中共英雄雷鋒並不受美國軍校學員喜愛

Beijing (AFP) - A former Chinese journalist has admitted falling for an April Fool joke which sparked a decades-long myth in his country -- that US officer cadets learnt from the example of Communist military hero Lei Feng.

北京（法新社）——一名退休的中國記者承認自己愚人節的一個玩笑成就了中國幾十年來的一個虛構神話——即美國軍校學員向中國的軍隊英雄雷鋒學習。

Li Zhurun, a former reporter for China's official Xinhua news agency who is now a university professor, made the confession on his Sina Weibo microblog.

李竹潤，新華社之前的一名記者，現在則是一名大學教授，在自己的新浪微博上承認了這一點。

Ever since Communist China's supreme leader Mao Zedong recognised Lei Feng for his humble heroism, said to include washinghis comrades' uniforms and giving his pay to the needy, authorities have encouraged citizens to do good and follow his example.

自從中共領導人毛澤東讚揚雷鋒謙遜的英雄主義以來——據說他爲自己的同志洗制服，還把自己工資給那些需要的人——當局就一直鼓勵人們向他學習。

While China's increasingly media-savvy population has come to question the authenticity of the Lei Feng story, the folk hero remains popular in some quarters. Pictures of him wearing his trademark earflap army hat have become a pop icon emblazoned on everything frombags to cups.

雖然有越來越多的中國網名開始質疑雷鋒故事的真實性，但是這位大衆英雄在某些地方還是很受人們待見。他穿護耳軍帽的形象被印在了很多事物上，從包包到杯子。

In his posting, Li said he had been duped by an unspecified Western news outlet, which reported on April Fool's Day 1981 that the West Point military academy in New York Statehad held up the People's Liberation Army (PLA) soldier as an example for all students.

在他的博文中，李說他當時被一個未具名的西方媒體機構所誤導，該媒體機構在1981年的愚人節那天報道說紐約州的西點軍校將這名解放軍戰士作爲學生們的榜樣。

"I was young at the time, and I didn't know that Western media of ten invent 'news' on April Fool's Day," Liwrote.

“我當時還年輕，我根本不知道西方媒體經常會在愚人節這天‘創造'新聞，”他寫道。

The state-run China Daily newspaper on Tuesday identified the Western outlet as the United Press International news agency. But it was not clear where Li was based at the time, or who he wrote the story for.

《中國日報》週二確認說這家西方媒體正是美國合衆國際新聞社。但不清楚李當時派駐在哪裏以及他爲誰寫這篇報道。

Over the past three decades, the West Point myth has become so entrenched in Chinathat even a member of the country's advisory discussion body, the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference (CPPCC), cited it in a 2009 proposalurging Beijingto apply for UNESCO recognition of the "Lei Feng Spirit".

過去三十年來，西點軍校的這個神話深紮在中國，以至於一名中國政協委員在2009年的時候還敦促北京讓聯合國教科文組織承認“雷鋒精神”。

"At America's faMous West Point, Lei Feng's portrait is among five hanging in the hall, and the academy's code of student conduct includes his famous quote: 'Human life is limited, but servingthe people is limitless,'" CPPCC member Liu Jianglong said, according to the Chongqing Morning Post.

《重慶晨報》報道說，當時的政協委員劉江龍說：“在美國著名的西點軍校，雷鋒的形象是掛在大廳中的五幅之一，而該學院的學生行爲準則中就包括了他的名言：‘人的生命是有限的，但是服務人民的這份事業是無限的。'”