為何香港公立學校里的白人學生越來越多？

HONG KONG — For generations, Hong Kong’s prestigious international schools exclusively educated the children of wealthy Western expatriates. Today, placement in those schools is increasingly competitive and enrollment fees can exceed $1 million, making them some of the most expensive private schools in the world.

香港——幾代人來，只有富裕的西方僑民的子女才能在香港赫赫有名的國際學校接受教育。如今，這些學校的招生競爭越來越激烈，入學費用可以超過100萬美元，使這些學校進入了全世界最貴私立學校的行列。

Recent changes to the city’s demography — prompted by Chinese politics and global markets — have driven up tuitions and resulted in a dramatic shift in the complexion of the city’s schools: An increasing number of ethnic Chinese students are now enrolled in international schools, and many more white students are occupying desks in Cantonese-language public schools.

受中國政治和全球市場的影響，香港的人口結(jié)構(gòu)近來發(fā)生了變化，這種變化導致了學費的上升、以及香港學校中學生膚色的巨大改變：越來越多的華裔學生現(xiàn)在在國際學校就讀，而更多的白人學生則出現(xiàn)在粵語公立學校的課堂上。

“Private schools here are bloody expensive you know, and we have twins,” said James Runciman, a Briton, shop owner and father of two 6-year-olds who are set to begin second grade in September. “We just can’t afford to send our kids to these schools,” he said of the private international schools, which replicate the curriculums of Western countries, including the United States, Britain, Canada and France.

“你知道，這里的私立學校貴得嚇人，而我們家有雙胞胎，”英國人詹姆斯·朗西曼(James Runciman)說，他是香港的一個店主，也是兩個六歲孩子的父親，他的孩子今年9月就要上二年級了。“我們負擔不起把孩子送到這些學校讀書的費用，”他指的是私立的國際學校，這些學校有與美國、英國、加拿大和法國等西方國家同樣的課程設置。

As students return to school next month, there will be more white students in public schools than at any time in the city’s history, a telling indicator of how Hong Kong is both shaking off its colonial past and losing its draw as a magnet for the West’s wealthiest workers.

隨著學生們在下個月返校，公立學校校園里也將會有香港史上最多的白人學生，這強有力地表明，香港已經(jīng)擺脫了昔日的殖民時代，也失去了對西方最富裕的工作者的吸引力。

Last year 818 white students were enrolled in the city’s public schools, according to the Hong Kong Education Bureau, which labels all Caucasian students “white” regardless of nationality or self-identification.

根據(jù)香港教育局的數(shù)據(jù)，去年，有818名白人學生在香港公立學校就讀，在教育局統(tǒng)計里，不管學生的國籍或自我認同，所有白種人的學生都被標為白人。

That number represents a small fraction of the overall public school population, but is indicative of a 44 percent increase from 2013, when only 556 white children attended public schools.

這個數(shù)字只占公立學校學生總?cè)藬?shù)的很小一部分，但與2013年的數(shù)字相比上升了44%，2013年時，只有556名白人學生在公立學校就讀。

Robert Adamson, a professor of curriculum reform at the Education University of Hong Kong, said white students were increasingly attending public schools because they had been priced out of the city’s international schools by a newly rich immigrant constituency: mainland Chinese.

香港教育大學課程改革教授羅伯特·亞當森(Robert Adamson)說，越來越多白人學生在公立學校就讀，因為一個新近富裕起來的群體——來自中國內(nèi)地的移民——愿意支付更高的學費，而白人學生則被過高的學費擠出了香港的國際學校。

“International schools are in high demand from a new market — mainland China — and fees have increased considerably in recent years,” Professor Adamson said. “Thus, some traditional students are struggling to gain access and therefore look to local schools instead.”

“國際學?，F(xiàn)在有來自中國大陸這個新市場的高需求，近年來學費因此大幅上漲，”亞當森說。“所以，國際學校的傳統(tǒng)學生無法支付巨額學費，他們因此轉(zhuǎn)向當?shù)氐膶W校。”

Hong Kong, which reverted to Chinese control from Britain in 1997, has long been considered Asia’s pre-eminent financial hub. For decades, the world’s largest banks sent Western employees to the city on lucrative expatriate contracts that included money for housing and school tuition. But China’s meteoric rise to become the world’s second largest economy has meant an influx of mainland bankers to Hong Kong. Today, Mandarin is more likely to be heard spoken on a bank’s trading floor in Hong Kong than English.

長期以來，香港一直被視為亞洲杰出的金融中心，香港在1997年從英國回歸中國。幾十年來，世界上最大的幾家銀行都曾派西方雇員駐扎香港，這些雇員有豐厚的外派合同，還能報銷住房費用和孩子的學費。但隨著中國迅速崛起成為全球第二大經(jīng)濟體，大量內(nèi)地銀行家涌入香港。如今，在香港的銀行交易大廳里更可能聽到普通話，而不是英語。

Still, after a decline in expatriate whites following the 1997 handover, the city has seen an increase in its white population in the last decade. As China has opened its economy, many foreigners have come to Hong Kong looking to open — and work for — businesses eager to gain access to China’s enormous markets and its inexpensive goods and services.

