Most Americans, says Blackstone Group LP BX +0.30% founder Stephen Schwarzman, 'know next to nothing about China.' His solution for that: a $100 million donation from his personal fortune to fund a scholarship program to bring 200 mainly U.S. students to China every year.
黑石集团(Blackstone Group)创始人苏世民(Stephen Schwarzman)说，大多数美国人对中国几乎一无所知。他的解决方法是：从自己的个人财富中捐出一亿美元设立一个奖学金项目，每年资助200名学生到中国留学，其中主要为美国学生。
The chairman of the U.S. private-equity company is raising an additional $200 million for the project, which organizers say will make it the biggest charitable effort in China's history involving funds from abroad. The money will pay for full scholarships, along with a building to house the program, at Tsinghua University, which trains many of China's top leaders, including current President Xi Jinping and his predecessor Hu Jintao.
这家美国私募股权投资公司的董事长将另外筹集两亿美元用于上述项目。组织者说，该项目将成为中国有史以来规模最大的外资资助的慈善项目。这些资金将用于支付学生的全额奖学金，并在清华大学校园内为该项目新建一座教学楼。清华大学培养出了中国的很多高层领导，包括现任国家主席习近平和他的前任胡锦涛。
The gift drew accolades from Mr. Xi and President Barack Obama in statements read at a ceremony on Sunday in the Great Hall of the People. Former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger, whose secret visit to China in 1971 opened the door to diplomatic relations, said in a videotaped message he hoped the program 'will one day help shape the future of international discourse and diplomacy.'
在周日北京人民大会堂举行的仪式上，宣读了习近平和美国总统奥巴马发表的声明，两位领导人在声明中对该项目表示赞扬。美国前国务卿基辛格(Henry Kissinger)在一段预先录制的视频中说，他希望该项目有朝一日将帮助塑造国际话语和外交的未来。1971年，基辛格秘密访华，打开了中美外交关系的大门。
Donations to Tsinghua and nearby Peking University have become a standard way for foreign investors to curry favor with Chinese authorities and generate positive publicity in the state-controlled media. A seat on a Tsinghua advisory board offers Western executives an opportunity to mix with Chinese elites.
向清华大学和比邻的北京大学捐款已经成为外国投资者赢得中国当局好感、在政府控制的媒体上获得正面宣传的一个标准途径。清华大学顾问委员会的一个席位可以给西方高管提供一个与中国精英接触的机会。
Mr. Kissinger is on the program's advisory board along with a host of international figures, including two other former U.S. Secretaries of State─Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell─former British Prime Minister Tony Blair, and former Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.
基辛格和众多国际知名人物都是该项目顾问委员会的成员，其中包括另外两位美国前国务卿──赖斯(Condoleezza Rice)和鲍威尔(Colin Powell)、英国前首相布莱尔(Tony Blair)和澳大利亚前总理陆克文(Kevin Rudd)。
Mr. Schwarzman said the donation, inspired by the Rhodes Scholarship program that brings international students to Britain's Oxford University, was proposed by Tsinghua. 'I thought about it for a while. It wasn't an instant yes.'
苏世民说，该项目是由清华大学提议的。其灵感来自罗氏奖学金(Rhodes Scholarship)项目，罗氏奖学金资助国际学生到英国牛津大学(Oxford University)留学。他说，我考虑了一段时间，并不是马上就决定的。
Mr. Schwarzman, 66 years old, has a net worth of about $6.5 billion, according to Forbes, which ranks him No. 63 among the 400 richest people in the U.S. Among his other charitable donations was a $100 million gift to the New York Public Library, which was named after him.
据《福布斯》(Forbes)说，66岁的苏世民净资产约为65亿美元，在美国400富豪榜中排在第63位。他的其他慈善捐款项目还包括向纽约公共图书馆(New York Public Library)捐款一亿美元。纽约公共图书馆以他的名字命名。
Donors to the scholarship program include a number of companies whose business in China is crucial to their global success, including BP BP.LN +1.11% PLC, Caterpillar Inc. CAT -0.04% and General Electric Co. GE -4.06%
向该奖学金项目捐款的还有一些公司，这些公司在华业务对其在全球的成功至关重要，其中包括英国石油公司(BP)、卡特彼勒(Caterpillar Inc.)和通用电气(General Electric Co.)。
Mr. Schwarzman said the program is designed to address the imbalances and tensions that arise as China's economy races past the rest of the world, including the U.S., in the next few decades. 'I realize that China is not going to slow its growth just to convenience others,' he said. 'The chance that you won't have more friction over time strikes me as low.'
