Sleepless Afrika

金羊网 2007-04-09 15:40:19

文/图　本报记者　许静

地理位置：

属非洲东南部的内陆国家。东与莫桑比克相邻，西北与赞比亚接壤，西南与博茨瓦纳毗连，南同南非交界。全境为高原，平均海拔1000米。分高草原、中草原和

低草原3种地形。东部伊尼扬加尼山海拔2592米，为全国最高峰。主要河流有赞比西河和林波波河，分别为同赞比亚和南非的界河。热带草原气候，4－8月为凉季，9－11月为热季，12－3月为雨季。首都哈拉雷气温11月为16－27℃，7月为7－21℃。

■点击理由:

津巴布韦地理位置独特，大自然赐予了它无穷的美景。世界闻名的维多利亚瀑布正位于津巴布韦和赞比亚、博茨瓦纳的交界处，津巴布韦有着最好的观测点，另外还有万基国家公园，东部高地和卡瑞巴水坝这些美不胜收的旅游景点。津巴布韦的旅游项目多种多样，能观赏上千种世界其他任何地方看不到的野生动物，体验白水漂流的刺激，攀登寒冷的高峰，那里是欧美游客体验人与自然和谐的人间天堂，接待条件很好，但中国游客对这个国家的了解却并不多。

自然景观：★★★★★

非游旅游总让人第一时间想起丛林探险。从津巴布韦第二大城市布拉瓦约到著名的瀑布城的途中，正好就路过全国最大的万基国家公园。坐着公园提供的敞篷吉普车，在专业导游陪同下去追寻非洲丛林里的动物踪迹，是非洲旅游最经典的体验———SAFARI。据说津巴布韦的动物数量虽不如肯尼亚多，但导游却比肯尼亚更加专业和渊博，因为他们要懂得怎样去追寻动物的踪迹，在找不到动物的时候向客人讲解关于丛林的故事。万基国家公园的动物有四百多种，无论是体型巨大的非洲象、还是凶猛的丛林之王狮子，运气好都可以寻到踪迹。

一晚一早两次丛林探险，晚上正好可以入住在国家公园的树屋酒店。虽然也叫酒店，那其实是架在树上的一座座小木棚，四壁通风，运气好的话，傍晚会有大象到附近来喝水，也可能有狒狒和疣猪成群出没。虽然游客会感到刺激，但其实不必担心半夜会有凶猛的不速之客造访———酒店区是用电网围起来的，只有最擅跳跃的羚羊能越得过。

布拉瓦约的马托普国家公园，以其独特的平衡石地貌出名。那里有一处绝景，叫做"VIEWOFTHEWORLD"，英国人殖民地时期的第一任总督罗德斯热爱这里的美景，将其作为自己的葬身之处，吸引不少游人到这里来凭吊怀古。从石头上望出去，开阔的非洲平原就在眼前，想象中的美丽风光尽收眼底。

在津巴布韦的最西边，与赞比亚的交界处，有世界第二大的维多利亚瀑布。维多利亚瀑布土语的名字叫做"雷鸣般的烟雾"，非洲第四大河的赞比西河滚滚流到这里，在宽约1800米的峭壁上骤然翻身，万顷银涛整个跌入约110米深的峡谷中，只听轰鸣阵阵，犹如雷动，眼前白雾迷离，彩虹飞跨，人站在瀑布边不消几分钟，就可浑身湿透。整个瀑布是如此之大，要分为九个观景点观看，每个点都可见到不同角度的壮丽景观。

人文景观：★★★★★

非洲国家多是经济落后、环境艰苦的地方，但实际上，津巴布韦这个人口1400万的内陆国家，虽然眼下经济发展出现了一些问题，却曾经是比南非还要富有。在大城市如哈拉雷、布拉瓦约，到处是整齐的街道、遍布的商场，从街头不少陈旧得开始剥落的大幅广告，可以看到这个国度曾经繁荣的痕迹。

津巴布韦人主要有两大种族，绍那族和德贝勒族人都性格温和，爱好艺术，他们制造出风格各异的木雕和石雕，还有各式各样的鸵鸟蛋、象牙工艺品。朴实的当地人不会漫天要价，一些工艺品的价格可能比附近一些旅游开发较早的国家便宜一半甚至更多。有时用电筒、剃须刀、袜子等一些工业产品，也能向当地人换得相当精美的木雕和石雕。

"津巴布韦有一个石头城。"中学地理课本这样告诉我们。在津巴布韦南部城市MASVINGO南边，有着津巴布韦人最引以为自豪的历史遗迹———"大津巴布韦"遗址。1980年，这个遗址被用来命名这个国家，1986年，它被联合国列入《世界遗产目录》。"大津巴布韦"确实就是一座散落在荒草丛中的"石头城"，但直到今天，这个"石头城"的来历仍然是一个谜———19世纪，一些寻宝者不负责任的行为极大地阻碍了考古工作，有一些人认为，大津巴布韦是示巴皇后的遗址，而更多的人则认为，大津巴布韦是非洲人自己12世纪的创造。

津巴布韦的城市周边也有不少小景点可供发掘。在布拉瓦约市郊，有一座规模不大的"火车博物馆"，陈列着从津巴布韦殖民时期开始的不同类型的蒸汽机车和车上用品，虽然博物馆的大小就像一座私家庭院，但每年仍然吸引不少蒸汽机车发烧友到此一游。

■友情提醒：

1、从广州到津巴布韦首都哈拉雷航线已于今年1月22日开通，每周一有航班，中间经停新加坡，全程约15个小时。

2、到非洲丛林体验SAFARI，有几样东西是不能少的。一是防蚊液，二是太阳帽，三是长袖衫。如果你是动物观察爱好者，最好带上高倍望远镜。另外相机最好高级一点，反应太慢、焦距太小的相机容易留下遗憾。

3、观赏维多利亚瀑布应该避开5月和11月，后者是因为水量太小，前者则是因为水量过大，白雾满天什么都看不见。

4、津巴布韦酒店环境都不错，但餐饮很难令人满意。对食物要求较高的游客应该提前有所准备。布拉瓦约有两间中餐馆，一间是湖南人开的，一间是东北人开的，出品不错。

5、当地通货膨胀，汇率变化很快，一天一变。可用美元兑换津元，但官方汇率和黑市汇率相差达到10倍以上。虽然黑市交易违法，但巨大的差价还是让不少游客愿意地下交易。

6、曾经是英国殖民地，英语可以交流，电压、插头也是英国式的。

经过火的洗礼，城市又恢复了往日的平静，这似乎是黑暗前的黎明。

地区国家开始忍耐不住了，悄悄外交广受指责。与津巴关系密切的南非却态度暧昧，除了表示对暴力镇压表示严重关注这种"政治正确"的立场外，强调关键各方坐下来进行对话，解决问题。值得注意的是，它并没有用"危机"这个词，好像在玩弄词语的细微差别，对津政府暗示着什么。

西方还是一如既往地借人权问题攻击政府，推动国际社会制裁。这是他们一贯的伎俩，没什么可质疑的。

反对党在遭到强力镇压后，现在正处于恢复和酝酿期，准备发起更大规模的攻势，以"最后一击的最后一级"给政府以致命打击。

来源： 人民网 2006-12-7 15:35:50

2003年7月11日，我再次来到莫桑比克首都马普托，伫立在"毛泽东大街"上，尽情观察着四周浓郁的异国风情，凝神端详着陌生土地上倍感亲切的街名，近年来采访非洲国家的片断经历在脑海中不停地浮现，思绪就像眼前这条笔直宽阔的大道一样通畅无阻……

四年前，我第一次来到这里。毛泽东大街为东西走向的绿荫大道，双向四道，中间有绿色隔离带，两边人行道上是绿树鲜花，总宽超过50米，长约2.5公里。它西接列宁大街，与其形成"丁"字，再向西便是马克思大街，三条街组成一个"亍"字型。除两端相接的大街外，另有10条街道与毛泽东大街交叉，每条十字路口皆标有毛泽东大街的名称。1975年独立时，莫桑比克用世界无产阶级的伟大革命导师马克思、列宁和毛泽东的名字命名首都的大街，"毛泽东大街"就是以这种特殊方式，感谢中国政府和人民对莫桑比克人民解放事业的巨大贡献。

我这次获悉另一个消息：莫桑比克有个"毛泽东村"。总统府的官员告诉我，上世纪80年代，首都以北的加扎省发生了特大洪灾，整个村庄被冲毁，重建新村时，为感谢中国政府和人民对莫桑比克国家建设的支持与帮助，当地政府决定用"毛泽东"的英名命名这座上千人的新村。于是，毛泽东村和毛泽东大街一起，成为莫桑比克家喻户晓的街名和村名。

莫桑比克的北邻国坦桑尼亚是中国人十分熟悉的国家，其首都达累斯萨拉姆是著名的坦赞铁路的起点。2003年5月采访时，我无不感受到坦桑尼亚人民对中国人民的深情厚谊，这一感受刚一出机场就十分明显。当地青年一代不但知道毛主席的英名，知道中国为他们援建了铁路，而且知道友好的中国正在为他们修建公路，中国医生正在为他们救死扶伤。

