BEIJING — Lord Ye, it is said, loved dragons so much that he had them carved on his wine vessels and personal accessories and even made them the theme of his interior decoration. One day a real dragon came down to check things out, pressing its nose up against Lord Ye’s window while its tail swished about outside. Lord Ye, scared out of his wits, turned around and fled.

北京——据说，有一叶公，好龙成癖，至于钩以写龙，凿以写龙，屋室雕文以写龙。于是天龙闻而下之，窥头于牖，施尾于堂。叶公见之，弃而还走。

I am reminded of the story as I observe the centennial of China’s 1911 revolution, the series of uprisings that brought down the Qing dynasty and established a democratic republic. The government loves the hoopla, which culminates Monday, as long as it can invent it and control it. But when the real thing shows any sign of approaching, it panics.

辛亥革命的一系列起义最终将清廷打倒，并一举建立起了民主国家；当观看它的百年纪念活动之时，我想起了这个叶公好龙的故事。纪念活动已于本周一结束，只要能展开并掌控它们，政府是喜欢搞这种盛大的庆典的。而当任何实质性事件表现出哪怕一丝端倪之时，它便开始恐慌。

In the end, the celebration has revealed less about 1911 than about Beijing’s fear of change. Sanctioned commemorative displays tend to be showy distractions that avoid any reference to the transformative effects of the revolution.

最后，比起展现辛亥革命的历史事实，庆祝活动更多地则表现出了北京政府对于改变的恐惧。被阉割的纪念试图分散人们的视线，闭口不谈辛亥革命带来的变革影响。

One example is the return of the Zhongshan jacket — better known in the West as a “Mao jacket” but introduced by Sun Yat-sen, the hero of 1911. Only this one is 14-feet tall with buttons 5-inches wide. The jacket was designed for display all around the country in the centennial year and will be submitted to the Guinness Book of World Records. Another example is the 80-foot-high stone sculpture of Sun Yat-sen’s wife, Soong Ching-ling, in Zhengzhou. Its base, which covers an area of 8,000 square feet, is intended to serve as a conference hall that can accommodate 600 people.

中山装的回归便是一个例子——在西方更多的人认为它是“'毛'衫装”；其实，这种服装实则由辛亥革命的领袖孙逸仙先生引进。只有这一件纪念用的服装才是14英尺长且带有5英寸扣子的。时值百年纪念年，设计此外套的目在于向全国巡展；同时该设计将会提送给世界吉尼斯纪录大全，供其收录。

译者注：为纪念辛亥百年，宁波某学院的红帮服装研究所、红帮文化研究所、第六代红帮传人江继明等单位和师生共同设计制作，并完成了一件长4.30米，胸围6.50米，肩宽2.70米，袖长3.54米，领围大2.46米的巨型中山装。

Then there’s the photo exhibition at the United Nations headquarters in New York titled “China in Development 1911-2011.” The show claims to reflect the course of China’s development over the last 100 years — but there is no Great Leap Forward, no Cultural Revolution, no Tiananmen protests.

于是，纽约联合国总部便有了此次名为"中国之发展，1911至2011"照片展。本次展览声称反映了中国在过去100年的发展进程，但却没有“大跃进”，不含“文化大革命”，未提“天安门事件”。

Perhaps we shouldn’t be surprised. Chinese history has never opened its door to democracy. As 1911 demonstrated, democracy enters China only by smashing down the door. The years of intellectual ferment that followed, from 1912 to 1927, marked perhaps the period of greatest freedom in 20th-century China. In that era of social activism and freedom of speech, an immense variety of political parties and organizations played a role in society. Today, the eight so-called “democratic” parties are just helpmates to the Communist Party.

也许，我们不应感到意外。中国历史从未开启民主之门。正如辛亥革命表明的那样，民主只是通过砸烂其门才得以进入的。之后，百家争鸣的1912到1927年，也许刻上了20世纪中国最自由的时代之烙印。在百花齐放及言论自由的时代，繁多的政党和组织在社会中起到了作用。今天，所谓的八个“民主”的政党，不过是共产党手下的帮手。

The freedoms of the early Republican period did not last. They were strangled in the cradle, and the guiding principles and separation of powers that Sun Yat-sen espoused perished with his passing. China removed its imperial autocrat’s hat in 1911, but after civil war and war with Japan, it donned the new costume of state dictatorship in 1949.

