1、 外文翻译 原文 ICTs and Migrant Workers in Contemporary China Material Source: Springer Science + Business Media Author: Pui-lam Law the four papers in this special issue will address questions such as the formation of virtual community, mobile phone use and mobility, the adoption of new technologies and
2、the problem of traditional social relations, and the negotiation of workers social and romantic relationships and leisure time facilitated by the frequent SMS communication. The first paper by Yinni Peng presents findings on the Internet use of migrant workers in the Pearl River Delta. This area of
3、southern China is one of the countrys richest regions: over 30,000 corporations are engaged in manufacturing products for global distribution. The factories in the Pearl River Delta have attracted a huge and continuous influx of migrant workers from the relatively poor hinterlands. By 2005, the numb
4、er of migrant workers in the region reached 23 million. The vast number of available workers in labor-intensive industries has resulted in low wages. Indeed, the average monthly salary remains at the level of US $170 (including overtime). Due to the powerful penetration of ICTs in China, however, th
5、ese migrant workers have become frequent users, despite their low income. Almost all migrant workers have their own mobile phone (some even have expensive models), and most spend at least 10% of their salary on phone services. The workers also frequent Internet cafs. Pengs work is largely based on t
6、he interviews and participant observation in the Internet cafs in Shenzhen. She points out that the Internet use among migrant workers is either for work or for pleasure. Those with less education and low-level positions, such as shop-floor workers, go to the Internet cafs for fun. Those with more e
7、ducation and relatively senior positions in the factories go to the cafs to search for data or information. Peng found that those who enjoy online games (and some seem to be addicted to them) inevitably spend much of their time and money in Internet cafs. Peng argues that this activity helps the mig
8、rant workers to relax after tedious and exhausting days at the factory and escape temporarily from harsh working conditions and the stringent management. The cyber world provides these workers with the opportunity to form a virtual community with fellow villagers who are geographically dispersed. Th
9、e real-time conversations and virtual face-to-face interactions available through this technology have strengthened their sense of community and reinforced their local identity, which would otherwise be threatened in unfamiliar host cities. With the increasing popularity of ICTs among the migrant wo
10、rkers in recent years, the communication and exchange of information among the workers themselves has become more convenient. Migrant workers now have easy access to information on job and dormitory conditions. Ngan and Mas paper explores the relationship between the mobile phone use and the job mob
11、ility of migrant workers in the Pearl River Delta. In 2006, the authors conducted a survey of 655 migrant workers in Dongguan, a city of migrants in the Pearl River Delta, which is under the jurisdiction of Guangdong province. They discovered a positive correlation between mobile phone use and job m
