王月眉2025年8月4日去年在南京，等待参加公务员考试的人。 CFOTO/Future Publishing, via Getty ImagesWhen Tina Liu was hired to teach literature in a public elementary school in southern China, her contract included the usual warnings about absenteeism and job performance.蒂娜·刘（音）被中国南方一所公立小学聘为语文教师，合同中包含了关于旷工和工作表现的常见警告条款。Then came another line: Traveling abroad without the school’s permission could get her fired.紧接着还有这样一条：未经学校允许出国旅行，可能会导致解雇。The rule was reinforced in a staff group chat. “According to regulations from higher-ups, teachers need to strengthen their disciplinary awareness,” the message said. “We will currently not permit any overseas vacations.”一个教职工群聊中进一步强调了这一规定。“根据上级部门规定，教师需增强纪律意识，”消息中写道，“目前不允许任何境外休假。”Across China, similar warnings are spreading as the authorities tighten control over state employees’ contacts with foreigners. Some kindergarten teachers, doctors and even government contractors and employees of state-owned enterprises have been ordered to hand in their passports. Some cities make retirees wait two years to reclaim their passports.在中国各地，随着当局正加强对公职人员与外国人接触的管控，类似的警告正在蔓延。一些幼儿园的教师、医生甚至政府承包商和国有企业员工都被要求上交护照。一些城市规定，退休人员要等两年才能取回护照。In many cities, travel overseas by public employees, even for personal reasons, requires approval. Business trips abroad for “ordinary research, exchange and study” have been banned. And in most provinces, those who have studied abroad are now disqualified from certain public positions.在许多城市，公职人员即使因私人原因出国旅行，也需要获得批准。以“普通调研、交流和学习”为目的的出国公务旅行已被禁止。而且在大多数省份，有海外留学经历的人现在已失去担任某些公职的资格。Officials cite various reasons, including protecting national security, fighting corruption and cutting costs. But the scope of the restrictions has expanded rapidly, sweeping up employees who say they have no access to sensitive information or government funds. The New York Times spoke to seven public employees, including an elementary school music teacher, a nurse and a literature professor, who confirmed the restrictions.官员们给出了各种各样的理由，包括维护国家安全、打击腐败和削减开支。但这些限制的范围迅速扩大，波及到了那些表示自己接触不到敏感信息或政府资金的员工。《纽约时报》采访了七位公职人员，其中包括一名小学音乐教师、一名护士和一名文学教授，他们都证实了这些限制的存在。2023年，中国某小学举行升旗仪式。The rules are part of a push by the central authorities to impose greater so-called political discipline and ideological loyalty on government workers. Two of the people The Times spoke to said they were also ordered to disclose their personal social media accounts to their employers. Another person said she had to notify her employer if she left the city where she worked. Some local governments have banned civil servants from eating out in groups of more than three, measures that came after several reports of excessive drinking at official banquets.这些规定是中央当局为加强所谓政府工作人员政治纪律和思想忠诚而采取的举措之一。《纽约时报》采访的两个人说，他们还被要求向单位披露个人社交媒体账号。另一个人表示，如果她离开工作所在的城市，必须通知单位。一些地方政府禁止三人以上的公务员聚餐，这一措施是在多起官方宴会上出现酗酒报道后出台的。But the authorities are especially vigilant about overseas contact. The Chinese government has long been wary of the threat of espionage and what it sees as hostile foreign forces seeking to sow discontent. In July, People’s Daily, the Chinese Communist Party’s mouthpiece, published an article declaring that people-to-people diplomacy “exists because of the party” and should be led by the party.但当局对海外接触尤为警惕。中国政府长期以来一直警惕间谍活动的威胁，以及它所称的试图煽动不满情绪的敌对外国势力。7月，中国共产党官方喉舌《人民日报》发表文章称，民间外交“因党而立”，应由党来领导。The result is that even as Beijing advertises itself as eager to attract foreign businesses and tourists, it is preventing many of its own people from leaving.其结果是，尽管北京宣称渴望吸引外国企业和游客，但却在阻止本国许多民众出境。“On the one hand, you want foreigners to come to China. You advertise Chinese culture and hope they’ll boost the economy,” Ms. Liu, who is in her 20s, said. “But on the other hand, why are you trapping us here, rather than letting us see more of the world?”