Watching China bully Wal-Mart Stores this week -- and watching Wal-Mart prostrate itself under the beating -- is an embarrassing reminder of a simple fact:

　　本周，看着中国欺负沃尔玛(Wal-Mart Stores)，又看着沃尔玛在棍棒下卑躬屈膝，不由得尴尬地想起这样一个简单的事实：

　　China, the world's fastest-growing major market, has the upper hand with U.S. business. Its array of protectionist barriers, weak rule of law and siren-like market make events like this all but inevitable.

　　作为世界上增长最快的主要市场，中国在美国商界面前占据上风。中国的一系列保护主义壁垒、薄弱的法治和诱人的市场，使得出现这样的事情几乎是不可避免的。

　　This state of play may also be one reason Congress is fulminating again over China's currency. The Senate this week passed a bill that could penalize China for keeping its currency artificially weak, which makes the country's products cheap in global markets.

　　这一现状可能也是美国国会对中国汇率再度发难的一个原因。参议院本周通过一项议案，可能会因为中国人为压低人民币汇率、使中国产品在国际市场上售价低廉而对它施以惩罚。

　　Currency offers a simple focus that plays well with constituents. So currency has become a dangerous proxy for much else that is wrong with doing business in China.

　　汇率问题形成了一个简单的关注焦点，适合争取选民。于是，在中国经商遇到的很多其他问题都经由汇率问题来讨论，这是很危险的。

　　First, Wal-Mart: 先来看看沃尔玛：

　　In the company's stores in the city of Chongqing, nonorganic pork was labeled 'organic.' This was the mistake. The pork was otherwise fine.

　　在重庆的沃尔玛门店，不是有机的猪肉被标为“有机”。错误就在这里，除此以外这些猪肉没有问题。

　　Seizing on this error at a time when inflation is a hot-button issue in China, officials accused Wal-Mart of cheating the public by charging premium prices for regular meat. They fined the company, shut down all 13 Wal-Marts in the city and jailed a number of Wal-Mart employees. The actions played well in the national media.

　　在通货膨胀成为中国热点问题之际，官方抓住这个错误，指责沃尔玛高价卖普通肉、欺骗公众。他们对沃尔玛采取罚款措施，关闭了重庆的全部13家沃尔玛超市，还拘留了几名沃尔玛员工。这些措施在中国媒体中受到好评。

　　There is little if any recourse in authoritarian China when something like this happens to a U.S. company. There aren't regular courts. Like many other U.S. firms that have run afoul of nationalist sentiments in China, Wal-Mart could only beg forgiveness. It has nearly 350 stores in China with revenue of $7.5 billion.

　　相关报道在威权主义的中国，当这样的事情发生在一家美国公司身上时，可依靠的渠道即使有，也非常少。那里没有正规的法院。跟很多冲撞了中国民族主义情绪的其他美国公司一样，沃尔玛也只能乞求原谅。它在中国的门店接近350家，收入75亿美元。

　　So Wal-Mart dropped to its knees.

　　所以沃尔玛屈膝而跪。

　　The company apologized, issued a statement declaring “the rights of consumers were infringed,” and said it accepted the 15-day forced closure of its stores as an opportunity “to focus on implementing corrective actions.”

　　它道歉了，发布声明宣称“侵犯了消费者的权益”，并说它接受强制关闭门店15天的措施，以借此机会“集中精力全面落实整改措施”。

　　In a phone interview, a Wal-Mart regional executive in Hong Kong was similarly obsequious -- and circumspect, lest he ruffle feathers in Chongqing. Pressed, he said there were past issues with the stores, but declined to elaborate. Chinese officials said the issues entailed numerous violations, including fraudulent advertising and selling expired food.

　　沃尔玛驻香港一位地区高管接受电话采访时也是同样卑躬屈膝，小心翼翼，以防惹怒重庆方面。追问之下，他说这些门店过去也有问题，但拒绝详述。中国官员说，这些问题涉及多起违规，包括虚假宣传、出售过期食品。

　　An American executive in Beijing who watches these matters says the Wal-Mart saga is less about substance and more about the bigger problems U.S. business has with China. “You walk into any Chinese supermarket and can find things sold past their expiration date,” he says. “Wal-Mart has done more to secure the safety of the food supply.” Borrowing an old Chinese saying, he adds, “It's just an extraordinary example of killing the chicken to scare the monkeys,” with the food industry the chicken, and the rest of foreign business the monkeys. The message to companies: Know your place and pay obeisance.

