WHERE IS XU ZHIYONG? 许志永在哪里？

作者Evan Osnos（欧逸文），文章来源The New Yorker。

协同翻译：@ruanji，@huawuban，@Isaac，Ella

同时感谢@GFWkiller，@cheo2ng，@biggestbala，@obitoddkenobi的建议。

英文原文版权归作者Evan Osnos所有，译文版权使用: CC 署名-相同方式共享 3.0

Imagine, for a moment, how it might sound to turn on the news one day and hear that the head of the A.C.L.U. had vanished from his home in the predawn hours. Or, think how America might be different today if a pesky young Thurgood Marshall had been silenced using an obscure tax rule and kept out of the courts.

翻译：用一点时间想像一下，你某天打开电视了解到美国公民自由联盟(the A.C.L.U.)的领袖在天还没亮的清晨突然从自己家里消失，你会有什么感觉。或者想像一下美国的今天会变的如何，如果年轻而充满活力的瑟古德・马歇尔被一个莫名其妙的税法噤声，亦被拒之法庭门外。

注：瑟古德・马歇尔（Thurgood Marshall，1908年7月2日－1993年1月24日）是美国公民权利法律人士，1967年至1991年间担任美国最高法院大法官，他是第一位担任此职的黑人。

At around 5 A.M. on Wednesday, Chinese authorities visited the home of Xu Zhiyong, a prominent legal scholar and elected legislator in Beijing, and led him away. He has not been heard from again. Unless something changes, he is likely to stay away for a long time, with or without formal charges. Anyone with an interest in China, its economy, its place in the world, or the kind of future it will fashion, please take note: This is a big deal.

翻译：周三凌晨5点左右，中国当局派人将许志永从他的家里带走。他是一位卓越的法律学者，更是北京海淀区人大代表。自此，没有人再听到过他的消息。除非情况有转机 ，他很可能会消失很长一段时间，无论有没有正式的指控。任何对中国、中国经济、或是中国在世界中的地位关注的人，请记住：这是一件大事。

Xu might not have reached Marshall status yet, but he is as close as China gets to a public-interest icon. He teaches law at the Beijing University of Post and Telecommunications. He has also run the Open Constitution Initiative, a legal aid and research organization that worked on many of China's path-breaking cases. He and his colleagues had investigated the Sanlu milk scandal, in which dangerous baby formula harmed children's health, and assisted people who had been locked up by local officials in secret undeclared jails. All of those activities are emphatically consistent with the goals of the Chinese government, even if they angered the local bureaucrats who were caught in the act.

翻译：许先生可能还没有到达马歇尔般的地位，但他几乎已经成为中国公益维权的榜样。他在北京邮电大学教授法律，同时也负责公盟的运营。公盟是一个法律援助与研究机构，参与了中国很多具有开拓性的案件。他和他的同事们曾经参与调查了三鹿奶粉危害婴幼儿健康的丑闻；他们也帮助那些被地方官员关在秘密监狱的人们。所有这些行为和中国政府的目标毫无疑问是一致的，尽管他们可能激怒了某些在行动中被抓的地方官僚。

Xu has never set out to undermine one-party rule; he is enforcing rights guaranteed in the Chinese Constitution. He has enough faith in the system that he joined it: in 2003, he ran for and won a seat as a legislator in his local district assembly, one of the few independent candidates to be elected in an open, contested election. He even received the recognition, rare among activists, of being profiled last year in a Chinese newspaper. "I have taken part in politics in pursuit of a better and more civilized nation," he said at the time. "I am determined to prove to the citizens across the country that politics should be desirable."

