It was an absolute pleasure interviewing Ms. Jia Fulian.  She is so prolific in Chinese proverbs and peppered our conversation with them that I found myself learning about Ms. Jia’s life as an educator as well as the art of speaking Chinese well.   

我很荣幸地采访到了来自大连的贾福莲女士。在谈话过程中她使用了很多中国谚语，让我觉得我不仅仅是认识了一位教育家，同时还是一位擅长汉语言的艺术家。

Although Ms. Jia is a well-known children’s educator in Dalian city and throughout China, she does not have a background in education. 

尽管贾女士是一位全国闻名的儿童教育家，她却并没有接受过完整的教育。

Ms. Jia graduated from high school in the middle of the Cultural Revolution.  She was assigned to work in a train car factory.  She attended a worker’s college, where she studied engineering and learned about computers to apply to the train industry.  Dalian city manufactured 50% of China’s train cars at the time.  Ms. Jia used to take her child to the factory playground in the afternoons, where a colleague told her about the lack of teachers at the on site daycare center for the factory workers’ children.  She proposed that Ms. Jia sign up for the position.  She fell in love with teaching children and immersed herself in their education.  At the factory daycare center, Ms. Jia formed a “heart-to-heart group” for single-parent children and took them out to perform songs and dances in the public during holidays.  She felt that “teachers became surrogate parents.”   

贾女士在文化大革命时期高中毕业，被分配到一个机车厂工作。她参加了工人专科学校学习工程和计算机应用技术。当时中国生产的一半汽车都产自大连。有的下午贾女士会把孩子带到工厂操场去玩，在这里，一个同事告诉她工厂职工孩子的日托幼儿园有老师职位的空缺。她推荐贾女士报了名，自此以后她便爱上了儿童教育事业并全身心地投入了进去。在这个日托中心工作期间，贾女士为单亲家庭的儿童组织了一个“心连心组合”，并在假日时领他们出去在公共场合演唱歌曲。她觉得“老师已经成为了代理家长”。

Inspired by Deng Xiaoping’s 1984 announcement that computer education should start with children, Ms. Jia started teaching computers at her school.  They did not have a computer in the school so she taught her class with just a blackboard.  She presented her idea of teaching children computers at the factory.  At first, the factory contributed funds for one computer in the school.  The word spread about the initiative for computer education, and the factory eventually donated 25 Macintosh computers. 

受到邓小平于1984年的“计算机要从娃娃抓起”的感召，贾女士开始在学校里教授计算机课程。学校里没有电脑，她只能用黑板讲课。她提出了要教孩子们计算机的想法。一开始，厂子拨款为学校购买了一台微机。随着倡议重视计算机教育的呼声的加强，厂子逐渐为学校拿出了25台微机。

Ms. Jia does not see the 30 years of life that she dedicated to children’s education as a contribution to society.  She emphasized that her work grows from a sense of responsibility to society.  She strongly believes in building character in children and not just teaching academics.  She instilled in her students a sense of service.  When most teachers assign the best students to serve as class monitors, Ms. Jia assigned the more rebellious students so that they are forced to teach themselves and manage their own work before they can lead others.   

贾女士并没有把自己为儿童教育献身的30年看做对社会的贡献。她强调她的工作是从对社会的责任感成长起来的。她坚定地相信塑造儿童的品格绝不仅仅是教授知识。她为她的学生注入了一种服务精神。不像其他老师那样选最优秀的学生担任班长，贾女士总是指派那些最叛逆的学生担任班长，这样他们在给其他同学起带头作用之前就不得不先管理好自己的学习、处理好自己的工作。

Ms. Jia’s emphasis on responsibility carries into her definition of an everyday diplomat.  Because everyone’s actions can now be visible to people from all over the world, their actions can all be perceived as representative of their country and culture.  In that way, Ms. Jia feels that everyday diplomats act responsibly and set an example so that they can represent their country well. 

 

贾女士对责任的强调同样延续到她对日常外交官的定义上。因为现今每个人的一举一动都可以被全世界的人看到，每个人的行为都可以成为自己国家和文化的代表。从这个角度来讲，贾女士认为日常外交官就是那些行为负责，能起到模范带头作用，即能很好的代表自己的国家的人。

Ms. Jia’s definition brought to light an important difference between everyday diplomats and career diplomats or statesmen.  According to Ms. Jia’s definition, an everyday diplomat’s selfless acts can be a source of national pride.  However career diplomats face a dual role of fostering a good image of their country yet acting in their country’s interest first and foremost, often at the expense of international perception.  As the climate change talks in Copenhagen have demonstrated, we, as citizens of the world, face problems that affect everyone beyond race, historical pasts, and boundaries.  Negotiating state-interest for humanity’s interest requires career diplomats to find the everyday diplomats in themselves.  

贾女士的定义把日常外交官和职业外交官或政治家之间的重要区别体现了出来。根据贾女士给出的定义，日常外交官的个人行为可以成为国家骄傲的资源。而职业外交官就要面对为国家塑造良好形象同时又争取利益的双重身份。正如在哥本哈根世界气候大会上所展现的，我们，作为世界公民，面临着影响着每一个人的问题，超越种族问题、历史纠纷及边界矛盾。为国家利益而谈判的职业外交家们首先需要在自己身上找到作为日常外交官的身份。

I found that Ms. Jia Fulian’s selflessness is the heart and soul of public service.  Traditional state-to-state politics will probably remain on the course of following state interests.  However, it will benefit everyone to realize that on the issues that are larger than one state winning over another, it is wiser to lose a bit to someone than to forgo a common good for everyone. 

我注意到了贾女士在公共服务方面无私的心灵。国家之间传统的的政治活动也许会一直延续着以国家利益为目的的模式。然而，为别人作些许的牺牲比放弃每个人共同的利益要明智得多。如果每个人都能意识到这一点，这会让全体人类受益。