在坦赞铁路的终端――赞比亚的辛卡车站，我采访时正值中国为这条铁路更新通信系统，五星红旗迎风飘扬，两国技术人员正在紧张工作。看到远道而来的中国记者，一位曾参加修建铁路的当地朋友指着五星红旗兴奋地说："看到五星红旗，我就要唱《东方红》，是毛主席派来的工人为我们修建了铁路，我们永远不会忘记。"据中国技术人员讲，当年修建铁路时，黑人员工学会了唱《东方红》，以表达对中国、对毛主席的热爱和感谢。今天，当我们为他们更新设备时，当年参加修建铁路的旧员工们，兴奋之情更是溢于言表。

卡翁达的名字中国人民并不陌生。近年来在接受记者的三次采访中，他都要谈起毛主席，谈起毛主席三次会见他时的难忘情景："毛主席是一代伟人，他不但拯救了亿万中国人民，而且为非洲人民的解放事业做出了巨大贡献，还热爱全人类，坦赞铁路就是爱人类的证明。我热爱他，崇敬他。"他还表示，"坦赞铁路是中非友谊的丰碑。"

由毛主席奠基和开创的中非友谊不但在铁道上延伸，而且在公路上发展，在建筑物中凝固，在医疗队里开花。就在西方富国拒绝援建坦赞铁路之时，毛主席和中国政府做出了中国援建这条铁路的英明决策；就在西方殖民者纷纷"走出非洲"之际，毛主席做出"走进非洲"的战略决策。在毛泽东时代，中国的建筑队和医疗队纷纷踏上遥远而陌生的非洲大地，帮助非洲国家修建楼堂馆所，为非洲人民祛除病痛。这些建筑队和医疗队，传颂着毛主席的英名，谱写着中非友谊的赞歌……

在埃塞俄比亚东南部城市季季加，一名普通司机对记者说，他知道两个中国人的名字：孔子和毛泽东。

在肯尼亚东部孤岛拉木，几乎与世隔绝的岛民知道"中国路桥公司"。

在卢旺达，国家电台曾向全国人民教"汉语问候语"；当地群众知道"是毛主席派来的医生为我们治好了病"。

在布隆迪，建设部长在接受记者采访时强调，布隆迪和中国同属发展中国家，他们要学习和借鉴中国的建设经验。

在刚果（金），街道上的小青年们看到中国记者，亲切地用"中国，毛主席"打招呼。

在津巴布韦，人民日报代表团2003年7月25日采访一家黑人农场时，农场主马塔吉拉激动地说："上世纪80年代末期以前，津巴布韦执政党党员人手一本《毛主席语录》。毛主席著作不但指导过我们的革命，而且指导着我们的建设。我过去背着枪杆子闹革命时学习毛主席著作，今天遇到困难时，经常翻阅毛主席语录，从中寻找解决问题的答案。"

在南非，前总统曼德拉曾在狱中学习毛主席著作，在一次活动中与记者握手时，他微笑着对我说："你从中国来，一定知道毛主席。"南非现任总统姆贝基在一次演讲时，引用毛主席"百花齐放、百家争鸣"的论断表达自己的观点。我在比勒陀利亚大学采访南非大选时，一名黑人学生认为："西方的民主制不会给非洲带来光明前途，毛主席的社会主义思想适合非洲的国情"。

1972年访华时，美国总统尼克松与毛主席一见面，就出自内心而非客套地说："主席的著作推动了一个民族，改变了整个世界"。毛主席，您的著作和思想曾指导过非洲大地上波澜壮阔的民族解放运动，今天仍深受崇敬您的非洲人民的热爱。

毛主席，您缔造了新中国，您开创了中非友谊。继您之后，我们党和国家的第二代、第三代和现任领导人，继承、巩固和发展着中非友谊。就在您诞辰110周年的前11天，温家宝总理来到埃塞俄比亚首都亚的斯亚贝巴，出席了第二届中非论坛，续写着中非友谊的新篇章……

我在这条镌刻着中莫友谊的大街上流连忘返，似乎在寻找着什么。出租车慢行到了大街的另一端，司机问我再去哪里，我说："再朝回开"，他似乎明白了什么，对记者说："每当经过这条街，我就想起中国，想起毛主席，联想到中国对莫桑比克革命与建设的巨大支持和帮助。今天从你的采访中，我又明白了，中国人民对自己的伟大领袖毛主席的感情是多么地真挚和深厚！"

毛主席，您的英名将永远与中国的名字联系在一起，非洲人民永远怀念您！

偶地发现已经好久没有自己写东西了，可能是因为没有了心情吧。

国内的，国外的，这边的，那边的，还有自己的，事情一大堆实在是难以全照看过来，就先把自己的事情放在一边了。

岁末年初，应该是比较清闲的了，可是今年不同以往，突地走了好多人，除了要收拾一些破烂，还要为新人做好准备。人手已捉襟见肘，到了明年初，我就成孤家寡人了……

总的来说，今年不算好，生活和工作都是如此，希望新人带来新气象，只能如此了。

http://www.friendshipmuseum.com/glgs/glgs/24883.aspx

    这座石雕仿古津巴布韦鸟是1983年2月津巴布韦总理穆加贝赠送给中国政府的礼品。

    津巴布韦鸟是津巴布韦石头城遗址中发现的最珍贵的文物。津巴布韦遗址位于津巴布韦首都哈拉雷以南300公里的维多利亚堡附近的一个山谷中，是非洲南部迄今发现的最大的古代建筑群。据考证，11世纪，当时的津巴布韦马卡兰加古王国就开始大兴土木，营建石头城，并经历过几个世纪才最终建成。13世纪，石头城成为莫诺莫塔帕王国的京都，15世纪达到鼎盛时期，随后，由于天灾战乱，逐渐衰落下去。

    现在见到的石头城遗址由两部分建筑组成：一部分是建在一片开阔地带的椭圆形围城，人们称之为"大围场"，是遗址的主体；另一部分是建在一座小石头山上的"卫城"。"大围场"由花岗石砌成，墙高10米，长约240米，面积为4600平方米。围墙内还筑有一道内墙，呈半圆形，长约90米。这些椭圆形建筑都是当年国王及其大臣和贵族们的住所，此外，还有一座著名的圆锥形实心塔，高达15米，是当时王室用来祭祀的。"卫城"建在石壁陡峭，地形险要的小山上，一道道厚度不同的围墙，依山傍崖，蜿蜒而下。围墙上只有一个能容一人侧身而过的狭窄石门，从"卫城"上可以俯瞰"大围场"，从整座遗址的地形布局看，"卫城"是护卫"大围场"的防御屏障。

    石头城遗址经历了近十个世纪的风雨侵蚀，虽然只剩下一片残垣断壁，但当年的雄姿风采仍依稀可辨。从遗址及周围的考古发掘来看，石头城历史上曾经是相当繁荣的经济、贸易和文化中心。在其附近有古代梯田、水渠和水井，还有铁矿坑、冶铁场、炼铁用的工具以及用泥土做的造币模型；石头城内发掘出波斯的彩色瓷器与阿拉伯的玻璃和黄金，还有印度的佛教念珠、中国明代的南京陶瓷。由此可见，当时南部非洲已于世界上许多国家有着广泛的贸易交往。

    当时石头城文化发达的标志是石雕艺术，而石雕艺术最高成就的代表则是津巴布韦石鸟。传说津巴布韦鸟是古津巴布韦马卡兰加人敬奉的神鸟，头像鸽子，身子如鹰，脖颈昂然，双翅紧拢。津巴布韦鸟被雕刻在津巴布韦石头城遗址微红色皂石柱的顶端，每根石柱只刻一鸟，并饰有许多优美图案，工艺精巧，造型美观。津巴布韦鸟的雕像高约50厘米，皂石柱高达1米多，这些精巧的石刻出自13—15世纪马卡兰加人的能工巧匠之手。这些津巴布韦鸟曾让欧洲人惊为天人之作，并把它们掠走，到1981年有5只津巴布韦鸟被运送回到津巴布韦，并陈列在首都哈拉雷的博物馆内。现在津巴布韦鸟已被绘人津巴布韦国旗，成为津巴布韦人民的骄傲和国家的象征。

    现在石雕艺术在津巴布韦十分普及。石雕的创作题材多与神灵有关，因为津巴布韦人相信万物有灵，且支配和保护着每个部落、每个家庭成员所享有的一切。这类表现神灵的石雕造型奇异，想像丰富，每件作品都代表着一种精神象征，隐含着特定的文化信息。一位津巴布韦雕刻艺术家说："在我雕刻时，祖先的灵魂不断地给我以灵感，民间格里奥传说常常给我启迪。"除此之外，人和动物也是津巴布韦石雕经常反映的题材，艺术家们常用变形简约的手法塑造形象，塑造极为概括，结构远离正常比例，抽象成分居多，很少写实。雕刻常以质地光滑、纹理流畅的材质与粗犷豪放的表现手法形成对比鲜明的审美情趣。有的作品刚雕完时呈灰白色，后反复沾水打磨并以太阳晒，逐渐变成黝黑光亮，极富装饰感。

