Hong Kong’s deadliest fire in decades had barely been extinguished when the city’s authorities began working to contain something else: public anger at the government.

香港数十年来死伤最严重的火灾甫一扑灭，香港当局便开始着手应对另一件事：公众对政府的愤怒。

National security police have arrested at least two people for demanding more government accountability in the blaze at the Wang Fuk Court housing estate that engulfed seven apartment towers and killed at least 156 people. One of them was Kenneth Cheung, a former elected district official who posted criticism of the authorities’ response to the fire on Facebook and was accused of inciting hatred against the government online. The other was Miles Kwan, a 24-year-old university student who handed out fliers near the fire site calling for an independent probe into the disaster. The police declined to comment on their arrests.

至少两人因为要求政府在宏福苑大火中承担更多责任被香港警方国安处逮捕。这场火灾吞噬了七幢住宅楼，造成至少156人死亡。两人中一人是曾经当选区议员的张锦雄，他在Facebook上批评当局对火灾的应对，被指控在网上煽动对政府的仇恨。另一人是24岁的大学生关靖丰，他在火灾现场附近派发传单，呼吁对这场灾难进行独立调查。警方拒绝就他们的被捕置评。

Over the weekend, Beijing’s national security office in Hong Kong issued a statement warning of consequences for “anti-China elements” who are looking to use the fire, which started last Wednesday and lasted more than 24 hours, “to cause trouble.”

上周末，北京驻港国安公署发表声明，警告那些“反中乱港分子”不要“以灾乱港”。这场大火始于上周三，持续了超过24小时。

“They have lost their humanity, disregarded facts, spread false information, maliciously attacked” the Hong Kong government’s efforts, the statement said.

“他们泯灭人性、罔顾事实，散播虚假信息，恶意攻击特区政府救援工作，”声明称。

救援人员在大埔宏福苑火灾现场寻找伤亡者。

The authorities’ swift crackdown on expression suggested that they were acutely aware of the risk that last week’s disaster could fuel a fresh political reckoning in a city that was engulfed with antigovernment protests in 2019. The scale of the disaster has already laid bare likely failures in oversight and preparedness that allowed substandard and flammable materials to be used in construction, and for alarm systems to fail.

当局对言论的迅速打压表明，他们敏锐地意识到上周的灾难可能会在这个城市引发新一轮的政治清算，2019年，香港曾经爆发大规模反政府抗议活动。这场灾难的规模已经暴露出监督和应急准备工作中可能存在的疏漏，使得劣质和易燃材料用于施工，以及警报系统失灵。

Hong Kong’s chief executive, John Lee, did not deny reports of the arrests when asked about them by a journalist at a news briefing on Tuesday. “Criminals who commit offenses must be taken to justice,” he said. “I will not tolerate any crimes, particularly crimes that exploit the tragedy that we are facing now.”

香港特区行政长官李家超在周二的新闻发布会上被记者问及逮捕报道时，并未做出否认。他说：“我们必须将犯罪分子绳之以法。我绝不容忍任何犯罪行为，尤其是利用目前的悲剧进行的犯罪活动。”

He reiterated Beijing’s warning that the authorities would not tolerate any attempt to “sabotage” social unity.

他重申了北京的警告，称当局不会容忍任何“破坏”社会团结的企图。

The government’s strict response reflects fears of a resurgence of the social discontent that fueled the 2019 demonstrations, analysts say. That uprising was the biggest challenge to Beijing’s rule in decades.

分析人士表示，政府的强硬回应反映了其对重新燃起2019年示威浪潮背后社会不满的担忧。当年的反抗活动是数十年来对北京统治的最大挑战。

In the days after the fire, the area around the charred Wang Fuk Court complex in the northern suburb of Tai Po evoked echoes of those demonstrations: volunteers organizing themselves to distribute aid; mourners in black clothing; public walls covered in sticky notes expressing grief and offering words of support.

火灾发生后的几天里，位于香港北部郊区大埔已经烧焦的宏福苑周围，呈现出了让人想起那些示威活动的场景：自发组织起来的志愿者分发援助物资；哀悼者身着黑衣；公共区域的墙上贴满了表达悲痛和加油打气的便利贴。

志愿者在大埔宏福苑整理捐赠的衣物和食物。

Even Mr. Kwan, the university student who was arrested, presented his grievances toward the government as a list of “four demands” — echoing the “five demands, not one less” slogan that was a rallying cry for the 2019 protesters.

就连被捕的大学生关靖丰也将他对政府的不满列为“四大诉求”——呼应了2019年抗议者的口号“五大诉求，缺一不可”。

It was the kind of independent, community-driven mobilization that once defined Hong Kong’s civic life, before Beijing’s sweeping crackdown sharply narrowed the space for public expression and organization.

这是香港公民社会曾经的标志性特征——一种独立的、由社区驱动的动员方式，但在北京的全面打压之下，公共表达与组织的空间已大为缩小。

China imposed a national security law on Hong Kong in 2020 to crush the protests and stamp out political dissent. Its invocation after the fire in Tai Po shows how elastic the law is, analysts say, shifting from a tool used by the authorities to target democracy activists to one that can now be wielded to mute calls by ordinary people for officials to be held accountable for public tragedies.

2020年，中国在香港实施国安法以平息抗议活动并压制政治异见。分析人士指出，大埔火灾后援引该法显示出这部法律的弹性之大——从当局针对民主活动人士的工具，转变为可用于压制普通民众要求官员对公共悲剧负责的呼声。

“This is the biggest political crisis that the government has faced since the 2019 protests and the 2020 national security law crackdown,” said Thomas E. Kellogg, the executive director of the Georgetown Center for Asian Law. “There’s no doubt that the government will use the national security apparatus to maintain political control and to ensure that the crisis won’t be used as a platform for political and social mobilization to demand transparency and accountability.”

乔治城大学亚洲法律中心执行主任托马斯·E·凯洛格表示：“这是自2019年的抗议活动和2020年国安法镇压以来，政府面临的最大政治危机。毫无疑问，政府将动用国家安全机制来维持政治控制，并确保危机不会被用作要求透明和问责的政治和社会动员平台。"

So far, no government officials have been held responsible for the fire. All 15 of the people who have been arrested on suspicion of manslaughter are from construction companies, the police said. Mr. Lee, the city’s leader, did not provide an answer when he was pressed by a reporter on Tuesday to justify why he should keep his job following the disaster.

迄今为止，还没有政府官员因这场大火被追责。警方表示，所有涉嫌误杀被逮捕的15人全部来自建筑公司。周二，当一名记者追问李家超，为何在灾难发生后他仍可以继续担任特首职务时，他未给出答案。

Mr. Lee said the government would establish an independent committee, chaired by a judge, to investigate the causes of the blaze. Experts welcomed the move, but said that key details — such as whether the committee would have statutory powers or if the judge would be appointed by the judiciary rather than the government — would determine whether the inquiry is seen as credible.

李家超说，政府将成立一个独立的调查委员会调查火灾的原因，并由一名法官担任主席。专家们对这项举措表示欢迎，但也指出，关键细节将决定调查是否具备公信力，比如该委员会是否拥有法定权力，以及法官是由司法机关任命还是由政府任命。

香港特首李家超在周二的新闻发布会上发言。

“If the committee is seen to not be independent, that will only further disillusion people who are currently dissatisfied,” said Stuart Hargreaves, an associate professor of law at the Chinese University of Hong Kong.

“如果这个委员会被认为没有独立性，只会让那些对目前心存不满的人进一步感到失望，”香港中文大学法学副教授斯图尔特·哈格里夫斯说。

The national security law has already effectively muted many voices who would have otherwise pressed the government more forcefully to take responsibility for lapses that allowed the fire to happen. Opposition politicians had once been a vocal presence in the legislature, questioning government officials and holding protests to draw attention to issues. They quit en masse in 2020 in protest; later, many were either jailed or fled into exile.

要求政府为监管失职导致火灾发生而承担责任的声音，原本会更强烈，但受到国安法的有效压制。反对派政治人物曾在立法会中直言不讳地对政府官员提出质疑，并通过抗议来引起对议题的关注。但他们在2020年集体辞职以示抗议；后来，许多人要么入狱，要么流亡海外。

The law has also made it risky for local journalists to conduct investigative reporting, for lawyers to analyze the government’s legal liability, and for activists to organize street demonstrations demanding transparency.

国安法也导致本地记者进行调查报道、律师分析政府的法律责任，以及活动人士组织街头示威活动要求透明度的做法变得危险起来。

“Tragedies like these happen even in fully open and democratic societies,” Prof. Kellogg said. “But the core elements of an open society can help guard against tragedies like these, and can play a vital role in shaping the response so that needed reforms are made to guard against something like this happening again. That won’t happen in Hong Kong in the national security law era.”

“即便在完全开放和民主的社会中，这类悲剧也会发生，”凯洛格说。“但开放社会的核心要素有助于防范此类悲剧，并且可以在塑造应对方面发挥至关重要的作用，从而促成必要的改革，以避免类似事件再次发生。在国安法时代的香港，这些都不会发生。”

Despite the absence of public protests, the grief and anger over a tragedy that many believe could have been avoided with better oversight will threaten to undermine faith in the government, said Willy Lam, an analyst of Chinese politics at the Jamestown Foundation in Washington.

华盛顿詹姆斯敦基金会的中国政治分析师林和立表示，尽管没有公开抗议活动，但这场悲剧带来的悲痛和愤怒将会威胁到人们对政府的信任，许多人认为，如果监管得当，这场悲剧本可以避免。

“A deep scar will be etched onto the collective memory of everybody because the fire started not as a political event, unlike the 2019 protests, and almost all mourners are not politically motivated,” Mr. Lam said. “Most mourners just want the government to do the right thing.”

“这场火灾不像2019年的抗议那样始于政治事件，而几乎所有前来悼念的人都非出于政治动机，因此，它将在每个人的集体记忆中留下深深的伤痕，”林和立说。“大多数悼念者只是希望政府做正确的事。”

How does The New York Times cover the fire hose of news from the Trump administration? What journalistic principles drive that coverage? Why does The Times publish work that challenges our audience’s assumptions at a time when many people want their views validated? Where do we wish we had more reporters based? And who makes these decisions?

《纽约时报》是如何应对特朗普政府喷涌而出的新闻洪流的？驱动我们报道的新闻原则是什么？在许多人只想让自己的观点得到验证的时代，为什么《纽约时报》还要发表挑战读者既有假设的内容？我们希望在哪些地方派驻更多记者？这些决定到底由谁来做？

The “who” is Joe Kahn, the executive editor of The Times since June 2022, who leads our newsroom of more than 2,000 journalists. Joe has run our coverage of the turbulent American economy, the war in Ukraine, the Oct. 7 attacks, the Israel-Hamas war, President Joseph R. Biden Jr.’s exit and now a second Trump administration that is challenging the rule of law, free speech and alliances — while becoming the most consequential presidency since Ronald Reagan’s.

那个“谁”就是周看(Joe Kahn)，他自2022年6月起担任《纽约时报》总编辑，领导着超过2000名记者的新闻编辑部。在他的领导下，我们报道了美国经济动荡、乌克兰战争、10月7日袭击、以色列-哈马斯战争、拜登总统退选，以及现在这个正在挑战法治、言论自由和盟友关系的第二届特朗普政府——正在成为里根以来历史影响最大的一个总统任期。

We recently asked readers for questions about Joe’s work and our coverage. I’ve synthesized them and added a few of my own, including about Joe’s observations from his recent trip to China, where he was a foreign correspondent in the mid-1990s and again in the early 2000s.

我们最近向读者征集了关于周看的工作和我们的报道的问题。我把它们归纳整理，并补充了一些我自己的问题，包括他最近中国之行的一些观察——他曾在1990年代中期和2000年代初两次担任《纽约时报》驻华记者。

Reporting on President Trump

对特朗普总统的报道

Joe, most of our reader questions were about President Trump. Some on the left like our investigative stories digging into Trump’s business dealings and want more of them. Some on the right like our stories about Trump’s effectiveness and impact in office and want more of them. Some readers want us to call the president a fascist; others want us to portray him as a patriot. There’s a desire out there for us to referee the news. How do you navigate all of that?

大多数读者提问都围绕特朗普总统。左翼读者喜欢我们深挖特朗普商业交易的调查报道，希望看到更多；右翼读者喜欢我们报道特朗普执政的有效性和影响力，也希望看到更多。有些读者希望我们直接称总统为法西斯；另一些读者希望我们把他描绘成爱国者。大家都希望我们来当“新闻裁判”。你如何应对这些相互冲突的期待？

Readers already have access to a vast amount of opinion and commentary on the internet that can validate their worldviews. That’s not our role.

读者在互联网上已经能轻易获得海量的观点和评论来验证他们的世界观。那不是我们的角色。

Our approach is to report deeply and thoroughly, surface facts and a range of perspectives on the news, help people understand the world and deliver accountability journalism on issues of public concern. Sometimes that means presenting people with information and ideas that challenge their own preconceptions and beliefs. We regularly scrutinize Trump’s questionable assertions of power and his disregard for democratic or legal norms.

我们的做法是深入、彻底地报道，挖掘事实、呈现各种视角，帮助人们理解世界，并对公共关切事项进行问责式新闻报道。有时候这意味着要给读者呈现挑战他们既有成见和信念的信息与观点。我们会反复审视特朗普对权力的可疑主张，以及他对民主规范和法律规范的漠视。

That kind of reporting is a more important service than applying labels.

这种报道比简单贴标签更有价值。

Cynthia Lewis of Arlington, Va., asked how we make decisions about covering Trump’s behavior — specifically, how much prominence to give to his “coarse treatment of perceived enemies (the other half of the country) and the vulgar, immature use of A.I.?” Other readers mentioned his attacks labeling Democrats as “seditious” and calling a reporter “piggy.”

弗吉尼亚州阿灵顿的辛西娅·刘易斯问，我们如何决定报道特朗普的行为——具体来说，用多少篇幅去报道他“对他眼中的敌人（也就是另一半美国人）的粗暴对待和对AI粗俗而幼稚的运用”？还有读者提到他给民主党人打上“叛国”的标签，称呼一位记者是“小猪”。

Trump’s manner often is the story, or a big part of the story. For example, using artificial intelligence to depict himself as a fighter pilot dropping sewage on protesters became a story about the White House’s use of A.I. and vulgar imagery. We have broken multiple major stories on his campaign of retribution against perceived enemies and his upending of norms in the judicial system.

特朗普的言行风格常常本身就是新闻，或者是新闻的重要组成部分。例如，他用人工智能把自己描绘成战斗机飞行员，向抗议者倾倒污水，这成了一篇关于白宫使用AI和低俗图像的报道。我们已经多次率先揭露他对“敌人”的报复行动，以及他对司法规范的颠覆。

I see it as our responsibility to cover the newsworthy things he says and does, put them in context, examine if he has the legal authority to pursue them and then investigate the impact and consequences of his actions.

我认为我们的责任在于报道他那些具有新闻价值的言行，将其置于具体背景下，审视他是否具备推动这些事项的法定权限，进而深入调查其行为的影响与后果。

Loraine McVey from San Anselmo, Calif., wrote: “Is The Times giving more news coverage to President Trump than any other president ever? It sure feels like it.” How do you think about our dial-setting on Trump?

来自加州圣安塞尔莫的洛兰·麦克维写道：“《纽约时报》对特朗普总统的新闻报道是否比以往任何一位总统都要多？感觉确实如此。”您如何看待我们对特朗普的报道尺度把握？

No president in my lifetime compares with him in terms of the volume of initiatives he has pursued in the first 10 months of his second term.

在我有生之年，没有哪位总统在自己的第二个任期前10个月里发起了如此之多的行动。

Yet we aim to showcase a wide array of coverage that has nothing to do with Trump. That includes areas like the economy, education, religion, social affairs, health and wellness, science and culture, and to feature reporting from across the country and the world that has no link to the president’s agenda. Our digital and print report is constructed every day with that breadth of coverage in mind.

然而，我们的目标是呈现与特朗普无关的广泛报道领域。这包括经济、教育、宗教、社会事务、健康与养生、科学及文化等方面，并重点展示来自全美乃至全球、与总统议程无关的报道。我们每日构建数字版与纸质版报道时，都会考虑到这样的报道广度。

Elizabeth Garreau of Chicago asked a related question: “How do you keep up with the volume, and how do you find time to care for yourself when so many journalists and subscribers depend so much on your work for accurate information?”

芝加哥的伊丽莎白·加罗提出了一个相关问题：“你们如何跟上这样的报道量？当这么多记者和订阅者如此依赖你们的工作来获取准确信息时，你们又如何找到时间照顾自己？”

I appreciate that question. We’re lucky to have significant reporting resources that enable us to respond well to major news events, even relentless ones like wars or the upending of the federal government by Trump. We have, for example, a larger team covering the White House than ever before.

谢谢你的这个问题。我们很幸运拥有强大的报道资源，使我们能够很好应对重大新闻事件，即便是像战争或特朗普颠覆联邦政府这样具有持续性的新闻。例如，我们派驻白宫的团队规模就是前所未有的。

But a huge story like the first 10 months of Trump’s second term always puts heavy pressure on a small number of critical beat reporters and staff editors, who not only scramble on breaking news but also seek to explain and contextualize big developments, lead investigative reporting and help narrate the biggest events in video and audio as well as text.

但是，像特朗普第二任期前10个月这样的重磅新闻，总是会给少数关键的对口记者和责编带来巨大压力。他们不仅要争分夺秒地报道突发新闻，还要力求解释重大进展并提供背景信息，主导调查性报道，并帮助以视频、音频和文字等多种形式来讲述这些最重大的事件。

Rapid change in China

中国的快速变化

Joe, I want to turn to your recent visit to China. What stood out to you there?

我想让你谈谈最近的中国之行。那里让你印象最深的是什么？

When I lived in China, one theme we often reported on was its attempts to catch up with other East Asian countries and the West. Today, it’s obvious China has taken the lead. It has built the world’s best road and high-speed-rail system. It makes plush and sophisticated electric vehicles. It has an (over) abundance of modern housing and new parks and walkways in its orderly and largely safe cities. America seems relatively stagnant by comparison.

当年在中国的时候，我们经常报道的一个主题是它试图追赶其他东亚国家和西方。如今，很明显中国已处于领先地位。它建成了世界上最好的公路和高铁系统。它制造豪华而精良的电动汽车。它井然有序且总体安全的城市里有（过度）充足的现代化住房以及新建的公园和步道。相比之下，美国则显得相对停滞。

We see Trump trying to change that, but our reporting shows that the United States is more behind than many Americans may realize.

我们看到特朗普正试图改变这一点，但我们的报道表明，美国落后的程度可能超乎许多美国人的认知。

China dominates manufacturing in too many industries to count. It has a stranglehold on the production of some critical materials, like rare earth minerals, that gives it the clout to fight against U.S. trade restrictions. A number of Chinese we met seemed unbothered by Trump’s threats and increasingly confident they could live without open access to the American market if they had to.

中国在数不胜数的制造业领域占据主导地位，它对一些关键材料（如稀土矿物）的生产拥有扼制性的控制力，这使其有底气对抗美国的贸易限制。我们遇到的不少中国人似乎并不为特朗普的威胁所扰，反而愈发自信地认为，即使失去美国市场也能生存下去。

Several readers asked how you ensure that The Times’s coverage — especially on politically charged topics like U.S.-China relations — prioritizes “objective, fact-based reporting” over a political slant, as a reader from Pittsburgh, Jeff Anderson, put it.

一些读者问，你们如何确保《纽约时报》的报道——尤其是在美中关系这类政治敏感话题上，做到正如来自匹兹堡的读者杰夫·安德森所言，将“客观、基于事实的报道”置于政治倾向之上。

Much of what the outside world knows about China’s complicated economic and political reality, and its intensifying rivalry with the United States, comes from a small but dedicated core of international correspondents. We also ask ourselves regularly if we’re exploring all the major angles and perspectives and telling the full story. My one concern is that we don’t have as many reporters allowed to live in China as we once did, largely because of U.S.-China diplomatic tensions and restrictions on visas and residency permits.

外部世界对中国复杂的经济和政治现实、与美国日益激烈的竞争的了解很大程度上都是来自于一小群敬业的国际记者核心团队。我们也会定期反思，是否探究了所有主要的角度和观点，是否讲述了完整的故事。我比较担心的一点是，我们获准驻华记者的数量不如从前那么多了，这主要源于美中外交关系的紧张以及签证和居留许可方面的限制。

Part of your trip was to celebrate the 100th anniversary of The Times’s first office there, in Shanghai. The Times itself is turning 175 years old next year. How does the long arc of Times history influence how you do your job?

此次中国之行的目的之一，是庆祝《纽约时报》在上海的首个办事处设立100周年。明年，《纽约时报》还将迎来创刊175周年。这份悠久的历史积淀如何影响你如今的工作？

That anniversary reminded me that The Times has been sending adventurous correspondents to cover the world for most of its history. The journalists my predecessors sent to China in the 1920s landed in the middle of one civil conflict, the struggle of the Nationalists to consolidate power after the fall of the Qing dynasty, and then were quickly caught up in another, the Japanese invasion of China at the outset of World War II.

这个百年纪念提醒我，《纽约时报》在其大部分历史中，始终派遣勇于冒险的驻外记者报道全球动态。上世纪20年代，我的前辈们派往中国的记者初到之时，恰逢一场内战——清朝覆灭后国民党为巩固权力而展开的斗争，不久后他们又卷入另一场战乱，也就是二战初期日本对中国的侵略。

Then, as now, we put a premium on on-the-ground reporting by people who travel to places to bear witness to events themselves. Our emphasis on original reporting produced by reporters who go to the story is a proud part of our history that we still prioritize today.

无论是过去还是现在，我们始终高度重视记者亲赴现场、亲历事件的实地报道。这种强调记者亲临现场进行原创报道的传统，是我们引以为傲的历史传承，至今仍是我们工作的优先事项。

Reporting without a personal point of view

不带个人观点的报道

As you said, you’d like to have more Times reporters living in China. I know you’d like to have more journalists reporting in Russia and Gaza, too. We face various restrictions in those places. Why does having reporters on the ground in a place matter? What can it capture that viral videos or telephone reporting cannot?

正如你之前所说，你希望派驻更多《纽约时报》记者常驻中国。我知道你也希望增加在俄罗斯和加沙地带的报道力量。我们在这些地区面临各种限制。为什么在当地派驻驻站记者如此重要？实地报道能捕捉到哪些社交媒体热转视频或电话采访无法呈现的内容？

There is no substitute for reporters who immerse themselves in the stories they cover by living in the places where events happen. It’s easier to get people to open up if they see you face to face. Reporters pick up nuances they would otherwise miss. We have more than 2,000 journalists on staff for a reason: We believe in having reporters, photographers and videographers who have a wide range of expertise and who live and report close to the stories they’re covering. That helps us produce richer, deeper, more accurate journalism.

唯有扎根新闻发生地，全身心沉浸报道，记者才能传递出无可替代的真实信息。面对面交流时，人们更容易敞开心扉；记者也能捕捉到那些远程采访中极易遗漏的细微细节。我们之所以拥有超过2000名记者，原因就在于此：我们坚信，具备多元专业能力的文字记者、摄影记者和摄像记者，让他们亲临现场报道，才能产出更丰富、更深刻、更准确的新闻报道。

Some readers feel that our coverage is biased toward Israel. Others see it as pro-Palestinian. Some critics say we’re mouthpieces for Hamas. Some say if a journalist is Jewish or has a tie to Israel, that person can’t be neutral. Others appreciate our reporting. How do you think about those conflicting reactions?

部分读者认为我们的报道偏向以色列，另一些则觉得我们偏袒巴勒斯坦；有批评者称我们是哈马斯的喉舌，还有人提出犹太裔记者或与以色列有渊源的记者无法保持中立。当然，也有不少读者认可我们的报道。对于这些截然不同的反馈，你怎么看？

The core principles of our journalists in the region, like any other, are reporting widely, covering the news, putting events in context and doing in-depth investigative work for a broad and diverse global audience. Good news reporting isn’t aimed at either pleasing or displeasing partisans. Our focus is on producing journalism that matters to understanding a divisive, complicated story more fully, regardless of a reader’s personal point of view.

与本报派驻其他地区的记者一样，驻该地区的采编团队坚守的核心原则是：广泛采访、报道新闻事件，把事件放在大背景中呈现，为全球广泛且多元的读者群体进行深度调查。优秀的新闻报道绝非为了取悦某一派别或得罪另一派，我们的核心目标是，无论读者秉持何种个人立场，都能通过我们的报道，更全面地理解这一充满争议且错综复杂的事件。

We do come under intense scrutiny and often are accused of having a bias in favor of one side or another in that conflict. Some critics tend to assume that if we’re not clearly on their side, we must be on the other side. But when passions run high, producing an authoritative account of the facts, relevant to the broadest possible audience, has even greater value.

在有关这场冲突的报道中，我们确实面临着严格的审视，经常被指责偏向冲突中的某一方。部分批评者倾向于认为，如果我们没有明确站在他们那边，就一定是倒向了对立阵营。但在公众情绪高涨之时，为最广泛的读者群体提供权威的事实报道，反而更具价值。

A.I. is another big topic for our readers. They wonder how the A.I. revolution is affecting us. Here’s a question from Sarah Wood in Cincinnati: “How will you and will you not be utilizing A.I. in reporting?”

人工智能是读者关注的另一大热点，他们想知道人工智能革命对我们的影响。来自辛辛那提的萨拉·伍德提出了这样一个问题：“在新闻报道中，你们会如何运用人工智能？又有哪些领域绝对不会使用人工智能？”

We have found A.I. tools immensely useful in gathering news and analyzing large databases. For example, we produced this informative and fun piece that used A.I. to help us track the conversion of tennis courts to pickleball courts around the United States. A.I. has also allowed us to quickly scale text to audio, so we can offer a vast array of what we produce each day for people to listen to as well as read or watch. That makes us more accessible to more readers.

我们发现，人工智能工具在新闻搜集和大型数据库分析方面极具价值。例如，我们曾借助人工智能追踪全美国网球场改建匹克球场地的趋势，推出了一篇兼具信息量与趣味性的报道。此外，人工智能还能帮助我们快速将文本内容转化为音频，让读者除了阅读和观看之外，还能收听我们每日产出的大量内容，这也让我们的报道触达了更广泛的受众。

A.I. will not, however, replace human judgment in our newsroom. Every piece of journalism in our report has multiple human beings — reporters, producers, editors — involved in its creation. Our commitment to that won’t change, even as A.I. becomes more capable.

但在编辑部，人工智能永远无法取代人类的判断力。我们每一篇新闻报道的诞生都离不开记者、制作人和编辑等多名工作人员的共同参与。即便未来人工智能的能力不断提升，我们对这一原则的坚守也绝不会改变。

Joe, we got a good question about resiliency. It’s from Barbara Torre Veltri from Lecce, Italy. She writes:

我们收到了一个关于复原力的好问题，来自意大利莱切的芭芭拉·托雷·韦尔特里。她写道：

“First of all, thank you to Joe for not being an A.I.-generated executive editor. Here in Puglia, Italy (where I lived since March, required for my dual citizenship received in July), Italians and other Europeans wonder: How is Trump getting away with strong-arm ‘diplomacy’? From tariffs, to ICE raids, shutting down the government, inviting Putin to Alaska, playing favorites when he threatens everyone else and lying with malice? I want to know how your reporters manage to keep doing what they do without getting PTSD?”

 “首先，非常感谢乔不是人工智能生成的总编辑。在意大利普利亚大区（我自3月起在此居住，这是我在7月获得的双重国籍所需要满足的要求）。这里的意大利人和其他欧洲人都很疑惑：特朗普为何能肆意推行强硬‘外交’手段？无论是关税、海关执法局突袭行动、关闭政府机构，还是邀请普京到访阿拉斯加，还有一边威胁他人一边偏袒特定对象，甚至恶意撒谎——而且总能脱身？我想知道，贵报记者是如何坚持开展工作，而不患上创伤后应激障碍的？”

Covering major news is why many of us become journalists. We’re most interested in big events and developments that surprise people, need fuller examination and explanation, and upend assumptions about the way the world works. Good journalists want to get as close to the action as possible and figure out the causes and implications of major news. If you are a creature of habit, don’t like surprises and like to know exactly how your days will unfold ahead of time, journalism is probably not the best profession for you.

