Taiwan students storm legislature, Education Ministry in curriculum protest

出處:http://goo.gl/ec6mtF

筆者前言: 這報導雖然是好幾天前的，但還是出於手癢翻譯了這篇分享給大家，筆者不才有翻錯的地方歡迎指正喔

Hundreds of Taiwanese students were locked in a standoff with authorities in Taipei on Friday after storming the national legislature and surrounding the Education Ministry in a protest over new curriculum guidelines.

在突襲立法院和包圍教育部來抗議新課綱之後，數百名台灣學生和執政當局於星期五在台北陷入了僵局

Anguished by the apprent suicide of one student protest group member on Thursday, the demonstrators were demanding the resignation of Education Minister Wu Se-hwa and the shelving of the guidelines. They also want authorities to drop all legal charges against a group of activists who stormed into Wu’s offices last week.

星期四的學生抗議團體成員的自殺事件令學生十分悲痛，抗議人士要求教育部長吳思華下台並撤銷課綱。上星期他們還想要執政當局撤銷所有對突襲吳辦者的法律告訴。

Tensions over the guidelines for high school history classes, due to take effect Saturday, have been mounting since last year, and the debate is becoming a political issue in the run-up to the island’s 2016 presidential election.

高中歷史課綱的緊繃局面，從去年就已經出現，而這項爭議隨著2016島上總統大選的到來正轉變成政治議題。

The revisions were initiated by the Education Ministry in 2014. Officials with the ruling Nationalist Party describe them as minor changes intended to make the curriculum more factually accurate and to emphasize Taiwanese identity.

修正版由教育部於2014年提出。官方執政的國民黨說他們只是微調內容來讓課程內容更真實準確並強調台灣主體性

But opponents have charged that the revisions whitewash Taiwan’s authoritarian period under Nationalist rule before it became a democracy in the early 1990s, and amount to inserting pro-mainland China ideology into the curriculum. In particular, they complain that a violent crackdown on student protesters in 1947 by the Nationalist government has been left out of the curriculum.

但反對方則控訴說修正版漂白了90年代初期民主化前的國民黨威權統治時期的歷史，並在課綱中插入中國大陸的意識形態，特別是，他們還抱怨國民黨在課綱中去掉了1947年暴力鎮壓學生抗議者的事件。

Critics also allege that the revision process was not conducted in a fully transparent manner, and complain about the composition of the panel that formulated the changes. Among its members was a professor who also serves as vice chairman of a group called the Alliance for the Reunification of China.

批評者也指出修正版的進行程序並不全然透明，且對制訂出這些改變的審議小組成員感到不滿。在審議小組當中就有一位教授同時身兼一個叫做中國統一聯盟的團體的副主席。

Wu refused Friday afternoon to step down and said he would work to resolve the conflict. He reiterated that the new guidelines were not mandatory and that it was up to individual schools and teachers to decide what textbooks to adopt. Educators are still free to use older textbooks written before the recent guidelines.

吳部長星期五拒絕撤銷課綱並說他會努力解決衝突，他重申新課綱不具強制性，一切取決於學校內部的老師決定要採用哪個版本的教科書，教育者仍有使用舊版教科書的自由。       

Taiwan has been self-ruled since China’s civil war ended in 1949, with Chiang Kai-shek’s Nationalists fleeing to the island after being defeated by the Communists on the mainland. But Communist Party leaders in Beijing regard Taiwan as a renegade province and part of “one China,” and insist that the two sides must eventually be reunited.

台灣自1949年中國內戰後變成自治，蔣介石的國民黨在大陸上被共產黨擊敗後速撤至島上。但北京的共產黨領導人視台灣為脫離省分且為中國的一部份，並堅持兩岸最終必須統一。

Under President Ma Ying-jeou of the Nationalist Party, Taiwan has pursued closer trade ties with the mainland. Businesses and others have welcomed the economic rapprochement but some constituencies, particularly young people, have eyed the closer ties with some skepticism.

在總統馬英九的國民黨執政之下，台灣追求和大陸更緊密的經貿關係。商界和其他各界人士樂見經貿上的友好關係，但一些選民，尤其是年輕人，對眼下的兩岸緊密關係抱持著懷疑的態度。

In March and April 2014, students opposed to a trade pact with the mainland stormed the legislature in protest, in a development that became known as the “Sunflower Movement.” The occupiers argued that the agreement could damage Taiwan’s economy and open it to greater political pressure from Beijing.

在2014年的三月，學生反對和中國的貿易協定並在抗議突襲了立法院，後來更發展為著名的太陽花運動，占領者反駁說這項協議將使摧毀台灣的經濟，並大開門戶來面對北京更強大的政治壓力。

The curriculum revisions have struck a similar nerve. Last week, 33 people, including 24 students, were arrested after occupying the Ministry of Education on July 23.

課綱修正也引起了類似的衝突。上星期，有33人，包含24名學生，在七月二十三號佔領教育部後被捕。

Among them was a 19-year-old, Dai Lin, a member of the Northern Taiwan Anti-Curriculum Changes Alliance.

在他們之中有位北區反課綱微調聯盟的十九歲成員叫大林。

Lin was found dead Thursday, his 20th birthday, at his home in an apparent suicide, the Taiwan Times reported. Mourners were planning a candlelight vigil Friday evening in his honor.

據台灣時報的報導，大林於星期四同時也是他20歲生日當天被發現在家中自殺身亡，哀悼者計畫用在星期五晚間用燭光守夜來向他致意。

Visiting the demonstrators on Friday afternoon, the mayor of Taipei, Ko Wen-je, called on Wu “to face up to the students as soon as possible to reach a deal and conclusion.”

於星期五下午探視這些學生的台北市長柯文哲則促請吳”面對學生來盡可能達成協議跟結論”

“Taiwan should not be involved in a war of extremism because of ideological issues,” he added, while urging students to “protest with reason and peace” and advising them that police are “not public enemies.”

他還說”台灣不應該因為意識型態的議題而被捲入極端主義的戰爭”他同時也呼籲學生”用和平與理性來抗爭”並告訴他們說”警察不是全民公敵”。

But the protests may go on for some time, said J. Michael Cole, a senior non-resident fellow at the University of Nottingham's China Policy Institute and a researcher at the Thinking Taiwan Foundation, a think tank launched in 2012 by Tsai Ing-wen, who is now the Democratic Progressive Party's nominee for the 2016 presidential election. 

但抗爭仍會持續一陣子，J. Michael Cole說，他是諾丁漢大學中國事務研究所的資深研究員，同時也是民進黨2016總統大選提名人蔡英文於2012年所設立的智庫,小英基金會的研究人員。

Wu is unlikely to step down and the government is unlikely to freeze or mothball the proposal, Cole said. The Nationalists are behind in the polls for the 2016 election, he noted, while Tsai is ahead.

吳不太可能會撤銷課綱而政府也不太可能會凍結或暫緩這項政策，Cole說. 他點出道，國民黨在2016總統大選的民調中落後，而蔡英文目前領先。

"With their expected loss in the Jan. 16 elections, there is less pressure on [the Nationalists] to do what society wants, so the Ma administration could very well stick to its position," he said. "Looks like we might be in this for the long haul."

“因為預期會輸掉明年的一月十六號的大選，國民黨有比較少的壓力去做社會所想要的，所以馬執政當局可以非常執著於他們的立場。”他說道，”看來我們很可能會處於這樣的局面好一陣子”。

Harvard Zhang, Nicole Liu and Tommy Yang in the Times’ Beijing bureau contributed to this report