中共英雄雷锋并不受美国军校学员喜爱

Beijing (AFP) - A former Chinese journalist has admitted falling for an April Fool joke which sparked a decades-long myth in his country -- that US officer cadets learnt from the example of Communist military hero Lei Feng.

北京（法新社）——一名退休的中国记者承认自己愚人节的一个玩笑成就了中国几十年来的一个虚构神话——即美国军校学员向中国的军队英雄雷锋学习。

Li Zhurun, a former reporter for China's official Xinhua news agency who is now a university professor, made the confession on his Sina Weibo microblog.

李竹润，新华社之前的一名记者，现在则是一名大学教授，在自己的新浪微博上承认了这一点。

Ever since Communist China's supreme leader Mao Zedong recognised Lei Feng for his humble heroism, said to include washinghis comrades' uniforms and giving his pay to the needy, authorities have encouraged citizens to do good and follow his example.

自从中共领导人毛泽东赞扬雷锋谦逊的英雄主义以来——据说他为自己的同志洗制服，还把自己工资给那些需要的人——当局就一直鼓励人们向他学习。

While China's increasingly media-savvy population has come to question the authenticity of the Lei Feng story, the folk hero remains popular in some quarters. Pictures of him wearing his trademark earflap army hat have become a pop icon emblazoned on everything frombags to cups.

虽然有越来越多的中国网名开始质疑雷锋故事的真实性，但是这位大众英雄在某些地方还是很受人们待见。他穿护耳军帽的形象被印在了很多事物上，从包包到杯子。

In his posting, Li said he had been duped by an unspecified Western news outlet, which reported on April Fool's Day 1981 that the West Point military academy in New York Statehad held up the People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldier as an example for all students.

在他的博文中，李说他当时被一个未具名的西方媒体机构所误导，该媒体机构在1981年的愚人节那天报道说纽约州的西点军校将这名解放军战士作为学生们的榜样。

"I was young at the time, and I didn't know that Western media of ten invent 'news' on April Fool's Day," Liwrote.

“我当时还年轻，我根本不知道西方媒体经常会在愚人节这天‘创造'新闻，”他写道。

The state-run China Daily newspaper on Tuesday identified the Western outlet as the United Press International news agency. But it was not clear where Li was based at the time, or who he wrote the story for.

《中国日报》周二确认说这家西方媒体正是美国合众国际新闻社。但不清楚李当时派驻在哪里以及他为谁写这篇报道。

Over the past three decades, the West Point myth has become so entrenched in Chinathat even a member of the country's advisory discussion body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), cited it in a 2009 proposalurging Beijingto apply for UNESCO recognition of the "Lei Feng Spirit".

过去三十年来，西点军校的这个神话深扎在中国，以至于一名中国政协委员在2009年的时候还敦促北京让联合国教科文组织承认“雷锋精神”。

"At America's famous West Point, Lei Feng's portrait is among five hanging in the hall, and the academy's code of student conduct includes his famous quote: 'Human life is limited, but servingthe people is limitless,'" CPPCC member Liu Jianglong said, according to the Chongqing Morning Post.

《重庆晨报》报道说，当时的政协委员刘江龙说：“在美国著名的西点军校，雷锋的形象是挂在大厅中的五幅之一，而该学院的学生行为准则中就包括了他的名言：‘人的生命是有限的，但是服务人民的这份事业是无限的。'”