“一方面，你希望外国人来中国。你宣传中国文化，希望他们能促进经济发展，”20多岁的蒂娜·刘说，“但另一方面，为什么要把我们困在这里，不让我们多看看世界呢？”Travel restrictions for some state employees are not new. Since 2003, high-ranking officials or those handling state secrets must report foreign travel in advance. Their names are given to border officials to prevent unauthorized exits.对部分国家工作人员的旅行限制并非新事。自2003年起，高级官员或接触国家机密的人员必须提前报备出国旅行情况。他们的名字会被提供给边境官员，以防止未经授权的出境。But under Xi Jinping, China’s most powerful leader in decades, the controls have extended to far lower-level workers.但在习近平这位中国数十年来最有权势的领导人的领导下，这些管控已扩大到级别低得多的工作人员。Full-time officials at six fishing villages near the city of Zhoushan, in coastal Zhejiang Province, were told to surrender their documents, a local government notice shows. In a city in Jiangxi Province, a public health agency also told employees to report any overseas trips they’d taken since 2018.一份地方政府通知显示，浙江省沿海城市舟山附近六个渔村的全职官员被要求上交证件。在江西省的一个城市，一家公共卫生机构要求员工上报2018年以来的所有出国旅行情况。舟山的一个渔港。该市周边一些地区的全职村干部被要求交出护照。A music teacher at an elementary school in central Hebei Province said that she had applied to go to Malaysia this summer because her sister would be studying abroad there. Her school principal refused the request, said the teacher, who gave only her surname, Wang, for fear of retaliation.河北省中部一所小学的音乐教师说，她今年夏天申请去马来西亚，因为她的姐妹要去那里留学，但校长拒绝了这一请求。该教师因担心遭到报复而未透露全名，仅透露自己姓王（音）。A nurse at a hospital in Zhejiang said she would need four layers of approvals to travel abroad. The nurse, who also asked to be identified only by her surname, Zhu, for fear of retaliation, said she had not applied, even though she had long dreamed of visiting Vietnam. The restrictions, she said, seemed to show a fear that even ordinary workers might flee with sensitive information or illicit funds — an idea she scoffed at.浙江省一名护士说，她若要出国旅行，需要经过四层审批。尽管一直希望能去越南，但她并没有申请。同样为避免报复，她仅透露自己姓朱（音）。她说，这些限制似乎表明，当局担心即使是普通员工也可能携带敏感信息或非法资金出逃——对此她嗤之以鼻。“If there are any secrets, would people like us know about them?” she said. “What money do we have to abscond with?”“要是真有什么秘密，我们这种人会知道吗？”她说，“我们又有什么钱可以卷款潜逃呢？”Those who are allowed to travel abroad are sometimes required to pledge not to endanger national security or speak ill of China while away.获准出国旅行的人有时还被要求保证在国外期间不危害国家安全，不说中国坏话。The Inner Mongolia University of Technology told employees not to accept any media interviews or to meet with any “outside parties” while abroad, without authorization. Encounters with “anti-China forces” should be reported to Chinese embassies, the university said.内蒙古工业大学要求员工在国外未经批准不得接受任何媒体采访或与任何“外方”会面。若遇到“反华势力”，需向中国驻外使馆报告。Failure to hand in one’s passport within a week of returning could lead to a five-year travel ban.若回国后一周内未交回护照，可能会导致五年内被禁止出境。中国当局正在加强对国家公务员与外国人接触的管控。在许多城市，公务员必须将护照交由上级保管。The restrictions are also creeping into hiring. For new graduates hoping to join China’s civil service, some of the most coveted positions are in the program known as “xuandiaosheng,” which loosely translates as “selected students.” Those students, who are recruited from top universities, are put on a fast track to leadership positions.这些限制还逐渐渗透到招聘环节。对于希望进入中国公务员体系的应届毕业生来说，一些最令人向往的职位属于“选调生”项目。这些从顶尖大学招募的学生会被纳入快速晋升至领导岗位的轨道。Each province determines which schools it will recruit from, and many, including Guangdong in the south, used to include overseas universities. This year, Guangdong listed only Chinese universities; so did five other regions in the past year. Only Shanghai now explicitly accepts graduates of foreign universities for the elite program.每个省份自行决定从哪些学校招募选调生，包括南方的广东省在内的许多省份过去都将海外大学包括在内。今年，广东省只列出了中国的大学；其他五个地区在过去一年里也是如此。目前只有上海明确表示，该精英项目接受外国大学的毕业生。