????概括描述一個有13億人口的大國有時候挺不容易，這還是比較溫和的說法。不過，讓我們冒點風險，這么說吧，如果稱中國是個著迷于金錢的國家，恐怕沒有多少人會有異議。中國最重要的一句口號或許出自這個國家的改革領導人鄧小平之口：“致富光榮”。中國人把沃倫?巴菲特稱為股神，每次他到訪，中國媒體會追蹤他的一言一行。迄今為止，已有超過40本關于沃倫?巴菲特的書被翻譯成中文。

????在這樣背景下，股神現年53歲、為人謙遜的兒子彼得?巴菲特最近憑借自己的能力成了中國一顆冉冉升起的新星，這事倒也相當有趣。他的成功可不是因為人們想象的那樣，股神的投資頭腦通過DNA遺傳給了兒子。彼得?巴菲特是個成功的音樂家和作曲家，為不少電視劇和電影配過樂【《與狼共舞》（Dances With Wolves）的原聲大碟就出自彼得之手，是他最杰出的作品之一】。他還常在音樂會上演奏新世紀（New Age）音樂，最近一次演出是今年8月份在北京探戈塢的音樂會，那是長城腳下一個新興戶外音樂場地。

????可是，北京與馬林郡終究不同。在當今中國，靠新世紀音樂只能走這么遠。彼得?巴菲特引起許多中國人，特別是學生和年輕專業人士的關注，乃是因為他喜歡在演奏音樂的同時提供人生建議。他傳達的核心信息中，有一部分簡而言之就是金錢不是萬能的，盡管這在當下的中國頗為有違直覺，但這正是他撥動許多人心弦的原因。沃倫?巴菲特如今在中國的巨星地位可以讓我們了解現在的中國，而彼得的成功或許可以使我們窺見中國今后的走向。

????今年稍早些時候，一家北京出版公司決定利用中國人對巴菲特的熱情大賺一筆，因此翻譯了彼得2010年寫的一本書，名為《打造自己的人生：找到自我實現之路》（Life Is What You Make It: Find Your Own Path to Fulfillment）。該書在美國的銷量一般，今年3月在中國出版時以《做你自己》（Be Yourself）為書名。截至8月份，這本書的銷量已經達到32萬本。即使在一個13億人口的大國，這也是個很大的數字。據該書中國出版商新世界出版社（New World Press）總編張海鷗透露，今年春夏，該書在網上的銷量平均每天達到了1,000本。“我們當初的期望值很高。但老實說，這樣業績還是嚇了我們一跳，”張海鷗稱。

????今年春季，彼得在中國四個城市巡回推廣他的新書，與他在美國常采用的方式一樣，他把音樂與所要傳達的信息結合起來【這類活動稱為“音樂與對話”（Concert and Conversation）】。他還接受了全國和地方的25次平面以及網絡媒體采訪，包括在新浪微博（中國版的Twitter）上與網友互動，對學生和青年專業人士來說，微博已經成了最重要的網絡媒體。

????在此之前，彼得只來過中國一次。盡管他知道父親在這個國家備受尊崇，但對于其受歡迎程度還是沒有充分的預計。今年8月，長城腳下演唱會的前一天，彼得在北京一家酒店稱，人們的熱情接待使他頗為驚訝。“我可沒預想到這種情況，”他笑著說，“就像總統競選之旅或者別的什么重大活動，到處都是記者。”

????你得記住，盡管彼得?安德魯?巴菲特是股神和已故的蘇珊?巴菲特（他的母親逝世于2004年）的第二個兒子，他并不習慣這種巨星待遇。事實上，他們的生活方式與此相差甚遠。他和妻子珍妮弗在紐約有個住所，但大多數時候，他們都居住在安靜的紐約州阿爾斯特郡，距離紐約市以北90英里。（夫妻倆沒有孩子。）除了追求音樂生涯之外，他和哥哥及姐姐一樣，都掌管著自己的慈善基金會。基金會由父親沃倫慷慨地用伯克希爾哈撒韋（Berkshire Hathaway）的股票設立。（他的姐姐蘇茜仍住在奧馬哈，專注于慈善事業；他的哥哥霍華德在伊利諾伊州的迪凱特擁有一座農場。）說起彼得?巴菲特，他最重要的特征是，看起來絕對、完全正常。聽起來不可能，但事實如此。他踏踏實實、和藹可親，沒有一丁點神經衰弱的跡象，也毫無不安全感。“哦，沒錯，”他說，“許多人都會感到奇怪，你是沃倫?巴菲特的兒子，你怎么會這么正常？”