报道重大新闻事件正是我们许多人投身新闻行业的初衷。我们最关注那些令人意外、需要深入剖析、且能颠覆人们对世界运作方式固有认知的重大事件与发展动态。优秀的记者总是渴望尽可能贴近新闻现场，探究重大事件背后的原因及其深远影响。如果你是一个循规蹈矩、不喜欢意外、希望每天的生活都按部就班的人，那么新闻行业或许并不适合你。

That said, reporters, photographers and videographers do witness traumatic events. We’re attuned to both the physical and mental toll on our staff. We have policies in place to make sure we rotate staff exposed to the most dangerous or disturbing developments, like violent conflict, and we have robust support resources for people who need it.

话虽如此，记者、摄影记者和摄像记者确实会亲眼目睹许多创伤性事件。我们高度关注员工的身心压力，为此制定了相应政策：对于那些暴露在暴力冲突等极度危险或令人不安的新闻现场的员工，我们会确保他们进行轮岗休整；同时，我们也为有需要的员工提供完善的支持资源。

WHAT’S ON KAHN’S MIND THE MOST

周看当前最关注的事

I’d like to wind down with a few big-picture questions. What’s something about our coverage that you worry we are getting wrong, or need to adjust or think harder about?

最后，我们来聊聊几个宏观层面的问题。在你看来，我们的报道中存在哪些可能出错、需要调整或深入思考的地方？

As a 24/7 news operation, we’re used to making constant updates and adjustments. Just for a kind of obvious example, our coverage of a tragic accident might change from minute to minute as more reliable information becomes available. The fact that our stories and headlines change in such cases does not make them wrong. Each version represents our best take on events as they unfold. They get better and more complete as we learn more.

作为一家全天候24小时运转的新闻机构，我们早已习惯了对报道进行持续更新与调整。举个显而易见的例子，当我们报道一起悲惨事故时，随着更可靠的信息不断涌现，报道内容可能每分钟都会发生变化。这种情况下，报道内容和标题的变动并不意味着最初的报道有误——每一个版本都是我们对事件发展过程的最佳解读。随着信息的不断完善，我们的报道也会变得精进完善。

There isn’t a day that goes by when I and my colleagues feel we have gotten everything just right and have no more questions about how best to cover the biggest stories. We’re always pushing for a fuller or more complete account, or for an angle the initial coverage may have inadvertently missed or downplayed.

我和同事们从没有一天觉得已经完美无缺地报道了重大新闻，也从未停止对报道方式的自我质疑。我们始终在追求更全面的叙事，或发掘初始报道中可能无意遗漏或淡化处理的视角。

And yes, there are times we get things wrong that we should have gotten right in the first place. We have a transparent process for addressing errors, correcting facts and issuing editors’ notes about mistakes in our coverage.

当然，确实有一些本应在首次报道中就准确呈现的内容，我们却出现了失误。我们有一套透明的程序，用来处理错误、修正事实，并在报道中发布编辑注释说明疏漏之处。

More generally, though, we’re still striving for a more complete, more nuanced, fuller account even after doing our best to describe and understand the news the first time around. As my onetime boss and longtime friend Dean Baquet often says, the best answer to big questions about our journalism is more journalism. Keep reporting.

但是，更广泛地说，即便我们已经竭尽全力在首次报道中去描述和解读新闻事件，我们仍在追求更完整、更细致、更全面的呈现。正如我曾经的上司、多年的挚友迪恩·巴奎常说的那样：对于新闻报道中那些重大问题，最好的答案就是更多的新闻报道。坚持报道。

What’s the hardest part of your job right now, Joe? What keeps you up at night?

目前你工作中最棘手的部分是什么？有哪些事让你夜不能寐？

The most challenging part of the job is producing an independent news report when some readers really want a more partisan one. We’re committed to independent journalism, unencumbered by ties to political parties, government, corporations or private interests, at a time when partisanship seems more intense than ever. Our readers of course have their own beliefs and loyalties, and some want to see more coverage that aligns with their views. To practice independent journalism, you need a thick skin.

当前工作中最大的挑战在于，当部分读者迫切希望看到更有党派倾向的报道时，仍要制作出独立的新闻报道。在党派对立比以往任何时候都更加尖锐的当下，我们始终致力于不受政党、政府、企业或私人利益束缚的独立新闻报道。当然，我们的读者都有自己的信仰和立场，其中一部分人希望看到更多与自己观点一致的内容。要践行独立新闻理念，你必须拥有强大的抵御能力。

I believe most readers appreciate the need for independent journalism in a democracy. Democracies rely on a common base of facts and understanding of the news, and they need news sources respected by rival sides. But that’s not always the message we’re hearing from the loudest critics.

我相信，大多数读者都明白独立新闻报道在民主社会中的重要性。民主的运转离不开共同的事实基础和新闻认知，也需要那些能被对立双方都认可的新闻来源。但那些声音最响亮的批评者传递的往往并不是这样的信息。

Lastly, what’s the best part of the job?

最后一个问题，这份工作最让你感到满足的地方是什么？

I like waking up each morning not knowing quite what the day will bring, but having full confidence that the most capable staff of journalists ever assembled will scramble to make sense of the biggest news. And hoping we can enlighten, surprise and delight people along the way.

我喜欢每天清晨醒来时，虽然不确定这一天会发生什么，却可以坚信我们有史以来最优秀的新闻团队会全力以赴，去解读当天的重大新闻。同时，我也期待着，我们能在这个过程中启迪人心、带来惊喜、传递欢乐。

China’s diplomatic full-court press against Japan over its support for Taiwan has targeted President Trump, the United Nations and, now, two of Tokyo’s closest European partners.

中国针对日本支持台湾问题展开全方位外交攻势，将目标指向特朗普总统、联合国，如今更延伸至东京在欧洲的两大亲密伙伴。

In separate talks with senior British and French officials last week, Beijing’s top diplomat, Wang Yi, alluded to their nations’ victories over Imperial Japan during World War II, urging them to side with China again in its deepening rift with Tokyo.

上周，在分别与英法两国高级官员举行会谈中，中国最高外交官王毅提到了两国在二战期间战胜日本帝国的胜利，敦促两国在中国与东京裂痕日益加深时再次站在中国一边。

His remarks were China’s latest bid to rally support in a dispute that has raged for weeks, since Japan’s new prime minister, Sanae Takaichi, suggested that her country could intervene militarily if China were to attack Taiwan.

他的话是中国在持续数周的争端中争取支持的最新努力。此前，日本新任首相高市早苗表示，如果中国攻击台湾，日本可能会进行军事干预。

Ms. Takaichi told Japan’s Parliament on Nov. 7 that any attempt by China to blockade or seize Taiwan could constitute a “survival-threatening situation” for Japan, implying a potential military response. Her comments reflected a long-held Japanese policy, but one that has rarely been verbalized.

11月7日，高市早苗告诉日本国会，中国封锁或占领台湾的任何企图都可能对日本构成“存亡危机事态”，这意味着日本可能会采取军事行动。她的言论反映了日本一项长期政策，尽管它很少公开言明。

Beijing, which asserts that self-governed Taiwan is part of Chinese territory, has responded furiously. It accused Ms. Takaichi of crossing a “red line” and demanded a retraction. It has urged millions of Chinese tourists to avoid Japan, canceled hundreds of flights and banned imports of Japanese seafood. Even Japanese entertainers have seen their performances in China abruptly canceled — one of them, in Shanghai last week, in the middle of a song.

北京声称自治的台湾是中国领土的一部分，对此作出了激烈回应。它指责高市早苗越过了“红线”，并要求她收回这一言论，同时敦促数百万中国游客避免前往日本旅游，取消了数百个航班，并禁止进口日本海产品。就连日本艺人在中国的演出也突然被取消——上周上海某场演出甚至在演唱中途被叫停。

China sent a letter last month to António Guterres, the United Nations secretary general, that accused Ms. Takaichi of violating international law, adding that the letter would be circulated to member states. Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, called President Trump and implied that their two countries, having fought “shoulder to shoulder against fascism and militarism” in World War II, should push back against Japan together.

中国上月致函联合国秘书长古特雷斯，指责高市早苗违反国际法，并表示该信函将散发给各成员国。中国最高领导人习近平致电特朗普总统，暗示两国曾在二战中“并肩抗击法西斯和军国主义”，应共同抵制日本。

Well before Ms. Takaichi made her remark, Mr. Xi had been ramping up pressure on Taiwan and its president, Lai Ching-te, whom Beijing describes as a dangerous separatist.

早在高市早苗这番言论之前，习近平就已加大对台湾及其总统赖清德的施压力度，北京方面称后者是危险的分裂分子。

“China wants to isolate Japan and make sure that other key members of the international community will not move further from its cherished ‘one-China principle,’” said Jean-Pierre Cabestan, a China expert at the Asia Center in Paris, referring to Beijing’s official position that Taiwan is an inalienable part of China’s territory.

“中国希望孤立日本，并确保国际社会的其他主要成员不会进一步偏离其奉为圭臬的‘一个中国原则’，”巴黎亚洲中心的中国问题专家高敬文(Jean-Pierre Cabestan)说。他指的是北京的官方立场，即台湾是中国领土不可分割的一部分。

Some analysts say Mr. Xi may feel emboldened because Mr. Trump has done less than his predecessors, militarily or economically, to reassure Taiwan or neighboring U.S. allies in the face of China’s rise. Mr. Trump “has sent conflicting messages to Taiwan which have not helped and worried America’s allies in the region,” Mr. Cabestan added.

一些分析人士表示，面对中国的崛起，特朗普政府在军事或经济上为安抚台湾及台湾周边的美国盟友所采取的行动，均不及往届政府，这可能使习近平更加大胆。高敬文还说，特朗普“向台湾发出了相互矛盾的信息，这非但没有帮助，反而让美国在该地区的盟友感到担忧”。

王毅在分别与英法两国高级官员的谈话中，敦促他们在中国与东京裂痕日益加深之际支持中方立场。

During Mr. Wang’s meeting with Jonathan Powell, Britain’s foreign security adviser, in Beijing on Thursday and his call on Friday with Emmanuel Bonne, the French presidential foreign policy adviser, he called on both European countries to continue to abide by the one-China principle.

在上周四与英国外交安全顾问乔纳森·鲍威尔在北京的会晤以及上周五与法国总统外交政策顾问埃马纽埃尔·波恩的通话中，王毅呼吁两个欧洲国家继续遵守一个中国原则。

In doing so, Mr. Wang sidestepped the more nuanced position that Britain and France maintain on China and Taiwan. Both nations recognize Beijing diplomatically, not Taipei, but they also support the status quo and oppose any effort by China to use force in the Taiwan Strait or threaten to do so.

在这么做的过程中，王毅回避了英法在中国和台湾问题上更为微妙的立场。两国在外交上承认北京而非台北，但同时支持现状，反对中国在台湾海峡动用武力或威胁动武。

As Mr. Xi did with Mr. Trump, Mr. Wang tried to appeal to their nations’ shared history fighting Japan, calling on them to “safeguard the outcomes” of World War II.

正如习近平对特朗普所做的那样，王毅试图唤起两国与日本作战的共同历史记忆，呼吁“捍卫二战胜利成果”。

“Provocative remarks on Taiwan by the incumbent Japanese leader are blatantly turning back the wheel of history and infringe on China’s sovereignty and territorial integrity,” Mr. Wang told Mr. Bonne during the call, which came as both sides were preparing for a three-day visit to China this week by President Emmanuel Macron of France.

王毅在电话中向博纳表示：“日本现职领导人发表涉台挑衅言论，公然开历史倒车，侵害中国主权和领土完整。”此次通话正值双方为法国总统马克龙本周对中国为期三天的访问做准备之际。

Beijing has been frustrated by what it sees as continued European support of Taiwan, said Noah Barkin, an expert on European-Chinese relations at Rhodium Group, a research firm.

研究公司荣鼎咨询的欧中关系专家诺亚·巴尔金说，北京对欧洲继续支持台湾感到沮丧。

In October, Germany’s foreign minister, Johann Wadephul, canceled a trip to Beijing because of tensions raised after he criticized China’s “aggressive behavior” in the Taiwan Strait. Last month, Taiwan’s vice president, Hsiao Bi-khim, spoke to the European Parliament in Brussels, and its former president Tsai Ing-wen gave a speech at a conference in Berlin.

10月，德国外长瓦德富尔因批评中国在台湾海峡的“侵略性行为”引发紧张局势，取消了访华行程。上月，台湾副总统萧美琴在布鲁塞尔欧洲议会发表演讲，前总统蔡英文则在柏林的一个会议上发表讲话。

“There is growing concern in Beijing about an increase in European engagement with Taiwan and a determination to nip it in the bud,” Mr. Barkin said.

“北京越来越担心欧洲与台湾往来日益密切，决心将其扼杀在萌芽状态，”巴尔金说。

“Raising the Japan dispute with European capitals is part of this campaign,” he said. “The message is, ‘Don’t cross our red lines like Japan has, or we will respond.’”

“向欧洲各国提出与日本的争端是该行动的一部分，”他说。“其传达的信息是，‘不要像日本那样越过我们的红线，否则我们会做出回应。’”

That campaign is unlikely to be persuasive, analysts say. European countries are still smarting from China’s decision to impose new export controls on rare earth minerals, and they remain frustrated with Beijing’s support for Russia’s war in Ukraine.

分析人士说，此类行动恐难奏效。欧洲各国至今仍因中国对稀土矿产实施新出口管制而耿耿于怀，并对北京在俄乌战争中对俄罗斯的支持深感不满。

Shen Dingli, a Shanghai-based foreign policy expert, said China risked overreaching in its brazen efforts to rein in Japan. He said it would be against American and European interests for Taiwan to fall under Chinese control, and therefore, urging the West to take China’s side would be “foolish.”

上海外交政策专家沈丁立指出，中国在遏制日本方面采取的大胆举动可能存在事与愿违的可能。他指出，台湾落入中国的掌控会损害欧美利益，因此敦促西方国家支持中国实属“不智”。

“Taiwan is an internal Chinese matter,” Mr. Shen said. “How can an internal issue be internationalized?”

“台湾是中国内政，”沈丁立表示。“内政问题怎么能国际化呢？”

The year 1925 was a turning point for China.

1925年是中国的一个转折点。

The economy was booming, with factories opening along the Yangtze River. Chinese artists like Liu Jipiao played a key role at the 1925 Paris Exposition in starting the Art Deco movement, with Shanghai later rivaling New York City and Miami Beach in exemplifying the new fashion.

当时经济蓬勃发展，长江两岸纷纷建起工厂。刘既漂等中国艺术家在1925年的巴黎博览会扮演了关键角色，开启了装饰艺术运动，上海后来在展现这种新时尚方面足以与纽约和迈阿密海滩媲美。

But in politics, the year brought tragedy. Sun Yat-sen, the man widely credited with overthrowing several millenniums of imperial rule in 1911, died on March 12, 1925. Eleven weeks later, Shanghai was rocked by a huge labor protest that was suppressed with deadly force by the city’s British-led police, sparking protests around the world.

但在政治上，这一年带来了悲剧。1925年3月12日，被广泛认为在1911年推翻了几千年帝制的孙中山去世。11个星期后，上海爆发大规模的工人运动，结果遭到该市由英国领导的警察部队的致命武力镇压，引发了世界各地的抗议浪潮。

Those two events prompted The New York Times to establish in Shanghai the newspaper’s first bureau in China. The Times has covered China up close ever since, and marked the bureau’s centennial this autumn.

这两个事件促使《纽约时报》在上海建立了第一个驻华分社。自那以后，时报一直近距离报道中国，并在今年秋季迎来了上海分社的百年纪念。

During World War I, The Times greatly expanded its network of bureaus in Europe, but was slower to do so in Asia. Starting in the latter half of the 19th century, the newspaper’s Asia coverage relied mostly on dispatches from traders, missionaries, sailors, soldiers and other travelers. In the early 1900s, The Times began publishing articles from news agencies like The Associated Press, which supplied the initial report published by The Times of Sun’s death.

第一次世界大战期间，时报极大地扩展了在欧洲的分社网络，但在亚洲的行动则相对迟缓。从19世纪下半叶开始，时报亚洲报道主要依赖商人、传教士、水手、士兵和其他旅行者发回的通讯。20世纪初，时报开始刊登来自美联社等通讯社的稿件，当时发表的关于孙中山去世的最初报道正是由美联社提供的。

By coincidence, Nicholas Roosevelt, a prominent commentator and correspondent on foreign affairs for The New York Times in the mid-1920s, was on a trip to China and other East Asian nations when Sun died.

巧合的是，在孙中山去世时，20世纪20年代中期《纽约时报》著名的评论员和外交事务记者尼古拉斯·罗斯福正在中国等东亚国家旅行。

Mr. Roosevelt was uniquely positioned to assess the importance of Sun’s death.

在评价孙中山去世这件事的重要性上，罗斯福具有得天独厚的优势。

1923年的孙中山。

He was the son of President Teddy Roosevelt’s first cousin, and was trained by the president since boyhood for a diplomatic career. He assisted President Woodrow Wilson at the Versailles conference following World War I and spent most of the next several decades alternating between roles at The Times and as a senior diplomat. (During World War II, a more distant cousin, President Franklin D. Roosevelt, named him as America’s deputy director of war information.)

他是泰迪·罗斯福总统的远亲，从小就接受总统外交事务培训。一战后，他在凡尔赛会议上协助伍德罗·威尔逊总统，随后几十年的大部分时间里，他时而在时报任职，时而出任高级外交官。（二战期间，他的另一位远亲富兰克林·D·罗斯福总统任命他为美国战争信息办公室副主任。）

In the 1920s, Sun was widely perceived in the United States as the person who could hold China’s fractious provinces together. His death provoked overwrought predictions that China would dissolve into a civil war that might draw in foreign powers.

20世纪20年代，孙中山在美国被广泛认为是能够凝聚中国四分五裂政局的关键人物。他的去世引发了过度预测，认为中国将瓦解并陷入内战，甚至可能会有外国势力卷入。

Nicholas Roosevelt sent a cable to Adolph Ochs, the publisher of The Times, and urged the newspaper to establish a bureau in China. The Times was still mulling the recommendation when violence erupted in Shanghai at the end of May.

尼古拉斯·罗斯福给时报出版人阿道夫·奥克斯发了一封电报，敦促报纸在中国设立分社。当5月底上海爆发暴力事件时，时报仍在考虑这一建议。

The Times quickly hired Thomas F. Millard, a well-known American journalist working in Shanghai, as the newspaper’s first correspondent in China.

时报迅速聘请了在上海工作的知名美国记者托马斯·F·米勒德作为报社在中国的第一位记者。

Mr. Millard left The Times in early 1927. Another correspondent, Frederick Moore, was sent to Peking, now called Beijing. But after a few months he and his wife sailed home, declaring the schools inadequate for their children. Before he left, he hired Hallett Abend, who covered China for The Times until 1941.

米勒德于1927年初离开时报。另一位记者弗雷德里克·摩尔被派往北京。但在几个月后，他和妻子就坐船回国了，称那里的学校不适合他们的孩子。在他离开之前，他雇佣了哈雷特·阿班，后者一直为时报报道中国直到1941年。

For his first two years, Mr. Abend was based in Peking, where he rented a 12,000-square-foot house for $12 a month, or $223 in today’s dollars after allowing for inflation. (Such bargains are no longer available.) He moved to Shanghai in 1929 after Nationalist leaders tried to deport him for writing articles accurately warning that they had not brought regional warlords under control. He then lived in Shanghai as chief China correspondent for 12 years.

在最初的两年里，阿班常驻北京，他以每月12美元的价格租了一栋1.2万平方英尺（约合1100平方米）的房子，算上通货膨胀约合今天的223美元（约合1600元人民币，如今已经不可能捡到这样的便宜了）。他在1929年转驻上海，因为国民党领导人试图驱逐他，此前他撰写文章准确地警告说他们尚未有效控制地方军阀。随后他作为首席驻华记者在上海生活了12年。

1947年，《纽约时报》上海分社的一个房间。

In articles about Japan’s rapid military advances in China from 1931 onward, Mr. Abend warned that war in the Pacific was increasingly likely between Japan and the United States.

在关于1931年后日本在中国军事推进的文章中，阿班警告说，日本和美国在太平洋爆发战争的可能性越来越大。

During the 1930s, he assembled in Shanghai a team of journalists to cover China for The Times. One of them, Tillman Durdin, was among the first eyewitnesses in 1937 to tell the world of mass killings by Japanese forces of civilians in Nanjing. He then covered World War II from Chongqing, China’s wartime capital.

20世纪30年代，他在上海组建了一个记者团队为时报报道中国。其中有位蒂尔曼·德丁，是1937年首批向世界讲述日军在南京大规模屠杀平民的目击者之一。随后他在中国战时首都重庆对二战进行报道。

Based after the war in Shanghai and Nanjing, China’s postwar capital, Mr. Durdin and a team covered the civil war between Communists and Nationalists. The Shanghai bureau even had a well-equipped darkroom for developing photos.

战后常驻上海和战后首都南京的德丁和一个团队报道了共产党和国民党之间的内战。上海分社甚至配备了一个设备齐全的暗房用于冲洗照片。

After Mao Zedong came to power in 1949, The Times covered China mainly from Hong Kong. As China reopened to trade and investment in 1979, The Times reopened its bureau in Beijing that June, and then reopened in Shanghai in January 1995. Both bureaus continued operating through the Covid-19 pandemic, although with a staff much depleted by U.S.-China tensions, and both remain open today.

1949年毛泽东掌权后，时报主要从香港报道中国。随着1979年中国重新向贸易和投资开放，时报于当年6月重开北京分社，随后于1995年1月重开上海分社。这两个分社一直到新冠疫情期间都还在继续运作，至今没有关闭，尽管受美中紧张关系影响人员大大减少。

The Times marked the centennial of its Shanghai bureau this autumn on the city’s famous Bund, with a reception in the Roosevelt Room, which has portraits at either end of Nicholas Roosevelt’s two presidential cousins.

今年秋季，时报在上海著名的外滩纪念了上海分社成立一百周年，并在罗斯福厅举行了招待会，包间内两端挂有尼古拉斯·罗斯福的两位总统亲戚的肖像。

The sweeping crackdown President Trump declared last week after an Afghan national was accused of shooting two National Guard members is poised to radically curtail immigrants from legally entering and living in the United States, putting up roadblocks unparalleled in recent history.

一名阿富汗籍男子被控枪击两名国民警卫队员后，特朗普总统于上周宣布展开大规模移民打击行动。此举或将极大限制移民合法入境及在美国居留，设置了美国近年罕见的移民准入障碍。

Within a matter of days, the administration rolled out a series of far-reaching policy changes: pausing all asylum decisions for migrants currently in the United States; reviewing the green cards that allow people from 19 countries, mostly from the Middle East or Africa, to live and work permanently in the United States; reassessing the asylum approvals issued during the Biden administration; indefinitely halting immigration applications filed by Afghan nationals; and barring Afghans from entering the country.

短短数日内，政府推出一系列影响深远的政策调整：暂停处理美国境内所有待审庇护申请；重新审查来自19个国家（大多为中东或非洲国家）人员在美国永久居留和工作所需的绿卡；复核拜登政府时期获批的庇护案例；无限期暂停阿富汗国民提交的移民申请；同时全面禁止阿富汗人入境美国。

The new rules are poised to potentially upend the status of as many as 1.5 million migrants with pending asylum cases in the country, the more than 50,000 who gained asylum from the Department of Homeland Security under the Biden administration and untold more who had been hoping to seek refuge in the United States.

新规可能影响多达150万境内庇护申请待审的移民、5万余名拜登政府时期获美国国土安全部批准庇护的人员，以及无数原本希望赴美寻求庇护的民众，他们的身份状态或将彻底改变。

And Mr. Trump has hinted that further action could come as a result of the attack, floating the possibility of denaturalization, or stripping people of citizenship.

特朗普还暗示，此次枪击事件可能促使政府采取进一步行动，甚至带来推行取消国籍的可能性，即剥夺部分人的美国公民身份。

Taken together, the moves represent some of the most significant changes to immigration policy since he regained office on a platform of substantially curbing the number of people entering the United States and deporting record numbers of migrants.

综合来看，这些举措是特朗普重返白宫以来在移民政策上做出的最重大调整之一，而他此次竞选的核心纲领便是大幅缩减入境移民数量，并创下移民驱逐纪录。

It remains to be seen how the administration will conduct such large-scale reviews of people already living legally in the country, and the federal government cannot easily strip people of their status. But the threat that people could see their cases reopened provoked alarm in a wide array of migrant communities now grappling with the fallout.

目前尚不清楚政府将如何对已合法居留美国的大量人员展开大规模审查，且联邦政府也难以轻易剥夺这些人的合法身份。但案件可能被重新审理的威胁，已在众多移民社群中引发恐慌，他们正艰难应对政策变动带来的连锁反应。

“The U.S. government has never halted such a broad slice of the immigration system or devoted this level of resources to rechecking its own work,” said Sarah Pierce, a former Department of Homeland Security official who is now director of social policy at the center-left think tank Third Way.

“美国政府从未如此大范围冻结移民体系运转，也从未投入如此多资源去复核自身此前的审批工作，”前美国国土安全部官员萨拉·皮尔斯表示。她目前担任中左翼智库“第三条路”的社会政策主任。

While security reviews are responsible, Ms. Pierce said, “this isn’t a calibrated security response — it’s a sweeping disruption of the legal immigration system at a moment when the administration is looking for someone to blame.”

皮尔斯指出，安全审查固然要承担责任，“但此番举措并非精准的安全应对——而是政府在急于寻找追责对象之际，对合法移民体系造成的全面冲击。”

Amanda Baran, a former senior official at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Biden administration, said she had never heard of the agency pausing asylum requests wholesale in the way the president had ordered.

拜登政府时期曾任美国公民与移民服务局高级官员的阿曼达·巴兰称，她从未听说过该机构像此次这样按总统命令全面暂停庇护申请的先例。

“This is blunt force in a way that I have not seen before,” she said.

“这种强硬手段是我前所未见的，”她说。

Administration officials said the measures were necessary in the wake of Wednesday’s shooting, pointing to the fact that the 29-year-old suspect, Rahmanullah Lakanwal, entered the United States in 2021 under a program established by the Biden administration to give quick access to Afghan allies after the Taliban retook their country.

政府官员表示，这些措施是周三枪击事件后的必要之举，并指出29岁的嫌疑人拉赫曼乌拉·拉坎瓦尔于2021年入境美国。当时塔利班重新掌控阿富汗后，拜登政府推出专项计划，为阿富汗盟友提供快速入境通道，拉坎瓦尔正是通过该计划赴美。

2021年8月，阿富汗喀布尔机场，逃离塔利班统治的阿富汗难民正登上美军运输机。

“The protection of this country and of the American people remains paramount, and the American people will not bear the cost of the prior administration’s reckless resettlement policies,” said Joe Edlow, the head of U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services, in a message posted on social media. “American safety is non negotiable.”

“保护国家和美国民众的安全始终是首要任务，美国民众不应为前政府鲁莽的安置政策付出代价，”美国公民与移民服务局局长乔·埃德罗在社交媒体发文称。“美国的安全不容妥协。”

Hundreds of thousands of immigrants from the Middle East and Africa, the Caribbean and Latin America had already been on alert for months as federal officials slashed refugee numbers, rolled back temporary humanitarian programs and narrowed the path to asylum in immigration courts, immigration advocates and lawyers said.

移民权益倡导者和律师透露，数月来，联邦政府已大幅削减难民接收数量、撤销临时性人道主义项目，并收紧移民法庭的庇护审批通道，数十万来自中东、非洲、加勒比地区和拉丁美洲的移民早已忧心忡忡。

Even before the National Guard shooting, migrants from the 19 countries subject to the president’s travel ban had been preparing for more stringent reviews of their green card applications after the Trump administration announced it planned to make it harder for them to get that form of approval and other kinds of immigration relief.