    津巴布韦的石雕艺术品多出自祖传民间艺人之手，他们子承父业，只有少数人受过专门训练。1967年雕塑家亨利·芒亚里齐在首都哈拉雷以北150公里处的坦哥南哥发现一个村庄，全村男女老少都从事石雕工作，有趣的是，他们在创作时并无设计图纸，只是依照自己的想象，随意创作。现在津巴布韦从事石雕创作的最有名的当属塔卡威拉家族，家族中的父亲、母亲及三个儿子都从事石雕创作，老祖母也不时地向小孙子传授石雕技艺，他们的作品十分有名，曾多次被送往国外展出。除有一大批热爱石雕艺术的民间艺人外，津巴布韦也有丰富的石雕原材料，如铬云母、蛇纹石、豹斑石、灰岩石、皂石和花岗石等。前三种为半宝石，刻制的艺术品尤为贵重。雕刻艺人非常注意利用石材天然形状和纹理，他们认为石材本身也是有灵的，倾其天然质地，可将石料的灵性显现出来，变成有生命的形式。

    对于石雕艺术这一民间古老的精神宝贵财富，津巴布韦政府十分重视挖掘保护。1985年在首都哈拉雷郊区沙庞古建立了"沙庞古雕刻公园"，十多年来，该公园在组织石雕的展览、收藏、出版资料和与国际交流方面做出了积极贡献。另外还有哈拉雷国家画廊和政府组织也经常组织石雕艺术展，并促进艺术家参加在国外举办的展览。1970年在法国巴黎市现代艺术博物馆举办的津巴布韦"绍纳石雕艺术展"曾轰动一时，至今在国外已成功举办了几十次展览，使津巴布韦石雕艺术走向世界，为各国人们所欣赏。

http://www.ce.cn/newtravel/cjy/ygfq/200611/07/t20061107_9314217.shtml

上周末，京城阳光灿烂，喜气洋洋的中非合作论坛北京峰会隆重举行。40多名非洲领导人共襄盛举，把我们的思绪拉到了遥远的非洲浓烈的阳光下。

非洲南部的津巴布韦高原，南面有林波波河，北面有赞比西河，向西是一大片起伏的平原，连接着非洲西南部的卡拉哈里沙漠，向东，在高原与印度洋之间隔着一片低洼的平原。这里土地肥沃，气候温和。天空永远是澄碧如洗，阳光永远灿烂宜人。

维多利亚瀑布 无法抗拒的引力

维多利亚瀑布，多么摇曳生姿的名字！所有的旅人来到津巴布韦，都遭遇了利文斯敦当年发现这个瀑布时所描述的场景："那些倾泻而下的急流像无数拽着白光的彗星朝一个方向坠落！"

清晨站在酒店山坡上朝着瀑布的方向张望，只见那片丛林绵绵密密、葱葱翠翠，瀑布上方升起团团水雾。随着风势，水雾时而和风细雨时而疾风骤雨般地洒向岸边，在这一片瀑布带形成一个丰茂的雨林环境，土地湿润滋养，植物竞相生长，给时常枯黄的非洲版图带来醉人的翠绿。

车行不到几分钟，就听到从天而降的轰鸣声，被当地人称为"雷鸣之音"的瀑布已近在眼前。从瀑布公园门口的小贩手里租了雨披，我们沿着林中小径去完成这次对大自然奇迹的朝圣。

如果从高空俯瞰，可以见到在这片高原上横亘着几道深邃的裂谷，那是1.5亿年前的地壳运动造成的伤疤。迤逦而来的赞比西河在这里被一道裂谷拦腰切断，巨大的水流陡然撞入百米深的岩石谷底，又从曲折峻峭的峡谷中咆哮奔流而去，一路雪浪翻滚，湍流怒涌，如雷轰鸣，成就着地球上最壮美的自然奇观。

大雨模糊了我们的视线，瀑布的轰鸣让我们失语，巨大的水流朝着地心的方向坠落，在我们眼前传递震撼。那一刻，在这"天使飞过，也会回首顾盼"的地方，我庆幸自己能够越过万水千山，到达它的面前。

赞比西河上的落日 一场华丽的落幕

沿着1855年英国传教士戴维•利文斯敦发现维多利亚瀑布的路线巡游。虽然在数公里外的下游，赞比西河将飞身跌入千仗峡谷，升起数百米高的水雾，但是在上游，河面宽阔而平静。两岸是郁郁葱葱的原始丛林，河心的沙洲和岩岛也被茂密的植物所覆盖。飞鸟掠过水面；河马在水草丰茂的地方探出脑袋，又悠然潜回水里；鳄鱼在岸边安静地匍匐着；象群在河畔自由漫步。

这是津巴布韦和赞比亚的界河，河的另一侧，有赞比亚的游船驶来，两船交汇，对面的船上传来欢声笑语。"你的护照呢？"有人舞着手臂呼喊着，河水顿时也欢快起来。

我们凝神等待世上最美的落日。似乎是在转瞬之间，落日熔金的光芒已经在四周蔓延开了。船上的铁栏杆、木质的桌椅、酒杯的玻璃、所有人的皮肤都镀上了一层动人的色泽。很快，一整片天空都被染成绯红，和平阔的水面漫为一体。水波将最后一点余光摇碎，游船调头划出平滑的弧线。随着太阳沉入远处的丛林，赞比西河为她最华丽的演出拉上了帷幕。

马托博公园 野生动物的家

来到津巴布韦西南部城市布拉瓦约的游客，一定是冲着马托博国家公园(MatoboNationalPark)而去的，这里是白犀牛、貂羚、黑斑羚、草原斑马和长颈鹿的栖息地，包括黑鹰在内，野生动物的种类达到300多种，是津巴布韦最著名的国家公园。

阳光炙烤着我们，提醒着时间已近正午。在我们的周围既听不见豹子的吼声，也不见野斑马飞奔的踪影。正在失望悄然蔓延之际，司机突然停下车。顺着导游的指引望向远处，只见一群漂亮的斑马正在树阴下休憩。发现我们后，便纷纷昂首向草原深处走去。虽只是惊鸿一瞥，却多少让我们找回了置身非洲大草原上的欣喜。

接下来我们又幸运地发现了一群长颈鹿、一家四口的白犀牛。导游告诉我们，白犀牛样子虽然凶猛，却是比较温和的动物。你在车上观察它们，它们不会害怕，可你若想下车靠近它，会让它感觉到危险降临。原来动物们把人视为威胁，已是不能改变的事实。

津巴布韦旅行贴士

■交通津巴布韦航空公司每周有一次航班往返于北京———哈拉雷。周六由北京出发，经停新加坡飞往哈拉雷。北京至新加坡约5小时，新加坡至哈拉雷约11小时。哈拉雷有连接全国各主要城市的航班和公路交通。

■漂流漂流是赞比西河上具有代表性的活动之一。船随着水流曲曲弯弯地向着维多利亚瀑布的下游峡谷而去，由于多少会有一次翻船的可能，所以最好穿不怕湿且不容易掉的鞋去。漂流旅行一般分3小时的半日游，6小时的1日游。全天可以漂流20-25公里。

（来源：人民网）

　　约始于公元前9000年的非洲岩画艺术，撒哈拉沙漠和南部非洲是发现较多的地区，东非也发现过这种艺术。根据风格、技术、石垢的色泽、所表现的动物种类、服饰及武器等差别进行大体的分期和分类。

　　[分期和分类]

　　①古代水牛时期（约公元前9000～前6000年），以单独动物、大动物群及绝种动物的写实图像为代表，是古代狩猎生活的反映。②牧养公牛时期（约公元前3500～前1500年），大型的写实家畜图像，以风格化的大动物群图像为代表，包括大批的公牛图像，有点风格化的细线刻，程式化的大型野生动物图像。③马时期（约公元前1500年至公元2世纪），包括风格化的人物图像、马拉的板车及大型马车、钟形样式的服装、风格化的公牛及其他家畜图像。④骆驼时期（约始于2世纪），在线刻的骆驼图像中，以概括的几何图案居多。这一时期用简单粗糙技术刻成的小型晚期图像，混合有题记和象征性标志。

　　[撒哈拉岩画]

撒哈拉沙漠岩画 《黑人跳舞》

　　阿杰尔高原位于离阿尔及利亚和利比亚边界不远的撒哈拉中部。1932年，法国人布伦南在这里初次发现岩石图像，当时就报道了这一发现。4个月以后，法国考古学家h.洛特和其他3名学者到达那里。他们确认这里的彩色图像和单色图像具有重大的科学价值和艺术价值。洛特在深峡谷里工作了1年半时间，作了大量的临摹，仔细地研究了所见到的岩画。后来，在1956～1957年，由法国画家和摄影家组成的一个考察小组，在高原进行了16个月的研究工作。1959～1960年，还有两个考察团在阿杰尔高原进行过研究工作，每个考察团工作6个月。世界各国学者现在公认，阿杰尔高原是"世界上最大的一个史前艺术博物馆"。洛特在谈到考察感想时写道："作品以其丰富的想像力使我们感到万分惊讶，这里有数以百计的岩画，成千上万件人物和动物图像；有的是单一的形象，而另一些则是完整的构图，有时也可看出描绘部族的物质和精神生活的场面，它们在现今业已荒凉的地方已渡过了好几个世纪。"

