朝鮮華人：日顯珍貴的朝鮮貿(mào)易通道

Song Tianyu sometimes misses North Korea.

宋天宇(化名)有時會想念朝鮮。

“It’s the good times with good friends,” the young man in his early twenties says in one of many Korean restaurants that dot the Chinese border city of Dandong.

“跟好朋友們在一起的時候很愉快。”坐在丹東一家朝鮮餐館里，這位二十歲出頭的年輕人這樣說道。在這座中國邊境城市可以看到很多朝鮮餐館。

Mr Song belongs to a privileged group of North Koreans — those of Chinese origin, who can freely cross the border and even become Chinese nationals.

宋天宇屬于朝鮮的一個特權群體，他們是華裔，可以自由跨越朝中兩國邊境，甚至成為中國公民。

By moving to Dandong as a teenager, he avoided conscription — 10 years’ service in the Korean People’s Army is mandatory for all North Korean men. But Mr Song — not his real name — also achieved what he says his school friends can only dream of: escaping the Kim Jong Un regime and working in China.

宋天宇十幾歲時就搬到了丹東，避開了征兵——所有朝鮮男子都需在朝鮮人民軍(Korean People's Army)服役十年。宋天宇還由此實現(xiàn)了一個目標：逃離金正恩(Kim Jong Un)政權，在中國工作。他說，這樣的事，他在學校的朋友們只能想想。

“Many people, especially the millennials, don’t like Kim,” Mr Song says. “[My friends] have no opportunities to develop themselves in North Korea.”

宋天宇說：“很多人不喜歡金正恩，特別是千禧一代，(我的朋友們)在朝鮮沒有發(fā)展機會。”

As tightening international sanctions over North Korea’s weapons programme leave it ever more isolated, the country’s overseas Chinese, or Huaqiao, provide one of the few remaining bridges with the outside world.

針對朝鮮武器計劃的國際制裁不斷收緊，使朝鮮變得越來越孤立。在這種情況下，在朝鮮的華人成了該國與外界聯(lián)系僅剩的少數(shù)橋梁之一。

Chinese North Koreans are invaluable as business intermediaries, according to scholars and Chinese traders in Dandong, which handles roughly a third of North Korea’s external trade.

學者和丹東的中國貿(mào)易商表示，朝鮮華人是非常寶貴的商業(yè)中介，大約三分之一的朝鮮對外貿(mào)易經(jīng)由他們來完成。

“As other channels of trade are shut down, people increasingly rely on the network of North Korean Huaqiao, and they are likely to be in ever-greater demand,” says Zhao Tong, a fellow at the Tsinghua-Carnegie Center.

清華—卡內(nèi)基全球政策中心(Carnegie-Tsinghua Center)的地區(qū)專家趙通表示：“隨著其他貿(mào)易渠道關閉，人們越來越依賴朝鮮華人的網(wǎng)絡，而且對他們的需求可能會越來越大。”

Academics estimate there are 10,000-15,000 North Korean citizens of Chinese descent, a number that has dropped sharply as families have emigrated to China. Agreements dating back to the founding of North Korea in the 1940s guarantee them their special status.

學者估計，目前約有1萬到1.5萬名朝鮮公民有中國血統(tǒng)——隨著許多華人家庭移民中國，這個群體的人數(shù)比以前已大幅下降。最早簽署于上世紀40年代朝鮮建國時的一些協(xié)議保障了朝鮮華人的特殊地位。

“They are the last living remnants of the era of socialist internationalism,” says Adam Cathcart, lecturer in Chinese history at the University of Leeds. “They always had some autonomy, being somewhat inside and somewhat outside the system.”

英國利茲大學(Leeds University)中國歷史講師亞當•卡思卡特(Adam Cathcart)表示：“他們是社會主義國際主義時代最后的殘存者。他們總是擁有一定自主權，他們某種程度上在體制內(nèi)，某種程度上在體制外。”

Their freedoms have increased under Mr Kim, says Mr Cathcart, who adds that the supreme leader has increased the opportunities for Huaqiao to trade with China, for example allowing them to have international telephone lines in their homes — a luxury denied to almost all other North Koreans.

卡思卡特說，金正恩上臺后他們獲得了更多自由，這位最高領導人增加了朝鮮華人與中國貿(mào)易往來的機會，例如允許他們在家安裝國際電話線路——這是幾乎所有其他朝鮮人都享受不到的奢侈品。

Since former Chinese premier Wen Jiabao visited Pyongyang in 2009, the group has gained increasing recognition from China’s government as a business intermediary between the two countries.

