Some big topics on the Internet give an indication of what interests the public the most in the ongoing two sessions. According to a report by the Internet science research center at Wuhan University, between March 3 and March 8, the five topics that generated the most public interest were Internet finance, smog, pay raises for civil servants, care for the elderly and genetically modified food. The ratings were derived from surveys of micro blog posts and online media reports, which are thought to provide good benchmarks of the public mood. Well, hot topics may be important but trivia is interesting, too. Here are some items gleaned from places like the hotel that is hosting the NPC delegates and national political advisers. What do you think you might find in the lobbies of the designated VIP hotels? Answer: an essential trinity - a State-owned Xinhua Bookstore, another stand selling ready-to-wear clothes and tailoring services, and a temporary post office. I went to the bookstand and talked with a saleswoman who said she had provided best-sellers to the two sessions for the last four years. The book New Words of Zhijiang sells the best, she told me right away. It's actually a collection of columns written by Xi Jinping for Zhejiang Daily while he was serving as the Party chief of the eastern province. "The delegates like reading books concerning the nation's development and reform. Some are very academic - common readers don't pick them up," she said. Another fairly popular one is about ancient Chinese poems. According to the woman, the books were chosen from a list of more than 3,000 titles collected by both the authorities of Xinhua Bookstore and the two sessions' organizing department. "The books here are carefully picked for the delegates, and we seldom bring the popular books like fiction here," she said. Seemingly the VIPs share similar taste in books. By the way, they get 10 percent off. Moving to the stand selling clothing, I found several racks of clothes mostly in dark shades and sizes medium and large. A saleswoman named Song Tong said the semiformal jackets for men sell best, priced from 900 yuan ($147) to more than 2,000 yuan. "They like the dark blue best," she said. At political meetings, officials often wear similar styles and colors, and an outfit clash never becomes a wardrobe malfunction. "Conformity is great," she said. Also, compared with suits and Chinese tunic suits, the price of the jacket is much more friendly. The most expensive tunic at the stand was priced at 13,800 yuan, but Song said on Sunday that not one had sold. Interestingly, such clothes usually sell better among the NPC delegates than the political advisers, she said. Nowadays the concept of big topics is everywhere. It forms the basis for big decisions. Trivial data is mainly for amusement, but sometimes it is revealing. While conformity abounds among delegates in their reading and wardrobe, I hope they will maintain diversity of thought when considering what people care about most. Otherwise, we may end up rich in data but poor in meaningful change. |
網(wǎng)上的一些熱門話題反映出大眾對(duì)于正在進(jìn)行的兩會(huì)最關(guān)心最有興趣的是什么。 根據(jù)武漢大學(xué)科技中心的報(bào)道顯示,3月3日到3月8日之間,大眾關(guān)心的五個(gè)話題分別是互聯(lián)網(wǎng)金融,霧霾,提高公務(wù)員待遇,養(yǎng)老問(wèn)題和轉(zhuǎn)基因食品。 這一排名是從博客帖子和網(wǎng)絡(luò)媒體報(bào)道中得出的,想必可以比較客觀的表達(dá)了大眾的意見(jiàn)和觀點(diǎn)。 當(dāng)然,熱門話題確實(shí)很重要,但是一些小的話題也很有意思。下面這些是從招待人大代表及政協(xié)委員的酒店等地點(diǎn)獲得的一些話題。 您認(rèn)為指定的酒店大堂有什么? 回答:三位一體—一個(gè)國(guó)有新華書店,另一攤出售將要穿的衣服并提供剪裁服務(wù)和一個(gè)臨時(shí)郵局。 我去了書店,和售貨員交談,她說(shuō)她向兩會(huì)推薦過(guò)去四年最暢銷的書。 她立刻說(shuō)《之江新語(yǔ)》這本書賣得最好。實(shí)際上這本書是習(xí)近平總書記在擔(dān)任浙江省委書記時(shí)為浙江日?qǐng)?bào)寫的一系列選集。 她說(shuō),“代表們喜歡讀關(guān)于國(guó)家改革和發(fā)展的書。非常學(xué)術(shù)—一般的讀者不會(huì)選擇這些書”。 另一本相當(dāng)受歡迎的書就是關(guān)于中國(guó)古代詩(shī)歌的書。這位女士說(shuō),這本書是從由新華書店和兩會(huì)組織部門共同收集的一覽3000多本書的書單中選出的。 她說(shuō),“實(shí)際上這本書是為代表們精心挑選出來(lái)的,而且我們很少把類似于小說(shuō)這樣的暢銷書擺出來(lái)”。 看起來(lái),代表和委員們對(duì)于書有相同的品味。另外,可以給他們九折優(yōu)惠。 走到賣衣服的地方,我看到很多架子上賣的衣服都是深色的,有中號(hào)和大號(hào)。 一位叫宋童(音)的售貨員說(shuō)男士半正式夾克賣得最好,價(jià)格從900元人民幣(147美元)到2000多元人民幣不等。 她說(shuō),“他們最喜歡深藍(lán)色”。 政治會(huì)議上,官員們通常穿相同款式和顏色的衣服,套裝永遠(yuǎn)不會(huì)出錯(cuò),她說(shuō),“一致是最好的”。 另外,和西服套裝或中山裝相比,夾克的價(jià)格更便宜。 這家服裝店最貴的中山裝賣到一萬(wàn)三千八百塊,但是宋說(shuō)周日一件都沒(méi)賣出去。 她說(shuō),有趣的是,通常人大代表相比政協(xié)委員會(huì)更多地去買這些衣服。 當(dāng)下,人們都在聊重大話題。它成了重大決定的基礎(chǔ)。這些瑣碎的小事情就成了閑聊的話題,但是它確實(shí)能反映出一些東西。 然而,代表們的閱讀和衣著都充滿了一致性,我希望他們?cè)诳紤]人們最關(guān)心什么的時(shí)候能夠保持多樣化活躍的思維。不然就是紙上談兵,徒有豐富的數(shù)據(jù)而沒(méi)有實(shí)質(zhì)性的改變。 (譯者 孔維一 編輯 丹妮) |