黑石集团创始人苏世民苏世民表示，该项目旨在解决未来数十年因中国经济增速超过包括美国在内的世界其它国家所带来的失衡和紧张情势。他说：我意识到中国不会为了方便其它国家而放慢经济增速。我认为，随着时间的推移，摩擦增加的可能性不会低。
Mr. Schwarzman noted that there are eight Chinese students in America for every American student in China. 'I think most Americans know next to nothing about China,' he said at an earlier news conference. 'China is not top of mind.'
苏世民指出，中美两国到对方国家留学的学生比例为八比一。在此前一场新闻发布会上，苏世民说：我认为大多数美国人对中国几乎一无所知，中国并非他们最为关注的国家。
American philanthropists have a long tradition of giving in China. The Rockefeller Foundation, for instance, founded the Peking Union Medical College, still one of China's top hospitals, in 1921. Tsinghua itself was funded using money that the U.S. took from China as reparations for the anti-foreign Boxer rebellion at the turn of the 20th century.
美国慈善家有在中国进行捐资办学的悠久传统。比如洛克菲勒基金会(Rockefeller Foundation)在1921年捐资创办了北京协和医学院(Peking Union Medical College)，其附属的北京协和医院仍是中国的顶级医院之一。而清华大学本身就是美国利用庚子赔款建立的学校。
Blackstone has a key link to China's giant sovereign-wealth fund, China Investment Corp. The fund, formed by Beijing in 2007 to help diversify the country's vast foreign-exchange holdings, paid $3 billion for a 9.9% stake in Blackstone just before the U.S. private-equity firm went public in June 2007, making it one of the first investments made by CIC overseas.
黑石同中国规模庞大的主权财富基金中国投资有限责任公司(China Investment Corp.)的关系非常密切。在黑石这家美国私募股权投资公司于2007年6月上市前，中投公司斥资30亿美元收购了该公司9.9%的股份，这也成为中投公司在海外的首批投资之一。中国政府在2007年成立中投公司，旨在分散中国规模庞大的外汇储备。
But soon after the purchase, Blackstone's shares slumped amid the global financial crisis, and CIC was criticized in China for losses tied to the investment. CIC officials, including former Chairman Lou Jiwei, have repeatedly said that the fund's investment in Blackstone will pay off in the long run. CIC has since increased its stake in Blackstone to 12.5%.
但中投公司购入股份后不久，黑石集团股价在全球金融危机的背景下暴跌，中投公司因为这笔投资受损而在中国国内受到批评。包括该公司前董事长楼继伟在内的中投公司负责人多次表示，该公司对黑石的投资从长远看将有利可图。此后中投公司将在黑石的股份增持至12.5%。
Mr. Lou, 62, was recently appointed China's Finance Minister as part of a broad shuffle of government posts amid the leadership transition. He received a bachelor's degree in computer science from Tsinghua University, and now serves as an adjunct professor at Tsinghua's School of Economics and Management.
现年62岁的楼继伟最近被任命为中国财政部长。在领导层换届的背景下，今年多个部级官员职位出现人事调整。楼继伟从清华大学获得计算机科学学士学位，目前为清华大学经济管理学院的兼职教授。
The donation comes at a time when Blackstone is stepping up investment in China, especially in the property sector. The firm is seeking to raise a $4 billion real-estate fund to focus on China and other Asian countries, people familiar with the matter have said. If completed, that would be the largest private-equity property fund ever devoted to the region.
就在苏世民捐出这笔资金的同时，黑石集团正加快在中国的投资，特别是在房地产领域。据知情人士透露，该公司计划募集一只40亿美元的房地产基金，主要投资中国和其它亚洲国家。如果募集完成，这将成为有史以来投入这一地区的规模最大的一只私募股权房地产基金。
One high-profile deal Blackstone has done in China recently involves its purchase of a grade-A office and five-star hotel complex in downtown Shanghai from a distressed local developer. The Huamin Imperial Building, valued by Savills Research & Consultancy at $287 million, was 95% complete at the time of Blackstone's purchase in late 2012, and the firm plans to finish the construction and lease it out.
黑石集团近期在中国完成的一个备受瞩目的项目是：从中国国内一家资金实力不足的开发商手中收购了位于上海市中心的一个集5A甲级写字楼和五星级酒店于一体的综合体项目。在黑石于2012年末接手的时候，这一名为华敏帝豪大厦的项目完工率为95%，黑石计划完成剩下的部分并将其出租。第一太平戴维斯(Savills Research & Consultancy)对这一物业的估值为2.87亿美元。
Mr. Schwarzman told reporters late last year that now is the time to invest in China, saying that the economic slowdown in the Middle Kingdom is 'temporary in nature' and faster growth would 'return over the next two to three years.'
苏世民去年年底告诉记者，现在是投资中国的时候了。他说从本质上看，中国经济增速放缓只是暂时的，未来两到三年中国经济增速将再次加快。