學者稱天香公主未必有助維漢理解

Last week, The New York Times reported on the production in China of an animated television series with an exotic 10-year-old heroine, Princess Fragrant. The 104-episode series is loosely based on murky historical narratives about the Fragrant Concubine, an ethnic Uighur woman who in the 18th century was brought thousands of miles east to the Chinese imperial court in Beijing of the Qianlong Emperor, an ethnic Manchu, to be one of his program’s creators are Han, the dominant ethnic group in China. It was commissioned last year by the government of Kashgar, an oasis trading hub in Xinjiang, the vast western borderland where violence between Uighurs and Han has been soaring. The mythical tomb of the Fragrant Concubine, who is known as Xiangfei in Mandarin and Iparhan in the Uighur language, is in an Islamic Sufi shrine in Kashgar and is often visited by tour groups from other parts of China. Most Uighurs are Sunni Muslims.

上週，《紐約時報》就中國製作的一部動畫片進行了報道，故事的女主角是10歲的天香公主。這部動畫片共有104集，一定程度上以關於香妃的含糊不清的歷史故事爲基礎。香妃是維吾爾族人，在18世紀，她被往東帶到了距離家鄉數千英里的、位於北京的中國皇宮，給當時的滿族皇帝乾隆當妃子。這個節目的創作人員是在中國占主導地位的漢族。去年，喀什政府批准了這個動畫片的製作。喀什是新疆的一處綠洲，也是一個貿易中心。幅員廣闊的新疆位於中國西部邊陲，維吾爾族與漢族之間的暴力衝突正在那裏愈演愈烈。充滿神祕色彩的香妃墓位於喀什的一座伊斯蘭蘇菲派神祠，這裏經常有來自中國各地的遊客前來參觀。大多數維吾爾族人都是遜尼派穆斯林。

The creators, based in the southern city of Shenzhen, across the country from Xinjiang, say their goal and that of officials in Kashgar is to improve ethnic relations through the cartoon, which shows Uighur, Han and Kazakh characters going on adventures together along the Silk Road.

動畫片的主創人員生活在中國南部城市深圳，距離新疆十分遙遠。他們說，他們和喀什官員的目標就是通過這部動畫片來改善民族關係。這部動畫片講述了維吾爾族、漢族和哈薩克族角色在絲綢之路上共同展開冒險歷程的故事。

James Leibold, a scholar of China’s ethnic policies at La Trobe University in Melbourne, Australia, who is teaching in a study-abroad program this semester in Beijing, shared his thoughts on the series by email. He pointed out the paradox that Princess Fragrant is drawn with a silky head scarf even while officials in Xinjiang have been imposing bans on the wearing of head scarves by women in public, which is central to the practice of Islam in many parts of the world. Mr. Leibold wrote: It’s hard to believe the cartoon will achieve its stated goal of “boosting cultural exchanges and understanding between Han and Uighur people.” The production team (mostly Han from Shenzhen, I recall) admit knowing little about the region and its people. As you know, ethnic tensions in Xinjiang are at their highest levels in decades, and many Uighurs feel under siege from an increasingly intrusive party-state, here perceived as both alien and Han, as it penetrates deeper into their daily lives. Like other “Han productions,” I suspect Xinjiang’s majority Uighur population will see right through this latest piece of “ethnic unity propaganda.” They have their own narratives of Iparhan, ones that stress resistance to Qing/Chinese imperial rule.

墨爾本拉籌伯大學(La Trobe University)研究中國民族政策的高級講師詹姆斯·萊博爾德(James Leibold)本學期在北京參與一個海外留學項目的教學工作，他通過電子郵件分享了對這部動畫片的看法。他指出，動畫片中的天香公主戴着一塊絲質頭巾，而新疆官員卻一直在執行禁止婦女在公共場合佩戴頭巾的禁令。而佩戴頭巾在世界上許多地區都是非常重要的伊斯蘭行爲準則。萊博爾德寫道： 很難相信這部動畫片將達到它所謂的“促進文化交流和維漢兩族人民的相互理解”的目的。製作團隊（我記得他們大多是來自深圳的漢族人）承認，他們對這個地區以及該地區人民瞭解甚少。如你所知，新疆的民族矛盾已達到數十年來最激烈的程度，許多維吾爾人都覺得，隨着這個政黨國家對他們的日常生活進行更深的滲透，干預越來越強，他們感到四面受敵，認爲這是個與自己不相容的漢人國家。與其他漢族的影視產品一樣，我認爲在新疆佔大多數的維族人一眼就能看穿這是個最新的民族團結宣傳片。對於香妃的故事，他們有着自己的版本，這些版本都強調了對清朝/中華帝國統治的抵抗。

In fact, I find it highly ironic and revealing that Iparhan/Fragrant Princess has been drawn with a headscarf while local officials in Xinjiang are now promoting a scarf-less “standard” for traditional Uighur “beauty” (see here), banning Uighur women with the hijab from boarding buses in Karamay city and entering other public places, and even confiscating silk scarves and traditional hats from local markets in Urumqi (see here) series has Uighur advisers appointed by the Kashgar government, but it is unclear how much the Han creators know of the new policies on veils in Xinjiang or of the role of the veil in traditional Muslim societies.

這裏有一點頗具諷刺意味，也可以說明一定問題，動畫片中的天香公主戴着頭巾，而新疆地方官員目前卻在宣揚，不戴頭巾是傳統維吾爾族“美人”的“標準”（見此處）。他們禁止戴着希賈布的維吾爾族女性在克拉瑪依乘坐公共汽車或進入其他公共場所，甚至沒收了烏魯木齊當地市場的絲巾和傳統花帽（見此處）。這部動畫片裏有喀什政府委任的維吾爾族顧問，但目前還不清楚這些漢族主創究竟對新疆針對頭巾的新政策，以及頭巾在傳統穆斯林社會中的角色瞭解多少。

In an interview this week, Deng Jiangwei, the director of “Princess Fragrant,” said that the program did not mention politics or Islam and that its aim was mainly to teach viewers “that ethnic unity is the most powerful weapon in the face of adversity.”

《天香公主》的導演鄧江偉在本週接受採訪時說，動畫片並沒有提到政治或伊斯蘭教，它的目的主要是告訴觀衆“面對逆境，民族團結是最強大的武器”。

As for what the cartoon says about the role of women, Mr. Deng said: “It is also the coming-of-age story of the princess, about how she goes on adventures and learns to become a young adult with courage and virtues.”

關於這部動畫片對女性角色的描繪，鄧江偉說：“它還講述了公主的成長故事，描述了她展開歷險並最終成爲一名具有勇氣和美德的年輕人的過程。”