　　一位关注势态发展的驻北京美国公司高管说，沃尔玛风波并不在于具体事情，而是更多地反映出美国公司与中国之间的更大问题。他说，你走进任何一家中国超市，都能发现有过期商品在销售；沃尔玛在保证食品供应安全方面比其他公司做的更多。他还说，借用中国的一句老话，这是“杀鸡给猴看”的绝好例子，食品行业是鸡，其他外国公司是猴。中国当局向公司发出的信息是：知道自己的身份，乖乖听话。

　　That strong arm is evident in other venues. For two years U.S. companies have been fighting new government procurement rules that give preference to Chinese products. Beijing finally abandoned the rules this year, but apparently not the preference.

　　这种强势的控制在其他领域也很明显。两年来，美国公司一直在对抗偏向中国产品的政府采购新规定。北京今年最终取消了规定，但显然没有消除偏心。

　　“What's really concerning companies is that there's not a discernible change in the provinces and local governments on this whole question,” says John Neuffer of the Information Technology Industry Council, a trade group. An executive with a U.S. technology company adds: “China uses a whole host of rules to steer procurement to favored companies.” If it isn't outright discrimination against foreign firms, he says, it is technical standards that “make it difficult for a foreign company to make a bid.”

　　美国行业组织信息技术产业理事会(Information Technology Industry Council)的诺弗尔(John Neuffer)说，令公司真正感到担心的是，省级政府和地方政府在整个问题上并没有明显的改变。美国一家科技公司的一位高管还说，中国利用一整套规定在采购方面向青睐的公司倾斜。他说，如果不是对外国公司的直接歧视，就是制定技术标准令外国公司难以竞标。

　　The rules are part of a broader industrial policy to promote “indigenous innovation” in China, or innovation that China owns. It is with this goal in mind that China virtually requires many foreign industrial and technology companies entering the market to form a joint venture with a state-owned firm and to transfer technology to China. Hungry for sales, U.S. companies have piled in, handing over top-of-the-line technology in aviation, autos, electronics, energy and more.

　　这些规定是推动中国“自主创新”的更广泛行业政策的一部分。正是出于这一目的，中国实际上要求很多希望进入中国市场的外国工业和科技公司与中国国有公司成立合资企业或向中国转让技术。渴望销售产品的美国公司蜂拥而至，把航空、汽车、电子、能源及更多领域的尖端技术拱手相让。

　　“This technology toll booth is troublesome; a large number of the companies I talk to have this concern,” says Bob Hormats, the State Department's top economic official. U.S. firms, he says, “have to pay the high price of giving up very good technology” that Chinese companies then use to compete in global markets. “It weakens our economic base, our ability to create jobs and the profitability of our companies.”

　　美国国务院首席经济官员霍马茨(Bob Hormats)说，这种技术“收费站”很成问题，我与之谈过话的很多公司都有这样的担心。他说，美国公司必须付出高昂的代价，交出好的技术，中国公司随后利用这些技术在全球市场展开竞争；这会削弱美国的经济基础，削弱美国创造就业岗位的能力和美国公司的盈利能力。

　　The list of sticky problems goes on -- new taxes in China on foreign employers, more subsidies for domestic industries, continued theft of intellectual property. The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which represents U.S. companies, this month issued its annual list of concerns about business practices in China. It runs more than 100 pages, single-spaced.

　　外国公司面临的难题数不胜数，比如中国对外国雇主征收的新税，对国内行业的更多补贴，窃取知识产权的现象屡见不鲜。代表美国公司的美国商会(U.S. Chamber of Commerce)本月公布了一份年度报告，罗列出了对在华开展业务的种种担忧。这份报告长达100多页，而且还是单行行距。

　　Notably, the same U.S. companies in China that previously went to Washington to lobby for normalized trade ties with Beijing now often go to gripe. China has thus lost many of its chief advocates.

　　尤其值得一提的是，那些在华开展业务、此前到华盛顿游说对华贸易关系正常化的美国公司，如今却常常满腹牢骚。中国因此失去了很多主要的支持者。

　　Perhaps for this reason, and because of broader frustrations, the Senate mustered the votes to pass its currency-manipulation bill this week. The bill, if passed by the House, risks igniting a trade war with China. It is at minimum a provocation.

　　或许因为这个原因，以及更加广泛的不满情绪，美国参议院本周进行投票通过了涉及人民币汇率操纵的法案。这项法案如果在众议院获得通过，将可能引发中美贸易战。这至少来说是一种挑衅。

　　But for those who have tired of watching the beatings in China's many Chongqings, maybe that just no longer matters.

　　不过，对于那些厌倦了观看在中国很多城市像重庆这样“欺负”外国公司的人，或许这已经不重要了。