自從時任中國總理溫家寶在2009年訪問平壤以來，朝鮮華人作為兩國商業(yè)中介的地位日益得到了中國政府的認可。

Other citizens need state permission to cross county lines within North Korea, whereas the Huaqiao can even cross over the Chinese border at will. In the 1990s, some were given “river-crossing passes”, a reference to the Yalu River that separates Dandong from Sinuiju on the North Korean side. Now some are granted “overseas Chinese passports”, which can be used to book travel between provinces in China.

其他朝鮮公民需要得到政府許可才能穿越朝鮮國內(nèi)的郡域邊界，而朝鮮華人甚至可以自由跨越朝中邊境。上世紀90年代，一些朝鮮華人被頒發(fā)了“跨江通行證”，這里的“江”指的是將丹東和朝鮮新義州分隔開來的鴨綠江(Yalu River)。

In China, the Huaqiao stand out from other North Koreans. In the restaurant filled with North Korean truck drivers, Mr Song and his family are the only people not wearing the red lapel pins bearing the image of Kim Il Sung or Kim Jong Un that are mandatory across the border. Many people chat on their phones but only Mr Song has a smartphone — there is little access to the internet outside of Pyongyang.

在中國，朝鮮華人與其他朝鮮人有很大的區(qū)別。在這家擠滿了朝鮮卡車司機的餐館里，只有宋天宇與家人不佩戴有金日成(Kim Il Sung)或金正恩(Kim Jong Un)像的紅色像章——在邊境的那一邊佩戴這種像章是必須的。許多人在用手機通話，但只有宋天宇有智能手機——在朝鮮境內(nèi)平壤以外的地方幾乎沒有互聯(lián)網(wǎng)接入服務。

Mr Song still keeps in touch with his North Korean schoolmates, mostly over the phone. His friends call him using smuggled Chinese SIM cards, and let him know the clothes and shoes they want him to buy them.

宋天宇仍與朝鮮的同學保持著聯(lián)系，主要是通過電話。他的朋友們用從中國走私的SIM卡給他打電話，告知他想要他幫忙買什么樣的衣服和鞋子。

“It’s easy,” Mr Song explains, “because so many goods sold in North Korea are Chinese, they can just read me the product labels.” He sends them across the border via the customs office.

“這很簡單，”宋天宇解釋說，“因為朝鮮賣的很多商品都是中國生產(chǎn)的，他們只需要告訴我產(chǎn)品標簽。”他經(jīng)由海關把貨物送過邊境。

Mr Song’s friends mostly work in the garments or electronics industry if they are not doing military service. As the UN imposed sanctions on textile exports this month, their opportunities will shrink further.

宋天宇的朋友們?nèi)绻皇钦诜鄣脑?，就大多在服裝或電子行業(yè)工作。由于聯(lián)合國本月對朝鮮紡織品出口實施了制裁，他們的工作機會將進一步減少。

Mr Song’s grandparents left Shandong in eastern China for Sinuiju shortly after the Japanese occupation in the 1940s, when parts of China were poorer than the Korean peninsula. Mr Song’s cousin has a similar story: his grandfather left China in 1950 as part of the People’s Volunteer Army that supported North Korea against the US in the Korean war.

上世紀40年代日本占領中國東部省份山東后不久，宋天宇的祖父母就離開老家遷居到新義州，當時中國的一些地區(qū)比朝鮮半島還窮。宋天宇的表弟也有類似的故事：他的祖父1950年離開中國，作為中國人民志愿軍的一員參加了抗美援朝戰(zhàn)爭。

Mr Song expects to get Chinese citizenship later this year and says the first thing he will do is apply for a driving licence and drive around China. But he still has strong feelings for his native country.

宋天宇希望在今年晚些時候獲得中國公民身份。他說，自己要做的第一件事就是申請駕照，開車周游中國。但他對自己出生的國家仍懷有強烈的感情。

“I get upset when people say that North Korea is a bad country,” Mr Song says.

“當有人說朝鮮這個國家不好時，我會感到難過，”宋天宇說。

When asked if he thinks it is a good country, he hesitates. “It’s essentially good,” he says. “The people are good.”

在被問及他是否認為朝鮮是個好國家時，他猶豫了。“本質上是好的，”他說，“人民都很善良。”

Additional reporting by Xinning Liu

劉心寧補充報道