高铁与造桥项目背后，香港的担忧与疑虑
香港——经过数月的辩论和政治纷争，周日早上开始，香港的乘客开始从一个新车站登上高铁列车，这条造价数十亿美元的交通线路正式推出，将香港这个前英国殖民地和中国其他地区更紧密地联系起来。
Another project, the world’s longest sea bridge, is expected to open later this year. Like the train station, it is both an impressive engineering feat and a source of controversy. It will span the mouth of the Pearl River, linking Hong Kong with the mainland city of Zhuhai and the former Portuguese colony of Macau, the world’s biggest gambling hub.
还有一个项目是世界上最长的跨海大桥，预计将在今年晚些时候投入使用。像那座火车站一样，它既是令人印象深刻的工程壮举，又是争议之源。它横跨珠江口，将香港与大陆城市珠海和前葡萄牙殖民地、世界上最大的赌博中心澳门连接起来。
Hong Kong officials say the projects are critical to economic development and will speed the movement of goods and people through the region, which the Chinese government wants to bind more tightly together. But many residents are concerned about what a Greater Bay Area, as China calls its vision of a more closely knit Pearl River Delta region, will mean for the city’s unique identity.
香港官员表示，这些项目对经济发展至关重要，并将加快货物和人员通过香港的速度，中国政府希望将该地区更紧密地联系在一起。但是，许多居民都担心，粤港澳大湾区，即中国所称的珠江三角洲地区联系更加紧密的前景，对这个城市的独特身份将会意味着什么。
Large-scale building projects, like the highway that linked Hong Kong with Guangzhou, the capital of Guangdong Province, in the 1990s, helped secure the region’s status as a global manufacturing center. But analysts say the benefits of the latest projects are less clear, and some suspect that China’s desire to tighten its hold on Hong Kong trumped other concerns.
1990年代的许多大型建筑项目，如连接香港与广东省省会广州的高速公路，确保了该地区作为全球制造业中心的地位。但分析人士表示，最新项目的好处不太明显，有些人怀疑中国希望收紧对香港的控制，这是最大的顾虑。
“I think it was obvious from the beginning that most likely political considerations were at least as important as economic reasons,” said Willy Lam, an adjunct professor at Chinese University of Hong Kong.
“我认为从一开始就很明显，最有可能的是，政治因素至少与经济原因一样重要，”香港中文大学客座教授林和立(Willy Lam)说。
Both projects have seen delays, cost overruns and other complications. Environmentalists fear the bridge will hasten the extinction of endangered Chinese white dolphins. At least 10 workers have been killed in accidents during its construction, and 19 people face criminal charges in Hong Kong over faked concrete quality tests, which have raised questions about the structure’s integrity and required costly reexaminations.
两个项目都经历了延误、成本超支和其他复杂情况。环保主义者担心这座桥将加速濒临灭绝的中华白海豚走向消亡。在施工期间，至少有10名工人在事故中丧生，19人因伪造混凝土质量测试而在香港面临刑事指控，该测试引起了对大桥可靠性的质疑，并需要进行昂贵的复检。
The high-speed rail station, which cost $10.8 billion, has been deeply contentious in Hong Kong because it will host Chinese officers who will enforce mainland laws in part of the terminal.
高铁站耗资108亿美元，在香港引起了极大争议，因为它将有中国官员入驻，在车站的一部分执行大陆法律。
Hong Kong, which returned to Chinese control in 1997, operates its own laws under a model called “one country, two systems,” with more robust protections for individual rights than in mainland China. It maintains a border with Guangdong Province, but allowing mainland officers in the new station has, in a sense, moved the border south.
香港于1997年回归中国控制，以“一国两制”的模式执行自己的法律，对个人权利的保护比中国大陆更有力。它与广东省之间的边界得以保持，但是，允许内地官员进驻新站，在某种意义上等于将这个边境南移。
Pro-democracy politicians, legal scholars and activists say that represents a further erosion of Hong Kong’s unique position within China.
亲民主派政治人士、法律学者和活动人士表示，这进一步侵蚀了香港在中国的独特地位。
“Both of these projects represent the physical connection between Hong Kong and mainland China,” said Victoria Hui, an associate professor of political science at the University of Notre Dame. “Of course the train station in particular goes all the way into the heart of Hong Kong with Chinese jurisdiction.”
“这两个项目都代表了香港与中国大陆之间的物理联系，”圣母大学(University of Notre Dame)政治学副教授许田波(Victoria Hui)表示。“当然，特别是火车站，它将中国的司法权一直延伸到香港中心。”
Such concerns were inflamed this month when the mainland-controlled section of the terminus was handed over to Chinese officials in a brief, late-night ceremony, with no local news media invited. Carrie Lam, Hong Kong’s chief executive, denied any intent to keep the event a secret.
本月，大陆控制的车站部分在一个深夜举行的简短仪式上移交给中国官员，没有邀请当地的新闻媒体，令这些顾虑进一步激化，香港首席行政长官林郑月娥否认有意将此事件保密。
Ms. Lam was also forced to explain why some mainland officers would work overnight, despite promises they would return to Guangdong when the station closed each evening, and why the station had an additional basement level that had not been disclosed to the public.
林郑月娥还不得不解释为什么虽然内地官员承诺会在每天晚上车站关闭时返回广东，但还是有一些人在夜间工作，以及为什么车站还有一个未向公众披露的额外地下室层。
The new rail line has been billed as cutting travel time to Guangzhou to 48 minutes from over two hours, though trains stopping at stations in between will take longer. The line will also allow passengers from Hong Kong to connect to 38 long-haul destinations on China’s national high-speed rail network, including Beijing and Shanghai.