1997年回歸之后，派駐香港的白人數(shù)量有所下降，盡管如此，香港的白人人口在過去10年里卻有所增加。隨著中國開放了本國的經(jīng)濟，許多外國人來到香港開辦渴望能進入中國的巨大市場、利用中國廉價商品和服務的公司，或為這類公司工作。

From 2006 to 2016, the number of white residents increased by 60 percent, to 58,209 from 36,384. The majority of those whites were from English-speaking countries, including Britain, the United States and Australia. But as of 2006, 16 percent of whites in the city did not speak English at home, according to a government report that cited German-, Italian- and French-speaking residents. The government tracks the number of “whites” as an “ethnic minority” in the city, but its statistics do not break that down by nationality.

從2006年到2016年，香港的白人居民人口增長了60%，從36384人增加到58209人。這些白人中的大多數(shù)來自英語國家，包括英國、美國和澳大利亞。但據(jù)一份政府報告顯示，截至2006年，香港16%的白人在家里不說英語，而是說德語、意大利語和法語等語言。政府將香港的“白人”作為一個“少數(shù)族裔”來統(tǒng)計，但政府的統(tǒng)計數(shù)據(jù)沒有把他們按國籍進行細分。

Since the 2008 financial crisis, Western firms have been less willing to offer employees gold-plated relocation packages. And white workers in the city are no longer just bankers, but also small-business owners, middle managers at tech start-ups and baristas in coffee shops.

自2008年金融危機以來，西方公司不再那么愿意花重金外派員工了。而且，香港的白人工作者不再只是銀行家，還包括小企業(yè)主、技術(shù)初創(chuàng)企業(yè)的中層管理人員，以及咖啡店里的咖啡師。

“Many low and middle-management people are not given the same packages when asked to move here,” said Jacqueline Cohen, an American who moderates a parents group on Facebook for expatriates with children in public schools.

“許多中層和基層管理人員在被派駐這里時，沒有得到(和以前)一樣的待遇，”杰奎琳·科恩(Jacqueline Cohen)說。她在Facebook上為有子女在公立學校就讀的外籍人士主持一個家長群。

But as expatriate packages have declined, prices at international schools have increased. Tuition at international schools can exceed $42,000 a year, excluding so-called debentures, which can exceed $1 million at the most prestigious and expensive schools.

但隨著外派待遇的下降，國際學校的學費卻在上漲。不包括所謂的“債券”，國際學校的學費可以超過每年4.2萬美元，而“債券”在最著名、學費最貴的學?？梢猿^100萬美元。

Debentures are lump-sum loans that incoming students are required to pay to the school on top of regular fees. Large debentures often come with the promise of admission at some selective schools. The loans, used for capital projects at the school’s discretion, are sometimes reimbursed at graduation, but can also be bought and sold on a secondhand market. Some debentures, however, depreciate and are never returned.

學校要求新生購買的債券是一種一次性貸款，是在常規(guī)的費用之上。一些嚴格挑選學生的學校通常伴隨錄取承諾要求學生購買大額債券。這些貸款被用于學校自行決定的資本項目上，債券有時在學生畢業(yè)時會歸還，但也可以在二手市場上買賣。但是，有些債券會貶值，而且永遠不會被歸還。

Increasingly, many of the students at international schools are Hong Kong locals or the children of mainland Chinese parents. Foreign students once made up 100 percent of those schools’ populations. In 2017, however, foreigners accounted for less than 75 percent of students at primary international schools. Local students accounted for 21.6 percent of the student body, and “nonlocal Chinese,” a Hong Kong government designation for mainlanders, made up about 4 percent, according to the Education Bureau.

香港國際學校里越來越多的學生是香港本地人、或有中國大陸的父母。這些學校曾經(jīng)100%是外國學生。但在2017年，外國學生在國際小學的比例已低于75%。香港教育局的數(shù)據(jù)顯示，這些學校里，本地學生占學生總數(shù)的21.6%，非本地中國人(香港政府對內(nèi)地人的稱呼)約占4%。

Hong Kong prides itself on being a diverse, international city but it is also largely segregated — not by law but by custom.

香港為自己的多元化和國際化而自豪，但香港在很大程度上也存在種族隔離——不是因為法律，而是因為習俗。

For many white parents, however, a Chinese-language education is an added reason to send their children to public schools and a chance for them to better integrate in the city.

但對許多白人家長來說，中文教育是讓孩子上公立學校的又一個理由，也是讓他們更好地融入香港的一個機會。

“We consciously put our children into Cantonese schools,” said Ms. Cohen, whose children are 11 and 12. “They need to know the language to be a full member of Hong Kong.”

“我們有意識地讓孩子上粵語學校，”科恩說。她的孩子分別是11歲和12歲。“他們需要會說粵語，只有那樣才能真正成為香港社會的一員。”

Katherine Ferreira, Mr. Runciman’s wife and the mother of twins, Vicente and Florencia, 6, also said learning Cantonese was an important factor in deciding to enroll her children in public schools.

