Beijing and Brussels are the choice each civilization made when it decided the maritime era required a political administrator that wasn't itself maritime. Both are sober, central, somewhat boring cities that rule rich coasts they only partially understand. Both are bureaucratic machines: Brussels runs the EU; Beijing runs a 1.4-billion-person continent. The deep joke is the same: the people who actually make the money live three hours away, by train.北京与布鲁塞尔，是各自文明在「航海时代需要一个非海洋的政治管理者」这一选择上的答案。两座城都肃穆、居中、略显沉闷——治理着自己只是部分理解的富裕海岸。两地都是官僚机器：布鲁塞尔治欧盟；北京治十四亿人口的大陆。两地深层的玩笑相同：真正赚钱的人，火车三个小时之外。

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  Northern, inland-leaning political capital.偏北、偏内陆的政治首都。

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  A reputation for committee meetings, not commerce.以「开会」而不以「做生意」著称。

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  Multilingual diplomatic apparatus.多语种外交机构。

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  A skyline of think-tanks and embassies.由智库与使馆构成的天际线。

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  Beijing is a sovereign capital; Brussels is a supranational one.北京是主权国首都；布鲁塞尔是超国家机构所在地。

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  Beijing has 3,000 years; Brussels 1,000.北京已有三千年；布鲁塞尔约一千年。

1. Becoming capital成为首都
   CN

   1271 — Khanbaliq under Kublai Khan.1271——大都，忽必烈定都。

   EU

   1830 — capital of independent Belgium.1830——独立比利时首都。

2. Imperial role帝国角色
   CN

   Ming–Qing capital, again.明清复为首都。

   EU

   1957 — EEC; 1992 — EU; the European capital.1957——欧洲经济共同体；1992——欧盟；欧洲首都。

3. Modern administrator现代管理者
   CN

   Today — runs the PRC, headquarters most SOEs.今天——执掌中国，国企总部所在地。

   EU

   Today — Commission, Parliament, NATO HQ.今天——欧委会、欧议会、北约总部。

Both cities live in the calm hum of governance — the kind of city you visit, not the kind you go to to feel something.两地都在「治理的低沉嗡鸣」中生活——是你去办事的城市，而不是你去感受心跳的城市。

• The Search for Modern China
  Jonathan Spence · 1990
• The Great Surge: The Ascent of the Developing World
  Steven Radelet · 2015