这里是一片高原，有的不过是火山岩和荒草，风儿呼啸而过。去年冬天的残雪，像一片片脏兮兮的补丁点缀着周围的群山，随着短暂而凉爽的夏季即将让位于秋天，它们正迎候新雪的覆盖。
为什么有人会花费900万美元购买这块位于冰岛东北部、名为Grímsstadir á Fjöllum的荒凉之地？更别说还要再投入1亿美元甚至更多资金，在这里修建一座豪华酒店和高尔夫球场。个中原因何在，眼下并不清楚。
然而这正是黄怒波的打算。黄是一位自诩为诗人和冒险家的中国富豪，根据一项临时协议，他将在冰岛购买300平方公里的荒地——这使得许多冰岛人不由得仔细参详这其中潜藏的动机。许多人怀疑，这位前中宣部官员是中国在冰岛战略利益的"特洛伊木马"。冰岛地处欧洲和北美之间，冷战时期在北大西洋的安全方面起到了至关重要的作用。今后，假如随着全球气候后变暖，附近北极地区的石油变得可以开采，海上能够通航，这个国家的重要性将再度凸显。
黄怒波表示，这些阴谋论毫无根据。他自从当年在北京大学与一位冰岛留学生同住一间宿舍，就与这个国家结下了渊源。去年因赞助一个诗歌节而首次造访那个地方时，他一下子就爱上了那里。坐在北京的办公室里，黄怒波表示："我觉得那里太美了，我就喜欢荒无人烟的不毛之地。"他周围摆放着登山探险时带回来的各种纪念品。
然而，不管出于什么动机，这笔交易都突显出，中国和中国企业家正日益着眼于在海外施展其不断增强的财力。从非洲农田和智利铁矿石，到法国酒庄和瑞典汽车公司，中国投资者正在全球各地大肆购买土地和资源。
这表明，中国过去几十年里高度依赖外来直接投资的增长模式如今已发生了变化。在过去十年的大部分时间里，中国一直在与美国争夺"全球第一大FDI目的地"的头衔。
由于中国施行资本管制，中国企业至今仍难以在海外进行投资。不过，相关规定已有所放宽，根据政府统计数字，截至去年年底，对外直接投资已经从2004年的150亿美元左右，激增至2200亿美元以上。
即便如此，在全球FDI总额中，中国仍只占到了1.2%，与丹麦相当。中国的FDI虽然高于巴西和印度等新兴市场，但仍仅为美国的5%。
不过大家都说，中国正开始掀起一股全球购买狂潮，这股浪潮将重塑全球经济格局——或许也将重塑全球格局。
世界银行(World Bank)行长罗伯特•佐立克(Robert Zoellick)表示，这种现象可能有一些益处，比如缓解全球资本流动失衡和促进人民币国际化。"对一个不断增长、即将在国际经济体系中发挥更大作用的经济体来说，这是一种自然的进展。"他向英国《金融时报》表示，"我认为这种现象实际上可能具有建设性。"
然而，黄怒波这个项目所引起的喧嚣，突显出了中国投资者在海外面临的怀疑。年届55岁的黄怒波表示，国际媒体的反应让他有些失意。上周在前往西藏的途中，他在英国《金融时报》上看到一些冰岛政界人士对这个项目表示担忧。他说，此前在与冰岛官员会面时，他听到的都是好话。"我只是一介商人，为何人人都以为我的背后是政府呢？"
黄怒波身着运动裤，看上去不像一丝不苟的共产党官员，而他的办公室也不是典型的中国商人的办公室。门厅里摆放的雕塑，灵感来自于他的诗歌；会议室外边整齐排列着鞋钉和氧气筒。一窝灰色的小猫四处乱跑，争相吸收主人的注意。他在楼上卧室的旁边，养着两只猴子、几只鹦鹉和一只兔子。他以前还养过鲨鱼，但他表示，鲨鱼在北京养不好。
黄怒波登上过珠穆朗玛峰，到过北极和南极。对于一切怀疑此笔交易是出于战略考虑的说法，他予以了驳斥。他轻抚着一只小猫说道："我是有过在政府工作的背景，但我并不想当官。一个当官的会在办公室里养猫吗？"小猫喵呜喵呜地叫着。
尽管行为有些古怪，但从许多方面来说，他都是一位典型的试图把触角伸到海外的中国企业家，目前这个群体正不断壮大。黄怒波是在房地产市场起家的，他在全国各地拥有多处休闲和旅游资产。根据《福布斯》(Forbes)的排名，他拥有8.9亿美元的净资产，在中国富豪榜上排在161位。
华盛顿彼得森国际经济研究所(Petersen Institute for International Economics)的荣大聂(Daniel Rosen)表示："未来几十年内，中国将在全球各地进行数千亿美元的绿地并购和投资，目前只是一个开端。"他在最近的一份报告中估计，假如中国遵循一个新兴经济体的典型模式，到2020年，中国在海外的直接投资可能高达2万亿美元。"
