9000瓶污水和一个中国村庄的水污染

BEIJING — The 9,000 bottles of water on display at an art gallery in Beijing last month appeared identical to those of Nongfu Spring, one of China’s most popular spring water brands, with one jarring difference. Inside each bottle was brown, murky groundwater collected from a Chinese village.

北京——上月北京一家画廊展出的9000瓶水，与中国最受欢迎的矿泉水品牌之一农夫山泉看起来一模一样，只有一个醒目的不同。每个瓶子里装的都是从中国的一个村庄里采集的棕褐色、混浊的地下水。

The water from the village, Xiaohaotu, in the central province of Shaanxi, is polluted with heavy metals, the likely result of nearby coal mining and gas exploration operations, residents and officials say.

这些受到重金属污染的水来自中国中部陕西省小壕兔乡，当地居民和官员说，这可能是附近煤矿开采和天然气勘探活动所致。

“The things I’m concerned about are all related to people’s survival experience,” said Brother Nut, an artist and activist known only by his pseudonym, who put up the exhibit. “For example, do people have fresh air, clean water to drink? These are basic human rights.”

“我其实关注的都是跟人的生存经历相关的，”举办这次展览的坚果兄弟说，他是一位艺术家和活动人士，仅以这个化名为人所知。“比如人有新鲜的空气啊，有干净的水喝，这都是人的基本权利嘛!”

This is not Brother Nut’s first attempt at turning pollution into art with a message — in 2015, he used an industrial vacuum to suck up particulate matter in Beijing’s air and formed it into a brick — but the “Nongfu Spring Market” exhibit stands out for prompting officials to take action.

这不是坚果兄弟第一次尝试将污染转化为传递信息的艺术——2015年，他利用工业吸尘器吸取北京空气中的颗粒物，并将其制成砖块 ——但这次的“农夫山泉超市”展览促使官员对其采取行动，因而显得更加突出。

Almost immediately after Brother Nut opened the “market” on June 20 in Beijing’s popular 798 Art District, images of muck-filled water bottles began to circulate on Chinese social media. The authorities in the capital ordered the show closed, which only served to generate more attention.

6月20日，坚果兄弟在北京广受欢迎的798艺术区开放了这个“超市”，之后装满浑水的水瓶图像很快就开始在中国社交媒体上传播。北京当局下令关闭该展览，却引发了更多关注。

The authorities in Shaanxi also responded to the stir the show had caused. Rather than censure Brother Nut, the authorities there opened an investigation into the water quality in Xiaohaotu, a village on the outskirts of the city of Yulin.

陕西官方也回应了该展览引起的轰动。当局没有对坚果兄弟表示谴责，而是对位于榆林市郊小壕兔乡的水质进行了调查。

Brother Nut, 37, said he was moved to create the performance piece after traveling in Xiaohaotu, where he met residents who, he said, were suffering from high rates of cancer and skin diseases.

37岁的坚果兄弟表示，去过小壕兔旅行后，他受到打动，开始创作这些展品，他说，他遇到的村民中罹患癌症和皮肤病的比例很高。

The villagers had complained for years to the provincial authorities, but the government did little to mitigate the problem, he said.

他说，村民多年来向省政府投诉，但政府几乎没有采取任何措施来缓解这个问题。

Within two weeks of the show’s opening, however, officials in Yulin held a news conference in response to the “online reaction to ‘the drinking water safety problem in Xiaohaotu,’” according to the state-run Shaanxi News Agency.

据官方的陕西新闻网报道，展览开幕后两周内，榆林官员举行了新闻发布会，回应“网络反映小壕兔乡部分村饮用水安全问题”。

The authorities in Yulin said they tested 11 drinking water sources in and around Xiaohaotu and found that 10 were contaminated with high levels of iron and manganese.

榆林当局表示，他们在小壕兔乡及其周围测试了11个饮用水源，发现其中10个水源内，铁和锰的污染指标很高。

The Yulin Environmental Protection Bureau announced on July 7 that it would further inspect wastewater at three nearby coal mines and a gas field operated by Sinopec, a state-owned enterprise. The bureau also ordered the companies to temporarily halt their operations.

榆林市环保局于7月7日宣布，将进一步检查附近三个煤矿和国有企业中石化经营的天然气田排放的废水。该局还要求这些公司暂时停止生产。

The Yulin officials further announced that a new water supply network, including water purification equipment for some villages, would be fully implemented by the end of July.

榆林官员进一步宣布，将于7月底全面实现新的供水网络，包括在一些村庄安装净水设备。

“Water pollution is very common, it’s very common around the world, but it never receives any special attention,” Brother Nut said. “There are so many villages like Xiaohaotu who have been drinking water like this for years, and then they get cancer, skin disease, their sheep die, but no one cares. People just don’t know.”

“水污染很普遍，在全世界都很普遍嘛，但是又没有受到特别的关注，”坚果兄弟说。 “像小壕兔这样的村庄太多了，就十几年喝这样的水，然后的癌症，得皮肤病，羊死掉，没人管呐。大家根本都不知道，就是没有话语权。”

The exhibit remained in place for about two weeks before it was shut down by the Beijing Bureau of Industry and Commerce in response to complaints by Nongfu Spring about trademark infringement.

该展览了持续两周，之后被接到农夫山泉关于商标侵权投诉的北京工商局查封。

The police confiscated the 7,000 bottles included in the show.

警方没收了展览上的7000瓶水。

But Brother Nut has another 1,000 bottles filled with Xiaohaotu’s polluted water. Beginning Saturday, he plans to display them in an old military van, known as the Moving Art Museum. Brother Nut said he planned to drive the van around the 798 Art District.

但是，坚果兄弟还有另外1000瓶小壕兔乡的污水。从周六开始，他计划将它们放在一辆名为“移动美术馆”的旧特警防爆车上展示。他说他计划开车环绕798艺术区。

San You, the owner of a gallery across the street from the site of the exhibit, said he was impressed by Brother Nut’s artistry.

展览现场街对面一家画廊的老板三友(音)说，坚果兄弟的艺术才华打动了他。

“I think it’s very refreshing and creative,” Mr. San said. “He’s using this supposed-to-be-pure symbol to display the polluted water, which is really good. It poses a contrast.”

“我觉得这令人耳目一新，很有创意，”三友说。“他用这个被视为纯净的符号来展示污染的水，这真的很好，形成了一种对比。”

Despite the actions taken by the Yulin authorities, both Brother Nut and the curator of the Moving Art Museum, Chen Junhui, said they doubted that the local government would take lasting steps to solve the pollution problem.

尽管榆林当局采取了行动，但是坚果兄弟和移动美术馆馆长陈俊晖(音)表示，他们怀疑当地政府是否会采取持久措施来解决污染问题。

Nevertheless, they remained committed to the idea that art had the power to influence governments and move people to action.

尽管如此，他们仍然坚持认为艺术有能力影响政府并让人们采取行动。

“If it’s something that has meaning, that has moral value, and we don’t support it,” asked Mr. Chen, “then what is our art for?”

“如果有意义的事情、有价值的事情都不去坚持，”陈俊晖问，“那我们做艺术还为了什么?”