Where Mah-Jongg and Karaoke Are a Strategic Ploy*

搓麻、K歌，保卫南海

The New York Times

纽约时报

By JAVIER C. HERNÁNDEZ and IRIS ZHAO

July 28, 2017

*ploy：something that is done or said in order to get an advantage, often dishonestly 计谋，策略；手法，花招

If you take a cruise on the Forever Happy Princess, a Chinese ship, you can play mah-jongg, sing karaoke and snorkel*.

如果你乘坐中国邮轮“长乐公主号”旅游，你可以打麻将、唱卡拉OK和潜水。

*snorkel ['snɔː(r)k(ə)l]

a tube that you hold in your mouth to help you breathe if you are swimming with your face underwater （潜水者用的）水下呼吸管

You can see musical performances, like this song, “Friends.”

你可以观看音乐表演，欣赏像《朋友》这样的歌曲。

And the water off the Paracel Islands is “as pure as a baby's soul,” said one guest, Li Zhiyi.

而且，用游客李志义（音）的来话说，帕拉塞尔群岛（Paracel Islands，西沙群岛）附近的水“像婴儿的灵魂那样纯净”。

But these state-run cruises have a serious purpose: China wants to remind the world of its position that it owns nearly the entire South China Sea, a strategic waterway claimed by several countries.

Tens of thousands of Chinese tourists take state-run cruises through the Paracel Islands every year.

每年有数万名中国游客乘坐国营邮轮前往帕拉塞尔群岛。

Vietnam claims the Paracels too, and the United States has repeatedly challenged China's claims, sending a missile destroyer through the area this month.

越南也对帕拉塞尔群岛（越南称之为黄沙群岛[Hoang Sa]）有主权主张，美国已多次对中国的主权宣称提出挑战，本月还派了一艘导弹驱逐舰前往该海域。

The three-day cruise is off limits* to foreigners, but tourists sent us photos.

这个为期三天的休闲游不对外国人开放，但游客给我们发来了照片。

*off-limits：If an area of land is off-limits, you are not allowed to enter it. 禁止入内的

The trip mixes patriotism and leisure. Guests sing revolutionary songs and dance and drink into the night. Tickets go for* as much as $4,000.

旅游将爱国主义和休闲活动结合了起来。游客们唱革命歌曲、跳舞，畅饮到深夜。最贵的船票高达2.93万元（合4000多美元）。

*go for：If something goes for a certain amount of money, it is sold for that amount. 卖得（某价格），售价为

The painting is expected to go for at least a million dollars.

这幅油画预计至少要卖100万美元。

A highlight of the journey is a propaganda film that shows China winning control of the Paracels.

Passengers said they didn't really worry about being in the middle of an international power struggle.

游客们表示，他们对处身于国际力量角力的中心真的不担心。

Guests can bond over a shared sense of nationalism. Some vowed to guard the South China Sea until their death.

共同的爱国主义情怀在游客间建立了纽带，一些人还宣称要誓死保卫南海。

“Some organized tours are all about spending money,” said Xue Lihe, 60, a retired propaganda worker from central China. “This is just about one thing: patriotism.”

“有的旅游团只知道花钱，”来自中国中部的退休宣传官员、60岁的薛立和（音）说。“这个团只管一件事：爱国主义。”

On Quanfu Island, tourists recite an oath and hold a flag-raising ceremony by the beach and coral.

游客在全富岛上宣读誓词，在海滩和珊瑚礁边举行升旗仪式。

“This is an indivisible part of China,” they say, some of them shouting. “I love my country.”

“这里是我国不可分割的领土，”他们说，有些人甚至喊道，“我爱中国。”