直到不久前，中国的大部分海外投资还集中在亚洲、拉美和非洲，因为中国希望获得自然资源，用于驱动其大宗商品密集型的增长引擎。根据官方数据，在中国的海外直接投资存量中，国有企业占到了70%以上。但民营中小企业和个人也正日益把目光转向海外。自然资源仍然是重点，但中国也正鼓励国内企业打入海外市场，并获取技能和技术。
与此同时，中国政府正试图保持对海外投资目标的控制，以避免引起海外的政治抵触，并防止本国投资者被视为"傻有钱"。中国当局已叫停了国有及民营企业数起不符合主要工业、政治或宏观经济政策的对外投资案。黄怒波坦承，自己这个项目也可能遭遇同样的命运。他表示："如果中国政府认为这会影响中国在海外的形象，就可能不批准这个项目。"
冰岛方面能否批准也远未确定。这个经济凋敝的国家正在权衡利弊：一方面是一大笔外来投资的吸引力，另一方面是对中国的影响力感到不安。冰岛在金融危机中遭受了重创，其银行业2008年全面崩盘。
其他国家也面临同样的两难局面。发达国家的经济困境，与中国经济看似永不停歇的增长交织在一起，让许多人感到了自身的脆弱，并小心翼翼地提防机会主义投资者会趁虚而入，低价收购资产。
在近期为欧洲外交关系委员会(European Council on Foreign Relations)撰写的一份报告中，弗朗索瓦•古德门特(François Godement)和乔纳斯•帕雷罗-普莱斯纳(Jonas Parello-Plesner)表达了欧洲国家以及世界其他许多地区的担忧。报告中写道："遭受危机打击的欧洲需要短期资金，因为这个缘故，中国企业不仅得以敲定低价收购的协议，还能够挑动欧洲国家的相互竞争，而这不符合他们的共同利益。这种策略中国曾在发展中国家采用过，如今又故伎重施。"
他们也表达了对许多国家（这些国家的企业试图打进中国市场）与中国结成互惠关系的担忧。他们写道："如果你想一想欧洲方面在中国想要获得同等机会所面临的限制，中国在欧洲直接投资所带来的问题就会更加明朗。简而言之，这意味着，中国的吉利(Geely)可以收购瑞典的沃尔沃(Volvo)，但相反的交易就会在中国法规面前受阻。"
回头再来说说Grímsstadir á Fjöllum。这一地区零星分布着几个小农场和一些小宾馆，居住在这里的人们不愿谈论黄怒波的计划。一位女士从半开的门后看出来，说她担心开发大型旅游项目会对环境造成影响。另一位居民则为可能创造出的就业会感到兴奋。他们都不愿公开姓名，证明了这一话题在这个小社区里的敏感性。
虽然一些冰岛政界人士表示了担忧，其中包括负责审批此项交易的部长，但冰岛总统奥拉维尔•拉格纳•格里姆松(Olafur Ragnar Grímsson)却力挺黄怒波。他表示："当冰岛淹没本国的山谷，为西方的铝业公司供应水电时，没人谈到地缘政治上的影响。而当一位中国诗人想修建一座酒店时，人人却都像疯了一样。"
批评人士指责这种说法过于天真。在冰岛首都雷克雅末克，一位著名的商业领袖说道："盖一座酒店哪里用得着买下冰岛0.3%的国土。"
对此黄怒波表示，这块地之所以有如此的规模，是因为它是许多土地所有者把手中的地皮合在一块儿出售的，而其中只有一小部分适合营建。除了酒店和高尔夫球场以外，他还计划发展热气球项目，并修建跑马场。客人将从雷克雅未克搭乘小飞机前来，这是一段很短的航程。他计划购买两架小型飞机。他再次说道："这里非常美，是人类最后的真正度假天堂。"
译者/何黎
http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001040560
Winds sweep across a highland plateau featuring little but coarse grass and volcanic rock. Dirty patches of last winter's snow cling to surrounding mountains awaiting replenishment as the short, cool summer yields to autumn.
