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时代》(Time)周刊提名贝南克(Ben Bernanke)为年度人物主要是因为在这位美联储(Fed)主席的努力下，2009年是一段"疲弱复苏"的时期，而不是"难灾性萧条"的一年。
Bloomberg News
在说明理由时，《时代》提到了"baoba"（"保八"，中国8%的经济增长目标）一词，并表示：一年以前，很多人以为2009年达到这个目标无异于天方夜谭，但中国做到了，今年它仍然是世界上增长速度最快的主要经济体，而这对其他所有人也是一种经济刺激。功劳应该归谁？首先应归于远离故土、常常远离家人到中国沿海繁荣城市的工厂里找工作的数千万工人。
这种无名无姓的提名或许看起来有些奇怪，因为这几千万人除了作为一个符号外或许没有什么共同点，而现在都被拿捏到了一个标签之下。但《时代》在这个提名的旁边配了8张（刚好"保八"）照片，照片上是深圳一家LED工厂的工人。这明显是为了用具体的面孔来呈现"中国工人"这个概念（不过要是有颁奖仪式的话，不知道谁会被邀请）。
但是，尽管中国工人很英勇，但也得说，如果没有中国政府在去年年底开始出台的大规模刺激措施，工人们或许连工作都找不到。就在今年年初几个月，工作岗位只剩下了两千多万。另外，沿海工厂里的工人制造了中国出口熙\多产品，他们依赖于全球市场的需求，而不是推动了全球的需求。
不过在今年的世界经济进程中，中国肯定是起到了很大的推动作用。在《时代》周刊公布的一份"年度重要人物"名单上，有中国人民银行行长周小川。提名理由是：在中国在国际经济上的影响力日益增强之际，掌管这个快速增长经济体的官员们往往是不出风头、谨言慎行到了极点。正是因为这样的原因，当周小川3月份公开主张应结束美元作为国际储备货币的地位时，他引起了全世界的注意。
周小川提出的这个目前还在广泛讨论的想法，清楚地展现了一种中国形象：越来越果断的世界经济舞台的参与者，其同时在呼吁降低美国和其他富裕国家在世界经济秩序中的主导地位。
《时代》网站有一项调查，让读者投票决定谁是他们心目中2009年最有影响力的人物。最新投票结果显示，周小川排在第9位，排在第1位的是今年1月份将全美航空公司(US Airways)一架飞机成功迫降在哈德逊河的飞行员萨伦伯格(Chesley Sullenberger)。这说明，虽然《时代》年度重要人物名单主要都是非中国人，但至少中国央行行长的名字已经家喻户晓。
The reasons Time magazine gave for naming Ben Bernanke its Person of the Year centered on the Fed chairman helping to 'ensure that 2009 was a period of weak recovery rather than catastrophic depression.'
For similar reasons the magazine listed on its list of runners-up 'the Chinese worker,' a nod to another factor - or rather tens of millions of them - in keeping the world from tipping into the economic abyss.
In its motivation, Time mentioned the term baoba, or 'maintain eight', a reference to China's 8% growth targets and said, 'A year ago, many thought hitting such a figure in 2009 was a pipe dream. But China has done it, and this year it remains the world's fastest-growing major economy - and an economic stimulus for everyone else. Who deserves the credit? Above all, the tens of millions of workers who have left their homes, and often their families, to find work in the factories of China's booming coastal cities.'
The nomination might have seemed weirdly anonymous, lumping together under one label millions of individuals who might have little in common except as a symbol, but Time accompanied the entry with eight (ba!) photos of workers at an LED factory in Shenzhen, an apparent attempt at giving 'the Chinese worker' a face (though it's still not clear who would have been invited to the awards ceremony if there is such a thing).
But as heroic as the Chinese worker is, it deserves to be said that without massive stimulus efforts by the Chinese government that started late last year, he or she might not have a job to go to. Indeed, in the early months of this year, jobs were lost to the tune of 20 million-plus. Also, workers in the coastal factories, which make many of the goods China exports, are dependent on global demand rather than a driver of it.
Still, China has certainly driven much of the economic discourse this year. On the list of Time's 'People Who Mattered' was People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan. Motivation: 'Even with China's growing international economic clout, the mandarins who run the rapidly growing economy tend be faceless - and cautious to the extreme. That's why when Zhou Xiaochuan publicly called in March for the U.S. dollar to be eventually replaced as the globe's reserve currency, the world took note.'
The March proposal, which is still widely discussed, brought home the image of China as an increasingly assertive participant on the world economic stage, one calling for a global economic order less dominated by the U.S. and other wealthy nations.
In a poll on Time's Web site to let readers weigh in on who they think was the most influential person in 2009, Zhou was in ninth place at last look (the list was topped by Chesley B. (Sully) Sullenberger, the pilot who successfully landed a US Airways plane on the Hudson River last January), showing that while non-Chinese still dominate Time's influential-people lists, at least China's equivalent to Bernanke has acquired name recognition.
For similar reasons the magazine listed on its list of runners-up 'the Chinese worker,' a nod to another factor - or rather tens of millions of them - in keeping the world from tipping into the economic abyss.
In its motivation, Time mentioned the term baoba, or 'maintain eight', a reference to China's 8% growth targets and said, 'A year ago, many thought hitting such a figure in 2009 was a pipe dream. But China has done it, and this year it remains the world's fastest-growing major economy - and an economic stimulus for everyone else. Who deserves the credit? Above all, the tens of millions of workers who have left their homes, and often their families, to find work in the factories of China's booming coastal cities.'
The nomination might have seemed weirdly anonymous, lumping together under one label millions of individuals who might have little in common except as a symbol, but Time accompanied the entry with eight (ba!) photos of workers at an LED factory in Shenzhen, an apparent attempt at giving 'the Chinese worker' a face (though it's still not clear who would have been invited to the awards ceremony if there is such a thing).
But as heroic as the Chinese worker is, it deserves to be said that without massive stimulus efforts by the Chinese government that started late last year, he or she might not have a job to go to. Indeed, in the early months of this year, jobs were lost to the tune of 20 million-plus. Also, workers in the coastal factories, which make many of the goods China exports, are dependent on global demand rather than a driver of it.
Still, China has certainly driven much of the economic discourse this year. On the list of Time's 'People Who Mattered' was People's Bank of China Governor Zhou Xiaochuan. Motivation: 'Even with China's growing international economic clout, the mandarins who run the rapidly growing economy tend be faceless - and cautious to the extreme. That's why when Zhou Xiaochuan publicly called in March for the U.S. dollar to be eventually replaced as the globe's reserve currency, the world took note.'
The March proposal, which is still widely discussed, brought home the image of China as an increasingly assertive participant on the world economic stage, one calling for a global economic order less dominated by the U.S. and other wealthy nations.
In a poll on Time's Web site to let readers weigh in on who they think was the most influential person in 2009, Zhou was in ninth place at last look (the list was topped by Chesley B. (Sully) Sullenberger, the pilot who successfully landed a US Airways plane on the Hudson River last January), showing that while non-Chinese still dominate Time's influential-people lists, at least China's equivalent to Bernanke has acquired name recognition.
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