馬航失聯事件連累了張藝謀的"印象馬六甲"

After Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 vanished in March, many ordinary Chinese and officials became incensed at Malaysia’s handling of the disaster and vowed never to travel to the country. Most of the 227 passengers on board had been Chinese flying to Beijing from the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur.

今年3月，當馬來西亞航空公司(Malaysia Airlines)的MH370航班失蹤後，中國許多普通民衆和官員被馬來西亞對那場災難的處理所激怒，發誓永不造訪這個國家。失蹤航班上的227名乘客中，大部分是從馬來西亞首都吉隆坡飛往北京的中國人。

Now it turns out that one of the casualties of the fallout from the missing flight is an outdoor theatrical spectacle that was to have been co-directed by China’s most famous filmmaker and set in the former Portuguese colonial town of Melaka, on the Straits of Malacca along Malaysia’s west coast.

現在的結果顯示，航班失蹤一事還影響到了一部大型室外演出劇。該劇本來應由中國最著名的電影製作人蔘與執導，並以曾經處在葡萄牙殖民統治下的城市馬六甲爲背景。馬六甲地處馬來西亞西海岸的馬六甲海峽邊上。

The show, “Impression Melaka,” was expected to debut in October in Melaka, commonly known in English as Malacca, but has now been postponed. It would have been the first of the “Impression” series, co-directed by Zhang Yimou, the prominent filmmaker, to take place outside China. Since 2003, Mr. Zhang and two other directors have staged “Impression” shows as nightly events during peak season at nine well-known Chinese tourist sites, including the karst landscape around Guilin, the rebuilt ancient town of Lijiang and West Lake in the city of Hangzhou.

名爲《印象馬六甲》(Impression Melaka)的這部劇目本有望於10月在馬六甲舉行首演，但現在卻被推遲了。它本來將是由知名導演張藝謀聯合執導的“印象”系列中，首部在中國境外舉行的演出。自2003年以來，張藝謀和另外兩名導演已在中國九大著名景點上演了“印象”系列演出，演出均在旺季的夜間舉行。這些景點包括以卡斯特地貌聞名的桂林、重建的麗江古城以及杭州的西湖。

Melaka is a tourist draw in Malaysia because of its preserved shophouses and colonial buildings. It is also well known among Chinese as a base that the Ming dynasty admiral Zheng He used on his voyages to Africa and the Arabian Peninsula.A Malaysian company, PTS Properties, had been working on “Impression Melaka” with the Chinese company founded by Mr. Zhang and his two co-directors, Wang Chaoge and Fan Yue. The three of them created the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

在馬來西亞，馬六甲憑藉保留下來的街屋，以及建於殖民時期的建築吸引了大量遊客。它在中國人中也很有名，因爲明代鄭和率領的艦隊在前往非洲和阿拉伯半島時，曾將其作爲基地。《印象馬六甲》項目中的馬來西亞合作方是PTS發展有限公司(PTS Properties)，中方合作方則是由張藝謀，以及與他合作的另外兩名導演王潮歌和樊躍成立的公司。2008年北京夏季奧運會的開幕式即出自他們三人之手。

“One of the reasons we postponed the Impression launch date is due to the commercial decision after the MAS airline event,” Pang Bak Chua, a senior project manager at PTS Properties, said in an email, referring to Malaysia Airlines by its industry code. He declined to discuss the matter in more detail.

“我們推遲《印象馬六甲》首演日期的原因之一，是MAS航班失蹤事件發生後做出的商業決策，”PTS發展有限公司高級項目經理彭木蔡（Pang Bak Chua，音譯）在一封電子郵件中寫道。MAS是馬來西亞航空公司在業內的代碼。他拒絕更詳細地討論此事。

Local Chinese governments, companies and individuals have invested huge sums of money to stage the “Impression” shows, which involve acrobats, hundreds of dancers and other performers, and percussive music. Investors put $15 million, for example, into a show that opened in Henan Province in 2007, “Zen Shaolin.” It is not clear whether the sites have made back the money they invested, and some Chinese officials and art critics have criticized the “Impression” series as wasteful.

爲了推出“印象”系列演出，中國的地方政府、公司和個人投入了大量資金。演出涉及雜技演員、數百名舞蹈演員和其他演員以及動感的音樂。比如，爲了2007年在河南省上演的《禪宗少林》，投資者砸下了1500萬美元（約合9300萬元人民幣）。目前尚不清楚那些景點是否均已收回了投資。部分中國官員和藝術評論家指責“印象”系列很浪費。

In 2010, Jiang Zongfu, vice mayor of Linxiang in Hunan Province, said in an online post that he had researched the investments made by tourist sites and concluded that the “Impression” series was a losing business venture. “Under peer pressure, tourism sites all want to have an entry of the Impression series episode, without thinking about whether it’s really worth it,” wrote Mr. Jiang, who was in charge of tourism in Linxiang.