It is not immediately clear why anyone would want to pay $9m for the desolate area of north-east Iceland known as Grímsstadir á Fjöllum, less still to invest another $100m or more building a luxury hotel and golf course.
Yet that is the intention of Huang Nubo, a Chinese tycoon and self-described poet and adventurer, whose provisional deal to buy 300 square kilometres of Icelandic wilderness has left many in the country searching warily for ulterior motives. Some suspect the former official in the Communist party's propaganda department is a Trojan horse for Chinese strategic interest in Iceland. Halfway between Europe and North America, the country played a crucial role in north Atlantic security during the cold war and could take on renewed significance if global warming opens the nearby Arctic to oil exploration and shipping.
Mr Huang says such conspiracy theories are unfounded. He has had ties to the country since sharing a room with an Icelandic student at Peking university and he fell in love with the place when visiting for the first time last year to sponsor a poetry festival. Sitting in his Beijing office, surrounded by memorabilia from his mountaineering expeditions, he says: "I thought it was so beautiful. I love wild, barren places."
Yet, whatever his motives, the deal shows how China and its entrepreneurs are increasingly looking to exercise their growing financial muscle abroad. From African farmland and Chilean iron ore to French châteaux and Swedish car companies, Chinese investors are buying up land and resources around the world.
This signals a change from the growth model of the past few decades, which was heavily reliant on inbound foreign direct investment. China vied with the US as the world's top FDI destination for much of the past decade.
Until now, Beijing's capital controls have made it hard for Chinese business to invest overseas. But those restrictions are being eased and outbound direct investment has jumped from about $15bn in 2004 to more than $220bn by the end of last year, according to government estimates.
Even so, China still accounts for only 1.2 per cent of total world FDI, about the same as Denmark. Though this is higher than that of emerging markets such as Brazil and India, it is only about one-twentieth that of the US.
But by all accounts China is at the start of a global buying spree that will reshape the global economic landscape and probably the physical landscape, too.
Robert Zoellick, World Bank president, says the phenomenon could have benefits such as easing imbalances in global capital flows and encouraging internationalisation of the renminbi. "It's a natural development for a growing economy that's going to play a larger role in the international economic system," he told the Financial Times. "I think this can actually be constructive."
However, the uproar caused by Mr Huang's project highlights the suspicion facing Chinese investors overseas. The 55-year-old says he was dismayed by global media reaction. He was en route to Tibet this week when he read in the FT that some Icelandic politicians had expressed concern. Until then, he says, he had heard only positive things in meetings with officials. "I'm just a businessman – why does everyone think I have the government at my back?"
Dressed in sweatpants, he does not look the strait-laced apparatchik, nor is his office typical of a Chinese businessman's. The lobby features sculptures inspired by his poems; crampons and oxygen tanks are lined up outside the meeting room. A litter of grey kittens runs around, vying for his attention. Upstairs, beside his bedroom, he keeps two monkeys, several parrots and a rabbit. He used to keep sharks but says they failed to thrive in Beijing.