　　阿杰尔高原岩石图像，小自几厘米，大至6米。大多数彩色图像是用各种土色颜料绘制的，其中有褐色、红色、淡绿色和黄色，还发现有白色和天蓝色。图像一层一层地画在岩石上。有些地方，较晚期的作品画得与早期形象相似。有时一些完整的场面在内容上毫无任何关系却彼此覆盖着，有的多达12层。

　　阿杰尔高原写实岩画的高度发展与畜牧部落的出现有着直接的联系。这一时期几乎所有的牧养公牛时期图像都是优美的艺术作品。当时，牧人能够准确地表现出人物和动物的特征。

　　洛特认为，阿杰尔高原岩画风格是和远古时期居住在阿杰尔高原的许多不同种族的部落有联系的，从前至少有16种部族在这里居住过。岩画中所表现的人物，很明显是属于不同部族的。他们的服装、人体比例及面部特征都说明了这一点。

阿尔及利亚岩画 《双角女神》

　　继牧养公牛时期之后，在撒哈拉还有一些不同类型的岩画风格出现。在有些岩画作品中能够看到与埃及艺术相似的成分。岩画《双角女神》就是如此。这是一个掌管五谷的女神，她头上有羽毛饰带，面部周围有斑点状帷帘及一片播撒种子的庄稼地。

　　在牧养公牛时期较晚的岩画中，出现了迈锡尼式奔驰的大型马车图像。这类图像很可能是希腊影响从地中海沿岸渗透到撒哈拉的结果。这种岩画的时期最早为公元前1650年，十分准确查明马在非洲出现的时间。岩画《射手的搏战》就是在这之后出现的。这两组射手为了争夺一头母牛正在进行激烈的搏战。

　　在撒哈拉南部和西部，普遍盛行牧养公牛时期最后阶段的艺术。仅在毛里塔尼亚和西撒哈拉就有100多处，共2000多件岩刻。尽管数量这样多，但是题材却非常雷同。有些地方能够遇见大象图像，这些图像还有程式化的倾向。在这一辽阔地区的岩刻中间，没有任何能够与费赞或阿杰尔高原古代水牛时期雄伟的岩画媲美的作品。在阿海奈特（阿尔及利亚境内）和霍加尔另外有两个岩石艺术区域。阿海奈特岩刻在特点、风格、技术和题材方面与撒哈拉岩刻有很多共同之处。这里没有绝种动物图像，大型野生动物岩刻也很罕见。大部分遗物属于牧养公牛时期或稍后时期。马和骆驼的图像居多。

　　贾多和提贝斯提的岩刻与费赞艺术有许多相似之点。像在费赞一样，在这里出现过岩石艺术的一些主要时期，其中包括最早的古代水牛时期。该区域的艺术特点是，在古代岩刻中有风俗情节场面。

　　在伊福拉斯高原已发现的岩刻所在地约有50处。这里没有高大的写实的野生动物图像，不过有时在优美的岩刻中间遇见过难以辨认的程式化的犀牛图像。有些风格化的带有蝴蝶翅膀耳朵的大象图像表明，这些图像出现的末年，约相当牧养公牛时期的中期。

　　在因弗里的山岩上，有凿刻细腻的大象形象。离这个形象不远，有一些运用同样技术和风格完成的公牛图像，这些公牛图像和上述的大象图像大概是属于同一个时期的作品。

　　[南部非洲岩画]

撒哈拉沙漠岩刻 《圣公绵羊》

　　南部非洲岩画，主要分布在南非、津巴布韦、赞比亚及纳米比亚（西南非洲）的山区。这种描绘在不很深的洞窟和地穴壁上的彩色岩画，是古老的土著居民，主要是布须曼人在几千年的漫长岁月中创作出来的。但是，一些外国学者对南部非洲岩画的分期还有不同的看法。有的人以现今绝种动物为依据，认为最古老的南部非洲岩画是公元前9000年创作的，而有的人却认为，现在所发现的岩画只有几百年的历史。

　　在漫长的岁月里，岩画层层覆盖，形成了很厚的颜色层。底下几层是用一种颜色，多半是用赭黄颜料画出来的动物侧面像。后来，岩画逐渐采用两种颜色作画，并出现了宏伟的场面和合乎透视规律的构图。大约从公元前2000年中期起，开始出现多色岩画，构图也更加复杂起来。在这一时期的题材中，一些风俗性情节，狩猎、舞蹈及休息场面极为常见。在表现休息的场面中，还能看到坐在茅舍旁的男人、女人和儿童等。

　　布须曼人喜欢描绘人身兽首的图像。这种图像多为幻想中的生物和披着兽皮戴着动物形象面具的舞蹈人形象。有的化装成各种野生动物，手持弓和矛的动物型猎人形象，或上身用羽毛作为装饰，或头部形似长脖子的鸵鸟。一件在南非开普省赫舍尔地区发现的描绘鸵鸟与伪装鸵鸟的布须曼猎人的岩画就是这类作品。有的是佩戴羚羊头或公牛头面具的人物形象。根据布须曼人的神话传说，这种半人半兽图像是作为图腾来崇拜的。

　　羚羊形象在南部非洲多色图像中极为常见，这种形象为原大的单独形象和不到20厘米的小型形象。有的也构成岩画群像或排成一长列鱼贯而行的动物行列。它们之中有些作品是用准确而优美的线条表现出来的，合乎透视规律。南部非洲到处都有羚羊形象，其表现手法十分雷同，好像它们很可能与某种祭祀有联系。早期的岩画层完全没有家畜形象，它们出现的时间较晚，是与身高肩宽的黑皮肤的人物形象同时出现的，估计所画的这些人是从北方迁徙来的畜牧部落──班图人。

　　一件最著名的南部非洲岩画叫作《白妇人》 它是德国地质考察家r·马克在纳米比亚西部布兰德山的一个洞窟里偶然发现的。

　　南部非洲岩刻的主要表现题材是动物，如野象、河马、犀牛、羚羊、长颈鹿、斑马等的单独形象。这里的岩刻技术与撒哈拉的岩刻技术有些区别，这里经常在刻出或凿出的图像轮廓内刻出平行细线条或密网状小坑，有的刻面好像砂纸一样。因为是用石制工具凿成的，这时期的岩刻大概属于新石器时代初期。

　　在德兰士瓦省西南部还发现一种粗底子岩刻。这种岩刻的凿刻手法，是把图像的岩面凿得粗糙些，或者选择粗糙的岩面凿刻图像，而把图像周围的岩石磨光，再现了动物毛皮那种毛茸茸的外表特征。

　　可以确定，南部非洲的写实的岩刻属于新石器时代初期，而程式化图像应比新石器时代初期稍晚一些。

　 （来源：http://www.trendsmag.com/）

非洲之行一定要有Safari这个元素，特别是去国家公园观赏野生动物。马托博国家公园距离津巴布韦第二大城市布拉瓦约30公里，整个国家公园分为两部分，野生动物集中在Game Park区域，尤其是珍贵的白犀牛和黑鹰。而另一个区域的花岗岩国家公园文化味道更浓，是远古和现代历史的发源地，是文明的起点，也是津巴布韦岩画艺术最集中的地方之一。  

　　为了能够在动物们活动频繁的清晨看到它们，我们选择先到公园的GamePark区域。司机戴维穿着浅绿色的帆布狩猎装，戴着墨镜，哼着歌，打着非洲人才能打出的特有节拍，看来心情不错。"仔细看看周围的丛林，试试今天的运气。不过，别对狮子和大象有过多的期待，这里没有。"一上来，戴维就开始介绍。与著名的万基国家公园不同，这里的美丽似乎更在于历史与自然的丰富性。 

　　在马托博国家公园里，不管在哪个区域，无处不在的东西就是蓝天下耀眼的黄白颜色的平衡石，它们总是高高在上地出现在视野中。在大津巴布韦遗址里，也有百万块石头相互平衡地立于高山之上，但那是人为的奇迹，而在这里，这种平衡却是自然的。因为是旱季的缘故，马托博国家公园里的动物也变得懒于出没。1个小时过去了，我们一无所获，全车的人都有些急躁。对于那些动物来说，或许我们才是被观赏的对象，可能它们此时正躲在丛林的后面睁着眼睛看着我们这些可笑的闯入客呢。只有戴维还是那么不紧不慢地开着车，竖着耳朵警觉地注视着周围的环境。戴维是一位经验丰富的向导，这个工作他已经干了8年。  

