王月眉2026年5月14日2017年，特朗普总统夫妇与同习近平及其夫人彭丽媛参观北京故宫留影。 Doug Mills/The New York TimesDuring his 2005 presidential visit to China, George W. Bush, an enthusiastic mountain biker, cycled with members of the country’s national team.2005年小布什访华期间，这位热衷山地自行车运动的美国总统与中国国家队成员一起骑行。When China’s current leader, Xi Jinping, toured the United States in 2015, he received a football jersey from high schoolers in Tacoma, Wash., and promised to encourage more tourism between the countries.中国现任领导人习近平2015年访美时，在华盛顿州塔科马市收到了当地高中生赠送的橄榄球球衣，并承诺推动两国之间更多的旅游往来。There seem to be few such displays of bilateral bonhomie in store for this week’s summit between Mr. Xi and President Trump in Beijing.而在本周习近平主席与特朗普总统于北京举行的峰会上，似乎不会再出现这种双边友好气氛的展示。That reflects a grim reality of U.S.-China relations: As geopolitical and economic tensions have grown, softer ties — which previously had persisted despite other disputes — have weakened, too. Mr. Trump and Mr. Xi are expected to discuss contentious issues such as trade, Taiwan and the war in Iran.这反映出当前美中关系的一个严峻现实：随着地缘政治和经济紧张局势加剧，两国的软性纽带如今也已削弱。以往尽管存在其他争端，这种纽带仍得以维持。特朗普与习近平预计将就贸易、台湾及伊朗战争等棘手议题展开磋商。2005年，美国总统小布什在北京的一条自行车道上骑行。 Charles Dharapak/Associated PressFor decades, displays of fellowship between the countries’ leaders and ordinary people were staples of high-level, bilateral meetings. Though highly choreographed, they reflected genuine ties. Hundreds of thousands of students traveled between the United States and China each year. American athletes and musicians toured China to rapturous crowds. Chinese and American scientists worked closely together to fuel breakthroughs in clean energy, particle physics and cancer research.几十年来，两国领导人与普通民众之间展现友好关系的场景一直是高层双边会晤的重要组成部分。这些场景固然经过精心编排，但也确实反映了双方真实存在的联系。每年都有数十万学生往返于美中两国间。美国运动员和音乐家赴中国演出时经常受到民众的热烈欢迎。中美科学家也曾密切合作，在清洁能源、粒子物理和癌症研究领域推动重大突破。But now, student exchanges between the two countries are declining. Foreign performers have had gigs abruptly canceled by the Chinese authorities. And scientific collaboration has been chilled by concerns from both governments about sharing sensitive research.但如今，两国间的学生交流规模正在萎缩。外国演艺人员的演出会被中国当局突然取消。由于两国政府对分享敏感研究的担忧，科学合作也已日趋冷淡。Today, there are fewer than 2,000 American students in China — compared with 11,000 in 2019, according to the U.S.-China Education Trust, a nonprofit group in Washington. Near Peking University in Beijing — which sits on the site of a former university built by American missionaries — bars that used to be hot spots for American students now cater to a largely Chinese clientele.如今，在中国的美国学生不到2000人，根据华盛顿的非营利组织中美教育基金的数据，2019年这一数字曾达到1.1万人。在北京大学附近——这所高校坐落于昔日美国传教士创办的大学旧址之上——那些曾是美国学生聚集地的酒吧如今的顾客已几乎清一色是中国人。“There is no place where the Americans hang out at Peking,” said Domenic Caturello, a 26-year-old master’s student of international relations from Massachusetts. “Because there are so few of us.”“北大没有美国人扎堆的地方了，”来自马萨诸塞州、就读国际关系硕士专业的26岁学生多梅尼克·卡图雷洛说，“因为我们人数实在太少了。”Chinese enrollment in American universities is falling, too. For years, China was the biggest source of international students to the United States. But now, many prospective Chinese students have been driven away by fears of visa denials and anti-Chinese hostility. In the 2023-24 school year, India overtook China as the top country of origin.中国学生赴美就读的人数同样在下滑。多年来，中国一直是美国国际学生的最大来源国。但如今，签证被拒和反华情绪的阴影令许多有意赴美的中国学生望而却步。2023至2024学年，印度已超越中国，跃升为国际学生的第一大来源国。Mr. Caturello said that he also faced skepticism at home about studying in China. An acquaintance asked him why he was going to the country of “the enemy.”卡图雷洛说，他在美国国内也遭遇质疑。