我1961年出生于上海，成長于文革期間。在我的童年時期，我目睹家庭失去房子。我的祖父在英國研習(xí)醫(yī)學(xué)，因被冤枉是反革命和外國間諜而自殺。

那是最糟糕的時代。

　　然而，自從文革于20世紀(jì)70年代末結(jié)束后，我曾親眼目睹中國不可思議的進步。在僅僅一代人的時間里，發(fā)生了很少人能夠想象的變化。跟西方?jīng)]有任何聯(lián)系的共產(chǎn)主義政府已經(jīng)演變成一個更加開放、力圖融入國際社會的政府。

　　國家控制的經(jīng)濟已經(jīng)演變成市場經(jīng)濟，大大提高了民眾的生活水平。顯然，如今大多數(shù)中國民眾的生活比三十年前要豐富得多，富裕得多。盡管要做的工作還很多，但中國政府在開放方面進展迅速，并嘗試成為國際社會的一部分。

　　我上月去了中國，并花了四周時間訪問上海、北京、香港和成都。我所接觸的人都為北京奧運感到驕傲和興奮。中國人認為奧運是向全世界展示現(xiàn)代中國的極好機會。和很多美國人一樣，大多數(shù)中國民眾為最近的西藏事件感到不安。但看過暴徒使用暴力和縱火的場面之后，中國人認為政府予以打擊以恢復(fù)秩序的做法是正確的。

　　奧運火炬如今在加州，今天（4月9日）將經(jīng)過舊金山。舊金山市監(jiān)事會議成員戴利（Chris Daly）在一項批評中國的決議中表示，針對火炬接力的抗議活動將“給舊金山民眾提供一生難得的、幫助13億中國人獲得更多自由和權(quán)利的機會�！笨尚业氖牵�市長紐森（Gavin Newsom）并沒有簽署戴利的決議。

　　這項聲明脫離實際。一方面，中國人是驕傲的人們。中國人想要自由和更多的權(quán)利，但中國人知道自己必須從內(nèi)部爭取。中國人知道自由和權(quán)利不是外人所能給予的。西方帝國主義和鴉片戰(zhàn)爭帶來的恥辱仍然未能忘懷，而且中國民眾不希望外部勢力指示自己的國內(nèi)政策。中國人也不希望美國抵制奧運開幕式。美國抵制1980年莫斯科奧運，蘇聯(lián)抵制1984年洛杉磯奧運，兩敗俱傷。美國如抵制北京的開幕式將會給兩國關(guān)系帶來適得其反的效果。

　　幾十年來，華盛頓的反華人權(quán)組織耗費數(shù)百萬美元譴責(zé)中國。對許多中國人而言，美國媒體和美國政府只接受這些游說者的聲音，或者認為這些聲音才有新聞價值。但時代變了。我們需要放開胸襟，放長眼光。我們需要更多的朋友而不是敵人。還記得20世紀(jì)70年代小小的乒乓球賽給中美關(guān)系帶來的變化嗎？讓我們?yōu)閵W運的意義慶賀奧運——它是友誼的橋梁，不是政治的場地。

　　來源：美國《華盛頓郵報》 來源日期：2008-4-9

　　英文原文 Let the Games Go On

　　By Joan Chen

　　Wednesday, April 9, 2008; A19

　　I was born in Shanghai in 1961 and grew up during the Cultural Revolution. During my childhood, I saw my family lose our house. My grandfather, who studied medicine in England, committed suicide after he was wrongly accused of being a counterrevolutionary and a foreign spy.

　　Those were the worst of times.

　　Since the Cultural Revolution ended in the late 1970s, however, I have witnessed unimaginable progress in China. Changes that few ever thought possible have occurred in a single generation. A communist government that had no ties to the West has evolved into a more open government eager to join the international community.

　　A state-controlled economy has morphed into a market economy, greatly raising people's standard of living. It's clear that the majority of the Chinese people enjoy much fuller, more abundant lives today than 30 years ago. Though much remains to be done, the Chinese government has made rapid progress in opening up and trying to be part of the international community.Last month I went to China and spent four weeks visiting Shanghai, Beijing, Hong Kong and Chengdu. The people I met and spoke with are proud and excited about the Beijing Games. They believe that the Olympics are a wonderful opportunity to showcase modern China to the rest of the world. Like many Americans, most Chinese people are disturbed by the recent events in Tibet. But after watching the scenes of violence and arson by the rioters, the Chinese believe that the government is doing the right thing in cracking down to restore order.

　　The Olympic torch is in California and is to be carried through San Francisco today. In a resolution criticizing China, Chris Daly, a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, said that demonstrating against the torch relay would "provide the people of San Francisco with a lifetime opportunity to help 1.3 billion Chinese people gain more freedom and rights." To his credit, Mayor Gavin Newsom did not sign Daly's resolution.

　　This statement could not be further from reality. For one thing, the Chinese are a proud people. They want freedom and greater rights, but they know they must fight for them from within. They know that no one can grant them freedom and rights from afar. The stigma of Western imperialism and the Opium Wars also remains a strong reminder of the past, and Chinese people do not want their domestic policies to be dictated by outside powers. They also do not want the United States to boycott the opening ceremonies of the Games. The U.S. boycott of the 1980 Games in Moscow and the Soviet boycott of the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles accomplished nothing. A U.S. boycott of the opening ceremonies in Beijing would be counterproductive for relations between the two countries.

　　For decades, anti-China human rights groups in Washington have spent millions of dollars denouncing China. To many Chinese, it seems that this lobby is the only voice that's acceptable or newsworthy in the U.S. media and to the U.S. government. But times are changing. We need to be open-minded and farsighted. We need to make more friends than enemies. Remember what a little ping-pong game did for Sino-U.S. relations in the 1970s? Let's celebrate the Olympics for what the Games are meant to be -- a bridge for friendship, not a playground for politics.

　　The writer is an actress and director. She became a U.S. citizen in 1989.