洪博培２０年前就迷上中國文化

美國總統奧巴馬近日提名猶他州州長亨茨曼(中文名洪博培，英文名Jon Huntsman)出任美國駐華大使。洪博培和中國淵源頗深，早在上世紀80年代，他就迷上了中國文化，還很快學會說一口流利的普通話。洪博培還把中文列為“戰略性外語”，他就職的猶他州也成為全美第一個立法在公立學校開設中文課的州。

曾為里根訪華打前站

洪博培于1960年3月26日出生于加利福尼亞州的帕羅奧多市，父親老亨茨曼曾是美國前總統尼克松的助理，后來離開政壇進軍商界，創建了全美最大的私人化工企業亨茨曼集團，是全國聞名的億萬富翁和慈善家，并在近20年的時間里名列《福布斯》全美富豪排行榜前列。

今年49歲的洪博培是家中長子，從小就跟著父親搞電話推銷、到雜貨店推銷雞蛋，還做過報紙投遞員。上世紀80年代，洪博培開始自己的政治生涯。作為總統的白宮助理，年輕的洪博培在1984年4月底里根訪華前曾入住釣魚臺國賓館，為里根打前站。老布什時期，他被派駐新加坡任美國大使，成為一個世紀多以來美國最年輕的大使。

后來，洪博培又在小布什任期內被提名為美國副貿易談判代表，主管亞洲貿易業務。

2004年，洪博培回到鹽湖城，以共和黨候選人的身份參加猶他州長競選，一舉奪得州長寶座，時年僅44歲。猶他州人向來以保守著稱，不乏共和黨的鐵桿支持者。但在任4年間，洪博培對共和黨的方針政策進行了大刀闊斧的改造，幾乎讓這個“紅色州”(共和黨支持者占多數的州一般俗稱“紅色州”)變色。

CNN名嘴沃爾夫·布利策在采訪洪博培時，禁不住問道:“這么多美國州政府都深陷財政危機泥潭，為什么你的州表現會如此出色?”

任州長期間，洪博培頻頻出訪中國、印度、加拿大和墨西哥等國，為猶他州企業爭取了不少項目和訂單。尤其是猶他州跟中國的聯系日益密切，更是洪博培實施州政府外交的一大亮點。例如，猶他州是美國第一個通過立法在公立學校開設漢語課的州。猶他州在美國各州中較早啟動針對中國的旅游推廣計劃，猶他旅游的官方網站上甚至專門推出了中文網頁，還有州長專門用中文寫的歡迎詞，這在美國50個州當中并不多見。

10年前收養揚州棄嬰

“中國人常說，家庭快樂則天下太平，我真誠希望太平洋兩岸的家庭都能快樂，這樣我們兩國就能共享和平與繁榮。”洪博培頗為認同中國文化中“家”的觀念。出于對中國文化的熱愛，洪博培從中國揚州收養了一個被遺棄的女嬰，并為這個漂亮的小女孩取名“楊樂意”， 洪博培表示，取名楊樂意，是因為她被發現時還笑容滿面，不知道自己出生才兩個月就被遺棄。

1999年12月15日，隆冬季節，洪博培和妻子來到了中國揚州福利院，茱萸灣公園的楊柳早已是枝葉落盡，而水面上也結起了薄薄的冰層，不過這對美國夫婦心里非常高興，因為他們的大家庭里又多了一個漂亮的“中國女兒”。

十年來，因為家中有一個來自揚州的中國女兒，所以揚州也成了洪博培夫婦經常提及的地方。2006年春節時，洪博培率全家拍了張全家福，然后寄給了揚州市福利院。照片中的楊樂意快樂天真，完全融入了那個幸福的大家庭。洪博培在賀卡中這樣寫道:

給我的朋友揚州市社會福利院——我希望你們知道我是多么喜歡我的小女兒，她給了我們這個家庭最大的歡樂，我們希望對你們致以最高的祝福!

