当叶静子满怀激情地谈论自己的事业和慈善工作时，人们很容易忘记她是个“太子党”——尊贵的新中国开国元勋的后裔。
她就相当于罗斯福或肯尼迪家族的成员，但可能更有权势。
众所周知，在中国做生意靠的是关系，即互惠互利的人脉网络。从打入乡村市场到占领经济中的“制高点”，无论做什么都必须疏通好关系。
所以太子党炙手可热，无论是国内企业，还是外资企业，都想借重他们的人脉，在竞争激烈的中国市场上占据领先地位。
作为一个群体，太子党出名地低调，几乎从不公开发表言论。但在一次极其难得的采访中，叶静子表示，出身于显赫家庭也有不利之处。她承认“红色血统”使她享有种种特权，也为自己身上流着“红色血统”而自豪，但她也深明这个显赫姓氏所伴随着的责任。
“人们要明白，我的成就是通过自己的努力取得的，而不是因为我的家庭背景才取得了成功，这一点对我来说很重要。”
“同样重要的是，我必须利用自己的地位帮助我的国家和人民。”
她的祖父叶剑英元帅参加过长征，是中国人民解放军的创建人之一。当年也是他带领一干将军逮捕了四人帮，从而结束了疯狂的文化大革命，为中国现代化的总设计师——邓小平的上台铺平了道路。
叶静子出生于70年代中期，当时，她的祖父正努力让这个国家走上通向新繁荣的道路。叶静子童年就读于北京专门面向中共高干子弟的学校。在她14岁时，家里决定送她去美国，并请世交亨利•基辛格(Henry Kissinger)帮忙，让她进了一所声誉卓著的女子寄宿学校。
“我父亲说，他不希望我像公主一样长大，凡事都有人给我做好，每个人都总是对我毕恭毕敬，所以他们要把我送走，让我能够过一种稍微正常一点的生活，”操着一口纯正美式英语的叶静子说道。
国际化的成长背景，使她几乎在任何场合都能应付裕如。西方生意伙伴和中国官员认为，在她帮助促成的交易和组织的活动中，她是不可或缺的一道文化桥梁。
谈起最近接手的项目——主办2010年DTM德国房车大师赛决赛，叶静子双眼发亮。这项赛事于11月28日在上海市中心举办。“我们要把上海市中心变成东亚的摩纳哥，”叶静子热切地表示。
全长3.1公里的赛道蜿蜒穿过位于上海中心地带的浦东商业区。这个近期刚举办过盛大的世博会的城市，还为此封闭了许多重要区域。
赛事总投资1亿元人民币（合1500万美元），是DTM大师赛首次在德国以外举行决赛，赛前预计可吸引大约8万名赛车运动爱好者。
“和星际文化集团（Brilliant Culture Group，叶静子的公司）签约，我们感到由衷的高兴，”拥有DTM举办权的ITR董事长汉斯•沃纳•阿菲特(Hans Werner Aufrecht)表示。“对我们来说，在中国举办赛事的理由是显而易见的。中国是我们的制造商——奥迪(Audi)和梅赛德斯-奔驰(Mercedes-Benz)——最重要的市场之一。”
比赛举办地点位于上海中心商业区，充分说明了叶静子人脉圈子的家世背景，以及一个中共建党元勋至今依然具有的威名。能够说服上海市政府为一项赛车活动封闭中国商业之都的大片区域——就算是在执政精英阶层，拥有这样影响力的人也寥寥无几。
西方企业极其不愿谈论家世背景对于他们选择生意伙伴的重要性，但大多数跨国公司都会在某个时期和太子党深交。“谁都知道，获得影响力的一个捷径，就是延揽能够和这个国家最高决策层说上话的太子党，”一位在中国呆了几十年、颇具影响力的西方商业顾问表示。“难点可能在于找到能力也很优秀的人。”
叶静子在谈话中刻意淡化她对政府的影响力，表示她之所以能够把这项赛事申请下来，主要得益于她公司以往的成绩和专业性，以及这项赛事本身的吸引力。
她表示：“其实我得比别人更卖力，才能证明，我能够组织这样的活动，并不完全是依靠我的背景和人脉。”
中国许多政界精英对此深有同感。他们指出，虽然身为中共重要人物的亲属能够很方便地接触到政府官员，得到特殊待遇，但也必须承受巨大压力，并受到密切监督。
在人脉深厚的太子党协助下开展业务的企业——不管是外资企业，还是国内企业——有时也有可能会卷入中国官场上常见的勾心斗角之中。
“我们一般会给年轻的太子党一个实习的机会，以取悦他们显赫的家族，但我们绝不会仅仅因为一个人的家世背景就雇用他，因为从长远来看，这么做可能会过度卷入权力派别斗争，”某外资银行驻中国的一位高管表示。
中国还存在一个问题：现任官员子女倚仗父母权势出人头地，往往会招致民怨。但对于拥有叶静子这种家世的人来说，情况并非如此。人们对太子党这种家世的反感程度，大致相当于英国民间对女王及皇室的不满。
不过，叶静子和其他太子党谨慎地保持着低调的作风，过着相对朴素的生活。叶静子极其热爱汽车，但她情愿开一辆朴实无华的SUV，生活方式也偏于安逸简朴。
星际文化集团从上海DTM赛事中获得的所有收益，将如数捐给宋庆龄基金会——中国最著名的官方慈善团体，叶静子本人是该基金会理事和热心的支持者。
在叶静子看来，家族姓氏必须维护、不容玷污，通过不光彩的勾当大敛横财，不利于家族传承。
“我祖父那代人是理想主义者，他们赤手空拳创建了新中国。虽然现在时代不同，人们的思想观念也变了，但我们这代人仍然要以我们的行动，通过我们对社会的贡献，来纪念他们。”
译者/杨远
http://www.ftchinese.com/story/001036055
As Ye Jingzi talks enthusiastically about her business and charity work it is easy to forget that she is a “princeling” – the privileged descendant of one of the founders of the People’s Republic of China.