Liaoning Province, in the northeast, went even further. Anyone who had lived overseas for more than six months, and whose “experience and political performance abroad” were hard to investigate, was deemed ineligible this year.东北的辽宁省更进一步。今年，任何在海外居住超过六个月且“海外经历和政治表现”难以核查的人，都被视为不符合资格。Police departments in major cities have imposed similar rules. In Shanghai, even having a spouse or close relative who has moved abroad can disqualify a candidate.各大城市的警察局也实施了类似规定。在上海，即使有配偶或近亲移居海外，也可能导致申请人不符合资格。上海，在指挥交通的警察。Dongshu Liu, a professor at City University of Hong Kong who studies China’s civil service, said that many of the restrictions most likely did not stem from a clear central mandate. But as the central government’s scrutiny of midlevel officials has grown, those midlevel officials were probably trying to avoid any possible sources of trouble.香港城市大学研究中国公务员制度的刘冬舒教授表示，许多限制很可能并非源于中央明确的指令。但随着中央政府对中层官员的审查加强，这些中层官员或许是在试图避免任何可能引发麻烦的源头。“Because of U.S.-China relations, because of the competition, I think it’s fair to say that Chinese society in general has become more sensitive to foreign countries,” Professor Liu said. For policymakers, that makes “everything related to foreign countries risky,” he added.“由于中美关系，由于竞争，我认为可以说中国社会总体上对外国变得更加敏感了，”刘冬舒说。他还说，这让政策制定者觉得“所有与外国有关的事情都存在风险”。The Chinese government still wants to broadcast an image of openness, and would prefer to keep its inward turn more quiet, said Wu Qiang, an independent political analyst in Beijing. Though some local governments have published their passport regulations online, many interviewees said they were told only verbally.北京独立政治分析师吴强（音）表示，中国政府仍希望展现开放的形象，更愿意让其向内收缩的举措不那么引人注目。尽管一些地方政府在网上公布了护照管理规定，但许多受访者表示他们只是得到了口头通知。Enforcement of the restrictions appears to be uneven. Ms. Zhu said nurses at other hospitals in her city still had their passports, for instance.这些限制的执行力度似乎参差不齐。例如，朱女士说，她所在城市其他医院的护士仍然持有护照。And government employees are not the only ones being scrutinized for overseas ties. China’s state security agency has repeatedly warned ordinary citizens about the dangers of traveling overseas, or to look out for foreigners who might be spies.而且，并非只有政府雇员因海外关系受到审查。中国国家安全机构多次警告普通公民出国旅行的危险，或提醒他们留意可能是间谍的外国人。Dong Mingzhu, the chairwoman of Gree Electric, a major Chinese appliance manufacturer, said earlier this year that she would avoid hiring people who returned from overseas, because they might be spies.中国大型家电制造商格力电器的董事长董明珠今年早些时候表示，她不会聘用海归人员，因为他们可能是间谍。3月，上海一个展位展示了格力电器董事长董明珠的照片。That declaration drew widespread criticism from social media users who said it promoted discrimination and would harm China’s global competitiveness. Even People’s Daily ran an opinion piece defending overseas talent.这一声明遭到了社交媒体用户的广泛批评，他们称这助长了歧视，会损害中国的全球竞争力。甚至《人民日报》也发表评论文章为海外人才辩护。But while ordinary Chinese might complain about restrictions on their freedoms, government employees are unlikely to put up much resistance, said Professor Liu, in Hong Kong.但香港的刘冬舒表示，虽然普通中国人可能会抱怨对其自由的限制，但政府雇员不太可能进行太多反抗。Indeed, the government workers The Times spoke to all said they would not quit over having their passports taken.事实上，《纽约时报》采访的政府工作人员都表示，不会因为护照被收走而辞职。Ms. Zhu, the nurse in Zhejiang, said her stable salary of about $27,000 a year — much more than the average in her city — was worth the “emotional value” she was being denied. And she knew many other workers around her were in the same situation.浙江的护士朱女士说，她每年约19万元的稳定工资——远高于她所在城市的平均水平——足以抵消被剥夺的“情绪价值”。而且她知道，身边很多其他员工也处于同样的情况。“If everyone dies, it’s OK, you know?” she said. “As long as I’m not the only one.”“如果大家都死，也就没什么了，对吧？”她说，“只要不是我一个人这样就行。”Siyi Zhao对本文有研究贡献。王月眉(Vivian Wang)是《纽约时报》驻华记者，常驻北京，撰写关于中国的崛起及雄心如何塑造普通人日常生活的报道。翻译：纽约时报中文网点击查看本文英文版。