當談到為何收養一個中國女孩時，洪博培說:“出于對中國文化的熱愛，我們決定收養一個中國女孩。1999年12月下午2點，這個日子我記得非常清楚。這一天，我們來到中國江蘇省揚州市社會福利院，當我的太太將這個小女孩抱起來的時候，我的太太哭了。我們知道，這就是我們的孩子。”

“現在小樂意已經9歲了，是鹽湖城一個小學的四年級學生。我希望她長大后能夠對促進中美關系作出貢獻。”洪博培說，“不管孩子長大以后做出什么樣的選擇，這些都應該讓她知道，她是一個中國人。”

洪博培和妻子生了五個孩子，后來還收養了一個印度女嬰。之所以收養中國和印度女嬰，那是因為在洪博培的觀念里，中國和印度是非常重要的國家，他喜歡這兩個國家的文化。

深諳孔子禮義仁愛

洪博培上世紀80年代，攜家帶口赴中國臺灣，在此期間迷上了中國文化，還很快學會說一口流利的普通話。

洪博培的州長官邸里到處都裝飾著中國字畫和陶瓷。洪博培常說，他是美國惟一能說中文的州長。一遇到中國人，洪博培就會展示一下他流利的普通話。

2007年6月，中國國家足球隊去鹽湖城和皇家鹽湖城隊舉行比賽。洪博培主動邀請中國隊去他的官邸做客。雙方一見面，洪博培就主動用中文告訴大家，“你們直呼我的中國名字就行了。”他流利的普通話讓中國足球隊隊員們驚訝不已。

在全美漢語大會上，洪博培面向800多名中文老師和教育界人士，第一句話就是:“你們好，我是全美國惟一會講中文的州長。”此前他曾上中國中央電視臺的節目，打出這塊招牌，宣傳他出任州長的猶他州。

洪博培在大會上呼吁，語言和文化是開放思維、架設橋梁的最重要渠道。他說，對于美國來說，未來有四個國家最重要:墨西哥、加拿大、中國和印度。墨西哥和加拿大之所以重要是因為它們毗鄰美國，來往本來就密切;“中國重要，那是因為它是中國”。

演講中，洪博培的中文成語、諺語張口就來，什么“老驥伏櫪，志在千里”、“姜是老的辣”，開口就是儒釋道一體、孔子的禮義仁愛等等。

Being in Love with Chinese Culture for 20 Years

Text/Le Yan

American President Obama recently appointed the Utah Governor， Jon Huntsman (Chinese Name as Hong Bopei)， Ambassador to the United States Embassy in China. Hong Bopei， who has a long-time connection with China since 1980s when he was first fascinated by the Chinese culture and learnt to speak fluent Mandarin in a short period of time， listed Chinese as a “strategic foreign language” and made it a legal requirement as for the public schools in his governing state to give Chinese courses， the first case in the USA.

Advance Party for Regent’s Visit in China

Hong Bopei was born on March 26， 1960 in Palo Alto， California. His father， Huntsman Senior， had been assistant to the former President Nixon before entering the business field to found Huntsman Group Inc.， the largest private chemical enterprise in the USA. His fame as a billionaire and philanthropist is nationwide， and in the past 20 years or so， he has been ranked among the richest men in US by Forbes.

Hong Bopei， 49 years old now， is the oldest son in his family. Following his father， Bopei made telephone selling and promoted eggs in grocery shops since very young， and he also delivered newspapers. In the 1980s， Bopei started his political life. As assistant to the president in the White House， the young man once lived in Diaoyutai State Guesthouse as an advance party to make arrangement for President Regent’s visit in China at the end of April， 1984. During Bush Senior’s tenure of of#64257;ce， Bopei was assigned as Ambassador to the United States Embassy in Singapore， which made him the youngest ambassador in US in the past one century.

Later， he was appointed as vice delegate of American trade negotiation to take charge of Asian trade during Bush Jr.’s tenure of service.

In 2004， Hong Bopei returned to Salt Lake City to compete for Utah governor as a Publican candidate and made it at a stroke when he was only 44. Utah has been famous for conservancy as it has a lot of strong supporters for Publican party. However， in the four years of office， Bopei so boldly and thoroughly reformed the Publican policies that the Red State (a state where publican supporters take the majority is commonly referred to as ) almost changed the color.

