艾莎2026年9月2日上周，北京一处屏幕上播放着官方媒体对西藏洪灾后续情况的报道。 Greg Baker/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesRescue workers were only just starting to assess the scope of loss and destruction from deadly Himalayan floods last week when Chinese authorities turned to another challenge: unapproved narratives of the devastation.上周那场致命的喜马拉雅洪灾发生后，救援人员才刚刚开始评估灾情和损失的规模，中国当局就已经着手应对另一项挑战：未经批准的灾情叙事。Censors quickly deleted videos and eyewitness accounts from social media. Journalists working for state media and social media influencers were warned not to report on casualties or missing people unless their reports aligned with official announcements. People who questioned the official death toll were given “administrative penalties,” punishment that typically involves either a fine of up to $150 or up to 10 days in prison.审查人员迅速删除了社交媒体上的视频和目击者描述。官方媒体的记者和自媒体创作者接到警告，伤亡或失踪人员信息须以官方通报为准，不得擅自报道。质疑官方死亡人数的人被处以“行政处罚”——通常包括最高1000元的罚款或最高10天的拘留。When some foreign news outlets noted the contrast in coverage between Tibet, where no foreign journalist is allowed to report, and Nepal, where international media have been able to travel freely, the Chinese government called the reporting “malicious speculation.”一些外国新闻机构指出，西藏与尼泊尔的报道情况形成鲜明对比：外国记者不被允许进入西藏进行报道，但国际媒体可以自由前往尼泊尔。对此，中国政府称这些报道属于“恶意揣测”。The immediate and widespread crackdown on speech reflects two challenges facing China’s ruling Communist Party, which tightly controls information across the country.这种迅速且广泛的言论管控折射出中共面临的两大挑战，北京对全国的信息传播实行严格控制。The crisis has focused attention on Tibet, a region with a history of unrest and protest centered around demands for more autonomy that are sensitive to Beijing. And it has hit both China and its neighbor, Nepal, where just across the border dozens of journalists have arrived to report witness accounts and talk to families and local residents. That difference has raised questions about what is happening in China.这场危机将关注焦点引向了西藏——这个地区历史上曾发生过多次动荡和抗议活动，而要求扩大自治的诉求一直是北京高度敏感的问题。这场灾害同时冲击了中国及其邻国尼泊尔，在尼泊尔一侧的边境地带，已有数十名记者抵达当地，采访目击者，遇难者家属和当地居民交谈。这种反差引发了人们对中国境内究竟发生了什么的质疑。周日，尼泊尔婆罗多布尔市为遇难者举行集体安葬。“With this one, even if the Chinese side has information control, on the Nepal side there is a lot of information coming out,” said Xiao Qiang, the editor in chief of China Digital Times, a nonprofit that collects data on censorship and archives work that has been censored on China’s internet. “It makes the Chinese government feel that controlling information around this event is harder.”“这次的情况是，即便中方实施信息管控，尼泊尔那边也会流出大量信息，”中国数字时代总编辑萧强说。这是一个收集审查数据并归档中国互联网上被删内容的非营利组织。他表示，“这让中国政府感到，控制这次事件的相关信息变得更加困难。”Tibet, which was annexed by Beijing in the 1950s, is rigidly governed and has been a place of protest, including self-immolations by Tibetans. Foreign journalists are not allowed to travel there unless invited on heavily monitored and choreographed official tours. Tibetans risk detention for speaking to reporters.西藏于20世纪50年代被北京纳入版图，此后一直对这里实行严格管控。这里曾发生过多次抗议，包括藏人自焚事件。除非受邀参加由官方组织、行程安排严密且全程受到监控的访问活动，否则外国记者不得前往西藏。藏人若与记者交谈，可能面临拘留风险。When official memorials were held on Tuesday in Gyirong County, Tibet, as workers continued to clear roads and search for bodies, China’s state media showed images of doctors, police officers, emergency workers and officials standing in mourning.周二，西藏吉隆县举行官方悼念活动时，道路清理和遗体搜寻工作仍在继续。中国官方媒体发布的画面中，可以看到医生、警察、救援人员和官员肃立哀悼。周二，救援人员在西藏吉隆县参加遇难者悼念仪式，照片由中国官方媒体发布。“Throughout the rescue efforts, cadres and party members stood on the front lines, stepping up to take full responsibility,” the state-controlled People’s Daily wrote in a front-page article last week. “United as one, braving all perils,” the article went on.“抢险救援中，广大党员干部冲锋在前、挺膺担当，”官方报纸《人民日报》上周在头版文章中写道。“众志成城，不畏艰险，”文章继续写道。Largely absent from the reporting have been images of the injured, the dead and their families.报道中几乎看不到伤者、遇难者及其家属的画面。The flooding killed at least 987 people in Nepal and 16 in Tibet, according to official tallies. Nearly 4,000 people were missing in Nepal as of Tuesday, according to the country’s disaster agency. In Tibet, 546 people were still missing, according to Chinese state media, which did not publish any names. China’s most recent figures are from Aug. 29.