翻译：许先生从来没有去破坏一党统治；他致力与促进中国宪法保障的权利得到实现。他对现有的政治体系有足够的信心乃至他加入其中：在2003年，他参与区级人民代表大会的竞选并赢得一个席位，成为的极少数在公开竞争中当选的独立候选人之一。他更是罕有的受公开认可的维权者之一，在去年有一份中文报纸做了他的人物专访。"我已经参加了追求一个更美好，更文明国家的政治。"他在那个时候说，"我决心要证明给全国各地的公民看，政治应该是美好的。"

His work naturally angered parts of China's bureaucracy, and pressure on him mounted. On July 14th, the Open Constitution Initiative, also known as Gongmeng, was fined 1.42 million RMB for "tax evasion." Then it was banned. Xu was to have had his day in court, except he was picked up before he could. Separately, a young colleague named Zhuang Lu has also been detained, and her whereabouts are unknown. It is easy to look at China's list of high-profile detentions and rationalize them: That guy was a cowboy, or, things in China are improving, and we have to keep it in context. Sorry. Not this time. Xu is no cowboy. As a Time magazine reporter wrote, in 2007, "Xu is probably the person most committed to public service that I've met in China, and possibly in my whole life." Moreover, his work is as intimately connected to the broader context of China's economic and political future as you can get. When the U.S. and China wrapped up a round of strategic and economic talks this week, they issued a joint press release that affirmed "the importance of the rule of law to our two countries." Hu Jintao is quoted every chance he gets-"the rule of law should let the people be the masters of the country"-talking about exactly the kind of legal professionalism that Xu stands for. Jeffrey Prescott, the deputy director of Yale's China Law Center, which has worked with Xu and his organization since 2004, tells me:

翻译：他的工作不免激怒了中国的部分官僚，他们对他施加的压力越来越大。7月14日，公盟法律研究中心，简称公盟，被官方以"逃税"罪名罚款142万人民币并取缔。许先生本该出现在法庭上的，但被提前带走（而没能出庭）。另外，一个年轻的同事庄璐也已被拘留，下落不明。看看中国广受关注的一些被拘留者的名单，很容易给出合理化解释：那家伙是一个牛仔，或者在中国的事情正在改善，我们必须把它放到时代背景中考虑。很抱歉，这次不是，因为许先生不是牛仔。正如一位时代杂志记者在2007年写道，"许先生可能是我在中国所遇到的，甚至可能是我一生所遇到的最专注地致力于公共服务的人。" 此外，他的工作跟中国更广范围内的经济和可以实现的政治前景有着紧密无间联系。在这周美国和中国战略和经济会谈结束后发表的一份联合新闻稿里，申明了"法治对我们两个国家的重要性。" 胡锦涛那句被无数次引用了的话： "法治应该让人民成为国家的主人"，谈论的正是许只用所代表的法律专业主义。自2004年起与许和他的组织一同工作的耶鲁大学的中国法律中心副主任，杰弗里-普雷斯科特告诉我：

"He is doing careful, thoughtful, and important work of international caliber-not much different than what mainstream public interest lawyers and scholars do every day in the U.S. or anywhere else. Xu and his colleagues are doing research into China's problems, making efforts to promote constructive ideas for legal reform, and helping provide legal assistance to weak and marginalized groups in society…. Any of this would make Dr. Xu an important figure. But, above all, it is his human qualities that make him truly compelling. He is someone of rare idealism, judgment, commitment to law, selfless dedication, and fundamental decency. So that makes his detention very hard to understand."

翻译："他（许先生）正在做细致的，深思熟虑的，具有国际水准的工作。这与美国或者其他地方的主流公共利益律师和学者每天所做的相似。许先生和他的同事们调查研究中国存在的一些问题，提出有关法律改革的建设性意见，并且向社会中的弱者和边缘化群体提供法律援助等等。以上任何一点都可以使得许博士成为一个重要人物。但更重要的是，他的个人品质使得他具有真正的感染力。他同时具有如下品质：罕见的理想主义，敏锐的判断力，忠实于法律，无私奉献，以及彬彬有礼。所以他被拘留很难让人理解。"

For China, and those who have given their careers to studying and negotiating with it, this is a big test. It's not too late for Xu to be released before the full bureaucracy gets too much invested in holding him, but time is limited. China deserves better than this kind of behavior. Xu-or Hu Jintao-would be the first to tell you that.

翻译：对于中国以及那些一贯致力于中国研究和与中国谈判的人来说，这是一次很大的考验。在整个体系投入力量去拘留他之前，现在释放许先生还不算太晚，但我们的时间有限。中国可否作出比这样更好的行为，许先生-或是胡锦涛-将会首先告诉你。