中国日报刊发《鼓岭家书》评论 | 中美友谊在鼓岭再续新篇

Kuliang still inspiring for Sino-US ties

I have lived in China for the past 20 years. I am a university professor but have also written many songs and two books which tell my many stories about China. Many of these stories are about foreigners who lived and worked in China during the 20th century.

During my two decades here I have traveled across the country to big cities, smaller towns and the countryside. But until last year I had never been to nor had I even heard of Kuliang. That changed when I was invited to attend the Kuliang Forum with the theme “Bridging Cultural Differences, Inheriting Friendship and Trust” last December. Following the forum I joined the activity “Reliving the Kuliang Love Affair” which took me to the enchanting village of Kuliang in the mountains near Fuzhou.

The forum and the trip to Kuliang introduced me to a whole new batch of foreigners who had come, lived, contributed and begun to love China. Furthermore, these were Americans unlike most of the others I had learned about.

△纪录片《鼓岭家书》海报

I was really happy to have the privilege of watching the documentary film Dear Kuliang. The scenery was beautiful and the music was fitting but these were not the most important things. It was the story. A high school student comes to China to find out about the life of a relative who had spent many years as a doctor in Kuliang. She learns not just about the relative but also about many other Americans with similar stories.

△纪录片《鼓岭家书》剧照

There were places in Kuliang I was familiar with although I had only been there for two days. There were stories of people that I had only learned about 11 months ago. The story of Milton Gardner who had lived in China until he was 10 before moving to the United States. Although he never returned to China, he always dreamed of doing so. The story of Gardner’s wife Betty, who wrote about her husband’s dream of visiting China and later came here herself.

△纪录片《鼓岭家书》剧照

There was the story of Donald MacInnes who had been one of the Flying Tigers in the Chinese People’s War of Resistance Against Japanese Aggression (1931-1945) and stayed in Kuliang. The interview with his relative Elyn reminded me of a conversation I had with her via text messages at the end of September when she returned to China to join the stage at the big parade at Tiananmen Square.

△纪录片《鼓岭家书》剧照

On the one hand the story of this village and these people was quite distant from my own life and experience, but on the other hand, I found it to be extraordinarily personal.

When I hear someone speak about the “reform and opening-up” policy in China that began in 1978, I usually comment that “China has always been open … to friends. The Kuliang story is an excellent example of that and a reminder that the peoples of China and the US have a long history of love and friendship that must be cherished and built even stronger.

As someone who has lived in China for so long, I hope stories like those of Kuliang continue to inspire new generations of Americans and Chinese alike to seek understanding, friendship, and collaboration. It is in cherishing these shared histories that we can build a more connected and harmonious future.

（The author is a US sociologist and professor at Minzu University of China.）

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中美友谊在鼓岭再续新篇

我在中国生活了20年。作为一名大学教授，我从事学术工作，同时还创作了许多歌曲以及两本记录中国见闻的书籍。这些故事里，不少聚焦于20世纪在中国生活、工作的外国人。

这些年来，从繁华都市到宁静小镇，从阡陌田园到青山秀水。但直到去年，我从未去过、甚至从未听说过“鼓岭”这个地方。去年12月，我有幸参加以“跨越文化差异 传承友谊信任”为主题的鼓岭论坛，这一切才发生改变。论坛结束后，我参与了“重走鼓岭情缘路”活动，首次走进福州郊外那个云雾缭绕的美丽村落。

这场论坛与鼓岭之行，让我结识了一群特殊的美国人，他们曾在鼓岭生活、曾在鼓岭奉献，之后便深深爱上了鼓岭这片土地。这与我以往接触过的在华外国人不同，他们的故事具有独特的时代印记。

我有幸观看了纪录片《鼓岭家书》，令我倍感欣喜。片中秀美的风景与动人的旋律令人沉醉，但这些都不是最打动我的地方。真正触动人心的是故事本身：一位美国高中生来到中国，探寻曾在鼓岭行医多年的亲人的足迹。在这个过程中，她不仅了解了自己的亲人，还知晓了许多有着相似经历的美国人的故事。

片中有些地方是我非常熟悉的，尽管我才在鼓岭待了两天。而纪录片中的一些人物故事，我11个月之前才刚刚了解。比如密尔顿・加德纳，他在中国生活到10岁才回到美国。虽然他从未再能回到鼓岭，但鼓岭却始终让他魂牵梦绕。还有加德纳的妻子贝蒂，她写下了丈夫渴望重返中国的心愿，后来亲自踏上了这片土地。

还有穆蔼仁（Donald MacInnes）的故事，他曾是中国抗日战争时期（1931-1945年）的飞虎队成员，投身于中国人民抗日战争，最终定居鼓岭。看到他的亲人穆言灵的采访，让我想起了9月底时和她的在短信上的一次交流。她在9月份回到中国并登上了天安门盛大的阅兵观礼台。

这些故事看似与我的个人经历相距甚远，却又奇妙地产生了强烈的情感共鸣。

每当听到有人谈论1978年中国开启的“改革开放”政策，我总会这样说：“中国始终向世界朋友敞开怀抱。”鼓岭的故事就是这一点最有力的印证。它提醒着我们，中美人民之间的深情厚谊源远流长，这份珍贵情谊需要用心守护、代代相传。

作为一名在中国生活多年的外国人，我希望鼓岭故事能激励中美两国新生代不断加强相互理解、建立深厚友谊、深化务实合作。唯有珍视这些共同的历史记忆，我们才能构筑更加紧密相连、和谐共生的未来。

（作者系美国社会学家、中央民族大学教授马克·力文）