12、obility rates among the workers. They maintain that the massive use of mobile phones provides migrant workers with swift and reliable information about job opportunities, working conditions, the living environment in dormitories, staff welfare, and wages. This information provides them with more fle
13、xibility; they are able to change their jobs and share their experiences with their fellow workers and family. Ngan and Ma conclude that mobile phones have given the young workers in the Delta power to protest silently against the poor working condition, long hours of overtime, and low wages. Ke Yan
14、gs paper is based on in-depth interviews held after a 2006 survey on mobile phone use in Beijing. Some of the survey data was presented in “Beijing Calling.Mobile Communication and Contemporary China” in the previous special issue. Unlike the reports on the Pearl River Delta, this paper deals with m
15、igrant workers in Beijing,who are, for the most part, employed in the service industry. Yangs work analyzes mobile phone use among this group. Yang discovered that the mobile phone offers these workers a means to counteract the discrimination they face in host cities. For example, one strategy to re
16、duce boredom and escape from the unreasonable restrictions of the workplace is to use the mobile phone to achieve the feigned presence. Yang also found that the mobile phone allows migrant workers to maintain connections with the people they left behind. Talking on the phone and hearing the voices o
17、f beloved family members assuage their loneliness and sadness in the host city. Althoughmobile phones help to preserve the emotional ties of dispersed family members, they can also weaken traditional family values. Yang maintains that this small and ubiquitous technology has given migrant workers th
18、e privacy to engage in various romantic relationships, a privacy that the older generation never enjoyed. More importantly, Yang also found that the mobiles can develop and maintain Jianghu relations among migrant workers. Jianghu relation is an indigenous concept referred to a kind of traditional n
19、etwork central to the building of the sublayer of social fabric in Chinese society. This observation further illustrates the interesting relationship between the use of new technologies and the maintaining of traditional social relations. Throughout the ages, Chinese women have always been treated a
20、s mens subordinates. Leaving the country and their families to venture into the city is seen perhaps as the only means to fulfill their dream of claiming sovereignty over their own lives. Working in a factory may be their first step in realizing their dream, but such a life is not easy. Their biolog
21、ical clock is not synchronized with the rhythm of the machine when they are forced to work overtime, and they have always been bullied by the factory managers. The women are relentlessly oppressed. Under this context, Lin and Tongs paper analyzes how the advent of the mobile phone affects female mig
22、rant workers negotiation of their social and romantic relationships and leisure time. The authors examined how these negotiations are directly or indirectly facilitated by the development of informal literacies through frequent SMS communications.They discovered that, through the intensive use of SM