　　"快看，那边，是斑马！"就在我几乎放弃了希望的时候，戴维突然指着远方的丛林对我说。戴维将车拐了一个大弯向密林深处开去，然后缓缓停下，并关闭了发动机。"看见了吗？"戴维小声地悄悄说着。顺着他的手指方向，我惊喜地发现不远处大树下的空地上，3匹斑马正在那里悠闲地休息。而再往前，眼前的景象简直让我热血沸腾，足有十五六匹斑马在那里休息，它们是一个"部落"的伙伴吧。我们的到来显然惊吓了它们，烟雾腾起的刹那，最后一匹斑马的身影也消失在前方的密林中了。此后我们的运气似乎好了起来，陆续看到了长颈鹿、狒狒、猴子、大蜥蜴、野牛、河马等动物。最幸运的是，我们还在邻近道路的河边，看到了珍贵的白犀牛。下午，我们心满意足地离开了Game Park区域。如果继续走下去，几天几夜也走不完。  

　　岩石区有古代花岗岩山和雕刻，大量的岩画记录了石器时代游牧社会的生活全景图。其中恩斯瓦图吉（Nswatugi）洞、班巴塔（Bambata）洞、锡洛兹瓦尼洞（Silozwane）和 Pomongwe洞等都是比较重要的，马托博也因为拥有这些岩画而闻名遐迩。虽然津巴布韦大部分地区为花岗岩所覆盖，但马托博地区具有最丰富的岩石地貌。这些巨石提供了大量的天然石洞，而这些巨石和岩洞构成了岩画艺术家展示才华的地方。13世纪与15世纪之间曾经居住在这里的游牧部落侯坦涂特人，便是那些在岩壁上作画的艺术家们的后裔，他们曾是这片大陆的主人。  

　　耀眼的阳光好像要将大地烤化，我们仰望着高高的岩石山，似乎走入了这个国家的深处，在和远古的先人对话。

维多利亚瀑布为世界七大自然奇观之一，位于津巴布韦、赞比亚、博茨瓦纳三国交汇点东的津、赞边界上。

宽阔的赞比西河滔滔东流，至利文斯敦（Livingston）近处，突为百米深谷横腰截断，满江河水犹如万马奔腾，排山倒海，倾泻而下，直冲谷底。轰鸣四野，声闻几十里。水雾飞扬，升腾400－600米，蔚为奇观。 当地人称该瀑布为"smoke that thunders"(意即震耳欲聋的水雾)。每年4－5月份，南部非洲地区雨季大量雨水积聚至赞比西河，此时维多利亚瀑布水势为一年中最大。10－11月，该地区正值干季，瀑布水势较小。

Victoria Falls--Chopper View

瀑布宽1600余米，最高落差106米。由于利文斯岛当江阻隔，将其分为六段，形成魔鬼瀑布（Devil's Cataract，27米宽，60米高）、主瀑布（Main Falls，河中一块岩石将其一分为二，524 米和297米宽，83米高）、马蹄形瀑布（Horseshoe Falls）、彩虹瀑布（Rainbow Falls，50 米宽，100 米高）、轮椅瀑布（Armchair Falls）和东瀑布（Eastern Cataract，304 米宽，96米高）。

魔鬼瀑布雄伟绝世。滚滚流水，汹涌飞落。雷霆万钧，风吼谷应，惊天动地。游人至此，感觉大地都是在颤抖。

主瀑布，以水流量最大称著。满目水帘，垂挂悬崖。半空银光飞泻，深谷云腾雾绕。气荡声鸣，令人叹为观止。

主瀑布

马蹄形瀑布，水流不大，以其形似马足而得名。

彩虹瀑布，平野出胜。远望一片开阔墓地，阳光下横空映出道道彩虹。临近方觉细雨淋身，飞瀑如潮，彩练生辉。水雾声景。浑然一气。置身其境，仿佛飘飘欲仙。

彩虹瀑布

东瀑布属赞比亚境内，这里游人可以贴近观看。粒粒玑珠，朵朵水花，缕缕银丝，跳跃躜动，就在眼前。面对飞泻的流水，不由顿生“飞流直下三千尺，疑是银河落九天”之感。

在东瀑布与彩虹瀑布之间，横跨空谷有一座“刀刃桥”，长30余米，宽约2米。走在桥上如悬在半空，四周大雨滂沱，别有一番情趣。但非勇敢者切莫轻试。

瀑布下有一深潭，名“沸腾涡”（boiling basin）。站在津巴布韦与赞比亚交界的铁桥上，居高临下，对其全貌可一览无余。五股瀑布的水流在谷底汇合后，汹涌澎湃，注入“沸腾涡”。潭水滚滚，翻江倒海，沸腾一般。经过“沸腾涡”后，水流稍事平静，赞比西河继续奔腾东流。

维多利亚瀑布以它永不停歇的轰隆歌声，经年累月地伴送远去的赞比西河。

（本文部分引自 http://www.51766.com/www/detailhtml/1100031171.html，纠正了其中错误部分，并有所补充。）

尼扬加山，海拔2500米，位于津巴布韦东部高地，主峰伊尼扬加山峰为津巴布韦最高峰。伊尼扬加山平地而起，陡然直上，从山麓看去，并不算高。

路人传说，伊尼扬加山住有神灵，人到此处不可大声喧哗，不可在下午、晚上登山，否则会被神灵捉去，永不复人间。当地司机告诉我们，几年前，就有一个高官的女儿于此处失踪，从此杳无音讯，因事非一宗，传入民间就有了神灵一说。同往行人听罢，环顾左右，面面相觑，战战兢兢，不敢妄上。

我自坦然，与他人健步而上。山中低矮草木已近枯黄，登至高处，腿酸气喘，向前望去方才发现原来山上有山，一座小瀑悬挂其间，于丛林茂密处而下，落入莽莽。此山更为峻拔陡峭，可望而不可攀。

再往远处观看，一堆云犹如泰山压顶之势，已漫过旁边的山峰，向我这边压来。在高原上看云最是过瘾。原因很简单，在高原上，你会感觉到天是那么的近，云或者厚重，乘着风，从天边滚滚而来，似奔腾的骏马，似跃涌的浪花；或者轻描淡写，如不经意的一笔，在湛蓝的苍穹上划过，丝缕痕迹，衬托出天的宏阔，云的恬静。

坐地而憩。山下的行人此时传话上来，说山中有猛兽，午时应在瀑布周围饮水，因已近午时，切不可再上。此时，顿觉凉风袭人，不禁打了个冷战，心中也颇感不安，便起身下山。

The last few days have been disastrous. High intensity of work has its heavy toll on the sleeping.

It’s a day of remembrance. One year ago, people in London experienced the most shocking in their lives.

Turning on the television, sky news, BBC, CNN, are all over the anniversary ceremony of the day, blurred video of thronged underground, polices, doctors, firefighters, posters for lost families, crying, shouting, sirening...

“without you, we are so much alone”, when a lady read out lines on the ceremony, her voice stumbled, tears rushed into her eyes and the world was moved.

By Gurcharan Das

From Foreign Affairs, July/August 2006

Summary: After being shackled by the government for decades, India's economy has become one of the world's strongest. The country's unique development model -- relying on domestic consumption and high-tech services -- has brought a quarter century of record growth despite an incompetent and heavy-handed state. But for that growth to continue, the state must start modernizing along with Indian society.

GURCHARAN DAS is former CEO of Procter & Gamble India and the author of India Unbound: The Social and Economic Revolution From Independence to the Global Information Age.

AN ECONOMY UNSHACKLED

Although the world has just discovered it, India's economic success is far from new. After three postindependence decades of meager progress, the country's economy grew at 6 percent a year from 1980 to 2002 and at 7.5 percent a year from 2002 to 2006 -- making it one of the world's best-performing economies for a quarter century. In the past two decades, the size of the middle class has quadrupled (to almost 250 million people), and 1 percent of the country's poor have crossed the poverty line every year. At the same time, population growth has slowed from the historic rate of 2.2 percent a year to 1.7 percent today -- meaning that growth has brought large per capita income gains, from $1,178 to $3,051 (in terms of purchasing-power parity) since 1980. India is now the world's fourth-largest economy. Soon it will surpass Japan to become the third-largest.

The notable thing about India's rise is not that it is new, but that its path has been unique. Rather than adopting the classic Asian strategy -- exporting labor-intensive, low-priced manufactured goods to the West -- India has relied on its domestic market more than exports, consumption more than investment, services more than industry, and high-tech more than low-skilled manufacturing. This approach has meant that the Indian economy has been mostly insulated from global downturns, showing a degree of stability that is as impressive as the rate of its expansion. The consumption-driven model is also more people-friendly than other development strategies. As a result, inequality has increased much less in India than in other developing nations. (Its Gini index, a measure of income inequality on a scale of zero to 100, is 33, compared to 41 for the United States, 45 for China, and 59 for Brazil.) Moreover, 30 to 40 percent of GDP growth is due to rising productivity -- a true sign of an economy's health and progress -- rather than to increases in the amount of capital or labor.