Mr Huang, who has climbed Everest and reached the north and south poles, rejects any claim that his deal is motivated by strategic considerations. "It's true that I have a government background. But I didn't want to be a bureaucrat," he says, stroking a purring kitten. "Could a bureaucrat keep cats in his office?"
Despite his eccentricity, in many ways he is typical of the growing ranks of tycoons looking to spread their wings beyond China. Having made his fortune in property, he owns leisure and tourism assets across the country, placing him 161st among its richest people, according to Forbes, with a net worth of $890m.
"We stand at the dawn of hundreds of billions of dollars in Chinese mergers, acquisitions and investments in new greenfield facilities around the world over the decades to come," says Daniel Rosen of the Petersen Institute for International Economics in Washington. In a recent report, he estimated that if China follows the typical pattern of an emerging economy it will make as much as $2,000bn-worth of direct investments abroad by 2020.
Until recently, most overseas Chinese investments have been in Asia, Latin America and Africa, as the state seeks to secure the natural resources needed to fuel its commodity-intensive growth engine. Today, while Chinese state-owned enterprises account for more than 70 per cent of the country's outbound FDI stock, according to government figures, smaller private companies and individuals are increasingly looking abroad, too. Natural resources remain central but Beijing is encouraging all domestic companies to compete in overseas markets and acquire skills and technology.
At the same time, Beijing is trying to maintain control over the targets of outbound investment to avoid any political backlash from overseas and stop its investors being seen as "dumb money". It has blocked several deals by state-owned and private companies that did not fit prevailing industrial, political or macroeconomic policy. Mr Huang admits his project could yet meet that fate, saying: "It's possible that the Chinese government will not approve it, if they think it would impact China's image abroad."
Icelandic approval, too, is far from certain, as the country weighs the appeal of a big foreign investment in its troubled economy – a victim of the financial crisis when its banking sector collapsed in 2008 – against unease over Chinese influence.
Similar dilemmas face countries elsewhere. The developed world's economic woes, combined with the seemingly relentless march of Chinese growth, have left many feeling vulnerable and wary of opportunistic investors swooping in to buy assets on the cheap.
In a recent report for the European Council on Foreign Relations, François Godement and Jonas Parello-Plesner voiced some of the concerns being raised in European capitals and in many other parts of the world. "Crisis-hit Europe's need for short-term cash is allowing Chinese companies not just to strike cut-price deals but also to play off member states against each other and against their own collective interests – replicating a strategy China has already used in the developing world," the authors said.
They also voiced concerns about reciprocity that are widely held in countries with companies trying to crack the Chinese market. "The problem presented by Chinese direct investment in Europe becomes even clearer when one considers Europe's limited access to similar opportunities in China," they wrote. "In a nutshell, this means that China's Geely can buy Sweden's Volvo but Chinese regulations block the reverse."
. . .
Back at Grímsstadir á Fjöllum, people living in the area's handful of small farms and guesthouses are reluctant to talk about Mr Huang's plans. One woman, peering around a half-opened door, says she is worried about the environmental impact of a big tourism project; but another resident expresses enthusiasm for the jobs it would create. Their requests for anonymity attest to the sensitivity of the subject in this tiny community.
While some Icelandic politicians have voiced concern, including the minister responsible for approving the deal, President Olafur Ragnar Grímsson is sympathetic to Mr Huang. "Nobody talked about geopolitical implications when Iceland flooded its valleys to create hydroelectricity for western aluminium companies," he recalls. "But when a Chinese poet wants to build a hotel, everyone goes crazy."
Critics say this is naive. "You don't need to buy 0.3 per cent of Iceland to build a hotel," says one prominent Reykjavik business leader.
For his part, Mr Huang says the size of the area reflects the fact that multiple owners have pooled together to sell their land as a big bloc. Only a fraction of it is suitable for building on, he says. In addition to the hotel and golf course, his plans include hot- air balloon rides and horse stables. Guests will be flown in from Reykjavik to a small airstrip on two small planes he will buy. "It's extraordinarily beautiful," he reiterates. "Mankind's last real vacation paradise."
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