said. 'It is the same people, the same talents, but here there is a rule of law founded on the belief that each and every person matters in personal lives, ' she said. Hong Kong, she said, 'is a flagship of what the China people can do.'

在1997年主權交接的前夕，撒切爾夫人在接受採訪時顯得很樂觀，她說，她希望香港有一天能夠成為全中國的榜樣。她說，內地人會來到香港，他們會看到，他們會問為什麼如此不同？區別在哪裡？同樣的人民，同樣的人才，但是這裡擁有法治，這裡的法治建立在每個人的生活都是重要的信念之上。她說香港是一艘旗艦，讓人看到中國人能做成什麼。