This makes her the equivalent of a Roosevelt or a Kennedy, but with probably more power and influence.
Business in China is famously reliant on guanxi, the concept of personal relationships and reciprocal favours that underpin all deals, from village markets to the commanding heights of the economy.
So princelings are much sought-after by domestic and foreign businesses, which hope to leverage their personal networks to get ahead in the cut-throat Chinese market.
As a group, Ms Ye and her princeling contemporaries are notoriously shy and almost never speak out in public. But in an extremely rare interview, Ms Ye says that being from an important family can also have its drawbacks. While she acknowledges, and is proud of, the “red blood” that affords her all kinds of privileges, she is also keenly aware of the responsibilities that accompany her illustrious name.
“It’s very important to me that people understand I have made things happen for myself and not just been successful because of my family background,” she says.
“It’s also important that I use my position to help my country and my people.”
Her grandfather, Marshal Ye Jianying, was a veteran of the Long March and a founder of the People’s Liberation Army. He also led the group of generals that arrested Madame Mao and the Gang of Four, thereby ending the madness of the Cultural Revolution and paving the way for the ascendance of Deng Xiaoping, chief architect of modern China.
Born in the mid-1970s when her grandfather was in the process of putting the country on the path to its new prosperity, Ms Ye spent her childhood in elite schools for children of the communist leadership in Beijing. But when she turned 14 her family decided to send her to the US and called on an old family acquaintance – Henry Kissinger – to help get her into a prestigious girls’ boarding school.
“My father said he didn’t want me growing up as a princess with everything done for me and everyone scraping and bowing all the time. So, they sent me somewhere where I could have a slightly more normal life,” she says in American-accented, flawless English.
Her international upbringing makes her comfortable in virtually any setting and she is seen by western business partners and Chinese officials alike as an essential cultural bridge in the deals she helps broker and the events she organises.
Her eyes light up as she describes her latest project – hosting the final race of the 2010 DTM German touring car championship in downtown Shanghai on November 28. “We’re going to turn central Shanghai into the Monaco of east Asia,” Ms Ye enthuses.
The event’s 3.1km track snakes through the Pudong business district in the heart of Shanghai and has shut down important areas of the city that recently hosted the spectacular World Expo.
With Rmb100m ($15m) of investment, the fixture will mark the first time the DTM championship has held its final race outside Germany and is expected to draw about 80,000 motorsports enthusiasts.
“We are really happy about signing the contract with BCG [Brilliant Culture Group, Ms Ye’s company],” says Hans Werner Aufrecht, chairman of ITR, which holds the rights to the DTM race. “For us, the reason for having a race in China is obvious – it is one of the most important markets for our manufacturers, Audi and Mercedes-Benz.”
The fact that the race is being held in the central business district in Shanghai is a testament to the pedigree of Ms Ye’s connections and the power that still rests in the name of a communist founding father. Very few people, even among the ruling elite, would have the clout to convince the Shanghai government to close down large areas of China’s commercial capital for a car race.
Western companies are extremely reluctant to discuss the importance of family background in their choice of business partners, but most multinationals cultivate close connections with princelings at one time or another. “Everyone knows that a quick way to gain influence is to hire a princeling who has the ear of top decision-makers in the country,” says one influential western business consultant with decades of experience in China. “The problem can be finding someone who is also good at what they do.”
Ms Ye plays down her influence with the government and says she was able to get the Shanghai race approved primarily because of the record and professionalism of her company, as well as the event’s intrinsic attractiveness.
“I actually have to work harder than others to show that I’m able to put an event like this together without just relying on my background and connections,” she says.
This sentiment is echoed by many in elite Chinese political circles, who point out that while being the relative of such an important communist figure provides great access to officials and special treatment, it also brings intense pressure and scrutiny.
Foreign – and domestic – companies that do deals with the help of well-connected princelings sometimes run the risk of being caught up in one of the regular secret power struggles that characterise the Byzantine world of Chinese politics.
“We will always give a young princeling an internship to keep their important family happy, but we never hire people in China just because of their family background, because over the longer term that can get you too mixed up in factional fighting and turf wars,” says one senior China-based executive with a foreign bank.
Another problem in China is the popular resentment that can be directed towards the children of serving officials who use their parents’ positions to get ahead. But for people with Ms Ye’s heritage this does not really apply and there is about as much animosity shown towards her pedigree of princeling as might be commonly expressed in Britain towards the Queen and royal family.
Still, Ms Ye and her contemporaries are careful to keep a low profile and live relatively plain lives. Although a great car enthusiast, she prefers to drive a low-key SUV and has a comfortable and fairly understated lifestyle.
All proceeds earned by her company from the DTM race in Shanghai will be donated to the Soong Qingling Foundation, China’s most prominent official charity, of which Ms Ye is a board member and avid supporter.
For her, the family name is something that needs to be protected from smears, and accumulating wild riches through shady deals is not the way to build a legacy.
“My grandfather and his generation were idealists and they created the new China from scratch,” Ms Ye says. “Even if times are different and the ideology has changed, it is still up to my generation to honour their memory with our actions and through our contributions to society.”
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