官方统计显示，洪灾在尼泊尔造成至少987人死亡，在西藏造成16人死亡。截至周二，尼泊尔灾害管理部门称仍有近4000人失踪。而在西藏，据中国官方媒体报道，仍有546人失踪，但未公布任何姓名。中国方面的最新数据截至8月29日。“Search and rescue and emergency relief work in the disaster area are being carried out in an intense and orderly manner,” said Guo Jiakun, a spokesman for China’s foreign ministry. “Our release of information is public, transparent, and timely.”“当前，灾区人员搜救和抢险救灾工作正紧张有序开展。”中国外交部发言人郭嘉昆说，“中方信息发布公开、透明、及时。”One day after floodwaters ravaged villages around the Himalayas, government censors were already removing videos from social media platforms. The cybersecurity department of China’s Ministry of Public Security quickly tracked down people posting specific numbers of dead and missing and accused them of spreading false information online. The department announced 10 cases in five different provinces. In one case, a user was penalized for posting that the disaster was “not that severe, probably around 500 people, and the missing might all be dead.”洪水席卷喜马拉雅地区的村庄后第二天，政府审查人员已开始从社交媒体平台删除相关视频。中国公安部网络安全部门迅速追查发布具体伤亡数字的用户，并指控他们传播虚假信息。该部门通报了涉及五个省份的10起案件。其中一起案件中，一名用户因为发布这样的内容而受到处罚：“不算严重，可能死500个人左右、失踪人口可能全部都死了。”上周，尼泊尔博特科西河浑浊河水的航拍画面。This week, the authorities in Tibet issued a notice to social media influencers, warning them not to go to the disaster zone or to spread rumors, in order to “support the overall rescue and relief efforts and jointly create a rational, orderly, and clean online public opinion environment.”本周，西藏有关部门向自媒体创作者发出通知，警告他们不得前往灾区或传播谣言，以“为全力服务保障抢险救援大局，共同营造理性、有序、清朗的网络舆论环境”。Journalists accredited to work at Chinese state media were ordered not to interview survivors or their families, said Maya Wang, the deputy Asia director at Human Rights Watch.人权观察亚洲区副主任王松莲说，官媒记者被要求不得采访幸存者或者他们的家人。“What authoritarian governments fear most are questions,” she said. “The playbook is to control other narratives, extinguish any questions which inevitably lead to seeking accountability.”“威权政府最害怕的就是问题，”她说，“它们惯用的做法就是控制叙事，扑灭一切问题，因为这些问题最终不可避免地会指向追责。”The trumpeting of rescue efforts and the exclusion of stories of death and injury is part of China’s playbook when it comes to major disasters.中国政府应对重大灾难的一贯做法是大力宣传救援工作，同时排除伤亡故事。The crackdown in Tibet echoes the government’s response to other crises, like the Covid-19 outbreak and a huge earthquake in the southern Chinese province of Sichuan in 2008 that killed thousands. In both cases, officials moved fast to blot out public comments about the government response and punish people who tried to expose lapses in it.这次关于西藏的言论管控与政府应对其他危机时的做法如出一辙，例如新冠疫情，以及2008年四川造成数万人死亡的强烈地震。在这两起事件中，官员都迅速采取行动，压制公众对政府应对措施的评论，并惩罚那些试图揭露政府失误的人。The true scale of devastation from the latest flooding in Tibet is expected to be far worse than official state accounts, according to the International Campaign for Tibet, a nonprofit advocacy group.非营利倡议组织“国际声援西藏运动”认为，此次西藏洪灾的真实破坏规模预计远比官方公布的情况严重。China has not said which villages have been affected on the Tibetan side. But the group, citing sources on the ground, said some of the hardest hit included Sale, Serchung, Labi and Rizi, where some 300 homes have been destroyed and many people were still missing.中国政府没有说明西藏一侧究竟有哪些村庄受灾。但该组织援引当地消息人士的话称，受灾最严重的地区包括萨勒、色琼、拉比和里孜，当地约有300栋房屋被毁，许多人仍然失联。Some survivors have been moved to Gyirong Town and are being held under supervision and tight security, said Ryan Fioresi, the executive director of the International Campaign for Tibet.“国际声援西藏运动”执行主任彭德安(Ryan Fioresi)说，部分幸存者已经被转移到吉隆，并受到监控和严密安保。“Almost any unrestricted information from Tibet can become politically sensitive because it challenges the party’s monopoly over the global narrative over how Tibet is represented and governed,” Mr. Fioresi said.“几乎任何来自西藏、未经限制的信息都可能成为政治敏感信息，因为它挑战了中共对于西藏如何呈现、如何治理的全球叙事垄断，”彭德安说。“Even during a humanitarian disaster, spontaneous relief efforts or independent reporting can show that Tibetans have their own networks, leadership and sense of collective responsibility outside party structures,” he added.他还说：“即便是在一场人道主义灾难中，自发的救援行动或独立报道也可能让人看到，藏人拥有党组织体系之外的网络、领导力量以及集体责任意识。”艾莎(Alexandra Stevenson)是《纽约时报》上海分社社长，报道中国经济和社会新闻。翻译：纽约时报中文网点击查看本文英文版。