朗西曼和妻子凱瑟琳·費雷拉(Katherine Ferreira)有一對雙胞胎，6歲的維歉特和弗洛倫西亞(Vicente and Florencia)。費雷拉也說：能學粵語是決定讓孩子上公立學校的一個重要因素。

“This is a different continent, so I saw it as a good chance to learn a new language,” said Ms. Ferreira, who is from Chile. “If they’re going to learn a language, now’s the moment.”

“這是一個不同的大陸，所以我認為這是一個學習新語言的好機會，”來自智利的費雷拉說。“如果他們要學習一門語言的話，現(xiàn)在學正合適。”

Primary public school students are required to use English and Cantonese in their regular classes and learn Mandarin too. High schools are typically designated either as English-language or Cantonese-language schools, with the other language and Mandarin being taught as electives.

公立小學的學生在每天的課堂上必須使用英語和粵語，也要學習普通話。高中通常被指定為英語學?；蚧浾Z學校，其他語言和普通話被作為選修課來教授。

Aiken Bridges, 13, said he is the only non-Chinese student at the English-language secondary school to which he will return in September. “My friends usually speak to me in English,” he said, adding that he was still nervous when speaking Cantonese outside class.

13歲的艾肯·布里奇斯(Aiken Bridges)說，他是他上的英語中學的唯一一名非華裔學生，他將在9月返校。“我的朋友們通常和我說英語，”他說，并補充說，他在課堂外講粵語時仍很緊張。

The vast majority of immigrant students enrolled in the city’s public schools are Asian, which the government’s ethnicity statistics do break down by country of origin. Last year there were 6,267 Pakistani students in public schools — the single largest immigrant bloc — nearly eight times the number of white students.

在香港公立學校就讀的移民學生中，絕大多數(shù)是亞裔，政府在按種族統(tǒng)計的數(shù)據(jù)中把這些學生按原國籍進行了細分。去年，有6267名巴基斯坦學生在公立學校就讀，屬于學生中最大的移民群體，幾乎是白人學生的8倍。

Unlike whites, non-Chinese Asian immigrants have attended the city’s public schools for decades. Some South Asian families complain of systemic racism, arguing that the schools fail to teach their children Cantonese, the predominant Chinese language spoken in the city, which is necessary for public sector employment.

與白人不同的是，非中國的亞洲移民在香港公立學校就讀已有幾十年的歷史了。一些南亞家庭抱怨說，公立學校存在著系統(tǒng)性的種族主義，他們認為這些學校沒有教會他們的孩子講粵語?；浾Z是香港主要的中文語言，在公共部門就業(yè)必需會說粵語。

(In addition to “white” and the nine most common Asian countries from which students trace their heritage, the Education Bureau also has demographic categories for “other Asian” and “others.”)

(除了“白人”、以及學生來自的最常見的九個亞洲國家外，教育局的學生人口統(tǒng)計中還有“其他亞裔”和“其他”兩個分類。)

Hong Kong’s students often rank among the world’s top performers in math, reading and science, according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. That reputation, however, comes at a cost. Many students say the schools are high-pressure environments in which rote learning is stressed over critical thinking.

根據(jù)經(jīng)濟合作與發(fā)展組織(Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development)的數(shù)據(jù)，香港學生在數(shù)學、閱讀和科學方面的成績通常在全球名列前茅。但是，這種聲譽是有代價的。許多學生表示，學校里的高壓環(huán)境更多地強調(diào)死記硬背，而不是批判性思維。

Some experts attribute a rise in teenage suicide to the stress and rigor of school. 一些專家將青少年自殺率上升歸因于學校的壓力和嚴格。

About 35 students killed themselves in 2017, according to Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong, a nonprofit anti-suicide organization, a 50 percent increase over 2016. More than 93 percent of high school students reported that school led to anxiety, according to the group.

據(jù)非營利的反自殺組織香港撒瑪利亞防止自殺會(Samaritan Befrienders Hong Kong)的統(tǒng)計，在2017年一年中，約有35名學生自殺，比2016年增加了50%。該組織稱，超過93%的高中生反映，學校讓他們有焦慮感。

Western parents are often shocked by the long hours spent at school and the mountains of homework students in Hong Kong are expected to complete. In many cases, expatriate parents who send their children to public elementary schools use the money they have saved to pay for a private or international high school once classes get harder.

在香港，學生每天在學校的時間很長，并要完成大量的家庭作業(yè)，這常常讓西方家長感到震驚。在很多情況下，那些把孩子送進公立小學的外籍父母們，會在課程變得更難后，把他們省下來的錢花在私立或國際高中的學費上。

“I chose my children’s mental and physical health over their results when they got to primary two,” said Ms. Cohen, the American who moderates the “Cantonese School Parents Group” on Facebook. “After school and their homework tutorial, they will have the time for relaxation and a balanced life.”

“我的孩子讀小學二年級時，我的選擇是，孩子的心理和生理健康，比他們在取得的成績更重要，”科恩說，這位美國家長在Facebook上主持“粵語學校家長組”。她說，“在學校和家庭作業(yè)輔導結(jié)束后，他們將有時間放松，將有一個平衡的生活。”