就业乃是拦路虎 北京如何治理空气污染?

When people in Beijing put on their pollution masks, it makes international headlines. But the effort to clean up the air in northern China depends on steel-producing cities such as Chengde, whose 3m people are more worried about jobs than smog.

北京人戴上口罩抵御空气污染成了国际头条新闻。但治理中国北方空气的努力，要依靠承德这样的炼钢城市。而承德300万市民对就业的担心，超出他们对烟雾的担心。

The authorities have become so concerned at the state of the air in the Chinese capital that they want the industrial cities of Hebei province that encircle Beijing to cut coal use and steel and cement capacity to ease the problem.

官方对中国首都空气状况如此担忧，以至于他们要求环绕北京的多个河北省工业城市减少使用煤炭，并削减钢铁和水泥产能，以求缓解空气污染问题。

But for Chengde and other cities, where incomes are lower and steel mills with their belching smokestacks are valued employers, that translates into fewer jobs. The issue of keeping jobs in cities without other industries makes the whole shift much more complicated and politically dangerous for Beijing.

但对承德这样的城市来说，这就意味着就业岗位将会减少。这些城市的收入水平较低，排出浓烟的炼钢厂被视为可贵的雇主。在这些没有其他产业的城市，保住就业的问题使得整个经济转型课题对北京来说要复杂得多，在政治上也相当危险。

“Hebei has legitimate concerns that they are less developed and they are heavily reliant on heavy industry,” says Li Yan, head of Greenpeace’s climate and energy campaign for China. “But the public outcry and attention, especially international attention, to China’s ‘airpocalypse’ really triggered concerns at the top level and the centre decided it was Time to make a move.”

“河北有一些正当的关切，他们不那么发达，而且严重依赖重工业，”绿色和平(Greenpeace)在中国的气候与能源项目经理李雁表示，“但是公众对‘末日空气’的强烈不满和关注，尤其是国际方面的关注，真的引发了高层的关切，于是中央决定采取行动。”

Yesterday, the Beijing city government unveiled a new round of measures, from traffic restrictions to keeping children out of school, for use on heavily polluted days. But blue skies in the wealthy capital are dependent on co-operation from the industrial cities that surround it.

昨日北京市政府出台新一轮措施，准备在空气污染严重的日子实行车辆限行和学校停课等对策。但是，如果富有的中国首都要看到蓝天，还是要靠其周围的工业城市配合。

Chengde is one such place. The steel mill makes up its own mini-city, complete with the Chengde Steel hospital, in a western suburb of a town better known for the summer palaces of the Manchu emperors.

承德就是这样一个城市。这里的炼钢厂构成了一个自成一体的小城，还包括承德钢铁集团有限公司总医院。承德本身以满清皇帝的避暑宫殿而闻名，钢厂的小城位于该市西郊。

It is home to most of the unsightly industry and power plants that were banished from Beijing before the 2008 Olympic Games. The province’s pledge to cut coal usage and dismantle some polluting steel and cement plants comes at a cost: the central government will transfer Rmb2bn ($330m) to Hebei as part of the deal, Chinese media reported. But state-owned steel mills such as Chengde Steel are too important to Hebei’s cities to be simply shut down.

这里有一些最不雅观的工厂和发电厂，北京市在举行2008年奥运会之前关停了这些工业设施。河北省减少使用煤炭和关停一部分污染严重钢厂及水泥厂的承诺是有价码的：据中国媒体报道，作为协议的一部分，中央政府将向河北省转移支付20亿元人民币（合3.3亿美元）。但对河北的城市来说，承德钢铁集团这样的国有钢厂实在太过重要，不可能对它们说关就关。

The hinterland accounts for at least one-quarter of Beijing’s pollution, estimates Fang Li, vice-director of the municipal environmental bureau.

北京环境保护局副局长方力估计，北京市至少四分之一的污染来自外地。

Even on a clear day, pollution from Chengde Steel is so thick it can be seen on satellite images of the city. Grey smog submerges the dusty villages on the main road to the mill.

即便是在晴朗的日子里，承德钢铁排放的污染也如此浓烈，以至于从该市的卫星照片也可看到。灰蒙蒙的烟雾遮盖了通往钢厂的主要公路两旁尘土飞扬的村子。

Chengde Steel’s emissions are so bad that it was one of three polluting plants showcased on state television the day China announced its new plan for reducing air pollution in three big population centres. The company and the city government did not respond to requests for interviews.

