A street of "think tanks" in the United States

I remember that there is a song called "Bridge in Beijing", which sings that the bridge in Beijing becomes a scenic line. In Washington, there is also such a scenery, but not a bridge, but a street. This is not because the streets here are unique, but because of their unique naming.

In Washington, there are usually two perpendicular street signs on the sign at each corner to indicate which street the two crossing streets are, such as 13th Street/S Street, 15th Street/K Street, 7th Street/C Street, etc. You will be confused by these names when you first arrive. After some inquiry, it was clear that the original American street name was this (there was no research on how to name the streets in other American cities): the horizontal or east-west street was named in English, followed by A Street, B Street, C Street; The vertical or south-north ones are named by Arabic numerals, which are 1st Street, 2nd Street, 3rd Street, and so on. This is the combination of 13th Street/S Street. For example, the White House, Bush's residence, is located between I-E Street and 15-17 Street, while the Capitol Hill is located near the 1st Street.

However, there are also exceptions. For example, there is a well-known "lobby street" in Washington - K Street and I Street, but there is no "J Street". It is said that the reason why "J" was "deprived" of the naming qualification was because it looked too similar to "I" and was easily confused, so it was eliminated on the principle of first come, first served.

The horizontal and vertical ones have been solved. What is the name of the oblique street? It doesn't bother Uncle Sam. There are so many states in the United States. It's enough to use a few states' names, so there are Virginia Avenue, New York Avenue, Pennsylvania Avenue, etc.

Among so many avenues, I would like to highlight Massachusetts Avenue. Before coming to the United States, a friend of the United States Consulate reminded him that if he wanted to contact anyone for an interview after arriving in Washington, he should go to Massachusetts Avenue. At that time, because there were too many things to prepare, I didn't care about this. I didn't think about yesterday, but I stumbled across the legendary "Think Tank Street".

Maybe many people are more familiar with K Street. Since the failure of CNOOC's acquisition of Unocal, this street famous for its rich lobbyists has been known by many Chinese people. However, in terms of the number of think tanks, Massachusetts Avenue may not lose to K Street: Carnegie Peace Foundation, Brookings Institution, Heritage Foundation, Cato Institute, International Economic Research Institute and Johns Hopkins University, as well as the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the American Enterprise Research Institute and George Washington University. These well-known think tanks are located on both sides of Massachusetts Avenue.

It seems not surprising that there are many think tanks, but what is more interesting is that many of them have special research projects on China issues and even China research centers. Some people say that this is due to the increasing influence of China in the international arena. To put it mildly, there are more and more "eating Chinese food".

Huang Jing, a senior researcher at the Brookings Institution, said that the United States invested a lot of energy in studying the Soviet Union 20 years ago; Now that China is strong, the research craze in the United States is turning to China, and the momentum is even stronger.

Of course, from the perspective of China, it should be a good thing for more people to study us, which will help improve the international community's understanding of China. For example, during major events such as the China-US Strategic Economic Dialogue, many think tanks will stand up and make rational voices. Zhu Zhouliang

 美国“智库”一条街

　　记得有首歌叫“北京的桥”，唱的是北京的桥多成一道风景线。在华盛顿，也有这样一道风景，不过不是桥，而是街道。这倒不是因为这里的街道有多别致，而是因为它们独特的命名方式。

　　在华盛顿，每个街角的指示牌上通常都有互相垂直的两块路牌，来指明相互交叉的两条分别是什么街，譬如13街/S街、15街/K街、7街/C街……。初来乍到，肯定会被这些名字搞得晕头转向。经过一番打听才搞明白，原来美国人是这么取街名的(其他美国城市街道如何取名未有研究)：横的或者说东西走向的以英文命名，依次是A街、B街、C街……；竖的或者说南北走向的则以阿拉伯数字命名，依次是1街、2街、3街……，这便有了13街/S街这样的组合。比如，布什的官邸白宫就在I-E街以及15-17街之间的区域，而国会山则在1街附近。

　　不过，也有例外，比如华盛顿有知名的“游说一条街”———K街，也有I街，但却偏偏没有“J街”。据说，“J”之所以被“剥夺”命名资格，是因为跟“I”长得太像，很容易引起混淆，所以就按先到先得的原则被淘汰。

　　横的和竖的都解决了，那斜的街该叫什么呢？这个倒没有难住山姆大叔，美国有那么多州，随便拿几个州名来用用就够了，于是便有了弗吉尼亚大道、纽约大道、宾夕法尼亚大道等。

　　在这么多大道中，我要重点推荐的是马萨诸塞大道。来美国之前，一位美国领事馆的朋友就提醒说，到华盛顿以后如果要联系什么人采访，就上马萨诸塞大道找去。当时因为要准备的事情太多，没去在意这码事。不曾想昨天，我倒在无意间“邂逅”了这条传说中的“智库一条街”。

　　可能很多人更熟悉K街，自从中海油收购美国优尼科铩羽之后，这条以盛产说客闻名的街道便被许多中国人知晓。不过，论智库的多少，马萨诸塞大道恐怕未必输给K街：卡内基和平基金会、布鲁金斯学会、传统基金会、卡托研究所、国际经济研究所和约翰·霍普金斯大学，以及战略和国际研究中心、美国企业研究所和乔治·华盛顿大学，这些知名智库都位于马萨诸塞大道两侧。

　　智库多似乎还不足为奇，可更有意思的是，其中的许多智库都专门设有中国问题研究项目，乃至中国研究中心。有人说，这是因为中国在国际上的影响力日益升温所致，说得不好听一点就是“吃中国饭”的越来越多了。

　　布鲁金斯学会高级研究员黄靖表示，20年前美国投入大量精力研究苏联；现在中国强大了，美国的研究热转向中国，而且势头更猛烈。

　　当然，从中国的角度来说，更多人研究我们应该是好事，有助于增进国际社会对中国的了解。比如在类似中美战略经济对话这样的大事件期间，很多的智库就会站出来发出理性的声音。朱周良

(This article is an original article by Zhuge Changqing, and the pictures are selected from the Internet. Welcome to forward it, and please indicate the source for forwarding)

Introduction to Zhuge Changqing: Zhuge Changqing, the inheritor and promoter of traditional Chinese culture, is willing to "learn from sages, promote virtue, revitalize China and benefit the world" together with people with the same ideals in the world.

(Zhuge Changqing: zhuge8031@163.com ）

Zhuge Changqing mailbox：

zhuge8031@163.com

Zhuge Changqing's Chinese Dream

Learn from sages and carry forward virtue

Revitalizing China for the benefit of the world

 （本文是诸葛长青原创文章，图片选自网络。欢迎转发，转发引用请注明出处）

诸葛长青简介：诸葛长青，中国国学传统文化传承弘扬者，愿与天下志同道合者一起“学习圣贤、弘扬善德、振兴中华、造福世界”。

（诸葛长青：zhuge8031@163.com）

Zhuge Changqing mailbox：

zhuge8031@163.com

  诸葛长青中国梦  

学习圣贤 弘扬善德

振兴中华 造福世界

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