Tiananmen Images, Still Powerful
The latest book by the photographer Xu Yong is filled with the images of young Chinese idealists clamoring for democracy and denouncing the Communist Party, but he insists that there is nothing political about his decision to publish this trove of snapshots he had kept hidden for more than two decades.
在攝影師徐勇的新書中，盡是滿懷理想的中國年輕人呼求民主和譴責共產黨的影像，但他堅稱，決定出版這批珍藏20多年的照片，無關政治。
“This is an art book,” said Mr. Xu, 60, who has more than 20 photography books to his name. “I have no interest in discussing what they mean.”
「這是一本藝術類書籍，」60歲的徐勇說。他已出版過20多本攝影集。「我沒興趣討論它們的含義。」
But simple publishing images of the protests that convulsed Beijing in 1989 is likely to be viewed as a provocation by the hard-liners who currently rule China. They have tried, with much success, to impose a collective amnesia by censoring photos and news accounts that are part of the historical record in the rest of the world.
1989年的抗議震撼了北京，僅僅發布這些照片，就可能被中國目前掌權的強硬派視為挑釁。在世界其他地方是歷史紀錄一部分的照片和新聞報導，在中國卻受到政府審檢，並相當成功地讓全國集體失憶。
It is easy to view Mr. Xu’s latest book, “Negatives,” as a brave, if foolhardy, venture. Scores of people, including several of Mr. Xu’s friends, have been detained in recently, some for sharing photographs of the pro-democracy protests in Hong Kong last year.
徐勇的新書《底片》很容易被視為有勇無謀的冒險舉動。中國最近已經有數十人遭到拘留，包括徐勇在藝術界的幾個朋友，有的人只不過在網上分享去年年底香港民主抗議活動的照片，就被抓了。
One of China’s best-known civil rights lawyers, Pu Zhiqiang, has been in police custody since last spring, after he joined a private gathering, at a friend’s apartment, to discuss the violent crackdown on protesters in Tiananmen Square 25 years earlier.
中國極知名的維權律師浦志強，從去年春天起被警方羈押迄今，因為他在朋友公寓裡參加聚會，討論25年前天安門廣場抗議者遭暴力鎮壓一事。
“Xu is under no illusions about the risks, but this is his choice,” said Renee Chiang of New Century Press, the Hong Kong publisher that is shipping copies of “Negatives” to bookstores outside mainland China.
「徐勇對出版這些照片的風險一清二楚，但還是決定這麼做，」香港新世紀出版社的蔣悅磊說。該出版社向中國大陸外的書店配送《底片》。
Mr. Xu is best known for his moody black-and-white prints, taken in the late ’80s, that captured the beauty of Beijing’s ancient lanes before the city modernization. More recently, he earned plaudits for a series depicting a day in the life of a prostitute.
徐勇最出名的作品是1980年代末期拍攝，勾起感傷的黑白照片，在北京現代化前捕捉了老胡同之美。最近，他拍攝了一名妓女一天生活的系列照片，獲得好評。
There are no images of the bloody June 4 denouement that left hundreds, if not thousands, of unarmed civilians dead after Chinese troops blasted their way into the heart of the capital.
6月4日，人民解放軍殺入北京的心臟地帶，手無寸鐵的民眾慘死，人數沒成千也上百。當日血腥落幕的畫面。《底片》裡沒有。
But more intriguing is Mr. Xu’s decision to print only the raw 35-millimeter negatives he took with his clunky Konica. There is something impenetrable about the images, with their muted colors and the ghostly, X-ray-like silhouettes of protesters.
更有趣的是，徐勇決定只沖印當時用柯尼卡相機拍攝的35毫米底片。暗淡的色彩，看似鬼魅，好像X光片的抗議者剪影，讓照片有幾分神秘感。
The negatives, it turns out, are just a visual feint. Using an iPhone or iPad – and after making a simple adjustment to the settings by choosing the “invert colors” option under the “accessibility” tab inside “general” – viewers can see the original color of Mr. Xu’s images. As the faces of hunger strikers and frightened young soldiers come to life, it is as if the reader had stumbled upon a lost world.
結果，這些底片只是一種視覺假象。在iPhone或iPad上簡單地設置一下（在「常用功能」內的「協助工具」選項下選「反轉顏色」），就可看到底片沖洗後的原色。絕食抗議者和驚恐的年輕士兵面容躍然紙上，讀者彷彿無意間發現一個失落的世界。
In the spring of 1989, Mr. Xu had just quit his job at a state-owned advertising company, having been encouraged by the market-oriented policies of China’s paramount leader, Deng Xiaoping. Throngs of students had taken to the streets with demands for less censorship, more freedom and an end to official graft. “I sensed it was a critical moment and felt that every moment had to be documented,” he said.
1989年春天，受到中國最高領導人鄧小平的市場經濟政策激勵，徐勇辭去了在國有廣告公司的工作。中國學生成群結隊走上街頭，要求減少審檢，擴大自由，終結官員貪腐。徐勇說：「我感覺這是一個關鍵時刻，每一刻都必須記錄下來。」
Mr. Xu spent six weeks in and around Tiananmen Square, standing on the seat of his bicycle to get elevated views.
接下來六星期徐勇每天都來到天安門廣場及其四周，站在自己的自行車座椅上以便居高臨下取景。
He would not say how many photographs he took, but the book features 64 images, a coy numeric allusion to the way many Chinese refer to the date of the crackdown – June 4 – to circumvent censors. The final photo in the book, a blurry image of a tank, is the only nod to the brute force that ended the protest.
徐勇不願透露一共拍了多少張照片，但是這本書共有64幅照片，對很多中國人而言，64這個數字暗指6月4日天安門清場日，用以規避審檢。最後一幅照片是一輛坦克的模糊形象，是全書對這場和平抗議被粗暴鎮壓結束的唯一暗示。
Perry Link, a China expert at the University of California, Riverside, said that by showing jubilant and peaceful protests that brought millions to the streets – among them Communist Party stalwarts and army veterans – Mr. Xu’s images refute the official claims that the protests were a dangerous insurrection.
河濱加州大學中國問題專家林培瑞認為，藉由展現讓數百萬人上街參加的歡呼雀躍又和平的抗議活動－其中不乏共產黨中堅分子和軍隊的老兵－徐勇的照片駁斥了把抗議活動打成危險暴亂的官方說法。
“It is a wonderful way of capturing that underside of insecurity that attends the Tiananmen issue and that, in a larger sense, haunts much of official China today,” he said. “The artist seems to be saying: ‘Here’s the reality that no one looks at squarely but that everyone knows is there.’ ”
「照片是很好的方式，表現出伴隨天安門問題的不安全感，從更大意義上講，至今天仍困擾著很多中國官員，」林培瑞說：「徐勇似乎在說：『這是沒人正視，但人人都知道存在的現實。』」
Mr. Xu acknowledged the dangers of his latest project, shrugged, saying the negatives were starting to yellow with age.
徐勇承認，攝影集會帶來危險，但他聳聳肩膀表示，底片已開始變舊發黃。
“I am getting old,” he said. “If I don’t publish these now, then when?”
「我老了，」他說：「此時若不出版，更待何時？」
（張佑生譯）
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