甚至在国民警卫队枪击事件发生前，受总统旅行禁令影响的19个国家的移民，就已为绿卡申请面临更严格审查做好准备——特朗普政府宣布将加大此类移民获得绿卡及其他移民救济的难度。

In Southern California, Ara Torosian, an evangelical pastor and Iranian refugee with U.S. citizenship, said he was worried about members of his congregation, including some who had already been detained after reporting to their asylum case check-ins in recent months.

在南加州，拥有美国国籍的伊朗难民、福音派牧师阿拉·托罗西安表示，自己十分担忧教会成员的处境——近几个月来，已有部分信徒在按要求前往庇护案件复核时遭到拘留。

“We don’t know what we should do, especially now,” said Mr. Torosian, who preaches at the Cornerstone Church in West Los Angeles. “So many people have become threats because of the actions of one person.”

“我们不知道该怎么办，尤其是现在，”托罗西安牧师在洛杉矶西部的基石教堂布道时说。“就因为一个人的行为，这么多人都成了‘威胁’。”

Mr. Trump has said the pause on asylum requests will continue for a long period of time.

特朗普称，庇护申请暂停政策将持续很长一段时间。

“We don’t want those people,” he told reporters on Sunday about those seeking asylum.

“我们不想要这些人，”周日，他在接受记者采访时谈及寻求庇护者时称。

In a social media post last week, the president also threatened to strip citizenship from naturalized U.S. citizens “who undermine domestic tranquillity.”

上周，总统还在社交媒体上威胁，将剥夺那些“破坏国内安定”的归化美国公民的国籍。

Some immigration lawyers and advocates have cautioned against panic over the potential for sizable rollbacks for those who already have legal status, noting that green card holders, asylum grantees and other long-term legal residents have already had to undergo heavy vetting and meet high legal burdens to obtain forms of relief.

部分移民律师和权益倡导者提醒，已获得合法身份的民众不必过度恐慌政策大幅倒退。他们指出，绿卡持有者、庇护获批者及其他长期合法居留者，在申请相关移民福利时，本就经过了严格审查，且满足了极高的法律要求。

“Fortunately, this is a nation of laws, and the more status people have, the more rights people have,” said Ryan Costello, the policy director at the National Iranian American Council, which lobbies on behalf of Iranian Americans. “But it is certainly a time of a lot of uncertainty and concern in the community.”

“幸运的是，这里是一个法治国家。民众的身份越稳固，享有的权利就越有保障，”代表伊朗裔美国人游说的全国伊朗裔美国人理事会政策主任瑞安·科斯特洛表示。“但当前移民社群无疑正处于充满不确定性和担忧的时期。”

Ahilan T. Arulanantham, a law professor with the Center for Immigration Law and Policy at the U.C.L.A. School of Law, said the administration would have to meet significant legal burdens for the review to result in people losing their green cards or citizenship, including winning rulings for each individual case in court hearings.

加州大学洛杉矶分校法学院移民法律与政策中心法学教授阿希兰·阿鲁拉南丹指出，政府若想通过审查剥夺民众的绿卡或公民身份，必须承担极大法律负担，包括在法庭听证中逐案胜诉。

The pause on asylum requests filed inside the country, known as affirmative asylum applications, could affect as many of 1.5 million people who had pending applications with U.S.C.I.S. as of June, according to government data.

政府数据显示，截至6月，美国公民与移民服务局积压的境内主动庇护申请案件涉及约150万人，此次全面暂停庇护申请的举措将对这些人产生直接影响。

It’s unclear how U.S.C.I.S. will conduct a review of so many cases. In recent years, the agency has struggled to lower its backlog of cases, according to the D.H.S. inspector general. Agency employees have already been tasked with carrying out other mandates issued by the administration, including processing in refugees from South Africa and considering new factors, like purported anti-Americanism, when considering people’s immigration requests.

目前尚不清楚该机构将如何处理如此庞大的案件复核工作。国土安全部监察长透露，近年来该机构一直难以清理积压的案件。此外，工作人员还需执行政府下达的其他任务，包括接收南非难民，以及在移民申请审核中纳入所谓反美倾向等新的考量因素。

The last major government crackdown on a specific group of migrants in the wake of a violent incident came after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

上一次美国政府因暴力事件对特定移民群体展开大规模打击，是在9·11恐怖袭击之后。

At the time, the Bush administration created a program known as the National Security Entry-Exit Registration System that asked for new registration requirements for immigrants from mostly Middle Eastern countries. The program, which was widely criticized by immigrant advocacy and civil rights groups for being ineffective and unfairly targeting Muslims, was later disbanded during the Obama administration.

当时，布什政府推出“国家安全出入境登记系统”，针对大多数中东国家的移民制定了新的登记要求。该计划因效率低下且不公正地针对穆斯林，遭到移民权益组织和民权团体的广泛批评，最终在奥巴马政府时期被废止。

Concern over the new measures announced by the Trump administration are now reverberating in Afghan immigrant communities and beyond.

如今，特朗普政府新政策引发的担忧，已在阿富汗移民社群及更广泛的群体中蔓延开来。

Nooristani Bahramuddin, 35, who previously worked as a security guard and interpreter at the U.S. embassy in Kabul, said he was finally approved last year for a special visa program for Afghans that worked with the U.S. government. He and his family arrived in Chicago last August and were issued green cards a few months later. His son has severe autism, and they’ve since relocated and found a school in Richmond, Va., that can support him. Now they fear that the little stability they’ve created will be upended.

35岁的努里斯坦尼·巴赫拉姆丁曾在喀布尔的美国大使馆担任安保人员和翻译。去年，他终于通过为美国政府工作的阿富汗人专项签证计划获批入境。去年8月，他携家人抵达芝加哥，数月后获得了绿卡。他的儿子患有严重自闭症，一家人随后搬到弗吉尼亚州里士满，找到了一所能为儿子提供特殊支持的学校。而现在，他们担心自己好不容易建立起来的稳定生活即将被打破。

“We are feeling so nervous, hearing that they are reprocessing and reinvestigating those who were issued green cards,” Mr. Bahramuddin said. “I am just trying to be a good person here, and to teach my children the same.”

“听到政府要重新审核、调查已发放的绿卡，我们非常焦虑，”巴赫拉姆丁说。“我只想在这里做个好人，并以此教育我的孩子们。”

One woman who fled to Virginia from her native Gambia while pregnant last summer said she sought to escape before her daughter was born and forced to undergo female genital mutilation. With their asylum petition now on hold, she said she worried the obstacles to gaining legal status were becoming only harder, particularly for Black immigrants.

一名去年夏天怀着身孕从冈比亚逃到弗吉尼亚州的女性表示，她之所以逃离祖国，是为了避免女儿出生后被迫接受女性割礼。如今她的庇护申请被暂停，她担忧获得合法身份的难度越来越大，对非洲裔移民来说尤其如此。

“The odds are against us,” the woman said, who spoke on condition of anonymity for fear that sharing her name could negatively affect her immigration case.

“我们处处碰壁，”这位女性说。由于担心透露姓名会对自己的移民案件产生负面影响，她要求匿名。

Larilem Rodriguez, 52, a criminal defense lawyer and human rights advocate, and her husband, Rafael Rojas, a former business administrator, said they fled Venezuela nine years ago after they were targeted over their human rights and political work and their home was ransacked. They entered the United States legally and now live in Texas, where they have been awaiting decisions in their asylum petitions. Now, they have no idea how long it will take.

52岁的拉里勒姆·罗德里格斯是一名刑事辩护律师兼人权倡导者，她的丈夫拉斐尔·罗哈斯曾是企业管理者。九年前，两人因从事人权和政治活动遭到迫害，被抄家，无奈从委内瑞拉逃离。他们合法进入美国后定居在得克萨斯州，一直等待庇护申请的审批结果。而现在，他们完全不知道要等多久。

“We completely understand that the U.S. has a duty to secure its people and do security vetting,” Ms. Rodriguez said. “But at the same time, this pause leaves people like us in a deeper limbo.”

“我们完全理解，美国有责任保护本国公民安全并开展安全审查，”罗德里格斯说。“但与此同时，这次庇护申请暂停让我们这样的人陷入了更深的困境。”

Three cyclones happened simultaneously across South and Southeast Asia this week, the latest of several huge storms that have battered the region, killing at least 1,200 people, with hundreds more still missing and millions displaced.

本周，南亚和东南亚同时出现了三场气旋风暴，这是今年以来肆虐该地区的又一轮大型风暴，目前已造成至少1200人死亡，数百人失联，数百万人流离失所。

Since the start of this year, there have been at least 16 cyclones and dozens of depressions in the Pacific and Indian oceans. Even moderate cyclones now produce extreme rainfall and can cause widespread flooding, said Roxy Mathew Koll, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology.

今年以来，太平洋和印度洋已生成至少16个气旋，以及数十个低气压系统。印度热带气象研究所气候科学家罗克西·马修·科尔表示，如今即便是强度中等的气旋，也会带来强降雨，可能引发大范围洪涝灾害。

“It is the rainfall and the cascading impacts — landslides and flash floods — that stand out this year, not necessarily the number of storms,” Dr. Koll said.

“今年最显著的灾害特征并非风暴数量，而是暴雨及其引发的山体滑坡、山洪暴发等连锁反应，”科尔博士说。

Cyclone Ditwah hit Sri Lanka and is expected to move toward India. Cyclone Senyar reached Indonesia and is now headed toward Malaysia.

迪特瓦气旋袭击了斯里兰卡，预计将向印度移动；森亚尔气旋已登陆印度尼西亚，目前正向马来西亚推进。

In Sri Lanka, the president said on Monday that the island nation was facing the “largest and most challenging natural disaster in our history,” affecting every part of the country, exceeding the scope of the devastating 2004 tsunami, which hit coastal areas.

斯里兰卡总统周一表示，这个岛国正遭遇“历史上规模最大、挑战最严峻的自然灾害”，全国所有地区均受波及，受灾范围超过了2004年重创沿海地区的毁灭性海啸。

Here’s what to know about this year’s devastating monsoon season.

以下是关于今年这场灾难性季风季的关键信息：

Which countries are affected?

哪些国家受到影响？

Flooding and landslides in Sri Lanka have affected more than a million people, and more than 15,000 homes have been destroyed. The death toll in Sri Lanka rose to at least 355 on Monday, with hundreds more still missing.

斯里兰卡的洪涝和山体滑坡已影响100多万人，逾1.5万所房屋被毁。截至周一，该国死亡人数已升至至少355人，仍有数百人失联。

Officials in Indonesia said the flooding had affected 1.5 million people and displaced about 570,000. Nearly 300,000 people in Indonesia had been evacuated from their homes as of Saturday. Indonesia’s official death toll has reached 604, and 464 others were still missing.

印度尼西亚官员称，洪涝灾害影响了150万人，约57万人流离失所。截至周六，该国已有近30万人撤离家园。官方公布的死亡人数达604人，另有464人失踪。

Vietnam has been hit by 14 typhoons this year, with the 15th major storm forming off the country’s south central coast. More than 90 people in the nation were killed in November from flooding and landslides.

越南今年已遭遇14场台风侵袭，第15场强风暴已在该国中南部沿海地区形成。11月，该国已有超90人因洪涝和山体滑坡丧生。

At least 160 people have died in Thailand, where flooding has displaced more than two million residents. Last week, Thailand’s military sent troops, helicopters and boats to rescue people stranded by flooding in its southern provinces.

泰国洪灾至少导致160人遇难，超200万居民流离失所。上周，泰国军方派遣军队、直升机和船只，营救南部府因洪水受困的民众。

In early November, the Philippines was hit by two typhoons in the span of one week. Troops mobilized alongside emergency workers to prepare for Super Typhoon Fung-wong on Nov. 9, less than a week after another storm left more than 200 people dead.

11月初，菲律宾一周内接连遭遇两场台风袭击。11月9日，军方与应急人员紧急动员起来，为超强台风“凤凰”做准备，此时距离一场已造成200多人死亡的台风过去不到一周时间。

周一，斯里兰卡首都科伦坡郊区的韦兰皮蒂亚遭遇暴雨袭击后，居民们扛着行李涉水穿越被洪水淹没的区域。

What is unusual about this year?

今年的灾害有何不同寻常之处？

This year’s monsoon season has been unusually intense, partly because of La Niña — a weather phenomenon in which strong winds push warm water across the Pacific toward East Asia, creating conditions for storms to form. The words hurricane, typhoon and cyclone all refer to the same type of storm, but different terms are used for such storms in different parts of the world.

今年的季风季强度异常，部分原因是拉尼娜现象——在这种气候现象影响下，强风将太平洋暖水推向东亚，为风暴形成创造了有利条件。飓风、台风和气旋本质上是同一类风暴，只是在世界不同地区叫法不同。

While monsoon rains happen every year, cyclones are rare in regions near the Equator. Tropical cyclones spin because of a force caused by the planet’s rotation. It is unusual for storms to form near the Earth’s Equator, where this force is weakest. But Typhoon Senyar formed about 5 degrees above the Equator in an ocean strait between Indonesia and Malaysia.

季风降雨虽每年都会发生，但赤道附近地区极少出现气旋。热带气旋的旋转源于地球自转产生的作用力，在赤道地区力量最弱，因此很少形成风暴。然而台风森亚尔却在赤道以北约五度的海域形成，位于印度尼西亚与马来西亚之间的海峡上空。

周一，在印度尼西亚西苏门答腊省塔纳达塔尔地区，工作人员正在转移一名洪水遇难者的遗体。

How is climate change affecting these storms?

气候变化如何影响这些风暴？

For over a century, greenhouse gases emitted by human activity have trapped heat inside the planet’s atmosphere. Last year was the hottest year since reliable record-keeping began. The oceans have also heated significantly, and warmer water helps tropical cyclones form and strengthen more rapidly.

一个多世纪以来，人类活动排放的温室气体在地球大气层中积聚热量。去年是有可靠气象记录以来最热的一年，海洋温度也大幅上升，而温暖的海水会助力热带气旋更快形成并增强其威力。

In the Bay of Bengal, the body of water between India and Myanmar, the proportion of storms that become extreme has increased over the last 50 years.

在印度和缅甸之间的孟加拉湾，过去50年来，达到极端强度的风暴比例持续上升。

The hotter climate is also weakening vertical wind shear, the winds that often help break up developing storms, in some places around the world. A 2024 study suggested that warming of the Tibetan Plateau may have reduced wind shear over the Pacific Ocean surrounding Southeast and East Asia, while others show that wind shear over the Arabian Sea has also weakened since the 1990s, allowing stronger cyclones.

全球变暖还导致全球部分地区的垂直风切变减弱——这种风通常会瓦解正在形成的风暴。2024年的一项研究表明，青藏高原升温可能降低了东南亚和东亚周边太平洋海域的垂直风切变；另有研究显示，自上世纪90年代以来，阿拉伯海的垂直风切变也在减弱，使得气旋强度不断增强。

This year’s storms occurred alongside extreme regional rains. In Southeast Asia, late-season typhoons often coincide with monsoon rains in November and December, though this overlap is unusual in South Asia.

今年的风暴还伴随区域性极端降雨。在东南亚，季末台风通常会在11月和12月与季风降雨叠加，但这种现象在南亚并不常见。

Because warmer air can hold more moisture, rising global temperatures increase the potential amount of rainfall, making the monsoon season more variable, intense and unpredictable.

由于暖空气能容纳更多水汽，全球气温上升增加了降雨潜力，导致季风季变得更加多变、猛烈且难以预测。

印度尼西亚北苏门答腊省周日发生山洪暴发和山体滑坡后，流离失所的居民在避难所休息。

How are governments responding?

各国政府如何应对？

The countries affected by this year’s storms have uneven climate adaptation plans and are already struggling to adapt to environmental pressures. Many of these governments are also facing complex economic and political challenges, along with public pressure to respond to disasters quickly and effectively.

今年受风暴影响的国家，气候适应计划参差不齐，且已经在竭力应对环境压力。这些国家的政府大多还面临复杂的经济和政治挑战，同时承受着民众要求快速有效应对灾害的压力。

Sri Lanka’s recovery from a man-made economic crash in 2022 is still fragile. Dr. Vinya Ariyaratne, the president of one of Sri Lanka’s largest community-based development organizations, said that all the country’s 25 districts have been affected.

斯里兰卡在2022年人为导致的经济崩溃后，复苏进程仍脆弱不堪。斯里兰卡最大的社区发展组织之一负责人维尼娅·阿里亚拉特纳博士表示，该国25个行政区全部受灾。

“The whole country is a disaster zone, except for a few places,” he said. “That’s the difference between the tsunami and this one — the tsunami was only coastal areas.”

“除少数地区外，整个国家都沦为灾区。这就是此次灾害与海啸的不同之处——海啸仅影响沿海地区，”他说。

In Indonesia, the world’s fourth most populous nation, thousands of people came to the streets in September to protest the yawning wealth gap. Youth unemployment has exceeded 16 percent, and the capital, Jakarta, is sinking into the Java Sea, its groundwater sucked dry and rivers overrun by its millions of residents.

印度尼西亚是全球第四人口大国，今年9月，数以千计的民众走上街头抗议贫富差距悬殊问题。该国青年失业率已超16%，首都雅加达因地下水过度开采、河流不堪千万人口的重负，正逐渐沉入爪哇海。

Some in Vietnam have begun to criticize the government’s lack of preparedness and slow response. Natural disasters have caused more than $2 billion in damage between January and October, according to the national statistics office.

越南已有民众开始批评政府防灾准备不足、救灾响应迟缓。该国国家统计局数据显示，今年1月至10月，自然灾害造成的经济损失已超20亿美元。

In September, thousands of Filipinos filled the streets of Manila to protest the government, which they accuse of misappropriating billions of dollars that were designated for flood relief projects. Greenpeace, an environmental group, estimated that about a trillion Philippine pesos, or $17.6 billion, that was supposed to help the country confront chronic and deadly flooding had been embezzled.

今年9月，数以千计菲律宾民众聚集在马尼拉街头抗议政府，指控其挪用了数十亿美元的防洪救灾专项资金。环保组织绿色和平估计，约1万亿菲律宾比索（约合176亿美元）的防洪救灾资金遭贪污——这些资金本应用于应对频发的致命洪涝灾害。

斯里兰卡首都科伦坡郊区的韦兰皮蒂亚地区周日发生洪水。

Hong Kong officials said on Monday that contractors at the ill-fated housing estate where a fire killed more than 150 people had blanketed buildings with substandard scaffolding netting, and then tried to conceal the unsafe material.

香港官员周一表示，在发生严重火灾导致逾150人死亡的宏福苑，承包商给大楼包覆了未达标准的棚架防护网，并试图掩盖这种不安全的材料。

The Independent Commission Against Corruption said that after a summer typhoon, some of the scaffolding netting used at the Wang Fuk Court housing estate in northern Hong Kong was replaced with cheaper material that did not meet fire-safety standards.

香港廉政公署表示，在夏季经历了一场台风后，位于香港北部的屋苑宏福苑的一些棚网被更换为不符合防火标准的廉价材料。

To fool inspectors, netting that met the standards was installed at the base of the scaffolding, where samples are usually taken. Netting is used to protect people below from materials that may fall from bamboo scaffolding, which workers in Hong Kong use when repairing building exteriors.

为了应付检查，他们将符合标准的棚网安装在棚脚，也就是通常取样的位置。香港建筑外墙维修时通常使用竹棚，棚网被用于保护下方行人免受竹棚上方坠物的伤害。

The findings emerged as the death toll from Wednesday’s blaze rose to 151, with the police still combing the towers for bodies and evidence of identification. More than 40 people were still missing. The work of locating and identifying remains would take another three weeks, officials said.

这一调查结果于周三公布之际，火灾遇难人数已升至151人。警方仍在楼内搜寻遗体和可用于身份识别的物品。仍有40余人失踪。官员表示，搜索与确认遗骸身份的工作还需三周时间。

In a sign of how intensely the fires had raged, the police said that some bodies were so severely burned that they had been reduced to ashes, and they acknowledged that they might not be able to recover the remains of all the missing people.

警方表示，部分遗体已严重烧毁，只剩灰烬，由此可见火势之猛烈。他们承认，可能无法找到所有失踪者的遗体。

The latest findings about what contributed to Hong Kong’s worst fire in decades have raised sharp questions about the city’s construction industry and the government’s ability to police it. The probe has exposed gaps in oversight that allowed unsafe material to be installed across multiple buildings — not just the substandard netting, but also flammable polystyrene foam boards that officials said caused the fire to spread rapidly.

对这起香港数十年来最严重火灾原因的最新调查结果引发了对当地建筑业以及政府监管能力的尖锐质疑。调查揭露了监管漏洞，导致不安全的材料得以被安装在多栋建筑上——不仅是不达标的棚网，还有可燃性聚苯乙烯发泡胶板，官员称正是这些发泡胶板导致火势迅速蔓延。

The revelations could further stoke public anger over the disaster, especially because residents had tried for more than a year to warn officials about hazards at the site, including the netting.

调查结果可能进一步激起公众对灾难的愤怒，尤其是居民们在一年多前就试图向官员警告施工现场的各种隐患，包括棚网问题。

The authorities had said last week that the protective netting at Wang Fuk Court met fire-safety standards, citing preliminary testing. The security secretary, Chris Tang, said on Monday that earlier samples had been taken from the ground floor of a building that had been unaffected by the fire. He acknowledged that the results of their tests differed widely from “the observations of our colleagues on-site and from numerous experts and citizens afterward.”

当局上周曾引用初步检测结果，称宏福苑的棚网符合消防安全标准。保安局局长邓炳强周一表示，早期的样本来自一栋未受火灾波及的建筑物的地面楼层。他承认，这些检查结果与“我们在现场救火同事的观察，及专家、市民大众事后的观察”存在很大差异。

The police and anticorruption agency said that 14 people so far have been arrested, including engineering consultants, contractors and scaffolding subcontractors. They also described in the greatest detail yet how contractors acquired and installed unsafe netting.

警方和廉政公署表示，目前已有14人被捕，包括工程顾问、承包商和棚架工程分包商。官方还自事发以来最详尽地描述了承包商如何获取并安装了不符合安全标准的棚网。

Danny Woo Ying-ming, commissioner of the anti-corruption agency, said that after a typhoon damaged the Wang Fuk Court scaffolding in July, individuals whom he did not name bought 2,300 rolls of netting from a local supplier at 54 Hong Kong dollars, or about $7, per roll. That material did not meet fire-safety standards.

廉政专员胡英明表示，7月的台风破坏了宏福苑的棚网，未具名的相关人士此后从当地供应商以每卷54港币的价格购入了2300卷棚网。这些材料不符合阻燃标准。

宏福苑大楼外残留的棚网和竹棚。

But, in October, after a separate fire involving scaffolding netting in the Central district set off official scrutiny, those individuals grew worried that the unsafe netting would be found in random inspections, Mr. Woo said.

胡英明说，但在10月中环发生一起涉及棚网的火灾并引发官方关注后，这些人开始担心不达标的棚网会在随机抽检中暴露。

They then bought 115 rolls of netting that complied with the standards and installed it at the base of each building’s scaffolding in what investigators believe was an attempt to disguise the inferior material above. This netting was 100 Hong Kong dollars, or $13, nearly twice as expensive as the noncompliant netting.

随后，他们购买了115卷符合规范的防护网，并安装在每栋楼的脚手架底部。调查人员认为此举是为了掩饰上方的劣质材料。这种合规防护网的售价为每卷100港元，几乎是不合规材料价格的两倍。

Seven of the 20 samples that officials took from Wang Fuk Court failed to meet fire-safety standards, said Mr. Tang, the security secretary. These 20 samples were taken from areas near windows, from less-accessible spots, “even requiring firefighters to climb out to obtain samples,” he said.

保安局局长邓炳强表示，调查人员从宏福苑采集的20个样本中有七个不符合阻燃标准。这些样本采自靠近窗户的位置、以及难以取到的区域，“甚至消防员需要爬出去才能取到样本”。

Hong Kong’s Buildings Department last week ordered all contractors to review the safety of scaffolding protective netting and other materials at their sites and submit their reports, along with quality certificates and test results, within seven days. On Monday, the department said it had inspected 359 buildings undergoing external maintenance and has taken samples of netting for tests.

香港屋宇署上周已要求所有承建商检查工地上的棚架防护网及其他材料的安全性，并在七天内提交报告及质量证明与检测结果。屋宇署周一表示，他们已检查359栋正在进行外墙维修的建筑，并取走棚网样本进行检测。

周一，警方展示被烧毁公寓的照片。

In recent days, as inspections ramped up, some contractors appeared to be moving quickly to remove netting used at sites. “You can see the mesh being removed in Hong Kong because they are avoiding punishment,” said Jason Poon Chuk-hung, a civil engineer-turned-activist who lobbied the government to address fire safety of scaffolding netting for more than a year.

最近几天，随着检查的力度加大，一些承建商似乎正在迅速移除施工现场使用的棚网。“你能看到香港各处正在拆除棚网，因为他们在逃避处罚，”前土木工程师、现活动人士潘焯鸿说，他呼吁政府关注脚手架防护网消防安全已超过一年。

“If you remove it,” he added, “you can escape from the requirements.”

“如果把它拆掉，”他补充说，“你就能逃避相关要求。”

Even as the authorities sought to show that they were doing their utmost to recover bodies and investigate the disaster, they were also cracking down on expression, in a sign of how anxious officials are about the potential political fallout of this disaster.

在当局竭力展示他们正全力找寻遇难者遗体并调查这场灾难的同时，他们也在打击相关言论，显示出官员们对这场灾难潜在政治后果的担忧。

Over the weekend, officials invoked a new national security law to warn citizens not to use the tragedy to fuel discontent. The Office for Safeguarding National Security in Hong Kong issued a statement to warn that it would take action against “those with ulterior motives” who tried to use the tragedy to destabilize national security.

周末，当局援引新的国安法警告市民不要利用这场悲剧煽动不满。香港维护国家安全公署发表声明，警告将针对那些企图利用悲剧“危害国家安全”的“别有用心者”采取行动。

The South China Morning Post reported that the authorities had arrested a man who had called for the establishment of an independent inquiry on the blaze and holding government officials responsible. The police did not respond to requests for comment.

据《南华早报》报道，当局逮捕了一名呼吁成立独立调查委员会并追究政府官员责任的男子。警方未回应置评请求。

It was notable that the government has focused on suppressing critical views rather than on trying to reassure the population that a disaster like this would not happen in other high-rises in the city, said Steve Tsang, director of the SOAS China Institute in London.

伦敦大学亚非学院中国研究院主任曾锐生指出，值得注意的是，政府把重点放在压制批评上，而不是试图安抚市民、保证类似灾难不会在香港其他高楼发生。

“It shows the lack of credibility that the government has with the local population,” he said.

“这表明政府在当地民众中缺乏公信力，”他说。

Over the past few months, Jennifer Lawrence, World Series fans and right-wing influencers have all confessed to it. And now, the people behind the Oxford English Dictionary are getting into the act.

过去几个月里，詹妮弗·劳伦斯、职棒“世界大赛”的球迷和右翼网红都承认做过这样的事。现在，《牛津英语词典》的编纂者们也参与了进来。

Oxford University Press has chosen “rage bait” — defined as “online content deliberately designed to elicit anger or outrage by being frustrating, provocative or offensive” — as its 2025 Word of the Year.

牛津大学出版社将“引战”(rage bait)选为其2025年的年度词汇，它指的是“故意通过令人沮丧、挑衅或冒犯的方式引发愤怒或愤慨的网络内容”。

“Rage bait,” which triumphed over the more upbeat “biohack” and “aura farming,” goes back at least to 2002, when it appeared in a post on a Usenet discussion group to describe a particular kind of driver reaction to being flashed by another driver seeking to pass. Since then, it has become an increasingly common slang term for an attention-seeking form of online behavior.