2010年，湖南省臨湘市副市長姜宗福在網上發帖稱，自己對旅遊景點所做的投資進行了研究，斷定“印象”系列是賠錢的商業投資。“在業內壓力下，旅遊景點都想上‘印象’，卻不去想是不是真的值得，”主管旅遊的姜宗福寫道。

The “Impression” creators and their representatives declined to respond to Mr. Jiang when his post first appeared.

姜宗福的帖子剛出現時，“印象”系列的創作人員及其代表拒絕迴應。

This week, no one has answered the phone at the Beijing offices of China Impression Wonders Art Development, the company founded by Mr. Zhang and his associates that puts on the “Impression” shows.

本週，記者致電張藝謀與合作伙伴成立的觀印象藝術發展有限公司位於北京的辦公室，但電話無人接聽。“印象”系列演出正是由該公司推出的。

The website of PTS Properties says 150 cities around the world were in “stiff competition” to have the first “Impression” show outside China. The directors chose Melaka after visiting it in 2012. The show would be the “first world-class international mega performance out of China, in Southeast Asia,” the site says, and it would “integrate Melaka’s glorious history and modern day culture with characteristic music, presenting a feast of light, shadows, dance, fine arts and melody with strong visual and acoustic impact.”

PTS發展有限公司的網站說，全世界150個城市爲推出中國境外的首部“印象”系列演出展開了“激烈競爭”。導演在2012年親自前往後選定了馬六甲。該網站稱，“在東南亞舉辦”的《印象馬六甲》將是“這個世界級國際大型系列演出首次在中國以外與觀衆見面”，並表示演出將“用獨特的音樂將馬六甲輝煌的歷史和現代文化融爲一體，奉上一場有着強烈視聽效果的光影、舞蹈、藝術和旋律盛宴”。

The description says the show would be performed on an “iconic theater built with a 360-revolving seat area for over 2,000 people. The only one in the region, the 70-minute show is expected to include a cast of 500 employees, inclusive of 200 performers, and is expected to attract 1.2 million new tourists.”

相關介紹稱，演出場地將是一座“標誌性的劇院，設有一個可360度旋轉的座位區，可容納2000多人。演出時長70分鐘，將是本地區絕無僅有的，預計會吸引120萬新增遊客。演職人員預計達500人，其中包括200名演員”。

The man who lobbied hardest to bring “Impression” to Melaka was Boo Kuang Loon, the founder of PTS Properties. In a 2013 interview with StarBizWeek, a Malaysian magazine, Mr. Boo said that he had wanted to set up a musical fountain by the water in Melaka to increase tourism but that his consultants told him that would be difficult.

極力遊說各方引入“印象”系列的人是PTS發展有限公司的創始人巫光倫(Boo Kuang Loon)。2013年接受馬來西亞雜誌《StarBizWeek》採訪時，巫光倫說自己早前想在馬六甲建一座臨水音樂噴泉，以促進旅遊業，但顧問告訴他這件事不容易。

“My architect reminded me about ‘Impression,’ and I thought that Malaysia was ready for this,” he said. “I’ve watched a couple of the ‘Impression’ shows in China before, but I didn’t think I could be able to bring such a big-scale attraction to Malaysia then.”

“在建築師的提醒下，我想到了‘印象’系列，我覺得馬來西亞準備好了，”他說。“我以前在中國觀看過幾場‘印象’系列演出，但我那時以爲沒辦法將這種大規模觀光項目引入馬來西亞。”

Mr. Boo met with the directors in July 2012, and the plans subsequently unfolded. He said that perhaps the directors were attracted to Melaka because of its historical ties with Zheng He, the mariner, and with dynastic China. The stage would be in the shape of a junk from Zheng He’s fleet, and there would be “Islamic elements as part of the backdrop, depicting Zheng He’s voyages and the Malacca sultanate,” Mr. Boo said.

2012年7月，巫光倫見到了導演，相關計劃隨後成型。他說，導演被馬六甲所吸引或許是因爲它與航海家鄭和，以及古代中國的歷史聯繫。巫光倫表示，舞臺會採用鄭和所率艦隊中的帆船的形狀，並且背景中還會包括“伊斯蘭元素，以描述鄭和的航行和馬六甲蘇丹王朝”。

The total investment in the production would be 250 million to 300 million Malaysian ringgit, or $75 million to $86 million, and it might take five to six years for the show to break even, Mr. Boo said.

巫光倫表示，演出的製作總投資將達2.5億至3億馬來西亞林吉特（約合4.5億至5.4億元人民幣），可能要用五六年時間才能收回成本。

Another Malaysian newspaper, The Sun, said in 2013 that the “Impression” show “is set to become one of the iconic tourist attractions for Visit Malaysia 2014.”

另一家馬來西亞報紙《太陽報》(The Sun)在2013年表示，這部“印象”系列演出“將是2014馬來西亞旅遊年(Visit Malaysia 2014)的標誌性旅遊觀光項目”。