But what is most remarkable is that rather than rising with the help of the state, India is in many ways rising despite the state. The entrepreneur is clearly at the center of India's success story. India now boasts highly competitive private companies, a booming stock market, and a modern, well-disciplined financial sector. And since 1991 especially, the Indian state has been gradually moving out of the way -- not graciously, but kicked and dragged into implementing economic reforms. It has lowered trade barriers and tax rates, broken state monopolies, unshackled industry, encouraged competition, and opened up to the rest of the world. The pace has been slow, but the reforms are starting to add up.

India is poised at a key moment in its history. Rapid growth will likely continue -- and even accelerate. But India cannot take this for granted. Public debt is high, which discourages investment in needed infrastructure. Overly strict labor laws, though they cover only 10 percent of the work force, have the perverse effect of discouraging employers from hiring new workers. The public sector, although much smaller than China's, is still too large and inefficient -- a major drag on growth and employment and a burden for consumers. And although India is successfully generating high-end, capital- and knowledge-intensive manufacturing, it has failed to create a broad-based, labor-intensive industrial revolution -- meaning that gains in employment have not been commensurate with overall growth. Its rural population, meanwhile, suffers from the consequences of state-induced production and distribution distortions in agriculture that result in farmers' getting only 20 to 30 percent of the retail price of fruits and vegetables (versus the 40 to 50 percent farmers in the United States get).

India can take advantage of this moment to remove the remaining obstacles that have prevented it from realizing its full potential. Or it can continue smugly along, confident that it will get there eventually -- but 20 years late. The most difficult reforms are not yet done, and already there are signs of complacency.

A 100-YEAR TALE

For half a century before independence, the Indian economy was stagnant. Between 1900 and 1950, economic growth averaged o.8 percent a year -- exactly the same rate as population growth, resulting in no increase in per capita income. In the first decades after independence, economic growth picked up, averaging 3.5 percent from 1950 to 1980. But population growth accelerated as well. The net effect on per capita income was an average annual increase of just 1.3 percent.

Indians mournfully called this "the Hindu rate of growth." Of course, it had nothing to do with Hinduism and everything to do with the Fabian socialist policies of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and his imperious daughter, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who oversaw India's darkest economic decades. Father and daughter shackled the energies of the Indian people under a mixed economy that combined the worst features of capitalism and socialism. Their model was inward-looking and import-substituting rather than outward-looking and export-promoting, and it denied India a share in the prosperity that a massive expansion in global trade brought in the post-World War II era. (Average per capita growth for the developing world as a whole was almost 3 percent from 1950 to 1980, more than double India's rate.) Nehru set up an inefficient and monopolistic public sector, overregulated private enterprise with the most stringent price and production controls in the world, and discouraged foreign investment -- thereby causing India to lose out on the benefits of both foreign technology and foreign competition. His approach also pampered organized labor to the point of significantly lowering productivity and ignored the education of India's children.

But even this system could have delivered more had it been better implemented. It did not have to degenerate into a "license-permit-quota raj," as Chakravarthi Rajagopalachari first put it in the late 1950s. Although Indians blame ideology (and sometimes democracy) for their failings, the truth is that a mundane inability to implement policy -- reflecting a bias for thought and against action -- may have been even more damaging.

In the 1980s, the government's attitude toward the private sector began to change, thanks in part to the underappreciated efforts of Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi. Modest liberal reforms -- especially lowering marginal tax rates and tariffs and giving some leeway to manufacturers -- spurred an increase in growth to 5.6 percent. But the policies of the 1980s were also profligate and brought India to the point of fiscal crisis by the start of the 1990s. Fortunately, that crisis triggered the critical reforms of 1991, which finally allowed India's integration into the global economy -- and laid the groundwork for the high growth of today. The chief architect of those reforms was the finance minister, Manmohan Singh, who is now prime minister. He lowered tariffs and other trade barriers, scrapped industrial licensing, reduced tax rates, devalued the rupee, opened India to foreign investment, and rolled back currency controls. Many of these measures were gradual, but they signaled a decisive break with India's dirigiste past. The economy returned the favor immediately: growth rose, inflation plummeted, and exports and currency reserves shot up.

To appreciate the magnitude of the change after 1980, recall that the West's Industrial Revolution took place in the context of 3 percent GDP growth and 1.1 percent per capita income growth. If India's economy were still growing at the pre-1980 level, then its per capita income would reach present U.S. levels only by 2250; but if it continues to grow at the post-1980 average, it will reach that level by 2066 -- a gain of 184 years.

PECULIAR REVOLUTION

India has improved its competitiveness considerably since 1991: there has been a telecommunications revolution, interest rates have come down, capital is plentiful (although risk-averse managers of state-owned banks still refuse to lend to small entrepreneurs), highways and ports have improved, and real estate markets are becoming transparent. More than 100 Indian companies now have a market capitalization of over a billion dollars, and some of these -- including Bharat Forge, Jet Airways, Infosys Technologies, Reliance Infocomm, Tata Motors, and Wipro Technologies -- are likely to become competitive global brands soon. Foreigners have invested in over 1,000 Indian companies via the stock market. Of the Fortune 500 companies, 125 now have research and development bases in India -- a testament to its human capital. And high-tech manufacturing has taken off. All these changes have disciplined the banking sector. Bad loans now account for less than 2 percent of all loans (compared to 20 percent in China), even though none of India's shoddy state-owned banks has so far been privatized.

For now, growth is being driven by services and domestic consumption. Consumption accounts for 64 percent of India's GDP, compared to 58 percent for Europe, 55 percent for Japan, and 42 percent for China. That consumption might be a virtue embarrasses many Indians, with their ascetic streak, but, as the economist Stephen Roach of Morgan Stanley puts it, "India's consumption-led approach to growth may be better balanced than the resource-mobilization model of China."

The contrast between India's entrepreneur-driven growth and China's state-centered model is stark. China's success is largely based on exports by state enterprises or foreign companies. Beijing remains highly suspicious of entrepreneurs. Only 10 percent of credit goes to the private sector in China, even though the private sector employs 40 percent of the Chinese work force. In India, entrepreneurs get more than 80 percent of all loans. Whereas Jet Airways, in operation since 1993, has become the undisputed leader of India's skies, China's first private airline, Okay Airways, started flying only in February 2005.

What has been peculiar about India's development so far is that high growth has not been accompanied by a labor-intensive industrial revolution that could transform the lives of the tens of millions of Indians still trapped in rural poverty. Many Indians watch mesmerized as China seems to create an endless flow of low-end manufacturing jobs by exporting goods such as toys and clothes and as their better-educated compatriots export knowledge services to the rest of the world. They wonder fearfully if India is going to skip an industrial revolution altogether, jumping straight from an agricultural economy to a service economy. Economies in the rest of the world evolved from agriculture to industry to services. India appears to have a weak middle step. Services now account for more than 50 percent of India's GDP, whereas agriculture's share is 22 percent, and industry's share is only 27 percent (versus 46 percent in China). And within industry, India's strength is high-tech, high-skilled manufacturing.

Even the most fervent advocates of service-based growth do not question the desirability of creating more manufacturing jobs. The failure of India to achieve a broad industrial transformation stems in part from bad policies. After India's independence, Nehru attempted a state-directed industrial revolution. Since he did not trust the private sector, he tried to replace the entrepreneur with the government -- and predictably failed. He shackled private enterprise with byzantine controls and denied autonomy to the public sector. Perhaps the most egregious policy was reserving around 800 industries, designated "small-scale industries" (SSI), for tiny companies that were unable to compete against the large firms of competitor nations. Large firms were barred from making products such as pencils, boot polish, candles, shoes, garments, and toys -- all the products that helped East Asia create millions of jobs. Even since 1991, Indian governments have been afraid to touch this "SSI holy cow" for fear of a backlash from the SSI lobby. Fortunately, that lobby has turned out to be mostly a phantom -- little more than the bureaucrats who kept scaring politicians by warning of a backlash. Over the past five years, the government has been pruning the list of protected industries incrementally with no adverse reaction.

In the short term, the best way for India to improve the lot of the rural poor might be to promote a second green revolution. Unlike in manufacturing, India has a competitive advantage in agriculture, with plenty of arable land, sunshine, and water. To achieve such a change, however, India would need to shift its focus from peasant farming to agribusiness and encourage private capital to move from urban to rural areas. It would need to lift onerous distribution controls, allow large retailers to contract directly with farmers, invest in irrigation, and permit the consolidation of fragmented holdings.

Indian entrepreneurs also still face a range of obstacles, many of them the result of lingering bad policies. Electric power is less reliable and more expensive in India than in competitor nations. Checkpoints keep trucks waiting for hours. Taxes and import duties have come down, but the cascading effect of indirect taxes will continue to burden Indian manufacturers until a uniform goods-and-services tax is implemented. Stringent labor laws continue to deter entrepreneurs from hiring workers. The "license raj" may be gone, but an "inspector raj" is alive and well; the "midnight knock" from an excise, customs, labor, or factory inspector still haunts the smaller entrepreneur. Some of these problems will hopefully diminish with the planned designation of new "economic zones," which promise a reduced regulatory burden.