“引战”打败了更乐观的“健康整活”(biohack)和“培养人设”(aura farming)，这个词至少可以追溯到2002年，当时它出现在Usenet的一个讨论组中，用来描述某类司机对超车者闪灯示意时的反应。从那时起，它成了一个越来越普遍的俚语，用于指代一种寻求关注的网络行为。

Over the past year, according to Oxford’s data, frequency of use spiked by a factor of three. The two-syllable open-compound word lands with blunt force. It also sparks an immediate “aha.”

根据牛津大学的数据，在过去的一年里，这个词的使用频率飙升了三倍。这个双音节开放式复合词具有强烈的冲击力，能让人瞬间恍然大悟。

“Even if people have never heard it before, they instantly know what it means,” Casper Grathwohl, the president of Oxford Languages, said in an interview. “And they want to talk about it.”

“即使以前从未听说过这个词，也能立刻知道它的意思，”牛津语言协会主席卡斯珀·格拉斯沃在接受采访时说。“大家都想讨论这个词。”

Oxford’s Word of the Year, which began in 2004, is based on usage evidence drawn from its continually updated corpus of some 30 billion words, which is compiled from news sources across the English-speaking world. The idea is to identify new or emerging words with social and cultural significance, backed by data.

《牛津词典》的年度词汇评选始于2004年，其依据是从其不断更新的约300亿词语料库中提取的用法证据，这些语料库汇集了英语世界新闻来源的语言数据，旨在通过数据来识别具有社会和文化意义的新词或新兴词汇。

As in the past few years, Oxford’s experts chose a short list, and then invited the public to weigh in. This year, there was a new twist: The entries were turned into personified candidates, who sold themselves in on-trend vertical videos by the creative studio Uncommon. (Sample pitch: “What rage bait lacks in empathy, nuance or class they make up for in absolutely nothing.”)

和过去几年一样，牛津大学的专家们筛选出候选词短名单，然后邀请公众参与。今年有了一个小变化：入围词被变成了拟人化的候选人，由创意工作室Uncommon制作成时髦的竖屏视频为自己拉票。（举个例子：“‘引战’确实没同理心、没分寸、没格调，但它好在别的地方也一无是处。”）

The winner was chosen by Oxford’s committee, based on the vote (more than 30,000 people weighed in), public conversation and data analysis.

获奖年度词汇由牛津大学委员会根据投票（超过3万人参与）、公众讨论和数据分析选出。

“The point of the Word of the Year is to encourage people to reflect on where we are as a culture, who we are at the moment, through the lens of words we use,” Grathwohl said. “The whole point is to create conversation.”

格拉斯沃说：“评选年度词汇的目的是鼓励人们通过我们使用的词汇来反思当下文化图景与自我定位，其核心价值在于激发社会对话。”

Over the years, winners have included “selfie” (2013), “post-truth” (2016), “toxic” (2018) and “vax” (2021). In the past few years, they have tended to have a distinctly Gen Z, very-online cast.

历年获奖词汇包括“自拍”（selfie，2013年）、“后真相”（post-truth，2016年）、“有毒”（toxic，2018年）和“疫苗”（vax，2021年）。近几年的词汇往往带有鲜明的Z世代特征，极具网络属性。

Some winners, like 2023’s “rizz” (short for “charisma”) give a zingy new name to a familiar thing. “It’s sometimes about the intangible pleasure of saying and speaking a word,” Grathwohl said.

一些获奖词汇，比如2023年的“rizz”（charisma的简写，即魅力。——译注）给一个熟悉的事物起了一个活泼的新名字。格拉斯沃解释说：“有时纯粹是出于说出某个词语时那种难以言喻的愉悦感。”

Others, like the 2024 winner, “brain rot” (the supposed deterioration of mental capacity brought on by overconsumption of trivial online content), describe a new experience that many are feeling without knowing what to call it. And whether or not “brain rot” is real, the word is still going strong, with usage continuing to surge.

还有一些词，比如2024年的获奖词“脑腐”（brain rot，指过度浏览琐碎的网络内容导致的智力退化），描述了一种很多人都不知道该怎么称呼的新体验。不管“脑腐”是不是真的，这个词仍然很流行，使用频率持续飙升。

This year’s finalists, Grathwohl said, reflect the ways that 2025 has been defined by “questions about who we really are, both online and offline,” and the ways the internet both manipulates us emotionally, and allows us to manipulate others.

格拉斯沃说，今年的入围作品反映了2025年被定义为“关于我们自我认知的问题，无论是线上还是线下”，以及互联网如何操纵我们的情感，也允许我们操纵他人。

“Aura farming,” defined as the careful “cultivation of an impressive, attractive or charismatic persona or personality,” arose around 2023, according to Oxford’s research. Usage nearly doubled over the past year, spiking in July in connection with a viral video of a young boy in Indonesia doing a motivational dance on the prow of a racing boat.

根据牛津大学的研究，“培养人设”的定义是精心“培养令人印象深刻的、有吸引力的或有魅力的人物或个性”，这一概念在2023年左右出现。在过去的一年里，它的使用量几乎翻了一番，并在7月因一个印尼少年在竞速艇船头跳励志舞的热转视频而激增。

Linguistically, it merges a somewhat mystical Latin borrowing, aura, with a 15th-century word relating to the cultivation of crops. “What I love is the banal and the sublime put together,” Grathwohl said.

在语言学上，该词融合了略带神秘色彩的拉丁语借词aura（光环）与15世纪指代农作物培育的词汇。格拉斯沃说：“我喜欢的是这种平凡与崇高的结合。

“Biohack,” a verb describing attempts to “improve or optimize one’s physical or mental performance, health, longevity or well-being,” was first recorded around 2011. Its usage also doubled in the past year, aided by growing conversation among “broligarchs,” as Grathwohl put it, and other powerful people. (He noted an incident in September, when Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping were caught on a hot mic talking about organ transplants and the possibility of living to 150.)

“健康整活”是一个动词，描述的是“改善或优化一个人的身体或精神表现、健康、长寿或幸福”的尝试，最早出现在2011年左右。过去一年间，这个词的使用量翻倍增长。格拉斯沃指出，这得益于“兄弟寡头”（broligarchs）等权势阶层间日益活跃的讨论。（他提及九月的一则新闻：普京与习近平在一场无意中被录下的对话中谈论器官移植及活到150岁的可能性。）

“Rage bait” appeared in the headlines in early November after Jennifer Lawrence confessed to creating an anonymous TikTok handle so she could fight with movie fans online. And it’s something even lexicographers have been accused of peddling.

11月初，詹妮弗·劳伦斯承认创建了一个匿名抖音账号，以便在网上与影迷打架，之后“引战”这个词出现在头条新闻上。甚至连词典编纂者都被指责在兜售这类内容。

In 2015, when Oxford chose the tears-of-joy emoji, some old-school wordniks were … not happy.

2015年，当牛津选择了“笑哭”表情符号时，一些老派的词汇爱好者表示……不满。

“People feel so passionately, there’s no way to avoid rage-baiting a portion of the word-loving public,” Grathwohl said. “No matter what we choose, a bunch of people are going to flame out online.”

“人们的情绪如此激烈，以至于无法避免激怒一部分热爱文字的公众，”格拉斯沃说。“无论我们选择什么，都会有一群人在网上大肆攻击。”

The economic relationship between the United States and China is as fraught as it has been in recent memory, but that has not stopped a wave of Chinese food and beverage chains from moving aggressively into the United States for the first time.

尽管近年美中经济关系前所未有地紧张，但并未阻挡一波中国餐饮连锁品牌首次大举进军美国市场。

Chinese tea shops in New York and Los Angeles are offering consumers drinks topped with a milk or cheese foam. Fried chicken sandwich joints are trying to lure diners in California with affordable fast food. Restaurant and drink brands, some with thousands of stores in China, are taking root in American cities to escape punishing competition at home.

纽约和洛杉矶的中式茶饮店带来了奶盖或芝士顶饮品。在加州，来自中国的炸鸡三明治店铺试图以亲民价格吸引食客。为了逃离国内残酷的竞争，这些中国餐饮品牌——其中有一些在国内已经拥有了数千家门店——正在美国城市扎下根来。

HeyTea, a tea chain originating in Jiangmen, a city in southern China, has opened three dozen stores nationwide since 2023, including a flagship operation in Times Square, in New York. Two other rival tea brands, Chagee and Naisnow, opened their first U.S. stores this year. Luckin Coffee, a chain with three outlets for every one Starbucks in China, opened several spots across Manhattan.

起源于中国南方城市江门的喜茶，自2023年以来已在全美开设了30多家门店，包括一家位于纽约时报广场的旗舰店。另两家茶饮竞争对手霸王茶姬与奈雪的茶也于今年登陆美国市场。在中国门店数量三倍于星巴克的瑞幸咖啡已在曼哈顿开设多家分店。

Wallace, one of China’s largest fast-food chains with more than 20,000 stores selling fried chicken and hamburgers, landed in Walnut, Calif., for its first shop. Haidilao, China’s largest hot-pot chain, is redoubling its efforts in the United States after entering the market more than a decade ago.

中国最大西式快餐品牌之一、有两万余家炸鸡和汉堡门店的华莱士在加州核桃市开了美国首店。进入美国市场十余年后，中国最大火锅连锁海底捞如今正加倍推进在这里的扩张。

The American expansion comes at a challenging moment for China’s food and beverage industry. The Chinese economy is no longer growing at a breakneck pace, hampered by a long-running real estate crisis and sluggish consumer spending. To survive, restaurant chains are undercutting one another on prices, inciting an unsustainable, profit-killing race to the bottom.

中国餐饮业向美国市场的扩张正值一个面临严峻挑战的时刻：受长期房地产危机与消费疲软拖累，中国经济已告别高速增长时代。为了生存，餐饮连锁竞相压价，引发了一场不可持续、吞噬利润的恶性竞争。

“China’s food service industry is suffering from severe oversupply,” said Bob Qing, the founder of Tomato Capital, a Chinese firm that invests in restaurants.

“中国餐饮业正遭受严重供过于求的问题，”投资餐饮企业的番茄资本创始人卿永说。

In China, there are three times more food and beverage establishments per capita than there are in the United States, according to Mr. Qing. And half the new restaurants that open in China close within a year.

据他介绍，中国的人均餐饮门店数量是美国的三倍，且新开业餐厅中有半数撑不过一年。

时报广场的喜茶旗舰店内，员工正在制作茶饮。这家连锁品牌起源于中国南方城市江门。

Many Chinese fast-food restaurants have expanded internationally in recent years, especially in Asia, but the United States, according to Mr. Qing, holds significant appeal because it is “the only market as mature and large as China.”

近年来，许多中国快餐品牌已走向国际市场，尤其是在亚洲。但在卿永看来，美国市场独具魅力，因为这是“唯一与中国同样成熟且规模庞大的市场”。

But a U.S. expansion is not without its challenges. Chinese brands must walk a geopolitical tightrope because of China’s position as an economic rival — or adversary — to the United States. While their global expansion is celebrated in China as a sign of the country’s progress and development, it can be viewed as a threat to America’s local businesses.

但进军美国市场并非没有挑战。由于中国被美国视为经济竞争对手乃至敌手，中国品牌必须在地缘政治上谨慎行事。虽然它们在全球的扩张在中国被视为国家进步与发展的象征，但在美国却可能被视为对本土企业的威胁。

Chinese food and beverage chains are moving into the United States as many American brands that stormed into China decades earlier are pulling back.

当中国餐饮连锁大举入美之际，那些几十年前大举进入中国市场的美国品牌却在收缩战线。

This month, Starbucks sold a controlling stake in its China operations to a Chinese investment firm, Boyu Capital. The fast-food conglomerate Restaurant Brands International sold most of Burger King’s China business to a Chinese private equity firm.

11月，星巴克将中国业务的控股权出售给中国投资公司博裕资本。餐饮巨头餐饮品牌国际公司也将汉堡王中国业务的大部分股权售予一家中国私募股权公司。

Domestic competition is especially fierce in China, where milk tea shops have sprouted up over the last decade. According to some estimates, there are 420,000 milk tea shops in China. Some stores have started selling drinks for less than $1, while others offer free online orders. Many of these brands carry an upscale version of bubble tea, which has been wildly popular for years. They brew loose tea leaves instead of using tea bags or powder and add fruit slices, fresh milk or whipped cream cheese foam on top.

中国本土市场竞争格外激烈，过去十年间，奶茶店如雨后春笋般涌现。据估算，目前全国奶茶店数量已达42万家。部分门店饮品售价已跌破7元人民币，还有品牌提供线上点单免单。多个主打高端新式茶饮的品牌近年来风靡市场。它们坚持使用原叶茶汤而非茶包或粉末，佐以鲜果切片、鲜奶或特调芝士奶盖。

HeyTea, which helped pioneer the trend and has about 4,000 stores in China, stopped accepting new franchise applications earlier this year. The company started its American expansion two years ago as the battle among tea brands intensified.

作为该趋势的引领者之一，在中国市场拥有约4000家门店的喜茶于今年初停止接受新的加盟申请。随着茶饮品牌竞争白热化，该企业于两年前启动了美国扩张计划。

At HeyTea’s store in Times Square one recent afternoon, lines stretched out the door with groups of customers waiting for elaborate drink concoctions such as a signature fruit tea topped with cheese foam.

近日的一个午后，纽约时报广场的喜茶门店外排起长龙，顾客们等待着购买精心调制的特色饮品，比如有芝士奶盖的招牌鲜果茶。

“They are getting so big now,” said Farida Abdelaziz, 20, who waited up to 30 minutes with her friends for drinks.

“它家生意太火爆了，”排队近半小时的20岁顾客法里达·阿卜杜勒阿齐兹感叹道。

Naisnow, a smaller Chinese tea brand, opened its first U.S. store in Flushing, a predominantly Asian neighborhood in New York, in October. The lines were long and sales were brisk. Its most popular items were avocado and kale-based drinks made for the United States. The company said it aimed to expand to 500 stores over the next three to five years.

规模小一些的中国茶饮品牌奈雪的茶于10月在纽约亚裔聚居区法拉盛开设美国首店。开业以来门庭若市，其中专为美国市场打造的牛油果羽衣甘蓝系列成为最畅销单品。该企业宣布未来三至五年计划拓展至500家门店。

在纽约法拉盛，一名奈雪的茶门店员工正在整理展示柜。法拉盛的这家店是奈雪的茶在美国的首店，该公司计划在未来几年内在美国扩张至500家门店。在以亚裔为主的法拉盛社区，奈雪的茶门店外顾客大排长龙购买牛油果羽衣甘蓝饮品。

Jerry Yao, Naisnow’s deputy manager in charge of overseas development, said one difference was already apparent: “The margins are definitely better than in China.”

奈雪的茶海外事业部副总经理姚杰（音）指出，美中市场有一个差异显而易见：“这里的利润率绝对高于中国。”

The transition to the United States is not always smooth. The hot-pot chain Haidilao, which has a cultlike following in China, struggled when it first entered the market in 2013.

进军美国市场并非总是一帆风顺。在中国拥有狂热粉丝的火锅连锁海底捞在2013年首次进入美国市场时就遇到了困难。

It did not provide English-language menus. The prices were higher than customers had expected. And its trademark over-the-top service came across as intrusive.

当时未提供英文菜单，定价超出顾客预期，其标志性的极致服务反被视作侵扰。

In China, Haidilao’s staff provides free manicures to customers waiting for a table, performs noodle-making dances to entertain guests and even peels shrimp by hand for diners. But the staff’s attentiveness was initially perceived as “eavesdropping” in the United States, said Qu Cong, the chief financial officer of Super Hi International Holdings, Haidilao’s overseas business entity.

在中国，海底捞员工会为等位顾客提供免费美甲服务，表演拉面秀来娱乐客人，甚至亲手为食客剥虾。但据海底捞海外业务主体特海国际首席财务官瞿骢透露，这种无微不至的服务最初被美国顾客视为“窥探隐私”。

“For American customers, there’s a strong sense of boundaries, so simply copying the practices used in China might not work,” Ms. Qu said.

“美国顾客边界感很强，完全照搬中国模式可能适得其反，”瞿骢表示。

Haidilao provided more guidance, in English, on how to navigate the hot-pot dining experience, in which diners dip various raw ingredients into a pot of boiling broth at the table. It tweaked the spice levels on some soup bases and expanded the beef selection.

为此海底捞增加了英文指引，帮助顾客理解火锅的用餐方式——食客需要将各种生食材放入桌上的沸汤中涮煮。它还调整了部分锅底的辣度等级，并丰富了牛肉品类选择。

The chain generated social media buzz over the summer when one of its restaurants appeared in the final episode of “And Just Like That…,” the sequel to “Sex and the City.” In the episode, the hostess sees that Carrie Bradshaw is dining alone and brings out “Tommy Tomato,” a plush doll, to fill the empty seat.

今年夏天，它的一家门店出现在《欲望都市》续集《就这样……》的大结局里，女服务员见凯莉·布拉德肖独自用餐，拿出一只名为“汤米·汤米拖”的番茄玩偶陪坐，引发社交媒体热议。

Chinese brands must weigh how much to cater to local tastes. When Wallace, the fast-food chain, opened its first U.S. store last year, it stripped down its sprawling menu to focus mainly on fried chicken sandwiches.

中国品牌还需权衡本地化程度。华莱士去年在美国开首店时，大幅精简菜单，集中主打炸鸡三明治。

Ricky Chen, the president of Wallace USA, said the standard chicken sandwich the company served in China came with lettuce and mayonnaise. For American diners, Wallace removed the lettuce and added a pickle, which is something Chinese customers “don’t really eat.” It also made its food saltier.

美国区总裁里奇·陈表示，中国版经典鸡腿堡带生菜和蛋黄酱，美国版去掉生菜，加了中国顾客“不怎么吃”的腌黄瓜，并把整体口味调得更咸。

Mr. Chen likes Wallace’s chances in the new market. “American fast food is getting too expensive,” he said. At its location in California, Wallace offers three full-size chicken sandwiches for $10. By comparison, a single chicken sandwich at Chick-fil-A or KFC sells for about $6.

他看好在这个新市场的前景。“美国快餐已经太贵了，”在其加州门店，三份足量鸡腿堡只需10美元。相比之下，Chick-fil-A或肯德基单份就要约6美元。

Wallace does not hide its Chinese roots, Mr. Chen said. But it also does not promote them. At first, most of his customers were Asian because they were familiar with the brand. That has since changed.

华莱士并不掩饰中国背景，里奇·陈说。但也没有刻意宣传。开业初期，顾客多是认识品牌的亚裔。但现在情况已经不同。

Wallace said it planned to open 10 more locations by the end of 2026.

华莱士称计划2026年底前再开10家店。

Chagee, a tea brand that started selling shares on the Nasdaq stock exchange in May, said customers did not perceive it as a Chinese brand. It derives its name from an ancient Chinese love story. Its logo features a concubine in a Beijing Opera costume, faintly resembling the Starbucks two-tailed mermaid logo.

5月在纳斯达克上市的霸王茶姬表示，顾客并未将其视作中国品牌。品牌名取自中国古代爱情故事，商标采用京剧旦角形象，隐约有点像星巴克双尾美人鱼。

Emily Chang, Chagee’s chief commercial officer in North America, said she was hired to develop the company as an ABC, or American-born Chinese, brand. She said that it had more than a dozen stores “in the pipeline” and that it planned to move beyond California. Chagee started in Los Angeles in April.

霸王茶姬北美首席商务官艾米莉·张说，她得到的任务就是把霸王茶姬打造成一个“ABC（美国出生的华人——译注）品牌”。她说目前已有十多家店在“筹备中”，并且计划走出加州。霸王茶姬4月在洛杉矶开设首店。

Mr. Qing, the restaurant investor and consultant, said that despite geopolitical tensions, the United States had welcomed China’s food and drink brands. He said the U.S. embassy in Beijing invited him and chain restaurant owners to tour various American cities earlier this year.

餐饮投资人卿永表示，尽管地缘政治紧张，美国对中国的餐饮品牌依然持欢迎态度。今年早些时候，美国驻北京大使馆还邀请他和多家连锁品牌负责人赴美多城市考察。

“This is one of the few industries in which people are still willing to engage in that kind of exchange,” he said.

“这是目前少数几个两国人民仍愿意相互交流的行业，”他说。

For a compound that hosted one of the largest cyberscam and human-trafficking hubs in Southeast Asia, KK Park operated in plain sight. It was pretty clear that this was no ordinary business — the heavily fortified compound in Myanmar was flanked by armed guards. It was all visible from neighboring Thailand.

作为东南亚规模最大的网络诈骗与人口贩卖据点之一，KK园区的运作可谓明目张胆。这座位于缅甸的据点显然绝非普通商业场所，它戒备森严，四周有武装警卫驻守，从邻国泰国境内就能清晰望见这一切。

The vast complex, estimated to be around 520 acres, contained high-rise buildings, dormitories, offices, restaurants, a hospital and villas, suggesting an industrial-scale operation in the town of Myawaddy.

这片庞大的园区面积约208公顷，内部建有高楼、宿舍、办公楼、餐厅、医院和别墅群，昭示着妙瓦底镇存在工业规模的犯罪运作。

Last week, some of the activity abruptly ended. The Myanmar junta moved in to detain thousands of foreigners at KK Park and Shwe Kokko, another notorious cyberscam hub. For good measure, it also deployed a stunning tactic: demolishing entire buildings with explosives, part of what the junta has called a broader crackdown on scam centers.

上周，园区内的部分活动突然戛然而止。缅甸军政府出动人员，突袭KK园区及另一臭名昭著的网络诈骗据点水沟谷，扣押了数以千计的外籍人员。为示威慑，军政府还采取了令人震惊的手段：用炸药炸毁整栋建筑。军政府称，这是针对诈骗园区开展的大规模打击行动的一部分。

But workers and experts say the crackdown is performative.

但从业者及专家均表示，此次打击行动纯属作秀。

Satellite imagery shows that only 13 percent of the total area of KK Park has been demolished, according to Nathan Ruser, an analyst at the Australian Strategic Policy Institute. The Myanmar junta said it was committed to destroying the more than 500 buildings that remain, but workers say they have moved on to other compounds, where they continue to defraud people.

澳大利亚战略政策研究所分析师内森·鲁瑟指出，卫星图像显示，KK园区被拆除的面积仅占总面积的13%。缅甸军政府宣称，将致力于摧毁剩余的500多栋建筑，但园区的人透露，他们已转移至其他据点，继续从事诈骗活动。

“Just blowing up a bunch of empty buildings in an angry, haphazard fashion might be demonstrative of a show of force, but, practically, it’s nothing,” said Jacob Sims, a visiting fellow at Harvard University’s Asia Center and an expert on transnational crime. “They haven’t done an actual raid on these compounds. No kingpins of KK Park have been turned over.”

“愤怒且随意地炸毁一堆空楼或许能彰显武力，但实际上毫无意义，”哈佛大学亚洲中心访问学者、跨国犯罪问题专家雅各布·西姆斯表示。“他们并未对这些园区展开真正的突袭，KK园区的核心头目无人落网。”

10月，缅甸妙瓦底镇KK园区发生爆炸，浓烟滚滚升腾。

The demolition, along with the crushing of hundreds of computers with a steamroller, was broadcast on state media for days. It was proof, according to Maj. Gen. Zaw Min Tun, a spokesman for the junta, that the army would “completely eradicate online scam activities from their roots.”

军政府还动用压路机碾碎了数百台电脑，相关画面连续数日在缅甸国家媒体播放。军政府发言人绍敏通少将表示，这证明军方将“彻底根除网络诈骗活动，斩草除根”。

“We worked to prevent any chance of online gambling operations re-establishing themselves,” he said, according to The New Light of Myanmar newspaper. “To achieve that, we destroyed 100 percent of the buildings in that area.”

缅甸《新光报》报道，他宣布：“我们已采取措施，杜绝网络赌博活动死灰复燃。为实现这一目标，我们彻底摧毁了该区域100%的建筑。”

A key person behind the scam compounds along the border of Myanmar and Thailand is Col. Saw Chit Thu, a warlord and businessman who controls the Karen Border Guard Forces, known as the B.G.F., a subdivision of the Myanmar army, the United States and Britain say.

美国和英国指出，缅泰边境诈骗园区的核心幕后人物是军阀兼商人苏奇督上校。他掌控着克伦边境部队，该武装是缅甸军方的下属分支。

In January 2023, Senior Gen. Min Aung Hlaing, the junta chief, conferred an honorary award on Colonel Saw Chit Thu for “outstanding performance” and loyalty. Satellite imagery shows that KK Park is surrounded by at least four armed outposts, according to Mr. Ruser. Workers inside say the compound was guarded by soldiers from the B.G.F.

2023年1月，军政府首脑敏昂莱大将还因苏奇督的忠诚和“卓越表现”，为其颁发了荣誉勋章。鲁瑟称，卫星图像显示，KK园区周边至少设有4个武装哨所。园区内部人员表示，守卫园区的正是克伦边境部队的士兵。

2月，苏奇督出现在妙瓦底，他是幕后操纵诈骗中心的权势军阀兼商人。

The B.G.F. works with Chinese mafia groups to operate some 40 scam compounds that are home to as many as 100,000 people along the 124-mile stretch of the Myanmar-Thailand border, according to Jason Tower, a senior expert at the Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime.

全球打击跨国有组织犯罪倡议组织高级专家杰森·托尔称，克伦邦边境部队与中国黑帮团伙勾结，在缅泰边境约200公里的地带运营着约40个诈骗园区，被困人员多达10万人。

Starting in 2023, the junta came under pressure from China, its closest ally, to quell the scam centers because Chinese citizens were being defrauded and trafficked. But even then, the crackdown was selective. Beijing cared only about its own citizens, Mr. Tower said.

自2023年起，军政府在最亲密盟友中国的压力下开始打击诈骗中心，因为大量中国公民遭到诈骗和拐卖。但托尔表示，即便如此，缅甸的打击行动仍带有选择性，而北京只关心本国公民的安危。

The recent involvement of the United States, which set up a Scam Center Strike Force, put new pressure on China. “That’s why you’re seeing a push now by China for a stronger crackdown,” Mr. Tower said.

近期，美国介入并成立了诈骗园区特别行动队，这一举措进一步对中国形成了新的压力。托尔说：“这也是中国现在推动加大打击力度的原因。”

Naing Mg Zaw, a spokesman for the B.G.F., denied that the crackdown was because of U.S. or Chinese pressure. “We had already decided to crack down on scam centers, and the timing just happens to overlap,” he said. “Within a few days, we will clear them out until none are left.”

克伦边境警卫队发言人奈孟绍否认此次打击是迫于美中两国压力。“我们早已决定打击诈骗园区，行动时间纯属巧合。几天之内，我们将彻底清除所有诈骗据点，”他说。

But interviews with former workers show how difficult it will be to eradicate the criminal networks. Min Thu Win who worked in a scam center in Shwe Kokko, said his Chinese supervisors told workers to go home last week “because there might be raids coming.”

但对前园区工作者的采访显示，彻底根除这些犯罪网络难度极大。曾在水沟谷某诈骗园区工作的敏杜温表示，上周他的中国籍主管告知员工“可能即将有突袭行动”，让他们先回家避风头。

Sandy Lin, said she was working a night shift at a scam center in KK Park on Oct. 22 when people started running out, saying that soldiers were coming. Ms. Lin said her job was to target people over age 50 on Instagram, getting their contact details to pass on to “the chatting team.” She said she had to find two targets a day or have $1.60 deducted from her monthly salary of about $460.

桑迪·林（音）透露，10月22日她在KK园区某诈骗公司上夜班时，突然有人惊慌出逃，称士兵来了。她的工作是在Instagram上瞄准50岁以上人群，获取他们的联系方式后转交给“聊天组”。她表示，自己每天必须找到两名目标客户，否则就会从约460美元的月薪中扣除1.6美元。

“Our company has already rented a new building near Myawaddy, in a place called ‘25 Acre,’ and they’ve resumed operations,” she said. “Since everyone in our company is in the same Telegram group, all workers who want to continue working went to that new place,” she said, referring to the messaging app.

