Douglas Todd: 1970s Christian hymn now an anthem for Hong Kong protesters
Opinion: When mass rallies began in Hong Kong, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators strengthened their courage by intoning Sing Hallelujah to the Lord over and over again
【翻译】二十世纪70年代的基督教圣歌现在成为香港抗议者的圣歌
当香港开始大规模集会时，成千上万的示威者一遍又一遍地唱着Sing Hallelujah to the Lord来鼓舞斗志
Douglas Todd
2019 年9月5日
Largely unnoticed outside Hong Kong, a Christian hymn has risen to become the anthem of millions of street demonstrators and their far-flung supporters around the world.
在香港以外的地方，这首基督教圣歌基本上很少被人注意到。如今，这首圣歌已成为数百万街头示威者，以及他们在世界各地支持者的赞美诗。
Sing Hallelujah to the Lord, a chant-like tune written in the 1970s, is a song of peace and praise, composed in a plaintive minor key. But somewhat like We Shall Overcome during the 1960s civil rights movement, it has caught on among religious and non-religious pro-democracy activists alike.
《唱哈利路亚赞美主（Sing Hallelujah to the Lord）》是一首和平与赞美之歌，它写于20世纪70年代，类似于赞美诗曲调，以忧伤的小调谱写而成。类似于在20世纪60年代民权运动中《我们赢定了（We Shall Overcome）》那首歌，它在宗教和非宗教民主活动家中一样流行开来。
When mass rallies began in Hong Kong in June, hundreds of thousands of demonstrators, confronted by armed riot police with tear gas, strengthened their courage and inner calm by intoning Sing Hallelujah to the Lord over and over again for 18 hours, says scholar Justin Tse.
学者Justin Tse表示，当6月份香港开始大规模集会时，成千上万的示威者在面对着武装防暴警察发射的催泪瓦斯时，他们一遍又一遍地吟唱《Sing Hallelujah to the Lord》，唱了18个小时，来鼓舞斗志和平复内心。
“Even if you’re not a Christian it’s still the anthem” of the pro-democracy movement, says Tse, who obtained his PhD from UBC and has long been watching conflict in Hong Kong, where 300,000 to 500,000 residents hold passports from Canada (far more than from any other country).
“即便你不是基督徒，但它仍然是民主运动的赞歌，”Justin Tse表示。他从不列颠哥伦比亚大学（UBC）获得博士学位，长期以来一直在关注着香港的冲突，现在有30万-50万持加拿大护照的居民住在香港（这个数字远比任何其他国家都多）。
“The hymn captures the aspirations of the protesters, in the sense they don’t want their home to be ridden with violence by police, who sometimes seem to be in an unholy alliance with triad gangs,” says Tse, author of Theological Reflections on the Hong Kong Umbrella Movement (Palgrave).
“这首圣歌俘获了抗议者的心愿，从某种意义上说，他们不希望自己的家园被警察以暴力占据，因为警察有时似乎与三合会黑帮结成了邪恶联盟。”Justin Tse 如是说道，他是《香港雨伞运动神学反思》一书的作者。
Even though the pro-democracy street protests in Hong Kong and cities such as Vancouver, Toronto and Sydney are not being directly organized by churches or the city’s many Christian schools, Tse says Christian leaders are far more involved in this summer of widespread resistance than they were during the 2014 Umbrella Movement.
街头抗议不仅仅发生在香港，还波及到了其它城市，比如温哥华、多伦多和悉尼，即便这些抗议活动没有得到教会或该市教会学校的直接组织。Justin Tse说，与2014年的雨伞运动相比，今年夏天基督教领袖们更多地参与了广泛的抵抗运动。
Back then, Christian activists in Hong Kong accused their own church leaders of “selling out” to authorities doing the bidding of the People’s Republic of China, Tse says. But in 2019 key church figures are quietly playing significant roles in the mass movement, even while it is dividing ethnic Chinese around the world, including 3.8 million in the U.S. and 1.8 million in Canada (mostly in Toronto and Vancouver).
回顾往昔，香港基督教活动人士曾指责他们自己的教会领袖向当局“出卖自我”，听从中华人民共和国的命令，Justin Tse说道。但是在2019年，关键的教会人物在这场大规模运动中悄然发挥着显著作用，尽管这场运动正在分化世界各地的华裔人士，包括美国的380万和加拿大（主要在多伦多和温哥华) 的180万华裔。
Hong Kong Catholic Bishop Joseph Ha, for instance, has joined more than a million dissenters cramming the city’s streets and told authorities the people are protesting “because they love Hong Kong,” says Tse.