Economic history teaches that the Industrial Revolution as it was experienced by the West was usually led by one industry. It was textile exports in the United Kingdom, railways in the United States. India, too, may have found the engine that could fuel its takeoff and transform its economy: providing white-collar services that are outsourced by companies in the rest of the world. Software and business-process outsourcing exports have grown from practically nothing to $20 billion and are expected to reach $35 billion by 2008. The constraining factor is likely to be not demand but the ability of India's educational system to produce enough quality English-speaking graduates.

Meanwhile, high-tech manufacturing, a sector where India is already demonstrating considerable strength, will also begin to expand. Perhaps in a decade, the distinction between China as "the world's workshop" and India as "the world's back office" will slowly fade as India's manufacturing and China's services catch up.

RISING DESPITE THE STATE

It is an amazing spectacle to see prosperity beginning to spread in today's India even in the presence of appalling governance. In the midst of a booming private economy, Indians despair over the lack of the simplest public goods. It used to be the opposite: during India's socialist days, Indians worried about economic growth but were proud of their world-class judiciary, bureaucracy, and police force. But now, the old centralized bureaucratic Indian state is in steady decline. Where it is desperately needed -- in providing basic education, health care, and drinking water -- it has performed appallingly. Where it is not needed, it has only started to give up its habit of stifling private enterprise.

Labor laws, for example, still make it almost impossible to lay off a worker -- as the infamous case of Uttam Nakate illustrates. In early 1984, Nakate was found at 11:40 AM sleeping soundly on the floor of the factory in Pune where he worked. His employer let him off with a warning. But he was caught napping again and again. On the fourth occasion, the factory began disciplinary proceedings against him, and after five months of hearings, he was found guilty and sacked. But Nakate went to a labor court and pleaded that he was a victim of an unfair trade practice. The court agreed and forced the factory to take him back and pay him 50 percent of his lost wages. Only 17 years later, after appeals to the Bombay High Court and the national Supreme Court, did the factory finally win the right to fire an employee who had repeatedly been caught sleeping on the job.

Aside from highlighting the problem of India's lethargic legal system, Nakate's case dramatizes how the country's labor laws actually reduce employment, by making employers afraid to hire workers in the first place. The rules protect existing unionized workers -- sometimes referred to as the "labor aristocracy" -- at the expense of everyone else. At this point, the labor aristocracy comprises only 10 percent of the Indian work force.

No single institution has come to disappoint Indians more than their bureaucracy. In the 1950s, Indians bought into the cruel myth, promulgated by Nehru, that India's bureaucracy was its "steel frame," supposedly a means of guaranteeing stability and continuity after the British raj. Indians also accepted that a powerful civil service was needed to keep a diverse country together and administer the vast regulatory framework of Nehru's "mixed economy." But in the holy name of socialism, the Indian bureaucracy created thousands of controls and stifled enterprise for 40 years. India may have had some excellent civil servants, but none really understood business -- even though they had the power to ruin it.

Today, Indians believe that their bureaucracy has become a prime obstacle to development, blocking instead of shepherding economic reforms. They think of bureaucrats as self-serving, obstructive, and corrupt, protected by labor laws and lifetime contracts that render them completely unaccountable. To be sure, there are examples of good performance -- the building of the Delhi Metro or the expansion of the national highway system -- but these only underscore how often most of the bureaucracy fails. To make matters worse, the term of any one civil servant in a particular job is getting shorter, thanks to an increase in capricious transfers. Prime Minister Singh has instituted a new appraisal system for the top bureaucracy, but it has not done much.

The Indian bureaucracy is a haven of mental power. It still attracts many of the brightest students in the country, who are admitted on the basis of a difficult exam. But despite their very high IQs, most bureaucrats fail as managers. One of the reasons is the bureaucracy's perverse incentive system; another is poor training in implementation. Indians tend to blame ideology or democracy for their failures, but the real problem is that they value ideas over accomplishment. Great strides are being made on the Delhi Metro not because the project was brilliantly conceived but because its leader sets clear, measurable goals, monitors day-to-day progress, and persistently removes obstacles. Most Indian politicians and civil servants, in contrast, fail to plan their projects well, monitor them, or follow through on them: their performance failures mostly have to do with poor execution.

The government's most damaging failure is in public education. Consider one particularly telling statistic: according to a recent study by Harvard University's Michael Kremer, one out of four teachers in India's government elementary schools is absent and one out of two present is not teaching at any given time. Even as the famed Indian Institutes of Technology have acquired a global reputation, less than half of the children in fourth-level classes in Mumbai can do first-level math. It has gotten so bad that even poor Indians have begun to pull their kids out of government schools and enroll them in private schools, which charge $1 to $3 a month in fees and which are spreading rapidly in slums and villages across India. (Private schools in India range from expensive boarding schools for the elite to low-end teaching shops in markets.) Although teachers' salaries are on average considerably lower in private schools, their students perform much better. A recent national study led by Pratham, an Indian nongovernmental organization, found that even in small villages, 16 percent of children are now in private primary schools. These kids scored 10 percent higher on verbal and math exams than their peers in public schools.

India's educational establishment, horrified by the exodus out of the public educational system, lambastes private schools and wants to close them down. NIIT Technologies, a private company with 4,000 "learning centers," has trained four million students and helped fuel India's information technology revolution in the 1990s, but it has not been accredited by the government. Ironically, legislators finally acknowledged the state's failure to deliver education a few months ago when they pushed through Parliament a law making it mandatory for private schools to reserve spots for students from low castes. As with so many aspects of India's success story, Indians are finding solutions to their problems without waiting for the government.

The same dismal story is being repeated in health and water services, which are also de facto privatized. The share of private spending on health care in India is double that in the United States. Private wells account for nearly all new irrigation capacity in the country. In a city like New Delhi, private citizens cope with an irregular water supply by privately contributing more than half the total cost of the city's water supply. At government health centers, meanwhile, 40 percent of doctors and a third of nurses are absent at any given time. According to a study by Jishnu Das and Jeffrey Hammer, of the World Bank, there is a 50 percent chance that a doctor at such a center will recommend a positively harmful therapy.

How does one explain the discrepancy between the government's supposed commitment to universal elementary education, health care, and sanitation and the fact that more and more people are embracing private solutions? One answer is that the Indian bureaucratic and political establishments are caught in a time warp, clinging to the belief that the state and the civil service must be relied on to meet people's needs. What they did not anticipate is that politicians in India's democracy would "capture" the bureaucracy and use the system to create jobs and revenue for friends and supporters. The Indian state no longer generates public goods. Instead, it creates private benefits for those who control it. Consequently, the Indian state has become so "riddled with perverse incentives ... that accountability is almost impossible," as the political scientist Pratap Bhanu Mehta reported. In a recent study of India's public services, the activist and author Samuel Paul concluded that "the quality of governance is appalling."

There are many sensible steps that can be taken to improve governance. Focusing on outcomes rather than internal procedures would help, as would delegating responsibility to service providers. But what is more important is for the Indian establishment to jettison its faith in, as the political scientist James Scott puts it, "bureaucratic high modernism" and recognize that the government's job is to govern rather than to run everything. Government may have to finance primary services such as health care and education, but the providers of those services must be accountable to the citizen as though to a customer (instead of to bosses in the bureaucratic hierarchy).

None of the solutions being debated in India will bring accountability without this change in mindset. Fortunately, the people of India have already made the mental leap. The middle class withdrew from the state system long ago. Now, even the poor are depending more and more on private services. The government merely needs to catch up.

REFORM SCHOOL

India's current government is led by a dream team of reformers -- most notably Prime Minister Singh, a chief architect of the liberalization of 1991. Singh's left-wing-associated National Congress Party was swept into power two years ago even though the incumbent BJP (Bharatiya Janata Party) had presided over an era of unprecedented growth. The left boasted that the election was a revolt of the poor against the rich. In reality, however, it was an anti-incumbent backlash -- specifically, a vote against the previous government's poor record in providing basic services. What matters to the rickshaw driver is that the police officer does not extort a sixth of his daily earnings. The farmer wants a clear title to his land without having to bribe the village headman, and his wife wants the doctor to be there when she takes her sick child to the health center. These are the areas where government touches most people's lives, and the sobering lesson from India's 2004 elections is that high growth and smart macroeconomic reforms are not enough in a democracy.

Still, the left saw the Congress victory as an opportunity. Unfortunately, it stands rigidly against reform and for the status quo, supporting labor laws that benefit 10 percent of workers at the expense of the other 90 percent and endorsing the same protectionist policies that the extreme right also backs -- policies that harm consumers and favor producers. Thus, Singh and his reformist allies often seem to be sitting, frustrated, on the sidelines. For example, the new government has pushed through Parliament the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, which many fear will simply become the biggest "loot for work" program in India's history. Although some of the original backers of the bill may have had good intentions, most legislators saw it as an opportunity for corruption. India's experience with job-creation schemes is that their benefits usually do not reach the poor; and they rarely create permanent assets even when they are supposed to: the shoddy new road inevitably gets washed away in the next monsoon. There is also the worry that the additional 1 percent of GDP borrowed from the banks to finance this program will crowd out private investment, push up interest rates, lower the economy's growth rate, and, saddest of all, actually reduce genuine employment.