“我们公司已经在妙瓦底附近一个叫‘25英亩’的地方租了新楼，并且已经恢复运营了，”她说，“我们公司所有人都在同一个Telegram群里，想继续工作的员工都去了新据点。”

Than Soe said he fled KK Park without getting his salary. Now he is working at another scam compound called Apollo Park. “The military showed videos of destroying computers and phones, but that doesn’t mean anything,” he said. “They can buy new ones anytime. KK Park wasn’t really shut down, it was just for show.”

丹索说，他逃离KK园区时没拿到工资，如今在另一个名为阿波罗园区的诈骗据点工作。“军方公布的销毁电脑和手机的视频根本毫无意义，他们随时可以买新的。KK园区根本没被真正关闭，这一切只是作秀，”他说。

For many Hong Kong families, they are the women who cook their meals, bathe their elderly parents and care for infants at home — often unseen, they are indispensable. More than 200 foreign domestic workers, mostly from the Philippines and Indonesia, were living in the Wang Fuk Court housing complex, the site of the deadliest fire in the city for decades that broke out last week.

在香港众多家庭中，她们是准备三餐、为年迈父母沐浴、看护幼儿的女性——虽常隐于幕后，却是不可或缺的存在。上周，香港数十年最严重的火灾在大埔宏福苑爆发，这处屋邨内居住着200多名外籍家庭佣工，其中绝大多数来自菲律宾和印度尼西亚。

In one 16th-story apartment, Cucu Susilawati, a worker from Indonesia, ran down the stairs with nothing but the clothes she was wearing. Elsewhere in the complex, Carren Dadap, a Filipina worker, rushed out the door with the 5-year-old boy in her care. In another home, Rhodora Alcaraz, who had just arrived in Hong Kong a day earlier from the Philippines, clutched a three-month-old baby as smoke filled the room around them.

在16楼的一间公寓里，印尼佣工古古·苏西拉瓦蒂仅穿着身上的衣服，从楼梯狂奔逃生；屋邨另一处，菲律宾佣工卡伦·达达普抱起她照料的五岁男童，仓促冲出家门；还有一户人家中，前一天刚从菲律宾抵达香港的罗多拉·阿尔卡拉兹在浓烟弥漫的房间里紧紧护住怀中三个月大的婴儿。

Their stories reveal how foreign domestic workers, who help form the backbone of the city’s economy, also bore a significant share of the danger. There are almost 370,000 such workers in Hong Kong, the vast majority of whom are women, and they do the housework and provide child care for millions of residents.

她们的经历揭露了一个事实：作为支撑香港经济运转重要力量的外籍家庭佣工在这场灾难中同样承受了巨大风险。目前香港约有37万名外籍家庭佣工，几乎全为女性，她们为数百万居民承担家务和育儿工作。

Government rules mandate that they live with their employers, forcing many women to occupy cramped spaces in already crowded high-rise apartments. Workers who lose their jobs must find a new employer within two weeks or return to their home countries. Many of those affected by the fire are worried about losing their jobs, as their employers, who have lost their homes, may not be able to afford their wages, said Sring Sringatin, secretary of the Indonesian Migrant Workers Union.

香港政府规定她们必须与雇主同住，这使得许多女性只能挤在本就拥挤的高层公寓的狭小空间里。印尼移工工会秘书斯林·斯林加廷表示，此次受灾的佣工中不少人担心失业，因为她们失去住所的雇主可能无力支付工资。

Last Wednesday, fires swept through seven high-rise apartment towers in a residential complex in the northern district of Tai Po. As of Sunday, the authorities said at least 146 people have died, 40 were reported missing, and thousands have been displaced.

上周三，大火席卷了大埔区北部这处屋邨的七栋高层公寓楼。截至周日，官方通报称火灾已造成至少146人遇难、40人失踪，数千人无家可归。

周四，大埔一处收容所发生火灾，导致年长居民无家可归。

At least 230 foreign domestic workers — 140 from Indonesia and 90 from the Philippines — were living and working in Wang Fuk Court, according to estimates provided by the two consulates.

据菲印两国领事馆统计，宏福苑内共有约230名外籍家庭佣工居住和工作，其中印尼籍140人、菲律宾籍90人。

As of Saturday evening, seven Indonesian domestic workers were confirmed dead, two were hospitalized and 45 were still unaccounted for, according to the Indonesian Consulate in Hong Kong. At least one domestic worker from the Philippines had died and seven people were unaccounted for, according to the Philippine Consulate General in Hong Kong.

截至周六晚间，印尼驻港领事馆确认七名印尼籍佣工遇难、二人住院治疗，另有45人下落不明；菲律宾驻港总领事馆则表示，至少一名菲律宾籍佣工遇难，七人失联。

On a typical Sunday, thousands of these workers spill into public parks and pedestrian bridges to relax on their only day off. This week, the mood was markedly somber as many dressed in black to honor the victims. A popular Filipino influencer urged workers to observe a day of silence, and to refrain from dancing or singing in parks. At the Indonesian Consulate, the flag was lowered to half-staff.

往常每个周日，数以千计的外籍家庭佣工会涌向公园和人行天桥，享受一周仅有的休息日。但本周，这里的氛围格外沉重——许多人身着黑衣悼念遇难者。一位知名菲律宾网红呼吁同行默哀一日，不在公园内跳舞、唱歌；印尼驻港领事馆也降半旗致哀。

“I feel really sad,” said Dwi Astuti, who lives and works in Tai Po, a few minutes away from the site of the fire. “We are all here doing the same thing: earning a living for our families back home.”

“我心里特别难过，”在大埔工作生活、距火灾现场仅几分钟路程的德维·阿斯图蒂说。“我们所有人来这里都是为了同一个目的：挣钱养活家乡的家人。”

In the afternoon, more than 1,000 Indonesian women gathered on the lawn at Victoria Park, on Hong Kong Island, to honor the victims. Some held up their hands in prayer. Others bowed their heads and wiped tears from their eyes.

当天下午，1000多名印尼女性聚集在香港岛维多利亚公园的草坪上悼念遇难者。有人握住双手祈祷，有人低头拭泪。

“I’m getting emotional now. It’s too heavy for me,” said Sringatin, one of the organizers of the event, who goes by a single name as is common among Indonesians. “Domestic workers come here not just for themselves. They are also thinking about their family back home. They are the backbone of their families. They are mothers.”

“我现在情绪很难平复，这件事实在太沉重了，”活动组织者之一斯林加廷说。“外籍佣工来香港打工，不只是为了自己，心里更牵挂着家乡的家人。她们是家里的支柱，她们是母亲。”

周五，救援人员在大埔宏福苑公寓大厦现场。

‘Help us, we’re burning’

“救救我们，我们快被烧死了”

Rhodora Alcaraz was inside her employer’s apartment on the 13th floor when the fire broke out. She had been in Hong Kong only for a day, after arriving from the Philippines to start her new job as a nanny and housekeeper, said her sister, Jacqueline Tuñacao.

火灾发生时，罗多拉·阿尔卡拉兹正在雇主位于13楼的公寓内。她的姐妹杰奎琳·图尼亚索说，阿尔卡拉兹刚从菲律宾来到香港，即将开始保姆和管家的新工作。

Just after 3 p.m., Ms. Alcaraz sent an audio message to her family in the Philippines. She sounded calm. “Our building is burning,” she said. “We’ve gotten stuck in the room. The smoke is coming in and I’m holding the baby.”

下午三点刚过，阿尔卡拉兹给菲律宾的家人发送了一条语音消息，语气似乎还很平静：“我们住的楼着火了，我们被困在房间里，烟已经漫进来，我正抱着孩子。”

A few minutes later, she sent another message. This time, she was in tears. “Help us, we’re burning,” she said, according to her sister.

几分钟后，她又发来一条消息，这次已泣不成声。图尼亚索回忆，她在消息里哭喊：“救救我们，我们快被烧死了。”

“I told her to be strong, to find a way out,” said Ms. Tuñacao. “She said she couldn’t leave the baby, and I didn’t know how to help her when she was so far away.”

“我让她坚强点，想办法逃出去，”图尼亚索说。“她说她不能丢下孩子，而我距离遥远，根本不知道该怎么帮她。”

Minutes later, her family members received a message with just the sounds of the baby wailing in the background.

几分钟后，家人收到了一条消息，背景音里只有婴儿不停的哭声。

Ms. Alcaraz remained trapped until the evening when she, the baby and the baby’s mother were rescued by firefighters, Ms. Tuñacao said. She did not suffer any burns but was sent to the intensive care unit of a hospital where she was put on a ventilator. As of Saturday, she was in critical condition but responding to treatment, according to a statement posted on social media by the Filipino government unit that manages overseas workers.

图尼亚索称，阿尔卡拉兹一直被困到傍晚，最终，她和婴儿以及婴儿的母亲一起被消防员救出。她虽未被烧伤，但被送往医院重症监护室，依靠呼吸机维持呼吸。菲律宾海外劳工管理部门在社交媒体发文称，截至周六，她病情危急，但对治疗已有反应。

Carren Dadap, another domestic helper from the Philippines, was caring for a 5-year-old boy at home when one of his parents called to say that the building next door was on fire. No fire alarm had sounded. But soon, the smell of smoke filled the hallway and crept into the apartment. “I didn’t even think about taking my belongings or my passport or my money, as long as my charge and I could get out,” Ms. Dadap said in a video posted on social media by her employment agency.

另一位菲律宾籍佣工卡伦·达达普当时正在家中照看五岁男童，孩子的父母突然来电告知隔壁楼栋着火。当时火警并未响起，但很快，浓烟就弥漫到走廊，钻进公寓。“我什么都没想，没拿行李、没拿护照，也没拿现金，只想着赶紧带着孩子逃出去，”达达普在其雇佣机构发布的社交媒体视频中说。

周五，志愿者们在大埔整理捐赠的衣物和食物。

Debris fell on them as she told the child to run down the stairs. “We need to go down or else both of us will die,” she said. When they emerged from the building, Ms. Dadap said she saw firefighters swarming the complex trying to extinguish the fire next door. But the flames were spreading quickly and had reached their building.

她让孩子跟着自己往楼下跑，途中不断有碎片砸向他们。“我们必须赶紧下楼，不然两人都会死，”她说。逃出大楼后，她看到消防员正全力扑救隔壁楼栋的大火，但火势蔓延极快，很快就烧到了她们住的楼。

Cucu Susilawati, 43, a domestic worker from Indonesia, did not hear an alarm either. She was eating lunch inside her apartment on the 16th floor when she heard a loud bang and the sounds of fire trucks. She peered out of the bathroom window and saw a fire blazing below. “I left right away. I didn’t bring anything, just the clothes I was wearing,” she said in an interview in Mandarin.

43岁的印尼籍家政工古古·苏西拉瓦蒂也没听到火警警报。当时她正在16楼的公寓里吃午饭，突然听到一声巨响，紧接着传来消防车的鸣笛声。她从浴室窗户往外一看，发现楼下已是一片火海。“我立刻就跑了，什么都没带，就穿着身上的衣服，”她用普通话接受采访时说。

Ms. Susilawati escaped. But two of her neighbors — fellow caregivers looking after elderly women at Wang Fuk Court — died in the fire. They saw each other almost daily, she said, while grocery shopping or at a local park.

苏西拉瓦蒂成功逃生，但她的两位邻居——同样在宏福苑照料老人的外籍佣工却在火灾中丧生。她说，她们平时买菜或在附近公园散步时几乎每天碰面。

Ms. Susilawati is facing pressure to find a new job quickly. The woman she was caring for has moved to a nursing home, where she will remain full-time. Her employers have told her that her services are no longer needed.

如今苏西拉瓦蒂正面临尽快找新工作的压力。她之前照料的老人已搬入养老院长期居住，雇主告知不再需要她的服务。

Sringatin urged the Hong Kong government to make special arrangements to ensure that foreign domestic workers affected by the fire can remain in the city while they look for work. The Hong Kong government did not respond immediately to a request for comment.

斯林加廷呼吁香港政府出台特殊政策，允许受灾的外籍家庭佣工在港停留期间寻找新工作。截至发稿，香港政府尚未对此事作出回应。

“I don’t want to leave my job but there’s no way I can stay,” Ms. Susilawati said.

“我不想失去这份工作，但我确实没办法再留下来了，”苏西拉瓦蒂说。

The images on social media this week showed Chinese fire engines parked at the border, their lights flashing as they waited to be dispatched toward the inferno that was raging eight miles away in northern Hong Kong.

本周社交媒体上流传的画面显示，中国消防车停在边境，警灯闪烁，等待被派往约13公里外香港北部肆虐的大火现场。

The trucks never entered the city.

这些消防车最终并未进入香港。

On Chinese social media, people questioned why Hong Kong did not take the firefighting help even as its own fire trucks struggled to extinguish the blaze that burned for more than a day and eventually resulted in at least 128 deaths. The moment underscored the delicate political challenge for the city’s Beijing-backed chief executive, John Lee.

在中国社交媒体上，人们质疑为什么香港不接受内地的消防支援，即使香港自己的消防部门奋力扑救超过一天仍难以控制大火，最终造成至少128人死亡。这一时刻凸显了由北京支持的行政长官李家超所面临的微妙政治考验。

Mr. Lee needs to demonstrate that his government, under tighter control by Beijing after a sweeping political overhaul, can manage a crisis of this magnitude on its own. If mainland emergency crews had crossed into Hong Kong, it risked being seen as undermining the city’s promise of running its own affairs.

李家超需要证明，在经历了彻底的政治改革、北京加大对香港政府控制力度之后，他的政府仍能自行应对如此规模的危机。如果内地的应急人员跨境进入香港，可能被视为削弱香港管理自身事务的承诺。

“People should be sensitive to the image that may arise that the Hong Kong people are unable to deal with matters within Hong Kong,” said Ronny Tong, a senior adviser to Mr. Lee.

“大家应该注意，这可能会给人留下香港人无法处理香港内部事务的印象，”李家超的高级顾问汤家骅说。

周六，香港行政长官李家超和其他官员为火灾遇难者默哀。

Hong Kong said on Thursday that it had not asked for firefighting assistance from the mainland. Mr. Lee said that his government was gradually getting the fire under control and thanked China’s top leader and his boss, Xi Jinping, for his concern.

港府周四表示并未向内地提出消防援助请求。李家超表示，政府正逐步控制火势，并感谢国家最高领导人、他的上司习近平的关心。

The system that Beijing imposed on Hong Kong after antigovernment protests of 2019, with a sweeping national security law that has silenced dissent, has altered the face of the city’s crisis response. Opposition politicians are in jail, the media operates under new restraints, street demonstrations are a thing of the past and many civic groups have been forced to close. The question is whether the remade political order can deliver in a crisis, rather than merely muzzle criticism of how it is handled.

2019年的反政府抗议活动后，北京在香港实施的新制度——包括一部严厉的国安法——压制了异见，也改变了这座城市应对危机的方式。反对派政治人物入狱、媒体受到新的约束、街头示威已不复存在、许多公民团体被迫解散。问题在于：这套重构的政治秩序是否具备处理危机的能力，而不仅仅是压下对危机处理方式的批评。

His government has a gargantuan task ahead. The death toll on Friday rose sharply above 100 after firefighters were finally able to enter the remains of the seven charred buildings at the Wang Fuk Court complex. Hundreds of shocked and tired residents have piled into shelters. Families are still looking for some 200 missing loved ones. Bodies need to be identified. Around $38 million of government funds have been allocated for victims and the government began disbursing around $1,300 in subsidies for affected families.

李家超的政府面临着一项艰巨的任务。周五，消防员终于进入宏福苑七栋被烧毁的建筑废墟后，死亡人数急剧上升至100多人。数百名惊魂未定、疲惫不堪的居民涌入庇护所。约200名失踪者的家人仍在寻找亲人。遇难者遗体需要辨认身份。政府已拨款约3亿港元用于救济受害者，并开始向受影响的家庭发放1万港元的补助。

Even though China’s crackdown wiped out many independent activist groups, a remarkable wave of volunteerism has risen up to help those in need after the blaze.

尽管北京的打压摧毁了许多独立活动团体，但火灾之后涌现出了一股令人瞩目的志愿者热潮，帮助那些有需要的人。

周五，志愿者在宏福苑整理捐赠的衣物和食物。

Volunteers, including students and small business owners, have distributed food, water and warm clothing, transforming local shops into donation centers and forming human chains to move supplies efficiently. Online chat groups and live trackers have helped coordinate efforts. Social workers and therapists have reached out to attend to those in need.

包括学生和小企业主在内的志愿者们分发食物、水和保暖衣物，将当地的商铺改造成捐赠中心，并组成人链高效地运送物资。在线聊天群和实时追踪系统帮助协调各方工作。社工和心理咨询师也主动联系有需要的人。

The authorities are apparently wary of independent organizing even in crisis. On Saturday, security officials could be seen patrolling the area near the apartment complex, and the South China Morning Post reported that the city’s national security police have ramped up surveillance “against potential seditious and secessionist activities in response to residents mobilizing to help victims of the fire.”

即使在危机时刻，当局显然也对独立的组织行动保持警惕。周六，可以看到安保人员在公寓楼附近巡逻。《南华早报》报道称，由于居民组织起来帮助火灾受害者，香港的国安警察已加强了对“潜在的煽动和分裂活动”的监控。

Hundreds of residents who lost their homes will be placed into hostels and hotels temporarily. But longer-term resettlement is probably one of the tougher tasks: Hong Kong’s housing market is among the world’s most expensive, and affordable units are in chronically short supply.

数百名失去家园的居民将被暂时安置在旅馆和酒店。但长期安置可能是最棘手的任务之一：香港是世界上房价最贵的城市之一，可负担住房长期短缺。

For displaced residents like Poon Kai Tak, 63, and his wife, Cynthia Lau, 68, housing is the top concern. They are staying at a hotel an hour away by train, and Ms. Lau said the government had offered to relocate them to a rural area outside of Tai Po because her husband gets dialysis treatment three times a week at a hospital there. “It’s still very far,” she said. “Many of us need to be in the area for medical checkups.”

对63岁的潘启德（音）和他68岁的妻子辛西娅·刘这样流离失所的居民来说，住房是首要关切。他们目前住在距离家一个小时火车车程的酒店里。刘女士说，政府提出让他们搬到大埔以外的乡郊地区，因为她丈夫每周要去那里的一家医院做三次透析治疗。“但还是很远，”她说。“我们很多人都有医疗需求，需要住在附近。”

数百名惊魂未定、疲惫不堪的居民涌入庇护所。

The government will also need to restore confidence in the city’s construction industry, and in its supervision of it. The police will begin a multiweek investigation inside the buildings, reviewing CCTV footage and trying to piece together what happened. Eight more people were arrested on Friday in a separate investigation by the anti-corruption bureau, on top of an earlier three arrested by the police for gross negligence and manslaughter in connection to a contractor that was conducting renovations on the buildings.

政府还需要重塑公众对香港建筑业及其监管体系的信心。警方将对事发大楼的内部展开为期数周的调查，审查监控录像，力图还原事件真相。警方已经逮捕了与负责大楼维修工程的承包商有关的三人，罪名是严重疏忽和误杀。周五，廉政公署在另一项调查中又逮捕了八人。

As Mr. Lee begins the hard work of coordinating different government agencies in this aftermath, he will also be expected to use the moment to showcase both the softer side of the government and the “superiority of Hong Kong’s new political order,” said Lau Siu-kai, a consultant for the Chinese Association of Hong Kong and Macao Studies, a Beijing-backed research group.

北京支持的研究机构——全国港澳研究会的顾问刘兆佳表示，在协调不同政府部门处理善后时，外界也期待李家超借此展现政府温情的一面以及“香港新政治秩序的优越性”。

As a consoler in chief, Mr. Lee, who spent most of his career in security services and led the crackdown on the protests, is relatively untested. On Wednesday night, he visited people who were being treated at a hospital and inspected a shelter. At news briefings, Mr. Lee has focused on detailing the measures taken by the government. On Saturday, he led government officials in observing three minutes of silence for victims of the fire. It was not immediately clear if he had met with families whose loved ones had perished.

作为这个时候最该站出来安抚市民的人，李家超对担任这样的角色并无多少经验，他职业生涯的大部分时间都在安保部门任职，并曾牵头对抗议活动的镇压。周三晚间，他探望了在医院接受治疗的伤者，并视察了一处庇护所。在记者会上，他着重详述了政府所采取的措施。周六，他带领官员为火灾遇难者默哀三分钟。尚不清楚他是否已与罹难者家属见面。

For the government, questions about how such an inferno occurred cast a heavy shadow over the city’s earlier hopes of getting more people to vote in legislative elections on Dec. 7. The poll has largely been met with public indifference since Beijing imposed an overhaul that allowed only people deemed “patriots” to run for seats.

港府此前希望提高12月7日立法会选举投票率，火灾原因所引发的质疑已经给这一愿望蒙上阴影。自北京进行改革、只允许被认为是“爱国者”的人参选以来，公众对此次选举普遍态度冷漠。

Campaigning efforts were put on hold this week, but it was not clear yet whether Mr. Lee would postpone the election.

本周竞选活动已暂停，但李家超是否会推迟选举尚不明确。

周四，位于大埔火灾现场的消防员。

Public anger is growing as signs of safety lapses have started to emerge. After survivors complained that there was no warning of the fire, officials confirmed that none of the alarms had gone off in any of the eight buildings in the housing estate. People questioned how the building contractor was allowed to cover windows in highly flammable foam and wrap the high-rise apartments in netting that appeared to catch fire easily.

随着更多安全漏洞浮现，公众的愤怒情绪升温。幸存者抱怨火灾时没有收到任何警示，官方随后证实，该住宅区所有八栋大楼内的警报均未响起。人们质疑，为何建筑承包商被允许用易燃泡沫覆盖窗户，并用明显极易燃烧的网状物包裹高层公寓。

Mr. Lee might be scrutinized by Beijing for his government’s investigations into wrongdoing, and some officials may have to shoulder responsibility.

李家超开展的失职调查可能受到北京的密切关注，一些官员可能需要承担责任。

“When we observe mainland practices of dealing with crises, usually individual officials are held accountable,” said Sonny Lo, a political analyst in Hong Kong who is an expert on the relationship between Hong Kong and China. “So the question is whether the mainland practice will be observed here.”

“观察内地处理危机的做法，通常会追究个别官员的责任，”香港政治分析家、研究中港关系的专家卢兆兴说。“所以问题就是，内地的做法会不会在香港也适用？”

Each year in December, Hong Kong’s chief executive travels to Beijing to present a report to the central government. The expectation was no different this year, only Mr. Lee will be expected to have something substantial to report on the crisis, Mr. Lo said.

每年12月，香港行政长官都会前往北京向中央政府述职。卢兆兴表示，今年本该一样，只是李家超预计必须就这场危机提交一份实质性的报告。

Beijing will also expect Mr. Lee to take on more support from the central government as part of a longstanding practice by the Chinese government during moments of crisis, experts said.

专家表示，北京也会期望李家超按照内地惯常的危机处理方式，在此期间更多地接受中央政府的支持。

But such help could be politically fraught for Mr. Lee. During one news conference, a reporter asked Mr. Lee if the presence of senior Chinese officials in the city — who had arrived to offer support — reflected shortcomings in the work of his government.

但这样的援助对李家超来说可能充满政治风险。在一次记者会上，有记者问他，中央派人救灾是否反映出政府的工作存在不足。

Mr. Lee avoided the implication and instead emphasized that it was a gesture of Mr. Xi’s “great concern” — a reminder of whom his performance in this crisis ultimately matters most to.

李家超回避了这种暗示，强调这是习近平对香港“高度关注”的体现，这也提醒外界，他在这场危机中的表现最终是要向谁作出交代。

得知亲人被困在公寓楼内身亡的家属质疑，为什么允许建筑承包商用泡沫覆盖窗户，并用非阻燃网包裹高层建筑。

William Li had no idea there was a fire ripping through his building when it started on Wednesday afternoon. There were no fire alarms and no signs of smoke inside his apartment.

周三下午火灾刚开始时，李威廉(William Li)完全不知道他所在的大厦起火了。既没有火灾警报响起，他的公寓内也看不到任何烟雾迹象。

Then, he got a call from his wife, who heard about the blaze while she was at work. “You need to go,” she said.

然后，他接到正在上班的太太的电话，她说外面已经知道着火了：“你快点走！”

Mr. Li, 40, has lived in the Wang Fuk Court complex since he was born. He knew the building’s layout like the back of his hand, but escaping was far from simple. Mr. Li and two neighbors were trapped in his apartment for more than two hours before they were rescued by firefighters.

40岁的李先生从出生起就住在宏福苑，闭着眼睛都知道大楼的格局，但逃生一点都不简单。他和两位邻居被困在家里超过两个小时，最后才被消防员救出。

Mr. Li, a father of two, wrote about his ordeal in a Facebook post that has resonated with thousands of people in Hong Kong as the city responds to the deadliest blaze in decades. We spoke by phone after he was released following two days in a hospital.

作为两个孩子的父亲，李先生在Facebook发文讲述自己的惊险经历，在香港引发数千人共鸣——这是香港几十年来最致命的一场大火。出院两天后，我们通过电话对他进行了采访。

Here is Mr. Li’s story and the photographs he captured. The interview, conducted in Cantonese, has been condensed and edited for clarity.

以下是李先生的自述和他拍下的照片。采访以粤语进行，现已精简并编辑以便阅读。

‘No Fire Alarm’

“完全没有火警铃”

It was my day off. I wasn’t feeling well, so I was home. At 3:02 p.m., I got a call from my wife. She wasn’t very nervous; she just said, “There’s a fire, you need to go.”

那一天我放假，身体不舒服，所以留在家里。下午3点02分，太太打电话来。她当时不算很惊慌，只是说：“着火了，你快点走。”

I didn’t think it was very serious. There was no fire alarm. I couldn’t smell smoke.

我当时没觉得很严重，因为完全没有火警铃，也闻不到烟味。

I took a few minutes to change and prepare to leave the apartment. When I opened the door, the smoke rushed in. My first reaction was to shut the door right away.

我换了衣服、收拾了一下准备离开。开门的一瞬间，浓烟瞬间涌进来，我第一反应就是马上把门关上。

I called my wife back to say I couldn’t leave. That’s when she started crying uncontrollably. She was thinking of the worst-case scenario: I was going to die.

我再打给太太说走不了，她听到后立刻崩溃大哭，她脑子里想的是最坏的情况：我死定了。

I got some towels and used them to block the gap under the doors. I was pacing around my home looking for things when I heard voices coming from the corridors. I covered my mouth with a damp piece of clothing and rushed out. After just a minute, my throat was stinging and my eyes were watering uncontrollably.

我拿毛巾把门底的缝隙堵住，在屋里走来走去想办法，后来听到走廊有人声。我用湿布掩住口鼻冲出去，才一分钟，喉咙就辣得痛，眼泪不停流。

‘We’ll Find a Way Out’

“我们一定会出去”

The hallway was pitch dark. I tried turning on my phone’s flashlight, but it didn’t make a difference.

走廊一片漆黑，我打开手机电筒也完全没用。

I walked toward the voices and found a couple in their 60s. I led them through the smoke back to my apartment, using the wall to trace my steps. I plugged in the digital code to my apartment and shut the door.

我循声走去，找到一对60多岁的夫妇，我摸着墙带他们穿过浓烟回到我家，用电子密码锁开门，把门关上。

“Why were you there?” I asked them. “Were there other people in the corridor?”

我问他们：“你们怎么会在走廊？”“还有其他人吗？”

They explained that the window in their unit had burst into flames so they rushed out into the hallway. There, they heard a domestic worker calling out for an elderly woman she was caring for. Then suddenly the voice stopped.

他们说他们家的窗户突然爆出火舌，所以冲到走廊。那里听到一个家佣在喊她照顾的老婆婆，但喊着喊着声音就突然停了。

After living here for 40 years, I know the building’s layout well. There are two sets of staircases on every floor. One goes down to the lobby, and there’s another set of back stairs. My neighbors said the back door was usually locked. My wife, who was now standing in front of the building, said the lobby was already engulfed in flames.