Justin Tse说，举个例子，天主教香港教区（Hong Kong Catholic）主教夏志诚(Bishop Joseph Ha)加入了100多万名挤满了香港街道的、持不同政见者的行列，并对当局表示，人们抗议是“因为他们热爱香港。”
A video of a man kneeling on the pavement and pleading with the police for restraint went viral when it was realized he was a Protestant pastor, says Tse. Other Christians have publicly urged Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam — who was educated in one of the city’s influential Catholic schools — to apologize for supporting China’s hated extradition bill.
Justin Tse说，有一段显示一名男子跪在人行道上，恳求警方保持克制，当人们意识到他是一名基督教牧师时，这段视频在网上疯传了开来。其它基督徒公开督促香港行政长官林郑月娥，对其支持招人痛恨的中共引渡法案的行为进行道歉。林郑月娥曾在香港一所颇具影响力的天主教学校接受教育。
That may have helped nudged Lam on Wednesday to finally announce withdrawal of the bill, which would have permitted alleged criminals to be extradited to China, where courts are distorted by politics. Key activists, however, continue to call for reforms, including free elections.
这可能有助于推动林郑月娥于周三最终宣布撤回引渡法案，该法案将允许把犯罪嫌疑人引渡到中国接受被中共政治干预的法院审判。然而，运动积极份子继续呼吁进行包括自由选举在内的改革。
Vancouver Pastor Samuel Chiu says ethnic Chinese people in Canada are finding events in Hong Kong “traumatizing, even though they’re 10,000 kilometres away.”
温哥华Samuel Chiu牧师表示，加拿大华裔发现，香港事件给他们带来了“心灵创伤，尽管此事发生在万余公里之外”。
About 80 Chinese Christians had been chanting Sing Hallelujah to the Lord in Vancouver, Chiu says, when they were confronted on Aug. 18 at Tenth Church by 100 pro-China demonstrators waving the five-star red flag of China.
Chi牧师说，8月18日那天，大约有80名华裔基督徒曾在温哥华吟唱《Sing Hallelujah to the Lord》，当时他们在Tenth Church教堂遭遇了100名挥舞着中共五星红旗的亲共示威者。
“Some in our group felt a little bit fearful, even though I myself found it amusing. People were anxious about the way (the pro-China demonstrators) were taking pictures of us as we left the church,” says Chiu, who acts as liaison for a group of evangelical and Catholic pastors supporting protesters.
“我们组的一些人感到有点害怕，尽管我自己觉得这很有趣。人们对我们离开教堂时，亲共示威者给我们拍照的方式感到焦虑，”Chiu牧师如是说，他是一群支持抗议示威者的基督教福音派和天主教牧师的联络人。
Richmond-based Chiu, with the Alliance denomination, says Sing Hallelujah to the Lord, which has also been sang at Vancouver and Toronto protests, was written in 1974 by a Californian. It became central to what what was then called the Jesus Movement, which saw tens of thousands of peace-and-love hippies convert to evangelicalism.
住在列治文的Chiu牧师是基督教宣道会（C＆MA）的成员，他说，一位加利福尼亚人于1974年撰写了《Sing Hallelujah to the Lord》，这首歌也曾在温哥华和多伦多的抗议活动中被唱响过。它成为当时“耶稣运动”的核心，成千上万热爱和平的嬉皮士皈依了福音主义。
“Sing Hallelujah to the Lord is not a political statement. It’s about the Lord hearing our prayer. It’s about crying out to the Lord. It’s not celebratory or victorious. It’s a prayer,” says Chiu, who maintains contact with key Christians leaders in Hong Kong, where much of the leadership graduated from Catholic or Protestant-run schools. Tse says “Christian ideas are just part of the fabric of the city.”
