库恩回忆录：改革开放40年

As China celebrates the 40th anniversary of reform and opening-up, an historic era of economic dynamism and social development, I am about to celebrate the 30th anniversary of my first coming to China in January 1989. My invitation had come from Dr. Song Jian, state councilor and chairman of the State Science and Technology Commission, who asked a few American investment bankers, science literate, to advise Chinese research institutes in their first, fledgling efforts to adapt to the market economy. I was hooked from the moment I arrived. The Chinese had a fresh, if naïve, enthusiasm; they were eager to learn, and ready to improve their civic and material lives. I realized then that China's economics, politics, society and culture would soon come to matter a great deal to the world. What I did not realize then was how much China would come to matter to me.

今天正值中国庆贺改革开放四十周年，歌颂这一经济社会蓬勃发展的时代，今年也是距我1989年1月首次来华后的第三十年。三十年前，时任国务委员兼国家科委主任的宋健博士邀请了几位通晓科学技术的美国投资银行人士，就市场经济改革方面的初步努力向中国研究机构建言献策。我一到中国就为之着迷，中国人民朴素热情，渴望学习，努力改善物质精神生活。我能够预见中国的经济、政治、社会和文化将很快对世界产生重大影响，但当时我没料到的是中国对我个人来说会变得如此重要。 

What an amazing transformation it has been! Once a backward economy and a closed society, China is now the world's second-largest economy, engaged openly with every country on earth, and involved in every matter of global importance: economics, business, science, technology, education, healthcare, environment, culture, diplomacy, defense, global infrastructure construction, battles against poverty at home and abroad. China's transformation is unprecedented in world history and for three decades I am privileged to have borne witness. As President Xi Jinping addressed the grand commemoration of the 40th anniversary of reform and opening-up in the Great Hall of the People, the occasion was both an appreciative pause to reflect on all that China had accomplished and a propitious time to address all that China still needs to accomplish. 

中国发生了翻天覆地的变化！这个国家曾贫穷落后、闭关锁国，而现已成为世界第二大经济体，并向世界各国敞开大门，积极参与全球重要议题，这其中包括：经济、商业、科学技术、教育、医疗、环保、文化、外交、国防、全球基础设施建设、国内外扶贫等等。三十年来，我有幸见证了中国史无前例的巨大转变。习近平主席在人民大会堂发表纪念改革开放40周年致辞之际，举国上下深情回味中国的创举，共同勾勒未来中国的宏伟蓝图。

In this new era of China's reform and opening up, in this transitional time of China's enhanced engagement with the world, my receiving this Medal evinces how seriously China takes international communications. 

如今中国处在改革开放的新时代和加强国际交往的过渡期，授予我这枚勋章充分体现了中国对国际交流的重视。

I am privileged to receive the China Reform Friendship Medal. The Medal reflects those who have helped China, in diverse areas and ways, throughout this historic four-decade transformation, when China's per capita disposable income increased about 23 times, and roughly 740 million people have been lifted out of extreme poverty. I believe when historians of the future write the chronicles of our times, a highlight is sure to be China's remarkable 40 years of reform and opening up.

我很荣幸地获得了中国改革友谊奖章。这枚奖章用于褒奖改革开放40年来在不同领域和方式上帮助中国的人。40年来，中国人均可支配收入增长了23倍左右，约7.4亿人摆脱了极端贫困。我相信，中国改革开放的40年将注定成为永入史册的光辉历程。

(Editor's note: Dr. Robert Lawrence Kuhn is a CGTN anchor, a public intellectual, international corporate strategist and investment banker.)