我在这里住了40年，大楼布局我很熟。每层有两组楼梯，一组通向大堂，另一组是后楼梯。邻居说后楼梯门平时是锁上的。我太太已经站在大厦下面，她说大堂已经全是火。

My friends told me to call the police. I called 999, and they transferred me to the firefighters. I told them what floor I was on and in which unit. They said, “OK, we’ll arrange for someone to come and rescue you.”

朋友叫我报警。我打999，转接到消防，他们问我在哪一层哪一单位，我说了之后，他们说：“好，我们会安排人来救你。”

One firefighter told me to stay close to the ground and preserve my energy. From our window, we could see the fire hoses pointed at the higher floors. We waved at the firefighters, but they couldn’t see us.

有个消防员叫我贴着地面，保存体力。我们从窗口看到水枪对着高层的楼喷，我们拼命挥手，但他们看不到我们。

At first, we were calm. I spoke to the couple’s daughter on the phone and tried to reassure her. “We’ll find a way out,” I said. “We won’t die.”

一开始我们还算镇定。我跟那对夫妇的女儿通电话，安慰她说：“我们一定会出去的，不会死的。”

Saying Goodbye

跟家人说再见

I started to smell the smoke and the stench of something burning. The couple, who had been resting in my bedroom, came outside and said the polystyrene foam surrounding the window had caught fire.

后来开始闻到烟味和烧焦的臭味。那对夫妇从我房间走出来，说窗户周围的发泡胶已经着火了。

At that moment, I really thought I might die. I share a bedroom with my wife and two kids. There are three mattresses in there and lots of blankets. I knew that if the windows burst, the fire would spread quickly.

那一刻我真的觉得自己要死了。我和太太、两个孩子睡的主卧有三张床垫，很多被子。我知道一旦窗户爆裂，火会一下子烧进来。

I started calling and texting my friends on WhatsApp to say goodbye. I told them to help me look out for my family. We started flashing our lights at the firefighters and caught their attention. I pointed to the window that was on fire. They immediately directed the fire hoses at the window and put out the fire.

我开始在WhatsApp逐个给朋友打电话、发信息道别，请他们以后帮我照顾家人。我们拼命用手机灯光照向消防员，终于引起他们注意。我指着着火的窗户，他们立刻把水枪对准，把火扑灭了。

At first, they struggled to get the fire ladder to our unit — the scaffolding was in the way, and debris was falling from higher floors. A little after 5 p.m., they finally got to our window.

一开始云梯升不上来，因为有棚架挡着，上面还有杂物不断掉下来。下午5点多，终于升到我们窗口。

The woman told me to go first, but I said, “No, you go first. I am younger.” She was rescued first, then her husband.

那对夫妇的太太叫我先走，我说：“不，你们先走，我年轻。”太太是先获救的，然后是她先生。

For a few minutes, I was waiting alone in the apartment. It felt really somber. I looked around to see what I could take with me. I wanted to bring everything, but I couldn’t bring anything. The window was very narrow — just enough space for one person to slide out diagonally.

最后几分钟，我一个人在屋里，气氛很沉重。我四处张望想带点东西走，但什么都带不了。窗户很窄，只能斜着身子一个人滑出去。

Turning to Dust

一切化为乌有

I grabbed my wife’s watch and some cash and stuffed them into my bag. I rushed outside and climbed onto the ladder. The firefighter told me to crouch down and hold my head down because of the falling debris.

我抓起太太的手表和一些现金塞进包里，冲出去爬上云梯。消防员叫我弯腰、低头，防止上面掉东西砸到。

Once I was on the ladder, I felt like time slowed down. I was sad to leave my home behind. I was drenched from the fire hoses and I felt very cold.

一踏上云梯，感觉时间都慢下来了。离开这个家我很难过，水枪喷得我全身湿透，好冷。

It felt like the sky was falling. Everything I owned was turning to dust. I felt a rush of emotions. Once I got down to the ground, the firefighters put us to one side and gave us some Pocari [a sports drink].

感觉天都塌下来了，我拥有的一切都在化为灰烬，心里百感交集。落到地面后，消防员把我们安置在一旁，给了我们宝矿力。

All the roads were blocked, so the ambulances couldn’t come to where we were. The firefighters said we could walk out on our own. The couple and I exchanged numbers and parted ways.

四周道路全部封锁，救护车进不来。消防员说我们可以自己走出去。我和那对夫妇交换了电话号码，就分开了。

I went to buy some new clothes and reunited with my family. My kids were crying a lot. All their toys were gone.

我去买了几件衣服，和家人团聚。两个小孩哭得很厉害，他们所有的玩具都没了。

More than a year before a fire devoured a complex of high-rise towers in Hong Kong, residents alerted officials about potential fire safety violations on a renovation project there.

在熊熊烈火吞噬香港的这些高层住宅楼的一年多前，居民们曾就维修工程中可能存在的消防安全隐患向官方发出过警示。

This week, their worst fears came true in one of the deadliest infernos in Hong Kong’s history.

本周，他们最担心的事成了现实——这是香港历史上最致命的火灾之一。

The fire that started on Wednesday at Wang Fuk Court, a housing complex with about 2,000 apartments, killed at least 128 people by Friday’s tally and injured 78 others. About 200 people are unaccounted for.

截至周五，这场周三发生在拥有约2000个住宅单位的宏福苑的大火已造成至少128人死亡、78人受伤，另有约200人下落不明。

What ignited the ferocious fire is not yet known. But as investigators comb through the buildings’ charred shells in search of evidence, they are asking whether negligence played a role in the devastation.

大火的起因目前尚未查明。但随着调查人员于烧焦的楼体废墟中搜寻证据之际，他们正试图厘清，这场灾难是否为人祸所致。

Investigators have focused on the quality of construction materials used for the renovation, such as netting that covered bamboo scaffolding to keep objects from falling on passers-by and polystyrene foam panels installed to protect window glass from breaking.

调查重点集中在维修工程中所使用的建筑材料是否合格，例如为防止坠物伤人而覆盖竹棚架的防护网，以及为保护窗户玻璃而安装的发泡胶板。

As far back as September 2024, the estate’s residents had raised concerns to the city government about those materials.

早在2024年9月，屋苑居民就已向市政府反映过对这些材料的担忧。

They wrote to the city’s Labor Department saying that the netting may be flammable, according to the residents’ emails reviewed by The New York Times.

根据《纽约时报》看到的住户邮件，他们曾致函香港劳工处，指出这些防护网可能不符合阻燃标准。

They also raised concerns about the foam panels, according to Jason Poon Chuk-hung, a civil engineer-turned-activist who teamed up with the residents in raising their complaints.

他们还提到了使用泡沫板的风险，曾经担任土木工程师、现为社会活动人士的潘焯鸿说，他与屋苑居民一起提出了这些关切。

On Friday, city officials told reporters that the foam boards were highly flammable and had helped the fire spread at a terrible speed.

周五，市政府官员告诉记者，发泡胶板为高度易燃材料，助长了火势以惊人的速度蔓延。

The Labor Department, which oversees workplace safety issues, at first wrongly dismissed the residents’ concerns about the netting, claiming that there were no rules on the use of flammable materials on scaffolding, the department acknowledged in a statement. Later, it told residents the materials on the construction site met fire safety requirements, citing documents filed by the contractor, Prestige Construction and Engineering.

负责监管工作场所安全问题的劳工处在声明中承认，最初曾错误驳回居民对防护网的担忧，声称现有规定并不涵盖脚手架上所用材料的阻燃标准。其后又根据承建商宏业建筑工程有限公司提交的文件，告知居民施工现场材料符合消防安全要求。

发生在拥有约2000个住宅单位的宏福苑大火，其起因尚未查明。

In its statement to The Times, the Labor Department confirmed that it had received complaints from residents about the construction netting. It said that it had conducted 16 inspections at Wang Fuk Court since July 2024, most recently a week before the fire. It found multiple violations and warned the contractor about unsafe working conditions on the site, the department said.

劳工处在向《纽约时报》提供的声明中确认，曾收到居民关于施工防护网的投诉。该处表示，自2024年7月起已对宏福苑进行了16次巡查，最近一次是在火灾发生前一周。声明指出，巡查发现多项违规，并就现场不安全施工的情况向承建商发出警告。

The department did not answer questions about what violations it discovered. Its statement said, without providing details, that it had started three “prosecutions” and issued six notices “urging improvement” at Wang Fuk Court before the fire.

关于具体违规内容，劳工处未予回答。其声明称火灾前已启动三宗“检控”，并发出六张“敦促改善”通知书，但未提供细节。

Earlier, officials had said that the netting that enveloped scaffoldings at the complex may not have met fire safety standards, which require all scaffolding covers to be made of material that can slow down a fire. On Friday, however, they said the netting was in line with the city’s code, according to preliminary tests. They did not provide details.

早些时候，官员曾表示，覆盖大厦棚架的防护网可能未达到消防标准，该标准要求棚架遮蔽物必须采用阻燃材料。然而，周五他们根据初步检测结果又表示，这些防护网符合本港相关规范，但没有提供具体细节。

They said the blaze raised the temperature inside the building to as high as 930 degrees Fahrenheit and ignited the bamboo scaffolding, which fell and blocked fire exits.

他们表示，大火使建筑内部温度飙升至约500度，引燃的竹棚架坍塌后堵塞了消防通道。

The police arrested two directors and one consultant for the contractor, accusing them of manslaughter and gross negligence, and seized evidence including tender documents, computers, phones and a list of the contractor’s employees.

警方拘捕了承建商两名董事及一名工程顾问，指控他们误杀与严重疏忽，并扣押了标书文件、电脑、手机及员工名册在内的证物。

On Friday, an anticorruption agency arrested eight more people, including four consultants, three subcontractors of scaffolding works, and an intermediary.

周五，廉政公署再逮捕八人，包括四名工程顾问、三名棚架工程分包商及一名中间人。

Last month, when Chinachem Tower, a commercial building in central Hong Kong, caught fire, some Wang Fuk Court residents took their fears to a Facebook group. Firefighters had found netting and bamboo scaffolding at that building that looked similar to what was used at their complex.

上个月，中环的商业楼宇华懋大厦发生火灾后，宏福苑的一些居民在Facebook群组里表达了他们的担忧。消防员当时在那栋大楼发现了与宏福苑类似的防护网和竹棚架。

“Everyone must be extra careful with fire during the winter,” one resident wrote.

“大家冬天一定要小心火种，”一位居民写道。

“There are so many flammable items outside.”

“外面全部都是易燃物品。”

‘They refused’

“他们拒绝了”

Renovation works on the complex began last summer. Its eight towers, which were completed in the early 1980s, were undergoing maintenance to comply with a government rule requiring repairs on structures older than 30 years.

该屋苑的大维修工程始于去年夏天。宏福苑的八座大楼建于上世纪80年代初，为配合楼龄逾30年建筑须强制维修的政府法规而启动维护工程

The renovation was initially slated to cost nearly $40 million, to be borne mainly by the nearly 2,000 households there. Prestige Construction and Engineering, which was incorporated in Hong Kong in 2004, won the contract.

维修工程原本预算为3亿多港币，费用主要由近2000户住户承担。2004年在香港注册成立的宏业建筑工程有限公司中标。

But some residents fretted that the contractor was inflating costs while compromising on safety. They filed a complaint with the Labor Department in September 2024, two months after the scaffolding went up, according to the department and Mr. Poon.

但部分居民担忧承建商在抬高造价的同时偷工减料。据劳工处及潘焯鸿的说法，居民在棚架搭设完成两个月后的2024年9月向劳工处提交了投诉。

They complained about the foam panels that covered the windows, Mr. Poon said.

潘焯鸿指出，居民投诉了覆盖窗户的泡沫板。

早期调查把重点放在了保护窗玻璃的泡沫板上。香港官员表示，这是一种高度易燃材料，助长了火势以惊人的速度蔓延。

Such panels are used on construction sites to provide insulation, fill voids and as temporary protection, according to Tony Za, the former chairman of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers’ building division. What is not clear in this case, he said, is the grade of material the contractor used.

香港工程师学会建造分部前任主席谢伟正说，这类泡沫板通常在工地用于隔热、填缝及临时防护。但他说，在这次事件中，承建商具体使用的是哪种等级的材料仍属不明。

Pictures shared online and interviews with residents show that many windows at Wang Fuk Court were completely sealed with the material. In one building, the police found windows of the elevator lobby were covered by foam boards on every floor.

网上流传的照片及对居民的采访显示，宏福苑许多单位的窗户几乎被这种材料完全封死。在其中一栋大楼里，警方发现所有楼层的电梯厅窗户均被泡沫板封住。

Because of the boards, people could not see out their windows and realize they were in danger when the fire broke out, said Lau Yu Hung, a 78-year-old resident.

78岁的居民刘汝雄（音）表示，由于泡沫板遮挡，火灾发生时居民无法透过窗户察觉险情。

Another point of contention was the netting that enveloped the scaffolding erected all around the buildings. At first, the department told the residents, erroneously, that current regulations “do not cover flame retardant standards for scaffolding netting.”

另一争议焦点是包裹整栋楼宇脚手架的防护网。起初，劳工处曾错误告知居民，现行法规“并没有涵盖关于棚网或任何物料的阻燃标准”。

Frustrated, the residents reached out to Mr. Poon, who runs a nonprofit group, Chinat Monitor, that tracks allegations of corruption in the city’s construction industry and lobbies the government for better oversight.

屡次交涉未果后，居民转而求助潘焯鸿，他是非营利组织中科监察的负责人，专门追踪香港建筑业中的贪腐指控，并推动政府加强监管。

One of Mr. Poon’s causes is flammable netting, which poses a particular risk in Hong Kong because buildings stand very close to one another and winds can spread fires easily. Residents of housing complexes such as Wang Fuk Court, who tend to be older, are less able to flee to safety or hear fire alarms, he said.

防护网的阻燃性是潘焯鸿持续关注的问题之一——在香港，这类隐患风险尤甚，因为楼宇之间距离极近，加上风势容易让火势迅速蔓延。他说，像宏福苑这样的屋苑住户多为长者，逃生能力较弱，也往往听不到火警警报。

Out of concern for older residents, Mr. Poon said he had been trying to raise awareness about such issues. He even inspects constructions sites on his own, at times cutting off netting and setting it on fire to prove that the material violates safety rules.

出于对年长居民的关切，潘焯鸿表示，他一直试图提升社会对此类问题的认知。他甚至亲赴建筑工地，有时会剪下防护网点燃，以证实材料违反安全规范。

Mr. Poon said he had been pushing city officials for about a year and half to pay attention to the issue. “But they refused,” he said.

潘焯鸿透露，他在约一年半的时间里不断敦促市政府官员重视此事。“但他们拒绝了，”他说。

When the residents of Wang Fuk Court came to him, Mr. Poon eagerly took on their case.

当宏福苑居民前来求助时，他当即接手此案。

He admonished officials at the Labor Department for misstating the fire risks at the construction site and pointed them to the applicable ordinances they had missed.

他批评劳工处官员对工地火灾风险的误判，并援引被对方遗漏的适用法规条文。

Later, the department corrected the mistake Mr. Poon had pointed out, acknowledging that its response to the complaints had been “unclear and caused misunderstanding,” it said in its emailed statement to The Times.

之后，劳工处在发给《纽约时报》的电邮声明中承认错误，早前对居民投诉的回应“表述不清引发误解”。

Still, it found no fault with the netting that was worrying some residents, according to emails seen by The Times. Staff members had reviewed quality certificates submitted by the contractor, it said in a written response to residents in December, and the netting was in line with the city’s standard.

然而，根据《纽约时报》看到的邮件，劳工处还是认为居民担忧的防护网不存在问题。该部门在去年12月回信居民时表示，工作人员已经提交了承建商提交的质量证明文件，认为防护网符合香港标准。

“If any violations of occupational safety and health laws are found, we will take action,” one official wrote in an email.

一名官员在邮件中写道：“如果发现有违反职业安全与健康法规的情况，我们会采取行动。”

火灾时的高温足以点燃竹棚架，棚架倒塌后堵住了逃生通道。

The finding appears to rely on the contractors’ own submissions. The department did not respond to questions on whether it conducted its own tests to verify the quality of materials.

目前看来，这些结论似乎依赖于承建商自行提交的文件。对于是否曾独立检测材料质量的问题，劳工处未予回应。

Construction professionals say fraud is a common problem with such certificates in Hong Kong, though there was no evidence so far that this was the case with the Wang Fuk construction.

建筑专业人士表示，在香港，质量证明文件造假是常见问题，尽管目前没有证据表明宏福苑施工中存在此类情况。

“Whether the contractor purchased the same material to be used on the site is another issue that needs to be investigated,” said Mr. Za, the former head of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers’ building division.

前香港工程师学会建造分部主席谢伟正表示：“承建商是否在实际施工中采购了同等标准的材料，这是需要调查的另一关键问题。”

It is that time of year in Russia again, when a special type of popular, celebrity pinup calendar for the coming year can be bought at newspaper kiosks, bookstores and the like.

在俄罗斯，又到了每年的这个时候，人们可以在报刊亭、书店等地方买到一种特别受欢迎的明星挂历，用于迎接新的一年。

The leading man? Why, it’s President Vladimir V. Putin, of course, starring in his multifaceted role as father of the nation — strong leader, religious believer, extreme sportsman, historian, dog lover and lifestyle coach.

挂历上的男主角？没错，当然是弗拉基米尔·普京总统——他以多重身份出演国家之父：强势领袖、虔诚的信徒、极限运动爱好者、历史学者、爱犬人士与生活方式的导师。

The calendars, of which there are a variety, follow the same basic format. Each month shows a different picture of Mr. Putin and includes a short quote from his speeches or other public remarks from the previous year.

这些挂历有不同版本，但遵循基本相同的格式：每个月都会配上一张普京的照片，并附上他在去年的公开讲话中精选出来的语录。

“It’s the idea of a man for every season,” said Fiona Hill, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution in Washington who ran the Russia desk at the National Security Council during the first Trump administration. “They are positioning Putin as this iconic figure, reminding everybody how cool he is, how much in charge he is, how much he’s kind of the living symbol and embodiment of literally everybody’s days.”

“背后的理念是，这是一个‘四季皆宜的男人’，”美国布鲁金斯学会高级研究员、曾在特朗普第一任期担任白宫国家安全委员会俄罗斯事务主管的菲奥娜·希尔说。“他们把普京塑造成一个偶像式人物，不断提醒大家他有多酷、多么江山在握，仿佛他就是所有人每天生活的象征与化身。”

There are no pictures linking Mr. Putin to the war he started against Ukraine in February 2022, mirroring the official line that the conflict is a distant distraction. Lest anyone get the wrong impression, however, some quotes reflect Russia’s muscular perspective in trying to swallow its smaller neighbor.

挂历中没有任何将普京与他在2022年2月发动的乌克兰战争联系起来的照片，呼应了官方将冲突淡化为一个遥远的、与日常无关的分心之事。但为了避免任何误解，挂历中的一些引语仍然反映了俄罗斯对吞并其较小邻国的强硬视角。

January shows Mr. Putin in a parka astride a snowmobile. That month’s quote: “Russia’s border never ends.” February has him flipping a judo partner onto his back. “I am a dove, but I have very powerful iron wings,” is the chosen quote.

1月的画面中，普京身着派克大衣，跨坐在雪地摩托上，配文写道：“俄罗斯的边界永无止境。”2月的照片里，他施展柔道技艺，将对手掀翻在地，对应的引言是：“我本是和平鸽，但拥有坚不可摧的钢铁之翼。”

In some calendars, Mr. Putin appears to be trying to justify the war in Ukraine, with one quote reading, “I think Russia has become much stronger in the last two or three years because we are becoming a truly sovereign country.”

部分挂历中，普京的引言似在为俄乌战争辩解，其中一句写道：“我认为，过去两三年俄罗斯变得愈发强大，因为我们正成为一个真正拥有主权的国家。”

The calendars, commercial ventures from different publishing houses, retail for the equivalent of about $3.50 each. They end up hanging in schoolrooms, post offices and other government facilities, not to mention homes. No matter how many editions, the calendars deliver a certain bland sameness, said Maxim Trudolyubov, a former newspaper editor who left Russia amid the war and now edits The Russia File, a political analysis blog published by the Kennan Institute in Washington.

这些挂历由不同出版社推出，属于商业产品，每本售价约合3.5美元。最终会出现在学校教室、邮局等政府机构，更走进了千家万户。曾为俄罗斯报纸编辑、战争期间离开俄罗斯的华盛顿肯南研究所旗下政治分析博客《俄罗斯档案》编辑马克西姆·特鲁多柳博夫表示，无论推出多少版本，这类挂历都透着一种千篇一律的乏味感。

2024年莫斯科报摊上出售的去年的普京日历之一。

“This genre is its own kind of art,” he said, noting that Mr. Putin, 72, first became president of Russia almost 26 years ago. “It’s an empire with this ancient emperor who’s been around for decades, so it is supposed to be boring; it is supposed to signal stability, predictability, even if the reality is nothing of the kind.”

“这种题材本身就是一种独特的艺术，”他指出，72岁的普京近26年前首次出任俄罗斯总统。“这就像一个由在位数十年的古老君主统治的帝国，这类挂历理应如此乏味——它要传递的是稳定、可预测的信号，即便现实并非如此。”

The calendars exude a certain Ken-doll vibe, with Mr. Putin sporting different outfits for different roles. For July, he sits at a piano in a dark suit and tie with a dreamy look in his eye, quoting a Bolshevik song about doing things with your own hands. Come August, he is sporting a hunter’s uniform to offer lifestyle advice: “My recipe for energy: Sleep little, work a lot and don’t whine.”

挂历中的普京透着一股肯娃娃般的精致气质，为适配不同角色换上各式装扮。7月的照片里，他身着深色西装、系着领带坐在钢琴前，眼神悠远，配文引用了一首布尔什维克歌曲的歌词，歌颂亲力亲为的精神。8月的他换上猎装，分享起生活心得：“我的精力秘诀：少睡觉、多做事，别抱怨。”

Another piece of advice in the calender offers an example of Mr. Putin’s salty humor: “It’s counterproductive to bury your head in the sand because something else will still stick out.”

挂历中还有一句引言尽显普京粗俗的幽默：“把头埋进沙子里毫无用处，因为会有别的东西露在外面。”

Fortunately or unfortunately, Mr. Putin seems to have kept his shirt on in public over the past year, so as male pinup calendars go, this year’s versions have no shots of Mr. Putin shirtless on horseback or fishing.

无论幸或不幸，过去一年普京在公开场合始终衣着整齐。因此，今年的男性写真挂历中，没有出现他赤膊骑马或钓鱼的经典画面。

Nor were there any of the action-hero images of earlier years, with Mr. Putin piloting a motorized hang glider among migratory birds in Siberia or donning scuba gear to “discover” a Greek urn in the depths of the Black Sea — an infamously staged shot.

早年那些动作英雄式的形象也消失不见——比如在西伯利亚驾驶动力滑翔机与候鸟同行，或是身着潜水装备在黑海深处“发现”希腊古瓮（那是一张臭名昭著的摆拍）。

The calendars began to appear soon after he first assumed the presidency, in 2000, but they really seemed to have taken off around 2011. That year, 12 female journalism students from Moscow State University made one of their own, each posing in lingerie with a line about Mr. Putin.

这类挂历早在2000年普京首次出任总统后不久就已出现，但真正风靡似乎是在2011年左右。当年，莫斯科国立大学的12名女性新闻系学生自制了一本挂历，她们每人身着内衣出镜，旁边配上一句与普京相关的文字。

“All woman need a man like Putin,” read the quote for January. Young women critical of the Russian leader created a counter calendar online, posing in black with their mouths taped shut.

1月对应的配文写道：“每个女人都需要一个像普京这样的男人。”而批评这位俄罗斯领导人的年轻女性则在网上推出了一本反击挂历，她们身着黑衣出镜，嘴上贴着封口胶带。

Ms. Hill suggested this type of branding was part of the “populist, strong man” approach to everything. “Trump does exactly the same,” she said, while noting that it would be hard to imagine the leaders of Canada, Germany or Britain appearing on T-shirts or other such merchandise. “Those people are not so self-reverential and they are in a different political environment.”

希尔认为，这种个人形象塑造是“民粹主义强硬领袖”行事风格的体现。“特朗普也是这么做的，”她还说。同时她还强调，很难想象加拿大、德国或英国的领导人会出现在T恤等周边商品上。“这些国家的领导人没那么自我推崇，而且他们所处的政治环境也截然不同。”

Trying to get a jump on the competition, at least one Russian newspaper released a 2026 calendar of Mr. Putin in September.

为抢占先机，至少有一家俄罗斯报纸已于9月抢先推出了2026年的普京挂历。

For anyone who cannot decide if a Putin calendar is quite the right purchase this year, he has manipulated the Constitution in order to remain president at least until 2036, meaning there are more than 4,000 shopping days left to get one.

如果有人今年还在犹豫要不要买一本普京挂历，不妨想想，普京早已通过修改宪法，确保自己至少能执政到2036年。也就是说，未来还有超过4000个日子可以购买。

In decades of war against terrorist and insurgent groups, the military and spy agencies learned that to take down a network, they had to first understand it.

在数十年打击恐怖组织和叛乱势力的战争中，军方和情报机构认识到：要摧毁一个犯罪网络，首先必须了解它。

That often meant rounding up low-level people who could lead them to more important people.

这通常意味着先抓捕底层人员，再通过他们顺藤摸瓜锁定更核心的目标。

While the United States had successes, it also made mistakes, sometimes hitting the wrong target or causing collateral damage, angering local populations and creating more opponents than were eliminated.

美国在这方面虽取得过一些成效，却也犯下不少错误——有时会误击目标或造成附带伤亡，这不仅激怒了当地民众，还使得新产生的敌人超过消灭的数量。

As a result of those errors, the United States worked to create detailed intelligence dossiers so that civilians approving the strikes could have confidence in who was being targeted and more clearly see the potential unintended consequences of a strike.

正是这些失误促使美国开始建立详尽的情报档案。这样一来，批准打击行动的文职官员能确信目标的准确性，也能更清晰地预判行动可能带来的意外后果。

But those lessons of the long war against terrorism appear to have been cast aside as the Trump administration attacks boats in the Caribbean and the eastern Pacific that it says are carrying drugs.

然而，特朗普政府在加勒比海和东太平洋地区打击其所称的运毒船只时，似乎完全抛弃了这些从长期反恐战争中吸取的教训。

杰拉尔德·R·福特号航空母舰已于9月进入加勒比地区。

The U.S. military has killed more than 80 people since the campaign began in early September. But it does not know who specifically is being killed, and the strikes were not designed to take out high-ranking cartel leaders.

自9月初启动这项行动以来，美军已造成80多人死亡。但军方根本不清楚被击毙者的具体身份，而且这些打击行动的目标并非贩毒集团高层头目。

Instead, the military has killed, at best, low-level people, whose role in the drug trade may have been taking a payment for moving cocaine from one spot to another. (At worst, some of the people killed could have been fishermen, migrants or others who had nothing to do with the drug trade.)

相反，军方击毙的充其量只是些底层人员——他们在贩毒活动中可能仅负责转运可卡因并获取少量报酬。（更糟糕的是，部分遇难者或许是渔民、移民等与贩毒活动毫无关联的无辜人员。）

“Traditionally, our counternarcotics efforts have always been targeted at the head of the snake,” said Representative Jim Himes of Connecticut, the top Democrat on the House Intelligence Committee. “This is obviously the opposite of that. Now we’re going after the tail of the snake. We’re going after some, you know, poor ex-fishermen who took 300 bucks to run a load of cocaine to Trinidad.”

