纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 034中国汉族漆杯(5)

（单词翻译）

Looking at the cup again, I can see that around the oval base runs a thin band with 67 Chinese characters on it.Now in Europe you might expect this kind of band to be a motto or a dedication¹, or something like that, but in fact here the characters list six craftsmen² involved in the different processes involved in manufacturing the cup-making the wooden core, undercoat lacquering, top-coat lacquering, gilding³ the ear handles, painting, and then final polishing-the name of every one of the craftsmen.And then-and this could surely happen only in China-it goes on to list the seven product inspectors⁴, whose responsibility was to guarantee quality.Six craftsmen, seven supervisors-this is the stuff of real bureaucracy.The list reads:

在耳杯的椭圆形底部有一圈共六十七个汉字。在欧洲，这里通常会是一句箴言或一条献词。但实际这里写的却是负责生产的六位不同种类的工匠的名字。制作木胎的，刷底层漆的，刷表层漆的，为把手镀金的，描画图案的和最后打磨的。接下来列出了七位质量监督员的名字：这种情况恐怕只有在中国才会出现。六位工匠，七位监督人员，是官方组织运作的明证。这些字是：

"The wooden core by Yi, lacquering by Li, top-coat lacquering by Dang, gilding of the ear- handles by Gu, painting by Ding, final polishing by Feng, product inspection⁶ by Ping, supervisor⁵-foreman Zong.In charge were Government Head Supervisor Zhang, Chief Administrator⁷ Liang, his deputy Feng, their subordinate Executive Officer Long, and Chief Clerk Bao."

素工矣、髹工立、上工当、铜耳黄涂工古、画工定、玥工丰, 清工平、造工宗造，护工卒史章、长良、丞凤、椽隆、令史褒主。

What I find fascinating about this cup, is that it is such a powerful document of the link between craft production and state administration; bureaucracy as a guarantee of beauty.It's not something that's familiar to the modern European, but for the journalist and China expert Isabel Hilton, it's a continuing tradition in Chinese history:

漆杯是工匠生产与官府管理相结合的产物。官僚系统保证了产品的品质。现代欧洲人也许对此并不熟悉，但作家兼中国专家伊莎贝尔希尔顿则认出这是中国的传统：

"Well in Han times, the government had a major role in industry, partly to deal with its military expenditure⁸ in order to finance the kind of expeditions that it required against the aggressive peoples of the north and the west, again echoes of today.

汉朝时，朝廷大量参与工业制作，目的之一便是筹措军费，征讨西方与北方的蛮夷。