☭ marselip0910 叶俊华™

(12/29/2008) (Zaobao)


Dragon TV pprogram host Yuan Yue wrote in his personal blog on December 24 that the arrival of the pandas Tuan Tuan and Yuan Yuan in Taiwan has once again reminded people that the panda is an important symbol of the Chinese people. Therefore, he proposed: "We should seriously consider the possibility that the panda be made the state symbol of contemporary China."

Yuan Yue's argument is based upon the fact the panda is gentle and lovely. Thus it will not invoke negative connotations. By contrast, the traditional Chinese symbol of the dragon is imperial and domineering, being the special symbol for the emperor. While the dragon can represent traditional China and its culture, it is not especially suited for more open and free contemporary China.

Yuan Yue wrote: The Hollywood animated film was popular all around the world. One can see how the image of the panda can be extended to include the creativity and richness of the Chinese people and garner greater attractiveness and influence.

Yuan Yue's blog post was featured on Sina.com and it drew many comments. Very few of those comments were supportive. Instead, there were plenty of condemnations. Whereas the current saying is that the Chinese people are the "descendants of the dragon," will they become the "descendants of the panda" in the future?

Many netizens believe that the dragon symbol represented several thousands years of cultural tradition, which the image of the panda cannot possibly convey. Using the panda as the national symbol has no historical basis. It will only destroy Chinese culture, making it vulgar and commercialized. Other netizens accused Yuan Yue of speaking irresponsibly and "drinking too much Sanlu milk."

Some commentators agreed that the panda has softened the image of mainland China for Taiwan, but some netizens liked the dragaon symbol precisely on account of its powerful strength and hegemonic dominance. By comparison, the simple and honest panda with two black eyes looks like a sissy. Worse yet, the panda is a vegetarian.

This is not the first time that the dragon has been controversial as a symbol of China. In 2007, a scholar recommended that the English translation of the term be changed from "dragon" to "long" or "loong." The reason was that the "dragon" is an aggressive demon in western culture and westerners may draw the wrong associations if China adopts the dragon as its symbol.

Peking University Department of Sociology and China Folklore Association secretary-general Gao Bingzhong said that the various discussions about the dragon symbol are expressions of the anxiety over the image of China as a nation.

This anxiety arose because of the sense of defeat in international politics in contemporary history. China had once been a much admired eastern civilization and then it became a figure of contempt. There are internal causes as well as external causes why that happened. He believes that the negative image comes from international forces which cannot be changed simply by switching a national symbol. It is not a matter of self-proclamation, because the outside world has to change its attitude. He does not believe that the "dragon" can be replaced by the "panda" and all these discussions won't change anything. However, they can lead to a re-thinking of the image of China and it also expresses the good intentions of the Chinese people.

He said: "When someone suggests that the national symbol should be replaced by the panda, it shows that we want our image to be more likeable and we want to change ourselves to adjust to the rest of the world. The nation should also be willing to make certain changes in order to fit into the international community."

Kung Fu Fighting - Rain Jung Ji Hoon

媒體人提議更改中國圖騰　“熊貓取代龍”引爭議
2008/12/29

韓詠紅/龍的傳人還是熊貓的傳人？中國大陸贈台大熊貓上周在臺灣受到熱烈歡迎，這股“熊貓熱”傳導回到大陸，有媒體名人提議以熊貓取代龍作為中國的象徵，在線民間引起激烈爭議。

　　上海東方衛視節目主持人、零點研究諮詢集團董事長袁岳上週三（24日）在其博客中寫到，大熊貓“團團”與“圓圓”週二在臺灣落戶，大家再次被提醒了熊貓是中國和中華民族的重要標誌，他由此提出：“可以認真地考慮把熊貓當成當代中國標誌的可能性。”

　　袁嶽的“挺熊貓”論點，包括熊貓性情溫順，姿態可愛，基本上不會引起任何負面聯想。反之，龍卻有非常強的皇權、霸氣特點，而且龍過去是皇權專有的標誌，龍可以代表傳統中國或中國傳統文化，但代表正在更加開放與自由的當代中國，就不特別相配。

　　袁嶽接著提出，好萊塢動漫電影《功夫熊貓》在世界各國受到觀眾熱捧，其中最妙的地方是“功夫熊貓”褲子上的補丁，他從中想到熊貓的形象可以有變化延伸，把當代中國人的創新趣味、異想天開、豐富多彩特質都人格化地表現在熊貓上，那麼熊貓形象將更具吸引力與影響力。

網友罵聲一片

袁嶽：好萊塢動漫電影《功夫熊貓》在世界各國受到熱捧，從中想到熊貓的形象可以有變化延伸，把當代中國人的創新趣味、異想天開、豐富多彩特質都人格化地表現在熊貓身上，使其更具吸引力與影響力。

　　這番博文發表後，被新浪網挑選出來放在博客首頁，引來的跟帖不少，但支持者寥寥，罵聲倒是一片。網友馬上反問，那中國人是不是成了“熊貓的傳人”？並表示將以此為恥。

　　不少線民認為，龍圖騰代表了千年形成的文化傳統，熊貓形象根本無法承載同等深遠豐富的內涵。以熊貓作為國家象徵，既沒有歷史根據，又徹底割裂了中華文化，是把中華文明庸俗化、功利化。

　　更有網友直接罵袁嶽“說話不負責任”，譏諷他“三鹿喝多了。”（三鹿，指含三聚氰胺假蛋白的污染牛奶）。

　　從一些跟帖看來，儘管熊貓被臺灣社會肯定為柔化了中國大陸的強權形象，但部分大陸線民所推崇的正是“龍”所暗示的強大與霸氣，這是“龍”被認為優於“熊貓”的地方。一些線民說：中國人就應該活得有骨氣、霸氣。老實、憨厚，臉上兩個黑眼圈的熊貓，儼然一副挨打的樣子，何況還是素食的。

　　關於“龍”作為中國標誌的爭論，在大陸的輿論界與知識圈裡已非第一次出現。2007年，就有學者建議將中國龍的英文譯名從“Dragon”改為“long”或者“loong”，原因是西洋的龍在西方文化中是具侵略性的惡魔，中國用“dragon”作為自身的符號，會引起西方人的錯誤聯想。

北大教授：因中國曾被藐視所以出現圖騰討論

　　對此，北京大學社會學系教授，中國民俗學會秘書長高丙中受訪時對本報指出，針對龍圖騰的種種討論，都是中國國家形象焦慮的表達方式。

　　這種焦慮根源于近現代以來，中國在國際政治角力中的挫敗感。高丙中說，中國從一個被景仰的東方文明一度淪為被藐視的符號，其中即包含中國自身的原因，也有外在因素。他認為，負面形象是國際力量給中國戴上的緊箍咒，這並非是改換國家符號，來個“脫胎換骨”、“否定原來的我”就可能改變的。

　　他認為，“龍”不可能被“熊貓”所取代，討論本身不會改變任何情況，但可以引起對中國形象的思考，並表現中國的善意。

　　他說：“有人提出國家標誌應該換成熊貓，說明我們還是希望我們的形象更可愛，願意做一些自我改變來適應世界；國家也是這樣子，為了融入國際社會願意努力做一些改變。”

《聯合早報》