一位熟人问他，为何要去“敌国”求学。But Mr. Caturello said he had never been treated poorly in China because of his nationality. And getting to hear Chinese perspectives on international relations was invaluable, especially given the American strategic rivalry with the country, he added.但卡图雷洛表示，他在中国从未因为国籍而受到恶劣对待。他补充说，能听到中国人对国际关系的看法是非常宝贵的，尤其是在美中战略竞争的背景下。“It would be really shooting ourselves in the foot as a nation, if we were to willingly blind ourselves to the reality of things in the other country,” he said.“如果我们主动对另一个国家的现实视而不见，那作为一个国家无异于自己害自己，”他说。Other forms of cultural exchange have also suffered. The Philadelphia Orchestra first traveled to Beijing in 1973, becoming the first American ensemble to perform in Communist-led China. It has visited 15 more times, including a trip by a small delegation last year. But if the group did not have such a long history in the country, organizing visits today would be “extraordinarily difficult,” said Ryan Fleur, the orchestra’s president.其他形式的文化交流同样受到冲击。费城交响乐团1973年首次赴京演出，成为共产党掌权后的中国登台亮相的第一个美国乐团，此后又先后15次访华，包括去年派出了一个小型代表团。但乐团总裁瑞恩·弗勒坦言，若非有如此深厚的历史渊源，在今天组织这样的访问演出将“极其困难”。“In the particular climate of the times, if you don’t already have an open door, it’s hard to open one,” he said.“在当下的特殊氛围下，如果你原本没有一扇已经打开的门，那就很难打开一扇新的门，”他说。1973年，时任费城交响乐团指挥的尤金·奥曼迪（中）在长城游览。American government support for cultural exchange has waned, too. Even as relations with China reached perhaps their lowest point in decades under President Joseph R. Biden, the administration emphasized cultural diplomacy, including backing a trip to China by the Philadelphia Orchestra. But the Trump administration has threatened to revoke the visas of Chinese students and slashed funding for international exchange programs.美国政府对文化交流的支持也有所减弱。即使在拜登总统任内美中关系跌至可能数十年来的最低点时，拜登政府仍强调文化外交，包括支持费城交响乐团访华。但特朗普政府威胁撤销中国学生的签证，并大幅削减了对国际交流项目的资助。There are recent signs that cultural ties could begin to strengthen once again. Polls show that attitudes toward China in the United States are improving, though still largely negative. Younger Americans in particular see China more favorably, partly influenced by social media trends that highlight the country’s economic advances.不过，近期也出现了一些文化交流回暖的迹象。民调显示，美国公众对中国的看法有所改善，尽管整体上仍偏负面。年轻美国人对中国的看法更加积极，部分原因在于社交媒体上大量突出中国经济发展成果的内容。China, for its part, has loosened visa requirements for many foreign tourists. Last month, the government invited American athletes to Beijing for an event celebrating the 55th anniversary of “ping pong diplomacy” — the visit of American ping pong players to China before diplomatic ties were restored under Richard Nixon and Mao Zedong.中国方面也向众多外国游客放宽了签证要求。上个月，中国政府邀请美国运动员赴北京出席纪念“乒乓外交”55周年的活动。“乒乓外交”指的是美国乒乓球队在尼克松与毛泽东恢复两国外交关系之前访问中国的历史事件。Lines of Chinese applicants seeking visas to study in and travel to the United States still form outside of the U.S. Embassy in Beijing.在北京的美国大使馆外，申请赴美留学和旅游签证的中国人依然排着长队。But even those applicants may cast a warier eye on the United States. Xue Jun, a visa consultant in the city of Nanjing, said that many of his customers these days were driven by a desire to escape China’s economic downturn, rather than fondness for the United States.但即便是这些申请者，对美国的看法也可能多了几分警惕。南京的签证顾问薛军（音）表示，如今他的许多客户申请赴美，更多是出于逃离中国经济下行压力的考虑，而不是因为对美国抱有好感。“People don’t look at the United States with the same sense of mystique or infatuation as in the ’90s, or even just a few years ago,” Mr. Xue said. “I don’t think we’ll see an upward trend ahead.”“大家对于美国没有像90年代或者是前几年那段时间那么神话或者是迷恋，”薛军说，“我不觉得它会是一个上升的趋势。”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。