????It is -- and this is putting it mildly -- sometimes difficult to generalize about a nation of 1.3 billion people. But let's go out on a limb and say there aren't many who would quibble with the description of China as money-obsessed. This is a nation in which arguably the most important phrase ever attributed to its transformational leader, Deng Xiaoping, was "to get rich is glorious." In China they call Warren Buffett the "god of stocks," and whenever he visits, the Chinese media cover his every move and utterance. There have been over 40 books about Warren Buffett translated into Chinese.

????Which makes it very interesting that Peter Buffett, Warren's unassuming 53-year-old son, has recently become a rising star in China in his own right. And it's not because everyone thinks Warren's investment acumen has been handed down via DNA. Peter Buffett is a successful musician and a composer, writing scores for television and film (the Dances With Wolves soundtrack is one of his prominent credits) and performing his New Agey music in concert. He played most recently in August at Beijing Tanglewood, a gorgeous new outdoor concert space in the shadow of the Great Wall.

????But Beijing isn't exactly Marin County. In today's China, New Age music will take you only so far. The reason Buffett has piqued the interest of a lot of Chinese -- students and young professionals in particular -- is that he has taken to dispensing life advice along with his music. And if part of his core message -- in essence, that money isn't everything -- seems rather counterintuitive in China these days, that's precisely the reason he has struck a chord. Warren Buffett's rock-star status tells us something about what China is today; Peter's success might tell us something about where it's going.

????Earlier this year a publisher in Beijing decided to capitalize on the Chinese demand for all things Buffett and translate a book Peter had written in 2010, titled Life Is What You Make It: Find Your Own Path to Fulfillment. It sold modestly in the U.S. and was released in China in March. Carrying the Chinese title Be Yourself, by the end of August the book had sold 320,000 copies -- a huge number, even in a country of 1.3 billion. Through much of the spring and summer, says Zhang Haióu, editor-in-chief of New World Press, Buffett's Chinese publisher, they were selling 1,000 copies a day online. "We obviously had hoped for the best, but honestly, we were stunned," says Zhang.

????Buffett did a four-city promotional tour this past spring in which, as he often does in the States, he paired his music with his message. ("Concert and Conversation," the events are called.) He did 25 press interviews with the electronic and print media -- national and local -- including a web chat on what, for students and young professionals, has become the most important media site of them all, Sina.com's microblog (the Chinese version of Twitter).

????It was only his second visit to China. And though he was aware of his father's status in the country, he hadn't quite grasped the magnitude of it. Sitting in a Beijing hotel in August, a day before his Great Wall concert, Buffett says he was taken aback by the intensity of the reception. "It wasn't quite what I was expecting," he says, laughing. "It was like a presidential campaign or something. There were reporters everywhere."

????You have to remember that while Peter Andrew Buffett may be the second son of the "god of stocks" and the late Susan Buffett -- his mother died in 2004 -- he is not used to the star treatment. Far from it, in fact. He and his wife, Jennifer, have a place in New York City but spend much of their time in quiet Ulster County, N.Y., 90 miles north of the city. (The couple have no children.) In addition to pursuing his music career, he, like his two older siblings, runs his own charitable foundation, which his father has funded generously with Berkshire Hathaway (BRKA) stock. (His sister, Susie, still lives in Omaha and focuses on her philanthropic work; his brother, Howard, owns a farm in Decatur, Ill.) Above all, the key thing about Peter Buffett is that he appears to be absolutely and completely normal. It hardly seems possible, but there it is. Well-grounded, affable, nary a twitch of neurosis or insecurity about him. "Oh, yeah," he says, "I get that all the time. You're Warren Buffett's son, and you're soooo normal."