????“中國最有影響力的人”、“中國道德領袖”、以及“中國十大杰出志愿者”……帶著印有這樣一堆頭銜的名片來到紐約媒體面前自然有希望獲得一些關注。果不其然，一位來自中國東部地區的企業家陳光標在本周就如愿以償——他經營的業務是拆除建筑物（他自己的名片上寫的是“拆遷專家”）。

????美國記者們勉為其難地報道這位自稱前往美國收購《紐約時報》【the New York Times，或《華爾街日報》（the Wall Street Journal）】部分或全部股份的人（這兩件事情陳光標都沒有做）。他們驚嘆于他自我推銷的天賦，但值得注意的是，當陳光標造訪《財富》雜志時堅稱：“不管我做什么，我從來沒有想過出名這回事”。

????對陳光標摸不著頭腦的并不只有美國人，過去4年里，中國的記者們也一直在試圖搞清楚他到底是怎么一回事。

????陳光標2008年還是一位名不見經傳的企業家，直到四川地震發生后，他將60臺拆卸機器和120名員工派往災區協助救援隊拯救幸存者。按照典型的中國方式，陳光標的貢獻通過數字呈現在人們眼前：他從廢墟中救出130條人命，還向災區捐贈了1億多元的善款。中國國營小報《環球時報》（Global Times）報道稱，中國當時的總理溫家寶稱贊他是“一個有良知、有感情、心系災區的企業家”。

????從那時起，陳光標就開始轉型走上了 “表演”之路。他把自己的中文名字改成“低碳”，以喚起人們對環保問題的關注，甚至還玩起了售賣罐裝空氣的噱頭。陳光標飛到臺灣，向那里的窮人捐贈了25萬美元。2011年，他又向日本海嘯災民捐贈了善款。

????《福布斯》（Forbes）估計陳光標的個人凈資產為7.4億美元，他是否有這么多錢也是中國記者津津樂道的話題。陳光標在12月24日發布了一張自己被現金墻包圍的圖片（他自稱圖片中的現金總額為2.3億美元），引起了中國流行門戶網站搜狐記者的興趣。 他們在12月27日刊文稱，陳光標的公司2008年、2009年連續兩年虧損，并得出結論稱，他的生意無法支撐他自己所宣稱的利潤。他們還援引了陳光標先前說過的話，即在他這個行業獲得成功“甚至比吃屎還難”。

????北京一位人脈廣泛的商務顧問告訴我，陳光標游走在主流之外。他說，一些商人厭惡他的虛榮，其他人則不以為然。甚至連陳光標的慈善捐贈也受到了批評。徐永光是中國慈善事業最知名的專家之一，他在2011年寫了一篇文章，批評陳光標隨意捐贈現金，還從其他企業家那里募集善款、借花獻佛的行為。

????陳光標在造訪《財富》時聲稱自己的實際身家為15億美元。他表示，自己到紐約的目的是收購《紐約時報》部分或全部的股份，同時，他誓言要利用這份報紙來傳播自己關于世界和平、慈善和環保的價值觀，展現出一種如同選美參賽者一般發自內心的樂觀。他坦承：“由于我的形象——或者像我們所說的那樣，在中國的‘炫耀式慈善’——我得罪了不少權貴人士。”

????徐永光在2011年的那篇文章中呼吁陳光標提升自己的專業精神。徐光遠可能比他同時代的人更有遠見。（財富中文網）

????譯者：王燦均

????

????When you hit the New York media circuit with "Most Influential Person of China" … and "China Moral Leader" … and "China Top Ten Most Honorable Volunteer" among the distinctions listed on your ming pian ("business card" to you and me), you can expect to take a few hits. Sure enough, Guangbiao Chen, an entrepreneur from China's eastern region whose business is tearing down buildings ("demolition expert," on the business card), got plenty of them this week.

????Writers in the U.S. stretched to describe the man who traveled to America, he says, to purchase part or all of the New York Times or possibly the Wall Street Journal. (Nothing doing on both counts.) They marveled at his gift for self-promotion, though it should be noted that during his publicity stop at Fortune, Chen averred that "Whatever I do, I never think about the publicity."

????The head-scratching is not confined to the United States. Journalists in China have been trying to figure him out for the past four years.

????Chen was a little-known entrepreneur in 2008 until he sent 60 of his demolition machines and 120 workers to help rescue teams pull out survivors of the earthquake in Sichuan Province. In typical Chinese fashion, his contributions were summarized in numbers: 130 people dug out from the rubble, more than 100 million RMB donated to the area. The state-run tabloid Global Times says then-Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao called him "an entrepreneur with a good conscience, morals, compassion."

????Ever since, Chen has employed a showman's tactics. He has talked about changing his Chinese name to "low carbon" to raise awareness of green issues, and he sold canned air as a stunt. Chen flew to Taiwan to give $250,000 to poor people. He donated money to Japan's tsunami victims in 2011.

????Whether he's got what Forbes estimates to be a net worth of $740 million is fodder for Chinese journalists, too. A Dec. 24 picture of Chen surrounded by what he said was $230 million in cash got reporters at the popular Chinese web portal Sohu working. They reported on Dec. 27 that his company suffered losses in 2008 and 2009, and concluded there's no way Chen's business revenues could post profits as high as he's stated. They also quoted him previously saying that having success in his industry was "even more difficult than eating shit."

????A well-connected business consultant in Beijing told me that Chen is far outside the mainstream. He said some businessmen detest his vainglory; others brush it aside. Even Chen's charitable giving has been criticized. One of China's most well-known experts in philanthropy, Yongguang Xu, wrote a critical piece in 2011 about Chen haphazardly giving cash away and collecting donations from other entrepreneurs to distribute.

????In his visit to Fortune, Chen asserted that he is actually worth $1.5 billion. He stated that he was visiting New York with the goal of acquiring part or all of the New York Times and, displaying the earnest optimism of a beauty-pageant contestant, he vowed to use the newspaper to spread his values of world peace, charity, and environmental protection. He did allow that "Because of my profile -- or as we put it, 'flashy philanthropy,' in China -- I offended many officials and wealthy people."

????In that 2011 article, Xu called on Chen to improve his professionalism. He may have been ahead of his time.