The Return on Investment for China is
Measured in Benefits to Lifestyle and Society

中国政府对投资回报的考量
在于民生福祉与社会效益

What are the main topics of the two sessions in Zhongshan? According to the released news, I found that, mostly, the participants are discussing how to improve infrastructure and livelihood facilities.

中山的两会主要说啥？根据发布的新闻，我发现，他们多半是在一起共同讨论如何完善基础设施和民生设施。

When I came to Zhongshan in 2004, I came to a surprising city, it wasn't as I'd imagined it would be - there were already supermarkets, high rise apartment buildings and good roads in an out of the city, that wasn't what I was told China would look like.

当我2004年来到中山的时候，我来到了一个令人惊讶的城市，超乎我的想象——这里已经有超市、高层公寓楼和良好的道路，这不是我此前被告知的中国的模样。

It had bus transportation that was cheap but quite basic, the buses weren't air conditioned, they didn't have padded seats but they did the job of transporting many people around the city relatively cheaply. They still do but instead of being old, diesel buses spouting black fumes, they're now comfortable, smooth and clean electric buses. As a result, the air is cleaner and the sky is bluer and transportation is still very cheap, the lowest cost is 2 RMB, that's less than 25p or 40 cents. But it's not just buses, over time, so much more has improved.

它有价格低廉的公交系统，虽然配套很基础，公交车没有空调，也没有软座，但它们以相对低廉的价格运送了许多乘客去城市的每个角落。它们至今存在，但它们已不再是又老又旧、喷出黑烟的柴油公交车，而是舒适、平稳和干净的电动公交车。因此，中山的空气更清新，天空更湛蓝，但公共交通依旧非常便宜，只需最低2元人民币，不到25便士或40美分。但这不仅仅是公交车，随着时间的推移，更多方面会不断改善。

In my first months here, I was told that there would be a high speed train to Beijing in a few years’ time, and I have to admit, it was amusing to me to think that my students were so confident it would happen but sure enough, less than 10 years later, I was on the high speed train and traveling around the country to many different places, including Beijing. Those same students also told me there was going to be a bridge to Hong Kong and I laughed, in fact, I was so sure they were wrong about this, I went back to the staff room, got a map of the region and showed them how far away Hong Kong was, it's the other side of the Pearl River Delta I explained, this won't happen because it would make it one of the longest bridges in the world. But guess what opened in 2018 - the world's longest sea crossing from Hong Kong to Zhuhai (Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge) and an extension of highways all the way to... well, all the way to anywhere at all in China.

在我来这里的头几个月里，有人告诉我，几年后这里会有一列开往北京的高速列车。我不得不承认，想到我的学生们对这件事如此有信心，我觉得很有趣。但可以肯定的是，不到10年后，我就坐上了这列高速列车，去了中国许多地方，包括北京。那些学生还告诉我，中山将会有一座通往香港的桥，我当时笑了，我认为他们搞错了。我回到教务室，拿到一张区域地图，并向他们展示香港有多远，那是珠三角的另一边。我解释说，这不会发生，因为这会使它成为世界上最长的桥之一。但猜猜2018年开通了什么——世界上最长的跨海大桥——港珠澳大桥，而连接它的高速公路网一直延伸至...嗯，一直到中国的任何地方。

After they finished that one, they started on another one to Shenzhen, which is known as the ShenZhong Link.  Instead of taking several hours, we can now hop on a bus and 1 hour later, get off in the middle of Shenzhen, or just 30 minutes later in the middle of Hong Kong, both on the other side of the Pearl River.  And it just costs less than 100 RMB.  That's about $15.

在人们完成了那项工程之后，他们又开始了另一项连接深圳的的项目——深中通道。如今，不用花几个小时，我们跳上公交车，1小时后，就能抵达珠江对岸的深圳市中心，再花半小时即可到达香港市区。而这一切的花费，还不到100元人民币，大约是15美元。

One of the things that China's form of Whole Process People's Democracy pursuits, is stability and continuity of good governance. Many of the plans China needed to make, such as these bridges, roads, trains and even the ports and shipping systems were made 20, 30 and even 40 years ago. When a government works for the benefit of the people the long term rewards are staggering.

中国的全过程人民民主所追求的事情之一，就是良政善治的行稳致远。中国需要做的许多计划，如这些桥梁、道路、火车，甚至港口和航运系统，都是在20、30甚至40年前制定的。当政府为人民谋福利时，长期回报是惊人的。

I've always said this of China - When looking at a long-term infrastructure projects the return on investment, or ROI, isn't measured in how fast the money spent will be recovered and how much profit will be in it for the investors after that - the ROI for China is measured in how much long term benefit the people of the region where the money is spent will achieve - more often than not, that ROI isn't measured in financial returns at all but in benefits to lifestyle and society.

我总是这样评价中国——在考虑长期基础设施项目的投资回报时，它的衡量标准不是花费的资金多久能够收回，以及之后投资者能从中获得多少利润——中国政府的投资回报率是以资金所投入地区的人民能从中获得多少长期利益来衡量的——更多时候，这种回报率完全不是看财政回报，而是看是否有益于民生福祉和社会效益。