“传统上，我们的禁毒行动向来直击蛇头，瞄准贩毒集团的核心人物，”美国众议院情报委员会民主党领袖、康涅狄格州众议员吉姆·海姆斯表示。“而现在的做法显然背道而驰。我们不去打蛇头，反而盯着蛇尾不放。抓捕的都是些贫苦的前渔民，他们可能收了300美元报酬就帮人把一批可卡因运往特立尼达岛。”

The strikes are also at odds with any effort to understand the cartels moving the drugs. Taking apart a network, experts said, requires capturing people and interrogating them to find out the financiers and leaders. By blowing up the boats, the United States is also destroying the intelligence and evidence.

此外，这些打击行动也不利于摸清贩毒集团的运作模式。专家指出，要瓦解一个犯罪网络，就必须抓获相关人员并进行审讯，进而揪出背后的资金提供者和头目。而美军炸毁运毒船只的同时，也毁掉了关键的情报和证据。

“If what you wanted was to stop the drug trade, obviously this isn’t what you’d be doing,” said Annie Pforzheimer, a former senior U.S. diplomat who specialized in counternarcotics during her career. “Because you’d be capturing the people in the boats, turning them to get the next level of the organization, turning those people to the next level and getting to the top.”

“如果真的想遏制贩毒活动，显然不该采取这种做法，”前美国资深外交官安妮·普福尔茨海默说道，她的职业生涯长期专注于禁毒领域。“正确的做法是抓获船上人员，使其供出组织中层，再通过中层追查高层，最终锁定头目。”

The military knows that someone on the boats has a connection to a drug cartel, and it has some level of confidence that drugs are on the vessels, according to people familiar with the military’s classified briefings. But in most, if not all, of the strikes, the Pentagon does not know precisely whom it is killing, those people said.

据了解军方机密简报的人士透露，军方知晓船上人员与贩毒集团存在关联，且对船上载有毒品有一定把握。但他们表示，在绝大多数——甚或全部——打击行动中，五角大楼都无法确切知晓被击毙者的身份。

And Democratic lawmakers say that presents a real danger.

民主党议员称，这构成了实质性危险。

“There are two reasons you’re really super careful about this stuff,” Mr. Himes said. “One would hope that you might have some qualms about killing innocent people — there’s the moral dimension, and I’d like to believe that still matters. And then No. 2, there’s the blowback issue.”

“在这类行动中必须极度谨慎，原因有二，”海姆斯表示。“首先，人们会期待你在误杀无辜者方面有所顾虑——这涉及道德层面，而且我愿意相信道德准则至今仍有分量。其次，这还存在反噬风险。”

During America’s long fight against terrorism, the C.I.A. and the military learned that when they killed terrorism suspects, the family members of those people could become radicalized, turning against the country that had killed their brother or son.

在美国长期的反恐战争中，中央情报局和军方发现，击毙恐怖嫌疑人后，其家属可能会因此变得激进化，转而敌视杀死他们兄弟或儿子的美国。

Mr. Himes said each and every boat strike carried the same risk.

海姆斯指出，每一次打击运毒船只的行动都存在同样的风险。

“These are guys who made a bad decision to take 500 bucks to run a fast boat up to Trinidad,” Mr. Himes said. “They’re the street-corner hustlers. And if the United States is sending the signal that life doesn’t matter, that’s coming back to us, that is absolutely coming back to us.”

“这些人不过是为500美元的酬劳，做出驾驶快艇前往特立尼达的糟糕决定，”海姆斯说。“他们就像是街头小混混。如果美国传递出‘生命毫无价值’的信号，这种负面影响一定会反噬我们，绝对如此。”

Supporters of the strikes have noted that overhead surveillance by both drones and satellites has improved in recent years and that there is less chance of collateral damage from striking boats at sea compared with targets on land.

支持这类打击行动的人士称，近年来无人机和卫星的空中监控技术不断进步，相较于打击陆地目标，袭击海上船只造成附带伤亡的概率更低。

Trump administration officials have also pointed out that their Democratic predecessors approved counterterrorism strikes even when they were unsure exactly who was being killed.

特朗普政府官员还指出，其前任民主党政府在反恐行动中，即便不确定被打击者的具体身份，也会批准行动。

During the Obama administration, the C.I.A. conducted antiterrorism strikes in cases in which the United States did not know specifically whom it was killing. Instead, the strikes were based on intelligence assessments from a “pattern of life” and other information that showed connections between the targeted people and known terrorists.

奥巴马政府时期，中情局曾实施过在不明具体目标身份的情况下发动的反恐打击。这些行动基于情报评估，通过“生活规律”及其他信息显示目标人员与已知恐怖分子的关联性。

These attacks were called signature strikes because they were based on actions that looked like terrorism, or had a terrorism “signature,” but were not backed up by specific knowledge about who was at a site being targeted or what exactly they might have been planning.

这类袭击被称为特征打击，因其依据是目标人员的行为符合恐怖主义行为，或是带有恐怖主义“特征”，但美方并不确切知晓目标地点人员的身份，也不清楚他们具体在策划什么行动。

The term, however, was tainted from the beginning. Critics maintained that strikes on large groups of unidentified people suspected of being militants did little to stop terrorist attacks but risked mistakes that could lead to civilian deaths and turn local populations against the United States.

然而，这一术语从一开始就蒙上污点。批评人士认为，针对大批身份不明的疑似武装分子实施打击，对阻止恐怖袭击收效甚微，反而容易出错导致平民死亡，进而引发当地民众对美国的敌视。

Because of the controversy, restrictions were placed on signature strikes. And when the Obama administration later began targeting militants in Yemen whose identify they did not know, it started calling the operations “terrorist attack disruption strikes.”

迫于争议，“特征打击”受到了限制。后来奥巴马政府开始打击也门境内身份不明的武装分子时，便将这类行动改称为“恐怖袭击阻断打击”。

While there are some similarities between the boat strikes and the old signature strikes, the military has rejected the idea that the attacks on the boats are signature strikes. In briefings with members of Congress, military officers have asserted that they are confident there are drugs on the boats — and that the drugs are the real target of the attacks.

尽管此次打击运毒船只的行动与以往的“特征打击”存在一些相似之处，但军方否认这些海上打击属于“特征打击”。在向国会议员做简报时，军方官员坚称，他们确信船上载有毒品，而这些毒品才是打击行动的真正目标。

But lawmakers say that means the people on the boats are, in effect, collateral damage.

但议员们表示，这意味着船上人员实际上沦为了附带伤亡。

“They told us it is not a signature strike, because it’s not just about pattern of life, but it’s also not like they know every individual person on the boats,” said Representative Sara Jacobs, Democrat of California and a member of the House Armed Services Committee.

“军方告诉我们，这不是特征打击，因为它不仅依据生活规律。但他们也并非认识船上的每一个人，”加利福尼亚州民主党众议员、众议院军事委员会成员萨拉·雅各布斯说。

Ms. Jacobs said she believed the strikes were wrong.

雅各布斯明确表示，她认为这些打击行动是错误的。

“I didn’t hear any evidence that convinced me that these weren’t extrajudicial killings,” she said.

“我没有听到任何证据能让我相信，这些行动不属于法外处决，”她说。

The married couples filed into a federal building in San Diego last week for green card interviews that they believed would secure their future together in the United States. Half of each pair was American. Stephen Paul came with his British wife and their 4-month-old baby. Audrey Hestmark arrived with her German husband, days before their first wedding anniversary. Jason Cordero accompanied his Mexican wife.

上周，数对已婚夫妇陆续走进圣迭戈的一栋联邦政府大楼参加绿卡面谈，他们原本以为这将确保自己与伴侣在美国共同生活的未来。这些夫妇中的一方是美国公民。斯蒂芬·保罗带着英国妻子和四个月大的婴儿前来。奥黛丽·赫斯特马克在结婚一周年纪念日前夕与德国丈夫共同到场。与杰森·科尔德罗同来的是他的墨西哥妻子。

It was supposed to be a celebratory milestone, the final step in the process to obtain U.S. permanent residency. Instead, as each interview with an immigration officer wrapped up, federal agents swooped in, handcuffed the foreign spouse and took him or her away.

这本该是个值得庆祝的大事——获得美国永久居留权的最后一步。然而，在每位申请人与移民官的谈话结束后，联邦探员便突然现身，将外籍配偶铐上手铐带走。

“I had to take our baby from my crying wife’s arms,” Mr. Paul, 33, said, recalling the moment that agents said they were arresting his wife, Katie.

“我不得不从哭泣的妻子怀中接过我们的孩子，”33岁的保罗回忆探员宣布逮捕他的妻子凯蒂时说道。

Ms. Paul was sent to an immigration detention center with hundreds of other people swept up in the Trump administration’s crackdown. Her husband had to take a leave from his job at the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department to care for their child and try to secure her release.

保罗的妻子被押送至一处移民拘留中心，那里还有数以百计同样在特朗普政府严厉打击行动中被捕的移民。保罗在圣迭戈县警署工作，他不得不请假照顾孩子，并设法争取让妻子获释。

“It’s insane to have them rip our family apart,” Mr. Paul said. “Whoever is directing this has completely lost touch with their mission to the country.”

“他们这样拆散我们的家庭，简直疯了，”保罗说。“指挥这一切的人已经完全背离了服务国家的使命。”

In recent weeks, immigration lawyers in several cities have seen a surge in arrests of foreign spouses of Americans during interviews at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices.

近几周来，多个城市的移民律师发现，在美国公民及移民服务局面谈过程中被捕的美国公民外籍配偶数量大幅上升。

In San Diego alone, immigration lawyers in the region estimate that several dozen foreign-born spouses have been detained since Nov. 12, when the new tactic first surfaced, according to Andrew Nietor, an immigration lawyer. A former chair of the San Diego chapter of the American Immigration Lawyers Association, Mr. Nietor said the estimate was based on members’ communications about their clients. The exact number of spouses detained is unclear because many couples attend the routine interviews without lawyers, who would alert colleagues. The government has not disclosed a tally of such detentions.

据移民律师安德鲁·尼托尔称，圣迭戈的移民律师估计自11月12日这种新手段首次出现以来，仅该地区就已经有数十名外籍配偶被拘留。曾任美国移民律师协会圣迭戈分会主席的尼托尔指出，这一估算是基于协会成员间关于客户情况的交流得出的。被拘留配偶的确切人数尚不明确，因为许多夫妇在参加例行面谈时不会请律师——而律师通常会向同行通报此类情况。政府尚未披露相关拘留数据。

In every case, agents with Immigration and Customs Enforcement told the applicants that they had overstayed tourist or business visas. An arrest warrant, reviewed by The New York Times, states that “there is probable cause to believe” that the named spouse is “removable from the United States.”

在所有案例中，美国移民和海关执法局(ICE)的探员均告知申请人其旅游或商务签证已逾期。《纽约时报》查阅的一份逮捕令称，“有合理理由认定”被列名的配偶“应被驱逐出美国”。

“Apprehensions at U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services offices may occur if individuals are identified as having outstanding warrants; being subject to court-issued removal orders; or having committed fraud, crimes or other violations of immigration law while in the United States,” said Matthew J. Tragesser, an agency spokesman, noting that the arrests were typically carried out by ICE.

ICE发言人马修·特拉格瑟表示：“若发现当事人身负未执行的逮捕令、法院签发的驱逐令，或在美期间存在移民欺诈、犯罪及其他违反移民法行为，那么有可能在美国公民及移民服务局办公室实施拘捕。”他强调逮捕行动通常由ICE执行。

“从业25年来，我还从未见过这样的事情，”保罗夫妇的律师乔安娜·基米说。周一，在圣迭戈的5号州际公路沿线，人们举行示威游行，抗议近期的ICE突击行动。

But the couples and their lawyers said they had followed the required steps: They had submitted extensive paperwork and paid fees. The foreign spouses had been fingerprinted and passed medical exams. None had criminal records. None had entered the country illegally. They had already been granted employment authorization.

但这些夫妻及其律师表示，他们已经遵循了所有的必要步骤：他们提交了大量文件并缴纳了相关费用。外籍配偶已经进行指纹录入并通过了体检。无人有犯罪记录。无人系非法入境。他们甚至已经拿到了工作许可。

“In 25 years of practice, I have never seen anything like this,” Johanna Keamy, the Pauls’ lawyer, said, echoing the view of other lawyers.

“从业25年来，我还从未见过这样的事情，”保罗夫妇的律师乔安娜·基米与其他律师都表达了同样的观点。

“The proper procedure was exactly what they did,” she said. “What’s next? Revoking green cards from millions who followed these same steps?”

“他们完全遵循了正规流程，”她说。“接下来要怎样？是要撤销数百万遵循同样步骤获得绿卡者的身份吗？”

Green-card applicants’ temporary visas often lapse while their “adjustment-of-status” proceeds over several months or longer.

在为期数月或更长的“身份调整”程序进行期间，绿卡申请人的临时签证往往已经过期。

An immigration statute passed by Congress in 1986 allows a spouse who entered the country lawfully to be eligible for a green card through marriage even if the person’s visa has expired.

国会在1986年通过的一项移民法案允许合法入境的配偶即使签证已过期，也有资格通过婚姻关系获得绿卡。

“Congress was unambiguous — these people are eligible for green cards,” said Doug Rand, who was a senior official at Citizenship and Immigration Services during the Biden administration.

“国会的立场非常明确——这类人完全有资格获得绿卡，”曾在拜登政府担任公民及移民服务局高级官员的道格·兰德表示。

While federal law does not prohibit spouses with expired visas from being detained and placed in deportation proceedings, in the past they have rarely been detained while applying for green cards.

虽然联邦法律并未禁止对签证过期的配偶实施拘留并启动递解程序，但过去这类申请人在办理绿卡期间遭到拘留的情况非常少见。

The Trump administration is carrying out such detentions without having announced any change in policy.

特朗普政府在未宣布任何政策变更的情况下正在执行此类拘留。

The recent spate of arrests comes amid a leadership shake-up at ICE, including the San Diego region, designed to accelerate and advance the president’s agenda.

近期大规模拘捕事件发生之际，ICE正在进行领导层大调整以加速推进总统的移民议程，其中包括包括圣迭戈地区的ICE。

Ordinarily, foreign spouses of Americans are approved for U.S. permanent residency during or shortly after the in-person interview.

通常情况下，美国公民的外籍配偶会在面谈过程中或不久之后获批美国永久居留权。

Audrey Hestmark, 38, and her husband, Thomas Bilger, 40, reported to the government office in San Diego on Nov. 20, hopeful he would have his green card for their first wedding anniversary two days later.

38岁的奥德丽·赫斯特马克和40岁的丈夫托马斯·比尔格于11月20日前往圣迭戈的政府办公室，满心期待两天后的结婚周年纪念日时他能拿到绿卡。

Mr. Bilger, a robotics engineer, had met and fallen in love with Ms. Hestmark during his business trips from Germany. After dating for four years, they were married on Nov. 22, 2024.

比尔格是一名机器人工程师，他在从德国到美国出差期间遇见并爱上了赫斯特马克。经过四年的交往，两人于2024年11月22日结为连理。

“Tom was super excited to become a U.S. resident, so much so that he had insisted on a cowboy-themed wedding,” said Ms. Hestmark, a registered nurse.

“汤姆对成为美国居民兴奋不已，甚至坚持要办一个牛仔主题的婚礼，”注册护士赫斯特马克回忆道。

They immediately hired a lawyer and assembled documents from Germany and the United States to support their petition.

他们立刻聘请律师，并从德国与美国搜集各种证明文件来支持他们的申请。

奥德丽·赫斯特马克说，“我们按照所有该做的步骤去做了，而现在汤姆却在遭罪。我们所有人都在遭罪。”奥德丽·赫斯特马克和她的丈夫汤姆·比尔格在他们2024年的婚礼上。

At the interview, they brought requisite evidence that their marriage was legitimate — photos of a vacation to Hawaii with his parents; leases, bank statements and utility bills in both names; and other records.

面谈时，他们带来了证明婚姻真实性的必要材料——与他父母一起去夏威夷度假的照片、两人共同名下的租约、银行账单与水电账单，以及其他记录。

The officer asked routine questions. But the last one, according to Ms. Hestmark, was whether her husband had ever overstayed his visa. He responded truthfully and cited their lawyer’s assurance that this was a nonissue.

移民官循例提问，但赫斯特马克表示最后一个问题直指她丈夫是否曾逾期居留。比尔格如实回答，并引用律师的保证称这并不构成障碍。

“Suddenly, we were ambushed by three masked men in bulletproof vests with guns who told Tom they had a warrant for his arrest, that he is here unlawfully,” Ms. Hestmark recalled.

“突然，三名蒙面、穿防弹背心、持枪的男子将我们围住，他们告诉汤姆有逮捕令，说他在这里是非法居留，”赫斯特马克回忆说。

The agents handcuffed her husband, gave her a card with a QR code for the ICE website and took him away. She did not hear from him again until the next morning. He has been bounced between a basement in downtown San Diego and an immigration detention center, where he remains.

探员给她的丈夫戴上手铐，递给她一张带有ICE官网二维码的联系卡，然后把他带走。直到第二天早上她才再次听到丈夫的消息。他先后被押送至圣迭戈市中心的一个地下室和一个移民拘留中心，至今仍关在拘留中心。

Some U.S. citizens have hired lawyers to seek the release of spouses, through actions such as posting bond. Once released, the foreign spouses must try to pursue green cards through immigration court, where judges are grappling with yearslong backlogs.

部分美国公民已聘请律师通过缴纳保释金等方式争取配偶获释。一旦获释，这些外籍配偶须转而通过移民法庭申请绿卡，而当前移民法官正疲于应付积压多年的案子。

Mr. Nietor, the immigration lawyer, said that the government’s strategy appeared to be to induce the couples “to give up and abandon their cases and accept the foreign spouse’s deportation.”

移民律师尼托尔表示，政府的策略似乎是想让这些夫妇“放弃、撤回他们的案件，并接受外籍配偶被驱逐出境”的事实。

Jason Cordero, 26, whose wife, Ludmila, a Mexican national, was detained last week during their interview, said she had been suffering from severe anxiety and having panic attacks in the detention facility.

26岁的杰森·科尔德罗说，其墨西哥籍妻子卢德米拉上周在面谈时遭到拘留，目前在拘留所饱受严重焦虑症与惊恐发作的折磨。

Mr. Cordero hails from a family of modest means, he said, and he had been working two jobs to get them on a stable footing since they married early this year. The couple had recently upgraded from a studio to a one-bedroom apartment in Oceanside, Calif., he said.

科尔德罗表示自己出身清寒，自从今年初结婚后一直打两份工维持家计。这对夫妇刚在加州欧申赛德从单间公寓搬进了一居室。

“Little by little we were moving up,” said Mr. Cordero, who works for a beverage distribution company and a fast-food chain. When three ICE agents took Ms. Cordero into custody for overstaying her visa, she began to weep, as did the Citizenship and Immigration Services officer who had been interviewing her, according to Mr. Cordero.

“我们正一步步改善生活，”在饮料分销公司和快餐连锁店工作的科尔德罗说。据他描述，当三名ICE探员以逾期居留为由拘留卢德米拉时，她当场泣不成声，连负责面谈的移民局官员也随之落泪。

The ICE agents instructed his wife to remove her bracelets, earrings and wedding band, which she placed in her small brown purse and handed to her husband.

ICE探员要求他的妻子取下手镯、耳环和婚戒，她将这些物品放进一个棕色的小手袋里交予丈夫。

“I was shocked and heartbroken,” Mr. Cordero said. “We tried to be respectful because of everything about immigration we’d been seeing on the news.”

“我既震惊又心碎，”科尔德罗说，“那些关于移民的新闻我们已经看到了，所以我们一直尽量保持尊重。”

Katie and Stephen Paul met on a gaming platform more than two years ago. Their friendship flourished into a romance, and she visited Mr. Paul several times under the visa-waiver program for British nationals, which permits stays of up to three months at a time. She joined Mr. Paul’s family on a trip to Japan, and the couple married last October. Two days later, they discovered she was pregnant with Alan, now 4 months old.

凯蒂和斯蒂芬·保罗是在两年多前通过一个游戏平台认识的。他们的友谊发展成恋情，她多次通过英国公民免签计划来探望保罗，该计划允许一次入境最长停留三个月。她还与保罗的家人一起去日本旅行，这对夫妻于去年10月结婚。两天后，他们发现她已经怀上了现在四个月大的儿子艾伦。

They filed their green-card petition in July.

今年7月，他们正式提交了绿卡申请。

Their interview last week was going smoothly, he said, until three ICE agents walked in and informed them that Ms. Paul, who was holding her infant, was under arrest.

他说，他们上周的面谈原本进行得很顺利，直到三名ICE探员走进来，告知正抱着婴儿的凯蒂，她被逮捕了。

Their lawyer, Ms. Keamy, who was participating by telephone, objected, saying this had never happened before.

通过电话参与面谈的律师基米当即提出异议，指出以前从未发生过这样的事情。

“I was completely dumbfounded,” she said. “I went numb.”

“我完全惊呆了，”她说。“整个人都僵住了。”

Mr. Paul said the agents had told him that they disagreed with the directive to arrest Ms. Paul but that they had to follow orders.

保罗说，探员对他讲，他们并不认同逮捕保罗夫人的指令，但他们必须服从命令。

“They are having them grab everyone they can,” Mr. Paul said. “This is just not right.”

“他们现在是能抓一个算一个，”保罗说。“这是不对的。”

妻子遭ICE拘留期间，在圣迭戈县警署工作的斯蒂芬·保罗不得不请假，以便照顾他们的孩子。斯蒂芬和凯蒂·保罗在他们2024年于加州拉荷亚举行的婚礼上。

After Mr. Paul learned from his wife that the authorities were threatening to deport her without a hearing, he said, their lawyer filed a lawsuit in federal court in San Diego to halt her removal and secure her release.

保罗说，在他从妻子那里得知当局威胁要在没有听证的情况下驱逐她后，他们的律师马上在圣迭戈的联邦法院提起诉讼，以阻止她被遣返，并争取让她获释。

In response, the government approved Ms. Paul’s green card on Tuesday and freed her.

作为回应，政府于周二批准了保罗太太的绿卡申请，并将其释放。

In Hong Kong, a city where millions of residents sleep, eat and work high above the ground in towers pressed together like books on a shelf, there has long been the threat that a massive fire could trap people inside their high-rises.

在香港，楼群密密匝匝如同书架上的书本，这座城市的数百万居民就在高楼里睡觉、吃饭、工作，一场滔天大火让住在高楼里的人无处可逃的威胁一直存在。

By Thursday, the scale of that nightmare emerged, as an inferno that had begun a day earlier with one 32-story building and quickly engulfed six other towers at an aging apartment complex became the deadliest fire in Hong Kong’s modern history. On Friday morning, the authorities said that at least 83 people had died in the blaze and dozens of others were still unaccounted for.

至周四，这场噩梦的惨烈程度逐渐显现。此前一天，始于一栋32层建筑的烈火迅速吞噬老旧屋苑的另外六栋高楼，酿成香港现代史上最致命的火灾惨剧。周五早晨，官方确认至少94人罹难，另有数十人下落不明。

Hundreds of firefighters worked to put out flames that continued to burn in three buildings of the Wang Fuk Court complex in Tai Po district 24 hours after they were first reported on Wednesday afternoon. They searched for survivors who had been trapped inside the buildings, pulling both people and corpses out.

周三下午爆发的大埔宏福苑火灾持续逾24小时后，仍有三栋建筑存在火情，数百名消防员仍在努力扑救。他们在楼内搜救受困者，不断抬出幸存者与遇难者遗体。

More than 70 others were in the hospital, some in critical condition. Outside a nearby community center, dozens of people whose relatives were missing waited in line within a police cordon to see if their loved ones were among those whose bodies had been found.

还有70多人正在医院救治，其中一些人情况危急。在附近一个社区中心外，数十名失踪者家属在警戒线内排队，焦急等待确认已寻获的遗体中有无至亲。

Investigators began piecing together how the flames had moved so swiftly, homing in on the green construction netting that had shrouded the buildings slated for renovation, as well as polystyrene foam that had apparently been installed on windows. The police arrested two directors and a consultant linked to a construction company that had installed the construction materials, saying they were suspected of manslaughter and gross negligence.

调查人员开始努力还原火势急速蔓延的轨迹，重点关注包覆待翻新建筑的绿色施工防护网，以及发现安装在窗框上的发泡胶。警方已逮捕涉事建筑工程公司的两名董事及一名顾问，称他们涉嫌误杀和严重疏忽。

宏福苑附近临时安置点的居民。

Residents, many of them older, described narrowly escaping and complained that they had been given no warning, not even by a fire alarm. Public anger rose over whether Hong Kong’s building-safety system has kept pace with the vulnerabilities of one of the world’s fastest-aging populations.

该屋苑的住户（其中许多是老年人）描述了死里逃生的经历，并抱怨事发时完全没有收到任何警示，连警报器都没有响。公众的愤怒情绪不断上升，他们想知道作为全球老龄化速度最快的城市之一，香港的建筑安全体系是否跟得上。

Some observers and local politicians began to ask whether the disaster was the result of corruption and a lack of accountability, as residents raised questions about perceived collusion between housing committees that oversee maintenance and renovations of such estates and contractors.

一些观察人士和当地政界人士开始质疑，这场灾难是否是腐败和缺乏问责的结果。居民们对负责监督此类楼宇维护和修缮的房屋管理委员会与承包商之间相互勾结的现象提出了质疑。

The latest death toll surpassed that of a tenement fire in Kowloon that killed 59 people in 1957, as well as the blaze that broke out at Grenfell Tower, an apartment block in central London in 2017, in which 72 people were killed.

最新的死亡数字已超过1957年九龙一场造成59人死亡的出租楼大火，也超过了2017年英国伦敦格伦费尔公寓造成72人死亡的火灾。

“This is absolutely scandalous, this is not what Hong Kong is known for,” said Emily Lau, a longtime pro-democracy politician and former lawmaker who now hosts an interview show on YouTube. She said the scale of the tragedy pointed to insufficient government supervision: “This has opened up a can of worms about misconduct.”

“这绝对是骇人听闻的，这不是香港该有的样子，”长期从事民主运动的政治人物、前立法会议员刘慧卿说，她目前在YouTube上主持一档访谈节目。她说，这场悲剧的规模突显了政府的监管不足：“挤破了行为不当的脓疮。”

In the face of mounting questions and pressure from China’s leader, Xi Jinping, for “all-out efforts” to respond to the disaster, the Hong Kong government moved to show it was taking swift action.

面对不断增长的质疑以及来自中国领导人习近平要求“全力以赴”应对灾难的压力，香港政府随即采取行动，试图展示其正在迅速应对。

大埔火灾次日，数百消防员仍在现场全力扑救。摄于周四。

John Lee, the Beijing-backed chief executive of Hong Kong, visited the site and later told reporters that the fires were under control. He announced a 300 million Hong Kong dollar or $38 million, fund for victims. His government also kicked off a citywide inspection of housing estates currently under renovation. The city’s anticorruption bureau also announced it was setting up a task force to investigate potential corruption related to the construction work on the complex.

北京支持的香港特首李家超视察了火灾现场，随后向记者表示火势已得到控制。他宣布设立一笔3亿港元的灾民援助基金，特区政府同时启动对全港正在进行翻新的屋邨的排查。香港廉政公署也宣布成立专项工作组，调查该楼群翻新工程中可能存在的贪腐问题。

The fire was the latest crisis for Mr. Lee’s government, which already faces demands from Beijing to fix Hong Kong’s housing market, one of the least affordable in the world, and shore up the economy.

这场火灾是李家超政府面临的又一场危机。此前，北京已要求其解决香港住房市场问题——香港楼市是全球房价可负担性最低的市场之一——同时还需着力提振经济。

And as public distrust swells, with people posting videos and photos online expressing concern about what they feared was flammable construction materials on other buildings, the political fallout could be significant.

随着公众疑虑日益加剧，民众纷纷在网上发布视频和照片，担忧其他建筑上使用的建筑材料存在易燃风险，此次火灾可能引发重大政治影响。

“A bigger question is this: Should a senior official take overall responsibility for this horrendous fire?” said Wang Xiangwei, an associate professor of journalism at Hong Kong Baptist University.