据称，新的铁路线将香港到广州的行程时间从两个多小时缩短到48分钟，尽管在中间站停靠的时间要延长。该路线还让来自香港的乘客同中国国家高铁网的38个长途目的地(包括北京和上海)连接起来。
But some potential passengers have balked at the service’s baggage limits, as well as ticket prices that offer little or no discount to flying.
但一些可能乘坐该列车的人因为车上对行李的限制和票价而止步不前，票价与机票相比基本上没什么优惠。
“I don’t think there will be any benefit to me,” said Ling Chiang, 28, a commercial photographer who travels to the mainland about once a month for work. He goes to Guangzhou by train but said he would probably stick with air travel for more distant mainland destinations.
“对我来说没有任何好处，”28岁的商业摄影师蒋凌(音)表示，他每个月会因为工作前往大陆一次。他会乘坐火车前往广州，但表示去大陆更远的地方的话，可能还是会选择坐飞机。
“Why waste time when the price is about the same?” he said.
“价格基本上一样的话，为什么要浪费时间?”他表示。
The Hong Kong government estimated in 2015 that more than 109,000 passengers would take the train every day, but this year it lowered the forecast to 80,000. Still, Frank Chan, Hong Kong’s secretary for transportation and housing, said he was confident that the project would be profitable from the start.
据香港政府2015年的估计，超过10.9万人会每天乘坐该车，但今年，香港政府将预估数字调低至8万人。但香港政府运输及房屋局局长陈帆还是表示，他有信心该项目能从一开始就实现盈利。
Both projects represent some of China’s biggest national infrastructure undertakings of the past decade. The high-speed rail system, which began 10 years ago, is the world’s largest, with more than 15,000 miles of track. The county has also built hundreds of dazzling bridges that set records for length and height.
两个项目都是中国在过去10年最大的国家基础设施项目的代表。10年前开始的高铁系统如今规模为世界上最大的，通车里程超过1.5万英里(约合2.5万公里)。该国还建造了数以百计令人头晕目眩的桥梁，它们无论在长度和高度都创下世界纪录。
As with the express trains to the mainland, expectations for the 34-mile bridge-and-tunnel project linking Hong Kong to the western side of the Pearl River have been scaled back. A 2008 forecast anticipated 172,000 daily passenger trips by 2030, but the government this year lowered the figure to 126,000.
就像通往大陆的高铁列车一样，外界对这个全长34英里(约合55公里)，连接香港和珠江西岸的大桥隧道项目的预期已经有所降低。一项2008年的预测估计到2030年前，每日客运量达到17.2万人次，但政府今年已经将该数字调低至12.6万人次。
One reason is that the manufacturing center of Shenzhen, which was cut out of the original plan, is building its own new bridge about 20 miles to the north. The span will connect with the city of Zhongshan and is expected to open in 2023.
一个原因是深圳这个原本没有被纳入计划的制造业中心正在以北约20英里(约合32公里)的地方，建造自己的新桥。大桥将连接中山市，预计2023年通车。
“This is a competitor to the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macau bridge,” said Yang Chun, a professor of geography at Hong Kong Baptist University. “Obviously it will dilute the transportation volume, because they are parallel.”
“这是对港珠澳大桥的竞争，”香港浸会大学地理系教授杨春。“很明显它会减少运量，因为二者是平行的”。
The Shenzhen-Zhongshan bridge will be entirely within mainland China, meaning users won’t have to go through the border controls maintained by Hong Kong and Macau. They also won’t have to switch from driving on the right side of the road, which is used in the mainland, to the left, the side used in both former colonies.
深中大桥整体完全在中国大陆境内，这意味着使用者不用经过由香港和澳门的边境管制。他们也不用从大陆通行的道路右边驾驶转换至两个前殖民地使用的左边驾驶。
The 14-mile main span of the bridge cost $7 billion, of which the Hong Kong government will pay about $1.3 billion. Hong Kong spent an additional $13.7 billion to build connecting roads, tunnels and an artificial island for its border-crossing facilities. The drive between Hong Kong and Macau is expected to take about 45 minutes — far shorter than the current four hours to drive overland, but not much less than the hour or so it takes to go by ferry.
这座主跨度为14英里(约合23公里)的大桥耗资70亿美元，香港政府将承担其中的13亿美元。为打造连接大桥的道路、隧道及为其跨境设施而设立的人工岛，香港还另外花费了137亿美元。香港和澳门之间的通车时间预计为45分钟——比目前经由陆路4小时车程要短不少，但与1小时左右的轮渡相比，并没有缩短多少时间。
More doubts about the bridge project were raised in April. Photos of an artificial island where a four-mile tunnel emerges near Hong Kong’s side of the river seemed to show that concrete tetrapods, structures meant to protect the island from erosion, had drifted away. The bridge authority said they were working as intended, but some engineers were unconvinced.
四月，外界对这个大桥项目提出了更多疑问。香港一侧附近，有一个4英里(约合6公里)长的隧道出口所在的人工岛，当时有照片显示，意在保护人工岛不受侵蚀的消波块被冲走。大桥管理方表示，它们完全满足相关设计要求，但一些工程师不怎么信服。
When Typhoon Mangkut blew through the region last week, some of the bridge’s detractors in Hong Kong expressed hope that the structure would be washed away. But as Hong Kong cleaned up, it was still standing, apparently unharmed.
当上周，台风“山竹”刮过该地区时，香港一些这座大桥的批评者希望它会被冲走。但随着香港清理干净，大桥仍屹立不倒，明显没有受到任何破坏。
