1967.2.1英国驻华代办处一秘Whiteney向英国外交部远东司Wilson汇报如何处理红卫兵报纸的问题。
因为近来搜集的红卫兵报纸越来越多，这大大超出了代办处的处理能力：1.翻译问题，代办处雇佣的中文翻译忙于别的事，所以翻译只能有代办处自己的人负责。这样就只能挑选出最急切、可用的部分来翻译，不过未翻译的部分仍然可能含有很多有用的信息；2.打印问题，译稿的打印、复制对代办处来说是很沉重的负担；3.影印问题，现有机器的影印效果很差，不能拿出手到街头上同别的使馆或中国人交换小报。于是Whiteney建议把报纸先送到香港，毕竟港英的人力、技术条件更充分。
1967.2.15英国外交部Wilson回电同意Whiteney的提议，但也指出如果将来搜集到的红卫兵报纸数量下降，代办处还是应该先把报纸直接送到外交部。回电还说美国人现在急需获得红卫兵小报，越多越好，所以他就下令把英国人手中的所有红卫兵小报影印后交给美国驻香港领事馆。
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Office of the British
Chargé d’Affaires,
PEKING.
RESTRICTED
(1011/67) 1 February, 1967.
Dear David,
The supply of Red Guard newspapers is
again on the increase, as you will observe from the collection enclosed in this
week’s bag. This is a
very welcome development, as they are a most valuable source of information on
China and one which is in a number of ways better than Peking’s posters.
2. Dealing
with these newspapers does, however, put a considerable additional strain on
our relatively slender resources. The first problem is translation.
This is done entirely in Chancery as we have been
reluctant to ask our remaining Chinese translator to help in the work and he
is, in any case, fairly well occupied with other things.
The result is that we make the translations very rapidly and selectively. The second, and
possibly more serious bottleneck, is in typing and
reproduction. Typistry has been under heavy pressure for
months.
3. In
this situation we normally translate only selected extracts of what seem to us
to be the most immediately useful items in the Red Guard newspapers. We are,
however, conscious that some of the articles which are not translated or only
briefly summarised, contain much material which would be useful for background
or research purposes.
4. Up
to now we have sent you copies of the newspapers, assuming that if required you
or Joint Research Department would arrange for further translations to be made
and distributed. It now occurs to us that it would, perhaps, be a
better idea to send the first copies to Leslie Smith in Hong Kong, as he is
likely to be much better equipped to cope with the work involved.
It would be helpful if you and Leslie
Smith, to whom I am copying this letter, would telegraph your comments so that
if you do want us to make this change, we can do so without delay.
5. Where
we have two or more copies of a newspaper, we could, of course, send one both
to London and Hong Kong. Generally speaking, however, we
prefer to keep our spares for street corner trading with the Chinese or with
other Missions. Photocopying
does not at present offer a very satisfactory alternative because, as you will
be all too well aware, the machine we have here
produces rather poor copies of newspapers.
This is something we are hoping to improve but it will take time.
6. In
addition to Leslie Smith,
I am copying this letter to Colin Wilson in J.I.R.D., Frank Brewer in J.R.D.
and Emrys Davies in
Hong Kong.
Yours ever
Ray
(R.W.
Whiteney)
D.C.Wilson, Esq.
Far Eastern
Department.
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FOREIGN OFFICE,
LONDOR, S.W.l.
15
February, 1967
Many
thanks for your letter (1011/67) of 1 February about Red Guard newspapers. You
will already have seen from
the telegram I sent in reply that we
think it an excellent idea for these newspapers to be processed by Leslie Smith
providing that the translation facilities there can stand this Additional
strain. I should perhaps
add that we have
already mentioned the possibility of making this arrangement to the Americans
during the discussion we had with then here last week and they are naturally
very anxious to lay their hands on as much Red Guard
material as possible. I
have made arrangements
for photocopies of all the Red Guard newspapers we have so far
received here to be sent to their Consulate in Hong Kong.
2. I find these
newspapers fascinating reading.
When they are
easily available in
Peking there is probably
too much material for us to be able to work through quickly here but, if the supply ever
drops off again, we might possibly re-think our arrangements and have the
originals sent here so that we can make
all possible use of their contents as soon as possible.
3. I very much
sympathise with your translation and typing
problems. Talking things over with
John Boyd, who has now
returned, only confirms how hard you must all be working. The results from our point of
view are excellent.
4. I am sending
copies of this letter to Leslie Smith and Emrys Davies in Hong Kong.
(D.
C. Wilson)
R.
W. Whitney, Esq.,
Peking.
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