Singh knows that India's economic success has not been equally shared. Cities have done better than villages. Some states have done better than others. The economy has not created jobs commensurate with its rate of growth. Only a small fraction of Indians are employed in the modern, unionized sector. Thirty-six million are reportedly unemployed. But Singh also knows that one of the primary reasons for these failures is rigid labor laws -- which he wants to reform, if only the left would let him.

Singh's challenge is to get the majority of Indians united behind reform. One of the reasons that the pace of reform has been so slow is that none of India's leaders has ever bothered to explain to voters why reform is good and just how it will help the poor. (Chinese leaders do not face this problem, which is peculiar to democracies.) Not educating their constituents is the great failure of India's reformers. But it is not too late for Singh and the reformers in his administration -- most notably finance Minister Palaniappan Chidambaram and the head of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia -- to start appearing on television to conduct lessons in basic economics. If the reformers could convert the media and some members of Parliament, the bureaucracy, and the judiciary to their cause, Indians would be less likely to fall hostage to the seductive rhetoric of the left. If they were to admit honestly that the ideas India followed from 1950 to 1990 were wrong, people would respect them. If they were to explain that India's past regulations suppressed the people and were among the causes of poverty, people would understand.

PEOPLE POWER

Shashi Kumar is 29 years old and comes from a tiny village in Bihar, India's most backward and feudal state. His grandfather was a low-caste sharecropper in good times and a day laborer in bad ones. His family was so poor that they did not eat some nights. But Kumar's father somehow managed to get a job in a transport company in Darbhanga, and his mother began to teach in a private school, where Kumar was educated at no cost under her watchful eye. Determined that her son should escape the indignities of Bihar, she tutored him at night, got him into a college, and, when he finished, gave him a railway ticket for New Delhi.

Kumar is now a junior executive in a call center in Gurgaon that serves customers in the United States. He lives in a nice flat, which he bought last year with a mortgage, drives an Indica car, and sends his daughter to a good private school. He is an average, affable young Indian, and like so many of his kind he has a sense of life's possibilities. Prior to 1991, the realization of these possibilities was open only to those with a government job. If you got an education and did not get into the government, you faced a nightmare that was called "educated unemployment." But now, Kumar says, anyone with an education, computer skills, and some English can make it.

India's greatness lies in its self-reliant and resilient people. They are able to pull themselves up and survive, even flourish, when the state fails to deliver. When teachers and doctors do not show up at government primary schools and health centers, Indians just open up cheap private schools and clinics in the slums and get on with it. Indian entrepreneurs claim that they are hardier because they have had to fight not only their competitors but also state inspectors. In short, India's society has triumphed over the state.

But in the long run, the state cannot merely withdraw. Markets do not work in a vacuum. They need a network of regulations and institutions; they need umpires to settle disputes. These institutions do not just spring up; they take time to develop. The Indian state's greatest achievements lie in the noneconomic sphere. The state has held the world's most diverse country together in relative peace for 57 years. It has started to put a modern institutional framework in place. It has held free and fair elections without interruption. Of its 3.5 million village legislators, 1.2 million are women. These are proud achievements for an often bungling state with disastrous implementation skills and a terrible record at day-to-day governance.

Moreover, some of the most important post-1991 reforms have been successful because of the regulatory institutions established by the state. Even though the reforms have been slow, imperfect, and incomplete, they have been consistent and in one direction. And it takes courage, frankly, to give up power, as the Indian state has done for the past 15 years. The stubborn persistence of democracy is itself one of the Indian state's proudest achievements. Time and again, Indian democracy has shown itself to be resilient and enduring -- giving a lie to the old prejudice that the poor are incapable of the kind of self-discipline and sobriety that make for effective self-government. To be sure, it is an infuriating democracy, plagued by poor governance and fragile institutions that have failed to deliver basic public goods. But India's economic success has been all the more remarkable for its issuing from such a democracy.

Still, the poor state of governance reminds Indians of how far they are from being a truly great nation. They will reach such greatness only when every Indian has access to a good school, a working health clinic, and clean drinking water. Fortunately, half of India's population is under 25 years old. Based on current growth trends, India should be able to absorb an increasing number of people into its labor force. And it will not have to worry about the problems of an aging population. This will translate into what economists call a "demographic dividend," which will help India reach a level of prosperity at which, for the first time in its history, a majority of its citizens will not have to worry about basic needs. Yet India cannot take its golden age of growth for granted. If it does not continue down its path of reform -- and start to work on bringing governance up to par with the private economy -- then a critical opportunity will have been lost.

www.foreignaffairs.org is copyright 2002--2006 by the Council on Foreign Relations. All rights reserved.

通货膨胀率创世界之最

    2006年7月，津巴布韦中央统计局公布，6月，津通货膨胀率达到1193.5%。

    根据1979年津与英国签订的《兰卡斯特大厦协议》，土改从20世纪80年代就开始了，并且根据协议，英国政府承诺向津政府提供土改资金，但由于白人殖民统治者在津统治长达90年，势力和影响根深蒂固，津政府在征收土地过程中面临诸多障碍。为加快土改进程，实现津农业本地化，2000年津实行快速土改，加快征收白人农场主的土地，用于重新安置黑人。

    然而，事与愿违，快速土改刚一出台，便遭到英国、美国等西方国家的强烈反对，西方进而以“土改违反人权，蔑视私有财产权”为由对津实施包括武器禁运、停止除人道主义外的一切援助、津执政党民盟和政府官员进行旅行限制以及经济制裁等一系列措施。至今对津进行制裁的有欧盟、美国、澳大利亚等。2006年，日本也声称对津采取同样的制裁措施。

    西方经济制裁导致的严重后果就是西方企业撤出津市场，而由于西方控制着津经济的80%左右，西方资本是津经济的重要供血来源，一旦资本收缩，短期内即可对津经济造成重创。津国营和半国营企业无法获得外资支持，生产能力不断下降，企业负债累累，市场供应严重不足。此外，土改由于缺少周密计划，黑人无力经营农场，加上固有的等靠政府帮扶的思想，粮食年产量由原来的240万吨降至不足100万吨，每年全国约有四分之一的人口陷入饥荒。农业减产，以及燃油电力短缺，每年需花费大量外汇进口，加上津为偿还国际货币基金组织上亿美元的贷款，增印几十万亿津元，导致津元大幅贬值，上世纪80年代底90年代初，1美元：1津元，到了2006年7月5日，黑市比价已经到了1美元：47万津元，从而加剧了通货膨胀不断攀升。

    2005年底，世界银行行长对津持续高通胀曾发表评论：“在一个未处于战争状态的国家，通胀率如此之高绝无仅有。”

　　（据网络新闻）5月8日，英国《泰晤士报》发表了一篇题为《津巴布韦：百万富翁是穷人》的文章，就描述了津恶性通胀给人们生活带来的影响。全文摘要如下：位于非洲东南部的津巴布韦曾经是非洲最富裕的国家之一，但它正经历着世界上非战时期发生的最严重通货膨胀，物价涨幅接近1000％。几乎每个津巴布韦人都成了百万富翁，却买不起任何东西。津巴布韦现在卖得最火的商品之一是点钞机，500津元成为该国币值最小的流通货币，游客一下飞机就可以用10美元兑换到100多万津元。超市每日更新商品价格，售价在一周之内可上涨80％。人们每天提着两个袋子买东西，一个装满了纸币，另一个装着少量食物。上周数据显示该国一个低收入家庭需要每月赚取4100万津元才能维持生活，而该国有超过60％的劳动人口失业，剩下的人月薪最少的仅有400万津元。报道指该国政府强夺土地导致农产品产量暴跌、出口骤降、外国投资干涸，政府却通过借外债、印纸钞的方法掩盖问题。

Get MS Office 2007. hey, guys, this stuff is great. I can blog my things by word. Don’t ever bother to get to the Space any more! Fun, isn't it!

又是一个夜晚，淡淡的素馨花静静地在室里开着，慢慢地舒展着雪白的花瓣，幽幽地散发着恬静的香来。

午夜12点，五彩的霓虹灯下，北京开始陷入沉寂，但每个人的故事在这座城市的各个角落里悄然展开，演绎着一个又一个悲欢情愁。

电脑里缓缓地播放着柔柔的旋律，这应该很适合我的性情吧。然而，此刻已经物是人非。同室的朋友已经结婚，其他熟识的老友也各自有了新欢，回到北京已近一月，却很少看得到他们的面了，即便偶尔路上看到也只能点头招呼一下而已。是时间冲淡了同窗的友情还是我们的到来打搅了他们的生活，或者因为上层对我们的标榜让我们之间产生了隔阂或者误会。

我也无心去管这些了，任命状既已下达，其他的也无暇顾及了。