“更大的问题在于：面对这场惨烈的火灾，是否应有高级官员承担全面责任？”香港浸会大学新闻系副教授王向伟表示。

The authorities said that a preliminary investigation revealed that protective nets, tarpaulin and other materials used for the renovation may not have met fire-safety standards. They identified the registered contractor for the building complex as Prestige Construction and Engineering Company.

当局初步调查显示，翻新工程中使用的防护网、防水帆布及其他材料可能不符合消防安全标准，并确认翻新工程的注册承建商为宏业建筑工程有限公司。

志愿者正在整理捐给灾后无家可归者的物资。

The mesh netting was probably a factor in how quickly the fire spread, said Tony Za, a former chairman of the Hong Kong Institute of Engineers Building Division. Typically made of fibers and plastic, such netting is used to keep construction materials and other objects from falling off bamboo scaffolding — which companies in Hong Kong commonly use when repairing a building’s exterior — and hitting the ground below.

香港工程师学会建筑分部前主席谢伟正指出，防护网或许是火势快速蔓延的原因之一。这类防护网通常由纤维和塑料制成，用于防止建筑材料及其他物品从竹棚架上坠落伤人——香港企业翻新建筑外墙时普遍使用这种棚架。

Bamboo scaffolding may have also contributed to the blaze, experts said. The government announced earlier this year that it would phase out the use of the material and replace it with steel scaffolding, for greater safety. Last month, another bamboo scaffolding caught fire in Hong Kong’s central business district. That incident along with the devastating fire this week would likely accelerate the construction industry’s switch to metal scaffolding, Mr. Za said.

专家表示，竹棚架也可能助长了火势。香港政府今年早些时候已宣布，将逐步淘汰竹棚架，改用安全性更高的钢棚架。上月，香港中环商务区曾发生另一起竹棚架起火事件。谢伟正称，此次重大火灾叠加此前的事故，大概率会加速建筑行业向金属棚架的转型。

The government’s investigation also pointed to foam boards that had been found installed on windows.

政府调查还指出，发现窗户上安装了泡沫板。

One Wang Fuk Court resident, Lau Yu Hung, a 78-year-old resident, said that many of the windows in his building were covered with a thin layer of polystyrene foam, and that he had heard that it was meant to protect the glass from the repairs being done to the facade.

宏福苑78岁的居民刘余洪（音）表示，他所住楼栋的许多窗户都被一层薄薄的泡沫板覆盖，他听闻此举是为了在立面翻新期间保护玻璃。

The material blocked much of the light and prevented residents from seeing outside, he said. It was only because of a small gap in the foam covering his bathroom window that he had been able to see that a neighboring building was on fire and escape in time, he said.

他说，这种材料遮挡了大部分光线，导致居民无法看清窗外情况。万幸的是，他家浴室窗户的泡沫板留有一道小缝隙，正是通过这道缝隙，他才发现邻近楼栋起火，并及时逃生。

初步调查显示，宏福苑翻修使用的防护网、防水布及其他材料可能未达到消防安全标准。

The blaze spread quickly in this complex of about 2,000 units, which housed many retirees. Some residents had lived there for decades after having purchased their apartments through a government-subsidized homeownership program in the 1980s. Mr. Lau said he had lived there for 20 years.

这座屋邨共有约2000个单位，居住着大量退休人士。部分居民在上世纪80年代通过政府资助的居者有其屋计划购入公寓，在此居住已数十年。刘余洪本人也已在此居住了20年。

Near the complex, dozens of family members still searching for their loved ones gathered outside to file slowly into a community center where they viewed photos of victims.

屋邨附近，数十名仍在寻找亲人的家属聚集在一处社区中心外，依次进入场内辨认遇难者照片。

S.F. Chiang, 68, had gone there to see if her missing 62-year-old brother and 24-year-old niece were among the victims. But she did not find them among the photos that the police provided. “My heart hurts to think about them,” she said.

S·F·蒋（音）来到这里，希望能在遇难者名单中找到她失踪的62岁弟弟和24岁侄女，但她并未在警方提供的照片中看到二人的身影。“一想到他们，我就好心痛，”她说。

(This story was originally published in May.)

（本文最初于5月发表。）

As a truckload of bamboo poles pulled into a narrow street, Daisy Pak stubbed out a cigarette, pulled a safety harness over her paint-streaked leggings and began blasting Prince from a Bluetooth speaker.

当一卡车竹竿驶入狭窄街道，黛西·白（音）掐灭香烟，将安全带绕过沾着油漆痕迹的紧身裤，开始用蓝牙音箱大声放“王子”的歌。

After maneuvering a loaded cart into an elevator, she opened a tiny window on the ninth floor and ducked out onto a narrow pipe, a bunch of zip ties sashaying behind her back like a bushy tail. She called for mid-length bamboo poles that she tied into a latticework clinging to the outside of the building.

她将满载竹竿的推车推进电梯，抵达九楼后推开一扇小窗，弯腰踏上狭窄的管道——背后一束扎带像蓬松的尾巴一样晃来晃去。她喊着要来中等长度的竹竿，将它们捆扎成格栅状结构，牢牢固定在建筑外墙。

Ms. Pak, 31, is one of the few female bamboo scaffolding workers in Hong Kong, using an ancient Chinese practice that is synonymous with the city even as its use has faded elsewhere in China. She turned to the industry for a fresh start in 2021, after a hardscrabble upbringing and falling into drug addiction and debt. There was a demand for skilled construction workers, it paid relatively well, and she had a passion for the time-honored craft. “It’s so special, to build something completely all out of bamboo,” she said.

31岁的黛西·白是香港为数不多的女性搭棚工。这种古老的中国工艺如今在中国其他地区已日渐式微，却仍是香港的标志性符号。2021年，在经历了艰辛的成长历程、染上毒瘾又深陷债务后，她投身这一行寻求新生。当时熟练建筑工人紧缺，薪资相对优厚，而她本身也对这项历史悠久的手艺非常热忱。“纯粹用竹子搭建出一样东西，这种感觉太特别了，”她说。

Traditionally, workers learn their craft by shadowing one master with knowledge passed down through generations. But Ms Pak learned any way she could, working with different bosses to broaden her skills and techniques, and overcoming taunts about her ability as a novice and her 5-foot-1 stature. While dismantling a scaffold, a colleague once tossed her poles to catch instead of passing them downward. Contractors have tried to pay her less than she was promised. Her arms and legs were constantly bruised, but she carried on.

传统上，竹棚工人需要拜师学艺，掌握代代相传的技术。但是黛西·白想尽一切办法学习：为拓宽技能与技法，她先后跟随多位老板干活；别人嘲笑她是新手，还有她只有约1米55的身高，她咬牙坚持。拆棚时，曾经有同事直接把竹竿扔给她而不是递下来；有些承包商还试图克扣承诺的薪资。她的胳膊和腿上常年带着淤青，却从未放弃。

黛西·白是香港棚架行业中为数不多的女性从业者之一。黛西·白用扎带将竹竿捆扎在杉木立柱上。

“I was born with the will to prove people wrong, to do things that they say cannot be done,” she said.

“我生来就要证明别人是错的，别人说我做不到，我偏要做到，”她说。

But the industry that helped transform her life now faces its own uncertain future. Some, like Ms. Pak, are worried after Hong Kong’s development bureau issued a memo in March requiring at least half of government projects to use metal scaffolding in an effort to gradually widen its use to keep pace with modern industry practices and improve safety.

然而，这个改变了她人生的行业如今正面临不确定的未来。今年3月，香港发展局发布备忘录，要求至少一半的政府项目使用金属棚架，旨在逐步推广现代工艺适用范围、提升安全性。这让包括黛西·白在内的从业者忧心忡忡。

The city is one of the last bastions of an art — and later industry — that was first depicted in scroll paintings from the Han dynasty around 2,000 years ago, and it has thrived in bamboo-rich regions in China. But in the past two decades, the rest of China pivoted toward metal amid an overproduction of steel.

香港是这项古老技艺——后来发展为产业——最后的阵地之一。早在约2000年前的汉代，画轴中就已出现竹棚的身影，它在中国竹子资源丰富的地区曾盛极一时。但过去20年间，随着钢铁产能过剩，中国其他地区纷纷转向金属棚架。

Lattices of bamboo poles bound together by intricate knots regularly rise across the city to build and renovate apartment blocks and commercial skyscrapers that can be dozens of stories high.

在香港，错综复杂、由绳结捆绑而成的竹棚随处可见，用于建造和翻新数十层高的公寓楼与商业大厦。

Advocates of the material, including Ms. Pak, say it is lighter and cheaper than metal to transport and carry in Hong Kong’s tight urban spaces. Builders particularly favor the material when erecting platforms that support workers who patch up building exteriors and replace old pipes and window sills.

包括黛西·白在内的竹材支持者表示，在香港拥挤的城市空间里，竹材的运输和搬运比金属更轻便、成本更低。尤其在搭建用于修补外墙、更换旧管道和窗台的作业平台时，建筑方更青睐竹棚。

The government development bureau wrote in a statement that metal scaffolds offered better fire resistance and were more rigid and durable. But it added that it had no intention to phase out bamboo scaffolds entirely, “particularly in special circumstances including limited working space on site.”

香港发展局在声明中称，金属棚架防火性能更佳，且更坚固耐用。但该局还说，并无完全淘汰竹棚架的打算，“尤其是在工地环境狭窄等特殊情况下。”

竹棚架是这座高密度都市的景观的一部分。

Tony Za, the former chairman of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers’ building division, said that a spate of industrial accidents involving bamboo structures had prompted safety concerns. Metal scaffolds are more suitable for large-scale construction projects as skyscrapers grow taller and building materials change to include more glass, Mr. Za said.

前香港工程师学会建筑分部主席谢伟正表示，一系列涉及竹结构的工业事故引发了安全担忧。随着摩天大楼越来越高，建筑材料也更多地采用玻璃，金属棚架更适合大型建设项目。

For metal scaffolding, engineers can make decisions such as how thick a pole to use and how far apart to space the ringlocks based on calculations accounting for load and extreme weather, Mr. Za said. But that cannot be done for bamboo scaffolds, because the poles do not come in uniform shapes, requiring the discretion of bamboo masters.

谢伟正解释说，对于金属棚架，工程师可根据荷载和极端天气等因素计算确定管材厚度、环锁间距等参数；但竹棚架无法做到这一点，因为竹竿形状不规则，全凭竹棚师傅的经验判断。

Ms. Pak had the foresight to get licensed to work with metal scaffolds last year, saying she already used some metal components, such as platforms. “They reinforce one another, like brothers scaling a mountain together,” she said.

颇具远见的黛西·白去年已考取金属棚架操作资质。她说自己早已在使用平台等金属构件：“它们相辅相成，就像兄弟携手登山。”

But her love for bamboo, bordering on sentimentality, has only grown. “The material is so dynamic and resilient,” she said. “It’s just like the spirit of Hong Kong.”

但她对竹子近乎感伤的热爱却愈发深厚，“这种材料充满活力且韧性十足，就像香港精神。”

Passers-by often do a double take when they watch her haul a bundle of seven-foot bamboo poles with ease.

路人常常会驻足侧目，惊讶于她能轻松扛起一捆长约二米的竹竿。

Raised by a single mother, Ms. Pak worked in a seedy nightclub for a while but moved into construction during the pandemic. The daily rate for novices was about $90 and could go up to $250 for a skilled worker.

黛西·白由单亲母亲抚养长大，一度在一家低档夜总会工作，疫情期间转行进入建筑行业。在这个行业，新手日薪约90美元（约合640元人民币），熟练工人最高可达250美元（约合1700元人民币）。

With no connections in the industry, she trawled scaffolding groups on Facebook, asking if anyone would hire a female worker. Many contractors responded out of curiosity, she said. For the first year, she stayed on the ground, passing tools and bamboo poles several times her height to more seasoned workers dangling from rooftops and balconies.

由于在业内毫无人脉，她在Facebook的棚架工人群组里四处打听，询问是否有人愿意雇佣女性工人。她说，许多承包商出于好奇回应了她。第一年，她一直在地面工作，将工具和比自己高出许多的竹竿递给悬挂在屋顶和阳台的资深工人。

She said she earned greater acceptance as she became more experienced. She amassed several qualifications in the industry, including what is nicknamed the “master license.”

她说，随着经验日渐丰富，她获得了更多认可，还考取了行业内多项资质，包括被戏称为“大师执照”的高级认证。

“I am now respected,” she said.

“现在我得到了尊重，”她说。

肯尼·李是一位资深棚架工匠，数十年来一直为宗教庆典和粤剧演出搭建戏台。

On a recent day off, she traveled to the outlying Po Toi Island to visit Kenny Lee, a veteran builder of open-air bamboo theaters outside temples used for religious celebrations and Cantonese opera performances. The technique for making such structures has been designated by the government as an intangible part of the cultural heritage.

前不久的一个休息日，她前往远离市中心的蒲台岛拜访肯尼·李（音），一位资深的露天竹戏棚搭建师傅。这种戏台用于宗教庆典和粤剧演出，搭建技艺已被政府列为非物质文化遗产。

In recent weeks, Mr. Lee and his crew of about 10 builders constructed a theater at a cliff-side temple ahead of performances marking the birthday of Tin Hau, the goddess of seafarers. With minimal direction, the builders worked in synchrony: hauling heavy wooden logs and bamboo poles, and clambering up and down the theater’s soaring rooftop. It was built upon uneven rocks; in high tide, the fir pillars slanted into the waters.

近几周来，为筹备庆祝海神“天后”诞辰的演出，肯尼·李和他的10人团队在一座悬崖边的寺庙旁搭建了一座戏台。工人们无需过多指令便配合默契：搬运沉重的原木和竹竿，在戏台高耸的屋顶上攀爬作业。戏台建在崎岖的岩石上，涨潮时，杉木支柱会斜插入水中。

“There’s joy and there’s sorrow in this work,” Mr. Lee, 57, said, recounting days when he worked through typhoons to meet deadlines, even as hurricane-force winds hurled flower pots from neighboring buildings.

“这份工作有苦也有乐，”57岁的肯尼·李说。他回忆曾有台风天为赶工期坚持作业，飓风般的狂风甚至将邻近建筑的花盆掀落。

In his heyday, Mr. Lee would build and dismantle as many as 30 bamboo theaters across the city every year. But the pandemic hit the business, and there is more profit to be made with the construction jobs that he needs to make ends meet, he said.

在鼎盛时期，肯尼·李每年要在全港搭建和拆除多达30座戏棚。但疫情重创了这个行业，如今靠建筑工程谋生才能维持生计。

游客在蒲台岛悬崖边寺庙周围的临时竹棚剧场观看粤剧演出。游客们在蒲台岛的庙宇里参加祈福仪式。

“You can’t really make money,” he said. “I do it for the gods, then for the brothers.”

“其实赚不到什么钱，我做这个，先是为神明，再是为兄弟，”他说。

Ms. Pak has ideas on how to make the industry more accessible to newcomers and the public. She has taught high school students how to build a small scaffold and is preparing to launch a YouTube channel with tutorials on basic skills, such as tying knots with zip ties.

黛西·白在考虑如何让更多新人加入这个行业，让公众了解这项工艺。她曾指导高中生搭建小型竹棚，目前正筹备开通YouTube频道，传授用扎带打结等基础技艺。

Ms. Pak bought sour plum juice on the way to the temple to give to the crew and traded stories with them. She worked up the gumption to ask Mr. Lee to hire her for his next bamboo theater project.

前往寺庙的路上，黛西·白买了酸梅汤分给工人们，还和他们交流心得。她鼓起勇气，向肯尼·李提出，希望能参与他的下一个戏棚项目。

这座临时竹制剧场建在悬崖边的寺庙周围，不过肯尼·李表示，由于土地填海工程，如今这类场地越来越少了。

“It would be a shame if the tradition dies in our hands,” she said.

“如果这项传统在我们手中消亡，那就太可惜了，”她说。

Three weeks ago, it looked like Japan’s prime minister had made the biggest blunder of her early tenure with an off-the-cuff comment that ignited a diplomatic showdown with China.

三周前，日本首相的一句即席发言看上去好像是她执政初期最大的失误，导致与中国的外交对峙。

Now Sanae Takaichi is in a position of strength at home, even though neither Japan nor China is backing away from the dispute.

而现在，高市早苗在国内地位稳固，尽管日本和中国都没有在争端中退缩。

Ms. Takaichi caused the row by signaling her country’s willingness to defend Taiwan in the event of Chinese military action. China, which regards the island democracy as its territory, responded by curtailing trade and tourism to Japan.

高市早苗因表态愿在中方采取军事行动时保卫台湾而引发争端。视该民主岛屿为其领土的中国随即做出回应，采取措施削减对日贸易和旅游。

But the economic costs have not dented her popularity among Japan’s voters. If anything, they have increased her appeal as a conservative strong on defense.

但经济代价并没有影响她在日本选民中的受欢迎程度，反而巩固了她在国防问题上态度强硬的保守派形象。

Young citizens in particular have praised her stance, in a sign that she has struck a cord with a Japanese electorate that has been increasingly willing to question the nation’s longstanding pacifism. And she has been backed by Japanese, American and Taiwanese officials.

尤其是年轻公民对她的立场表示赞赏，这表明她与日益质疑日本长期以来和平主义的日本选民达成了一致。她还得到了日本、美国和台湾官员的支持。

It is too early to say how the spat with China will color Ms. Takaichi’s legacy — she has been in office for less than six weeks. But it is likely to prove a defining early moment of her prime ministership.

高市早苗上任还不到六周，现在评价与中国的争端将如何影响她的政治遗产还为时过早。但这可能是她担任首相早期阶段的一个决定性时刻。

The furor began on Nov. 7. in the Diet, Japan’s Parliament. An opposition lawmaker asked Ms. Takaichi how her administration would designate an effort by China to blockade or invade Taiwan. She said that would constitute a “survival-threatening situation,” implying that in such a scenario Japan would deploy its military in Taiwan’s defense.

这场风波始于11月7日日本国会。一名反对党议员询问高市早苗，日本政府将如何界定中国封锁或入侵台湾的行为。她表示这将构成“存亡危机事态”，暗示日本将在这种情况下派遣自卫队保卫台湾。

While she was repeating what has long been Japan’s prevailing, if rarely verbalized, policy, her remarks caused an uproar in Beijing. The ensuing diplomatic row has brought streams of vitriol, military posturing in contested waters and appeals to the United Nations and President Trump.

尽管这只是重申日本长期以来鲜少明言的主流政策，但她的言论在北京引起了轩然大波。随后的外交争端带来了一连串的尖刻言辞、在争议水域的军事姿态，以及向联合国和特朗普总统的申诉。

Many political analysts and administration officials believe that Ms. Takaichi’s comment was not a calculated move, but rather spontaneous and possibly provoked by the questioner.

许多政治分析家和政府官员认为，高市早苗的言论并非经过深思熟虑，而是脱口而出，可能是被提问者激起。

“The consensus is it wasn’t really a deliberate move on her part,” said Tobias Harris, the founder of Japan Foresight, a political risk advisory firm. “But once you’ve said that, it’s very difficult to concede anything, because then it’s a question of whether it’s Japan’s prevailing policy or is it not?”

“普遍共识认为这并非她的刻意之举，”政治风险咨询公司日本前瞻的创始人托比亚斯·哈里斯说。“但是一旦这么说了，就很难做出任何让步，因为接下来的问题是，这是否是日本的主流政策？”

“That is why I feel very bearish about this being resolved anytime soon,” Mr. Harris said.

“正因如此，我非常不看好这个问题会在短期内得到解决，”哈里斯说。

The sparring comes at a time when anti-China sentiment has increased in Japan, influenced by narratives of Chinese over-tourism, military expansion near Japanese islands and reports blaming Chinese nationals for driving up rents and land prices by buying assets in Japan.

这场争吵发生之际，日本国内的反华情绪正有所上升，原因是有关中国的过度旅游、在日本岛屿附近的军事扩张，以及指责中国公民通过在日本购买资产推高租金和地价的报道。

This attitude is especially shared among younger generations, a key demographic for Ms. Takaichi’s Liberal Democratic Party, whose popularity has weakened because it has strained to appeal to younger voters.

这种态度在年轻一代中尤其普遍，而这一群体对于高市早苗所在的自民党至关重要，该党因难以吸引年轻选民而出现支持率下滑。

A nationwide poll conducted last weekend by the Yomiuri Shimbun, Japan’s largest newspaper, showed that 64 percent of those aged 18-39 approved of the Takaichi government’s stance toward China. That compared to a 43 percent approval rate from those over 60, while the overall approval was 56 percent.

日本最大的报纸《读卖新闻》上周末进行的一项全国民意调查显示，在18岁至39岁的受访者中，64%的人赞成高市政府对中国的立场。相比之下，60岁以上人群的支持率为43%，而总体支持率为56%。

5月，在冲绳训练的日本士兵。部分日本选民似乎质疑该国二战后奉行的和平主义政策。

On Tuesday evening, Mai Hosoda, 23, and Rino Nakatani, 24, were on their way home from work at a bank in Nara, a city near Kyoto famous for free-roaming deer that inhabit its parks. They both said they were supportive of the tough stance Ms. Takaichi, who hails from Nara, has taken toward China.

周二晚上，23岁的细田麻衣（音）和24岁的中谷里乃（音）从奈良的一家银行下班回家。奈良位于京都附近，以公园里自由漫步的鹿群而闻名。两人均表示支持出身奈良的高市早苗对华强硬立场。

Ms. Nakatani said she had recently seen a smattering of social media posts of Chinese tourists feeding strange things to the Nara deer, and that her perception of China had worsened because of the diplomatic spat.

中谷里乃说，她最近在社交媒体上看到一些中国游客用奇怪食物喂奈良鹿的帖子，由于外交争端，她对中国印象更差了。

Ms. Hosoda agreed. “It’s a good thing as a leader to have a firm stance about their own country,” she said.

细田麻衣表示同意。“作为领导人，对自己的国家有坚定的立场是一件好事，”她说。

On the world stage, allies have rallied to Ms. Takaichi’s defense. Taiwan has lifted all restrictions on imports of Japanese food, including those on seafood that have been in place since the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster. Taiwan’s president posted a video of himself eating sushi that included Japanese scallops and yellowtail.

在世界舞台上，盟友们团结起来支持高市早苗。台湾已经取消了对日本食品进口的所有限制，包括自2011年福岛核灾难以来实施的海产品进口限制。台湾总统发布视频，展示自己食用含日本扇贝和鰤鱼的寿司。

The top American diplomat in Japan also voiced support. “Directly from the president and from myself and from the embassy for the Prime Minister, we have her back,” U.S. Ambassador George Glass said last week.

美国驻日本最高外交官也表示了支持。美国大使乔治·格拉斯上周称：“总统本人直接表示，我和大使馆也表示，我们支持她。”

For some observers, an incendiary comment about China from Ms. Takaichi has always been in the cards given her long-held nationalist leanings and public statements.

对于一些观察人士来说，鉴于高市早苗长期以来的民族主义倾向和公开声明，她对中国发表煽动性言论早就有迹可循。

Like many right-wing Japanese lawmakers, Ms. Takaichi has been a frequent visitor to Tokyo’s Yasukuni Shrine, where Japan’s war dead, including some war criminals, are commemorated. Her visits have consistently sparked official protests and condemnation from China, where Japanese troops committed atrocities during World War II, as well as South Korea, a former colony of Japan.

与众多日本右翼议员相似，高市早苗频繁参拜东京靖国神社，该神社供奉着日本战死者，其中包括部分战犯。她的参拜行为一直引发中国和韩国政府的抗议与谴责——二战期间，日军在中国犯下暴行，韩国则曾是日本的殖民地。

高市早苗2014年参拜东京靖国神社，她的频繁参拜引发中国和韩国的谴责。

However, some fear that tensions have risen too high. A former prime minister, Shigeru Ishiba, criticized Ms. Takaichi, telling a local news station this week that Japan’s response to a Taiwan contingency was not a matter to be discussed so openly.

然而，一些人担心紧张局势已经升级。日本前首相石破茂批评了高市早苗，他本周在接受当地一家新闻台采访时表示，日本对台湾突发事件的反应不应该如此公开地讨论。

“Successive administrations have handled this with the utmost caution. That is how sensitive the Japan-China relationship is,” he said. “This is not about being able to say whatever one wants. Nor is it about simply gaining higher approval ratings.”

“历届政府都以极其谨慎的态度处理此事，日中关系就是这么敏感，”他说。“这并非关乎能否随心所欲地发言，更不是为了单纯提升支持率。”

Beijing’s reactions have included asking the United Nations to distribute a strong criticism of Ms. Takaichi’s remarks to member countries. On Tuesday, Japan said it scrambled fighter jets after detecting a drone, believed to be Chinese, near an island in its south where it is planning to deploy antiaircraft missiles.

北京的反应包括要求联合国向成员国散发一份对高市早苗言论的强烈批评。周二，日本表示，在日本南部一个岛屿附近发现一架据信是中国的无人机后，日本战斗机紧急升空。日本计划在该岛屿部署防空导弹。

Beijing has also sought to ratchet up economic pressure. It has halted seafood imports from Japan and advised its citizens to avoid traveling to the country, warning that visiting it now poses risks to their safety. Hong Kong authorities have also urged residents to exercise vigilance in visiting Japan.

北京还试图加大经济压力。中国已停止从日本进口海产品，并建议其公民避免前往日本，警告当前赴日存在安全风险。香港当局也敦促居民在访问日本时提高警惕。

Visitors from mainland China and Hong Kong accounted for over a quarter of all foreign arrivals to Japan last year. The dispute with Beijing could cost Japan as much as $1.2 billion in tourist spending by the end of the year, according to China Trading Desk, a research firm.

去年，来自中国大陆和香港的游客占日本外国游客总数的四分之一以上。据研究机构China Trading Desk称，到今年年底，与北京的争端可能会使日本的旅游支出减少多达12亿美元。

上周，东京热门观光地浅草寺迎来了大批中国游客。有机构估算，此次争端可能导致日本损失逾10亿美元的游客消费。

Yoshitsugu Tone runs a dried-foods shop in Nara that he said is frequented by Chinese tourists, who come to buy Goji berries. He is worried business will be hurt by a drop off in Chinese visitors and said that Ms. Takaichi shouldn’t have provoked China.

奈良的干货店店主利根义嗣（音）说，经常有中国游客来他的店里买枸杞。他担心中国游客减少会影响生意，并说高市早苗不应该激怒中国。

“Japan also did wrong things in the past against China and Korea,” said Mr. Tone, 85. The prime minister “stepped on the tail of the tiger, when she should have just left things untouched.”

“日本过去对中国和韩国也做过错事，”85岁的利根义嗣说。首相“本来不该惹事，偏要踩到老虎尾巴”。

Earlier this month, a Chinese diplomat in Japan attacked Ms. Takaichi directly, posting a call on social media to cut off her “filthy head.” Chinese state media has started releasing cartoons depicting her in outfits linked with wartime Japan.

本月早些时候，一名中国驻日外交官直接攻击高市早苗，在社交媒体上发帖呼吁砍掉她“肮脏的头颅”。中国官方媒体开始发布她穿着与战时日本相关服装的漫画。

“The Chinese side believes that the more pressure they apply to Japan, the more submissive the Japanese will become — the more difficult Ms. Takaichi’s position will become,” said Ichiro Korogi, a China expert and professor at Kanda University of International Studies.

“中国方面认为，他们对日本施加的压力越大，日本人就会变得越顺从——高市早苗的处境就会变得越困难，”神田外语大学的中国问题专家兴梠一郎教授说。

The problem is that Ms. Takaichi has already clarified that she will not retract her statements, Mr. Korogi said. Beijing’s recent actions, he said, are boosting Ms. Takaichi’s popularity.

兴梠一郎说，问题在于高市早苗已经澄清了她不会收回自己的言论。他认为北京近期的行动反而提升了高市早苗的民意支持度。

He added: “The more pressure China puts on Japan, the more Japanese people actually unite.”

他还说：“中国对日本施加的压力越大，日本人实际上就越团结。”