早期民主时代的自由没有延续。它们于襁褓之时，便遭扼杀，随着孙逸仙的逝去，其主张的指导纲领和分权思想也随之而去。中国摘去了帝国独裁的帽子，但是，在内战与对日战争之后，又于1949年披上了国家专政的新装。

As the centennial approached, many Chinese people wondered out loud how things might be today if that infant democracy had been allowed to grow up. Thinking back to the corruption at the end of the Qing dynasty and the heightened tensions on the eve of the 1911 revolution, they saw a mirror image of the realities of China today, with its corruption and inequity.

随着百年纪念的临近，许多中国人不禁遥想，假若那处于萌芽期的民主能被允许成长，那么时至今日，中国又是一副怎样的景象呢？回想起晚清的腐朽，还有革命前夕的紧张气氛，他们看到了今日现实中国的腐败和不平。

Some went so far as to post such blunt statements on the Internet: “On the 100th anniversary, we await a revolution that will overturn the status quo.”

有些人走的更远，甚至在网上发出这样的评论：“值此百年纪念之际，我们期待一次彻底改变现状的革命。”

Realizing the danger, and rattled by a string of social conflicts in recent years, the Beijing government has clamped down on any discussion of democracy or revolution, whether it be references to the liberalizing wave sweeping the Middle East or comments about China itself. When the National People’s Congress and the National Political Consultative Conference met in Beijing this spring, police surveillance was elevated, with round-the-clock patrols at intersections and on major shopping streets. At great expense, three-quarters of a million people were mobilized in community-watch activities.

由于意识到了危险，加之，近些年来一系列社会冲突不断出现，北京政府采取了强力措施避免任何有关民主或革命的讨论，不论是否涉及中东地区挥舞的自由旗帜，还是关于中国本身。当今年春天，北京召开全国人民代表大会和全国政协会议的时候，政府增强了警力部署，在每个十字路口和每条商业大街，都有警察昼夜不停的巡逻。政府不惜财力，将七十五万人民部署到了社区治安活动中。

Liang Qichao, a key reform figure in the late-19th century, once said that the measures taken by the Qing government to guard against popular unrest were infinitely more elaborate than those of advanced countries. Over a hundred years later, China remains the leader in efforts to forestall popular protest.

梁启超，19世纪末改革的核心倡导者，曾经说过，清政府采取的所有针对动荡的措施，绝对比任何一个发达国家都要高明。一个世纪过去了，中国政府依旧是防止公众抗议诸政府中的佼佼者。

So it is with only superficial gestures that our officials commemorate 1911. They claim to be celebrating 1911, but in fact they are hailing 1949, when the People’s Republic of China was proclaimed.

所以，我们的官员只是在表明上纪念了辛亥革命。他们声称庆祝辛亥革命的1911，实则在欢庆中华人民共和国成立的1949。

In Wuhan, the birthplace of the 1911 uprising, police were directed to reinforce their patrols between Aug. 27 and Oct. 10. Apart from the several thousand officers conducting patrols each day, 100 paramilitary police and 200 special police armed with submachine guns have been assigned to street duty. A quarter of a million surveillance cameras watch every corner 24 hours a day — all in the name of “creating a peaceful environment for the centennial.”

武汉，辛亥革命的诞生之地，警察被指示在8月27日到10月10日之间，要加强对其巡逻的力度。除了几千执行巡逻任务的官兵之外，100准军事警察和200名持冲锋枪的特警也并派往街道之中执行任务。二十五万个摄像头不分昼夜，24小时不停地监视着每一个角落——都被冠以“为百年纪念创造和谐”之名。

I have no doubt that Lord Ye loved dragons — so long as they were purely ornamental. Nor do I doubt that our government wants to commemorate the 1911 revolution — so long as the tributes are confined to decorative knickknacks, or to flights of fancy in interior design.

我不怀疑叶公真的爱龙，只要它们仅仅只用于装饰。我也不怀疑我们的政府真的想纪念辛亥革命，只要所献之礼仅限装饰，或者在装饰中流连忘返。

Yu Hua’s latest book, “China in Ten Words,” will be published next month. This article was translated from the Chinese by Allan Barr.

余华的最新作品《十言话中国》将于下个月出版发行。此文由Allan Barr译自中文版。