“《Sing Hallelujah to the Lord》不是一个政治声明，它是关于主倾听我们的祷告，是向主呼求。这不是庆祝或胜利，这是一个祷告，” Chiu牧师说道。他与香港的主要基督教领袖保持着联系，而香港的很多基督教领袖毕业于天主教或新教学校。Justin Tse说，“基督教思想只是这座城市结构的一部分。”
Julia Duin of Get Religion, which monitors media reporting on religious issues, can’t figure out why almost all TV and press outlets have ignored how a hymn has become the unofficial anthem of the historic protests in Hong Kong, most of which have been peaceful. Duin notes the gatherings often take on the aura of “an outdoor worship service.”
Julia Duin在Get Religion中负责监督媒体对宗教问题的报道，她无法解释为什么几乎所有的电视和媒体都忽略了，一首圣歌是如何成为香港历史性抗议活动的非官方颂歌，而香港的抗议活动绝大多数都是和平的。Duin指出，这些聚会往往带有“户外礼拜仪式的光环”。
Pastor Chiu says Christians are quietly working among the demonstrators, even though most in Hong Kong, Canada or Australia would not necessarily be churchgoers. Congregations are opening their doors to demonstrators who need rest and washrooms. Pastors in green vests are moving among the throngs, offering comfort.
Chiu牧师说，虽然大多数香港、加拿大或澳大利亚人不一定会去教堂，但是基督徒们悄无声息的在示威者中工作着。会众向需要休息和卫生间的示威者敞开大门，穿着绿色背心的牧师在人群中走动，给人以安慰。
The strength of conviction of some protesters, Christian and otherwise, is tremendous, says Chiu. Asked whether he’s heard reports some of those arrested are willing to be like early Christian martyrs and give up their lives for the greater good, Chiu says, “Many say they’re not afraid of being shot at.”
Chiu说，一些抗议者，无论是基督徒还是其他人士，其信仰的力量是巨大的。当被问及他是否听说，一些被捕人士愿意像早期基督教殉道者那样，为了更大的善举而牺牲自己的生命时，Chiu牧师说，“许多人表示他们并不害怕被击毙。”
The 49-year-old pastor, who came to Canada from Hong Kong in 1988, acknowledges mass pro-democracy demonstrations have divided the seven million people of Hong Kong (which is a special administrative region of China), as well as ethnic Chinese in North America.
这位49岁的牧师于1988年从香港来到加拿大，他承认，大规模民主示威运动已分裂了中国香港特别行政区的七百万人，以及在北美的华裔。
“I’m being pressed by some local Chinese people to not be so vocal. Some church elders are coming up to me and saying, ‘Stop talking about the protests.’ It shocked me,” says Chiu, one of an estimated 100,000 Chinese Christians in Metro Vancouver, about one-quarter of whom regularly attending church.
“我受到当地一些中国人的压力，让我不要那么直言不讳。一些教会长老走过来对我说，‘不要再谈论抗议活动了。’这让我很震惊，”Chiu牧师说道，他是温哥华市区约10万名中国基督徒中的一员，其中约四分之一的人定期上教堂。
There are significant tensions over the protests among Metro Vancouver’s 500,000 ethnic Chinese, who are roughly divided between a wave of immigrants from Hong Kong who arrived in the 1990s (with many returning) and a more recent flow coming from China.
大温哥华地区50万华裔的抗议活动，引发了严重的紧张局势。他们大致分为两派，一派是上世纪90年代从香港涌入温哥华的移民潮(许多人已回港了)，另一派是最近从中国涌入温哥华的移民潮。
On one side, says Chiu, is a large group that includes most mainland Chinese and even some Hong Kong expatriates, who want everyone to keep quiet. “They are the ones who say just obey the authorities.” On the other side is a vocal minority of protesters and their backers.
Chiu牧师说，一边是一个庞大的群体，包括大多数中国大陆人，甚至包括一些希望每个人都保持安静的香港外籍人士。“他们是那些说只要服从权威的人。”另一边是直言不讳的少数抗议者及其支持者。
The men and women getting arrested in Hong Kong who have Canadian passports might “have a way out” after they’re released, says Chiu, since they would probably be allowed to move away. But in this conflict involving the world’s second largest global power, few will predict how it’s all going to turn out.
Chiu牧师说，在香港被捕的持加拿大护照的人士获释后可能会“有条出路”，因为他们可能会被允许离开香港。但在这场涉及全球第二大强国的冲突中，几乎没有人能预测结果会如何。
Says Chiu: “You never know, you never know.”
Chiu牧师说：“你永远不会知道，你永远不会知道。”
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