23、S, it is possible for female migrant workers to acquire and practice literacy skills informally in their everyday life. These skills foster greater competence in a range of subjects, from technology to creative writing, and give them the necessary tools to fashion an attractive identity in the cyber
24、 world. Lin and Tong argue that these competencies give female workers a sense of agency and greater opportunities to develop pleasurable social relationships, even though theymight be transient and virtual ones. All in all, the papers in this special issue, at this stage, present only some facets o
25、f the problem. In order to have a broader picture of the social consequences of the ICT/migrant worker interface, the development should be continuously gauged asthe ICTs have still demonstrating their effect on Chinese society 译文 信息通信技术与当代中国农民工 资料来源 : 施普林格科学商业媒体 作者： Pui-lam Law &Wai-chi Rodney Chu
26、20 世纪 80 年代初 以来，当中国实施经济改革开放，大门向外面世界敞开的时候，从农村向城市地区以及从西部和中部地区向国家东部沿海地区开始了持续的内部迁移。流动人口， 主要是农民工，从 80 年代初 30 万到 2000 年代150 万初，大幅上升。 这中间的内部迁移的规模是空前的。近年来，在外来务工人员之间的通信技术的渗透速度也是惊人的。在 中国信息通信技术特刊中指出，沿海城市的是最高的。 在 2007 年年底，上海的手机 普及率 已差不多 100，广东的手机普及率为 84.3。上海和广东是农民工人口密集的两个城市，毫无疑问，信息通信技术无处不在的渗透对外来 务工人员的社会生活有着间接或者
27、直接的有重大影响。要确定信息和通信技术的社会后果，农民工是一个重要领域的研究。这个问题的四个文件，将解决诸如虚拟社区的形成、移动电话的使用和流动、采用新的技术和传统的社会关系等问题，频繁的短信沟通便利了工人社会的浪漫关系和休闲时间。 Yinni 彭首先提出的关于在珠江三角洲农民工对互联网的使用的调查结果， 中国南部是全国最富有的地区之一，超过 30000 家企业从事生产全球性分布的产品。在珠江三角洲的工厂吸引了大量的从相对贫困的内陆地区持续涌入的外来务工人员。 到 2005 年，在该区域的 外来务工人数达 23 万， 在劳动密集型产业提供大量的工人，导致外来务工人员的低工资。事实上，平均月薪依
28、然依然只有 170 美元，这其中还包括加班的费用。尽管外来务工人元的收入很低，但是由于信息通讯技术在中国强大的渗透力，这些外来务工人员的接触日益频繁。 几乎所有的外来务工人员都有他们自己的移动电话，有的甚至是昂贵的机型，而多数外来务工人员花费在他们电话服务上的费用至少是其工资的 10%。而且外来务工人员也经常上网吧。彭的工作主要是基于对深圳网吧上网的访谈者和参与者的观察。 她指出，外来务工人员使用互联网，不是为了工作，就 是为了娱乐。那些受教育较少的低级别的职务，如车间工人，去网吧大多都是为了娱乐。那些受教育程度比较高或者在工厂担任较高级职位的去网吧大多是为了搜索数据或资料。彭发现，那些喜欢在
29、线游戏甚至有些沉迷于其中的人不可避免地在网吧花费了时间和金钱。彭说，上网能够帮助外来务工人员在工厂 繁琐和累人的一天之后得到放松，从苛刻的工作条件和严格的管理中得到暂时的逃离。网络世界为这些工人提供了一个和地理上分散的乡亲组成虚拟社区的机会。通过实时交谈，虚拟的面对面交流等技术可以加强了他们对社区的归属感，加强他们当地的认同。然而，这个在那些陌生的城市里是受到威胁的。 随着近年来信息通信技术在外来务工中间的日益普及，外来务工人员自己信息的交流和转换变得越来越方便。现在外来务工人员可以很方便的得知宿舍和工作状况方面的消息。 Ngan 和 Ma 的文件探讨了珠江三角洲的外来务工人员使用移动电话和工
30、作流动性之间的关系。 2006 年， 作者进行了一项关于 655 个外来务工人员在 东莞，这个归广东省管辖的珠江三角洲的移民城市的 调查。他们发现了一个在工人中手机的使用率和就业流动率之间的正相关关系。他们认为，手机的大量使用为外来务工人员的移徙提供了大量的有关就业机会的快捷、可靠的信息，比如工作条件，宿舍的住宿环境，工作人员的福利和工资。这些信息为他们提供了更多的灵活性，能够改变他们的工作并和他们的同事和家人分享他们的经验。 Ngan 和 Ma 的结论就是，移动电话给了在三角洲的年轻工人们抗议 恶劣的工作条件对长加班时间，以及低工资的权利。 杨德 昌的文件是基于 2006 年在北京的对使用移
31、动电话的调查。一些调查数据在之前的特刊中提出了“呼吁北京 移动通信与当代中国”。 不同于珠江三角洲的报告，本文讨论的是在北京的绝大部分被雇佣于服务行业的工人。 杨德昌的作品分析移动手机在这个群体中的使用。杨德昌发现移动电话成为了外来务工人员在他们工作的城市中抵制歧视的手段。比如，为了减少乏味和从不合理的工作场地限制中逃离出来，利用手机来假装存在时一个不错的方法。杨德昌还发现，手机还允许外来务工人员和把他们甩在背后的人民群众保持了联系。通过电话听到他们心爱的家人的声音， 这减轻了他们在陌生城市打拼的孤独和悲伤。尽管电话帮助分散的家庭成员维系了情感，但是他们同时也可能会削弱传统的家庭观念。 杨认为
32、，这种小而无处不在的技术，为农民工提供了一种老一代从未享受过的从事各种浪漫关系的隐私。更重要的是，杨还发现，手机能够发展和维护外来务工人员之间的江湖关系。江湖关系是一个土著的概念是指一种传统的网络中心，这种网络中心为了建设中国社会子层的社会结构。这个观察进一步说明了新技术的使用和保持传统社会关系之间的一个有趣的关系。 古往今来，中国妇女始终被视为男人的部下。离开农村和她们的家庭去城市里 创业成为了她们实现她们自己主权生活的唯一方式。在一家工厂工作可能是他们实现自己的梦想的第一步，但这样的生活并不容易。当她们被迫加班，被工厂管理者欺负的时候，她们的生理时钟和机器的节奏是不同步的。这些妇女无情的被
33、压迫。在此背景下，林和童分析了手机是如何影响女性外来务工人员的社交、浪漫关系和闲暇时间。笔者研究了这些谈判时如何通过频繁的手机短信的交流促进了非正式扫盲的发展。他们发现， 通过集约利用短信，很可能让女性外来务工人员在每一天获取和实践在他们的识字能力。这些技能扩大了科目的权限， 从技术到创意写作，并给她们提 供必要的工具，在网络世界中塑造一个有吸引力的身份。林和童认为，这种技能为女性外来务工人员提供了一种代理意识，增加了发展愉快社会关系的机会，尽管他们可能是短暂的和虚拟的。 总之，在这个特刊的文件里，在此阶段，目前只有这个问题的一部分方面。为了有一个更广阔的关于信息通信技术和外来务工人员之间的社会画面，应该不断的发展来衡量通讯信息技术对中国社会的影响。
