这是美国旅行家史蒂文·J·布朗(Steven J Brown)的回忆。上世纪80年代，他曾用自己毕业时的积蓄在中国探索蒸汽机车。幸运的是，他用135毫米柯达彩色胶卷拍摄了许多珍贵的照片。下面由steve先生来向我们重新讲述这段难忘的经历

2022年再版序

This is the recollection of Steven J Brown, an American traveller who used his graduate savings to explore steam locomotives in China in 1980s. Luckily, he shot many valuable photos using 135mm Kodachrome. This replication of his jounrey is authorized by the Steve, the journeyman.

–Foreword, this story is reproduced in 2022.

这可能是20世纪上半叶北美任何一个小镇的铁路上的一幕–但我出生得太晚了–我找到了回到过去的方法。1986年，我现在站在中国东北的齐齐哈尔。这是我在中华人民共和国–漫游的第25天。

This could be a scene on the railroad in any small town in north America, during the first half of the last century. But I was born too late for that. I found a way to travel back in time. I’m standing in Qiqihar, northeastern China. And the year is 1986. I’m 25 days into a five-week wander through the people’s republic of china.

我从小就迷上了蒸汽机车–这件事该‘怪’我父母。他们把我打扮得很滑稽，带我去芝加哥附近乘坐蒸汽旅行。时光飞逝，到了1986年，我从西伊利诺伊大学毕业，获得了交通运输学位。

I’ve been obsessed with the steam locomotive from an early age. My parents are to blame for this. They dressed me funny and took me on the many steam excursions that ran around Chicago. Damage done fast forward to 1986. I’ve just graduated with a transportation degree from Western Illinois University.

我母亲几年前开始在美国联合航空公司工作，航空公司每年为还在上大学的子女提供一张为期60天的任意机票。

My mom started working for united airlines several years before, and the airline offered one standby pass per year for 60 days to offspring still in college.

我成功读完了大学。我的母亲慷慨地提供了一张机票，和1000美元作为毕业礼物。我立刻花了100美元购买了柯达克罗姆胶卷。

Stunned that i had actually made it through, she graciously provided such a pass and a thousand dollars as a graduation present. I immediately spent 100 of it on film.

当时关于中国的信息很少。在1986年的时候，入境中国的乘客只能参加有组织的旅游团。我找到了一本著名记者，威廉米德尔顿，写的书，名叫《铁路走中国》。米德尔顿先生在电话里亲切地告诉我在中国即将找到的美景。

Very little information existed about china at the time. Up until very recently tourists could only visit on organized tours. I found a book by the well-known journalist, william middleton, titled china by rail. Mr Middleton graciously spoke to me on the phone about what i would find in china.

我家一位学过中文的朋友最近去中国旅游，给了我一本中文短语书，还有他们俩给我的很多建议。我希望获得足够的提示，来成功地完成在中国的短期旅行。

A family friend who had studied Chinese and had recently been traveling there gave me a chinese phrase book and plenty of advice from the two of them. I hopefully gained enough facts to successfully navigate a short trip in china.

A short trip is what was planned after all i only had nine hundred dollars to spend when it is gone it will be time to head home. There were several options to travel between Hong-Kong over the border to Guangzhou.

我计划了一个短期旅行，毕竟我只有900美元花。等我把这900美元花完，就是时候回家了。我从美国飞到了香港–然后从香港过境到广州有几种选择。

我选择了夜间渡船，对，就是众所周知的慢船，去广州。第二天早上，船到了。过海关要花很长时间。天气又热又渴，我在附近的一家餐馆要了一杯水。我很惊讶地收到了一杯滚烫的水。

I chose the overnight ferry boat, yep the proverbial slow boat, to china. When the boat arrived the next morning. It took a long time to get through customs. It was hot and being thirsty i asked for a glass of water at a nearby restaurant. I was surprised to receive a boiling hot glass of water.

然后我去了市场。是啊，我应该不会喜欢吃这种东西。

Then I visited the market. Yeah I won’t be eating that.

中国只允许外国人携带所谓的外汇货币，也被称为FEC。外国人在中国购买任何东西都必须使用FEC。当地的货币是人民币。当地有一个FEC市场，因为许多外国生产的产品，如电视和其他电器只能用FEC购买。

China only permitted foreigners to carry what was called foreign exchange currency also known as fec. To buy anything in china foreigners must legally use this currency. The local currency is called RenMinBi, there was a black market for fec as many foreign produced goods such as TVs and other appliances could only be bought with fec.

在街上，我可以用FEC兑换比面值高出20%的人民币。

fec could be exchanged for RenMinBi with shady money changers on the street at twenty percent over value.

另一个令人头疼的问题是双重定价，每笔交易都有一个特别的外国人价格，可能是当地人价格的五倍。这次旅行的挑战变成了用当地人的价格购买商品。

Another headache was double pricing, for every transaction there was a special foreigners price, that could be five times more than the cost for locals. The challenge of the trip became to pay the chinese people’s price with the chinese people’s money.