承德钢铁的排放如此严重，以至于在中国公布新计划治理三大人口中心空气污染的当天，官方电视台将其列为三个工业污染源实例之一。该公司和承德市政府没有回应记者的采访请求。

“We ordinary people, we watch the news. China Central TV discusses pollution endlessly. It’s serious but at the local level nobody does anything about it,” says Zhang, a villager whose tidy home is frequently covered with dust from Chengde Steel’s plants. Like most residents interviewed by Financial Times, he was reluctant to give his full name.

“我们老百姓，我们看新闻。中央电视台不停地谈论污染问题。问题很严重，但在地方上，没有人拿出任何行动，”一名姓张的村民表示。他的家里很整洁，但经常被承德钢铁的钢厂飘来的灰尘覆盖。与英国《金融时报》走访的其他居民一样，他不愿透露自己的全名。

Cleaning up pollution at state-owned Chengde Steel is unlikely to be much of a priority for anyone. The mill commands the only large vanadium mine in northern China and so has strategic value as a producer of the metal used to make hard, rust-resistant steel for tools and nuclear plants. It is also the biggest employer around, accounting for one in eight of all state employees in Chengde. It employs about 16,000 people and another 7,000 or so worked there until they retired.

治理国有的承德钢铁的污染，似乎不太可能受到任何人的太大重视。该厂拥有中国北方唯一的大型钒矿，因而作为这种金属的生产企业而具有战略价值。钒用于生产硬度大、而且抗锈的钢材，核电厂以及工具制造会用到这类钢材。承德钢铁还是当地最大的雇主，占承德市全部国有单位雇员的八分之一。该集团约有1.6万名员工，另外还有7000来名退休职工。

“If this steel mill didn’t exist we wouldn’t even have anywhere to go to eat. Everything revolves around this steel factory; our children work here,” said Mrs Li, who moved to Chengde 40 years ago to work at the plant.

“如果这家钢厂不存在，我们就找不到吃饭的地方。一切都围绕着这家钢厂；我们的孩子在那里工作，”40年前迁居承德、到该厂工作的李太太表示。

It remains to be seen whether Beijing’s new determination in the fight against pollution will succeed where previous campaigns against overcapacity in the steel sector have failed. Chengde Steel has already survived a campaign to shut hundreds of smaller and older mills and create a handful of national champions.

在以往解决钢铁行业产能过剩的努力不了了之的地方，中国中央政府治理污染的新决心能否取得成功？这一点还有待观察。在此前一轮关闭数百家规模较小、设备较陈旧的钢厂、同时创建少量国家级冠军企业的重组努力中，承德钢铁得以幸存。

Hebei province, which collects taxes from Chengde Steel, gathered its big state-owned mills into one conglomerate but made no move to shut any of them.

从承德钢铁获得税收收入的河北省，将该省大型国有钢厂合并为一家企业集团，但没有采取任何行动关闭其中任何一家钢厂。

Average urban salaries in Chengde are only Rmb34,000 a year ($5,400), compared with Rmb56,000 a year in Beijing, so the province can ill-afford any move that threatens jobs. In Beijing, citizens check air pollution levels daily and wear masks on smoggy days. In Chengde, there was talk of moving the housing that stood nearest to the mill, but a compensation plan was never agreed and residents continue to live next to the plant.

承德市民的平均年薪只有3.4万元人民币（合5400美元），远低于北京市的5.6万元人民币，因此河北省无力承受任何危及就业的举措。在北京，市民们天天检查污染水平，并在有雾霾的日子戴上口罩。在承德，曾有过关于搬迁钢厂附近居民的讨论，但各方在补偿方案上谈不拢，因此仍有居民住在钢厂旁边。

In Gonghou village, about a mile from the mill’s main gate, the corn fields have gradually given way to divisions of Chengde Steel and an automotive plant.

在距钢厂大门大约1英里的宫后村，玉米地逐渐被承德钢铁的部门和一家汽车厂占据。

Villagers whose families had farmed here since at least the Qing dynasty now work as dispatch labourers at the steel mill. “You have to take care of the basic needs before you can tackle things like pollution,” says one noodle shop owner, wiping a thin film of grime off his tables before the lunch crowd arrives.

这个村子的人至少自清朝以来就在这里务农。现在，村民们在钢厂里打工。“你只能先照顾好基本需求，然后才能对付污染之类的事，”一名面条店老板表示。他正赶在吃午饭的人群出现之前把桌子上的一层薄薄尘垢擦掉。