When the famous CNN anchor， Wolf Blitzer， had an interview with Bopei， he couldn’t help asking “Why your state can perform so well while many others are deeply trapped in #64257;scal dilemma? ”

During his administration， Hong Bopei made frequent visits to China， India， Canada， Mexico， etc. where he brought back quite a few projects and orders for Utah. The growing relationship with China， in particular， is a highlight in his foreign policies. For example， Utah is the first state in America that made it a legal requirement for the public schools to give Chinese course. It is also among the early states that started the campaigns of promoting travels in China. The state’s official tourist website even has Chinese pages with the Chinese welcoming words written by the governor， which is hardly seen in all the 50 states in America.

Adopting Baby in Yangzhou 10 Years Ago

“As Chinese people say， a happy family brings prosperity. I sincerely hope the families on both sides of Pacific Ocean can be happy， so both states can enjoy peace and prosperity.” Bopei quite agrees to the concept of “Family” in Chinese culture， which appeals to Bopei so much that he adopted an abandoned girl in Yangzhou， China. Bopei explained that they called the pretty girl “Yang Leyi” because she was all smiles when they saw her， unaware of the fact that she was abandoned when only two months old.

On the cold winter day of Dec. 12， 1999， Hong Bopei and his wife came to Yangzhou Welfare Home in China. Although the willows in Zhuyuwan Park had all fallen，and the lake surface was also frozen， the hearts of the American couple were very warm as they started to have a pretty “Chinese daughter”.

Because of the Chinese girl， the city of Yangzhou is a place that the couple often mentions in the past ten years. In the Spring Festival of 2006， Yangzhou Welfare Home received the family photo taken by Hong Bopei where the happy and naiuml;ve face of the girl showed she already felt herself one of the family members. In the greeting card， Hong Bopei wrote the following words:

“My dear friends in Yangzhou Social Welfare Home: I hope you can understand how much I love my little girl， who brings the greatest joy to our family. Best wishes for you!”

As to the motivation of adopting a Chinese girl， Hong Bopei said， “Out of the love for Chinese culture， we decided to adopt a Chinese girl. At 2 pm of December 15， 1999， a day I remembered very clearly， we weny to Yangzhou Social Welfare Home in Jiangsu， China. When my wife held up the baby girl， her eyes were wet. We know， she was the one.

Leyi is 9 years old now， a fourth-grader in a primary school in Salt Lake City. I hope she can contribute to the promotion of Sino-American relationship， said Hong Bopei. No matter what she decides to do in the future， all these things should make her bear in mind that she is a Chinese.

Hong Bopei and his wife gave birth to five children in addition to adopting an Indian baby girl later on. The reason of adopting Chinese and Indian baby girls is that， in Bopei’s point of view， China and India are very important countries whose culture he loves very much.

Deep Understanding of Confucianism

In the 1980s， Bopei brought his family to Taiwan where he got fascinated by Chinese culture and learnt to speak #64258;uent Mandarin.

In his official residence in Utah， Chinese calligraphy， drawing and Chinaware can be seen everywhere. Bopei often boasts that he is the only governor in the US that can speak Chinese. As long as he encounters Chinese people， he takes the opportunity to show his #64258;uent Mandarin.

In June， 2007 when Chinese National Soccer Team came to compete with Royal Salt Lake Team in Salt Lake， Bopei invited them to his of#64257;cial residence. As soon as they met， Bopei talked to the team in fluent Chinese “Please call my Chinese name”， which greatly surprised the soccer players.

On the National Chinese Language Conference， the first thing said by Hong Bopei， who were facing more than 800 Chinese Language teachers and educators， was that “Hello everybody， I am the only governor in the US that can speak Chinese.” This is also what he showcased when he attended a TV show in China Central Television to promote Utah， the state that he governs.

During the conference， Hong Bopei called on that language and culture is the most critical way to broaden up thoughts and build up connection worldwide. He said there would be four most important nations to US in the future， ie. Mexico， Canada， China， and India. The importance of Mexico and Canada lies in their adjacency to US and their long-time connection. And “China is important， because it is China.”

During the speech， Hong Bopei blurted out Chinese sayings and idioms with ease， such as “an old hero still cherishes high aspirations”， “The older， the wiser”， as well as “Integrating Confucianism， Buddhism， and Taoism”， “Etiquette and Benevolence” of Confucianism， etc.