流泥 Concrete Flux #04
素質 Suzhi

Description

「素質」這個詞在中國隨處可聞，但卻沒有人能準確定義它。教授、出租車司機、國家領導人、身邊的同事都會用這個詞，我們也經常會在電視廣告里、愛國標語中、學校大門旁尋得關於」素質「的信息。表現優異的孩子有素質，堅守原則的軍人有素質，周遊各地的有錢人有素質謹慎周到的社交也是有素質。然而「素質」到底具體指什麼呢？就其基本含義，素質表示正直的品格和良好的行為；但評價一個人缺乏或者擁有素質，此中涉及了個人經歷、所受教育和文化背景等各種因素。但是 否對所有人來說「素質」都帶有這些內涵呢？城市化背景下的「素質」又有怎樣的含義?

‘Suzhi’ is a word so ubiquitous in China that no one can define it. We hear it from the mouths of our professors, cab drivers, political leaders, colleagues and we see traces of it in television ads, on patriotic banners, and school gates. Well-behaved children have suzhi. So do the principled soldiery, the traveled and moneyed, the socially circumspect. But what does suzhi actually mean? While at its most basic, suzhi signifies upstanding character and propriety; to say that someone lacks or has suzhi carries with it a whole host of connotations involving place, class, and culture. But does it carry the same connotation to everyone? And, what does suzhi mean in the context of urbanisation?

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《流泥》是一個以中國超速發展的城市空間為主線的多媒體、跨學科電子刊物，旨在討論城市化運動的意義與該語境下個體的日常經驗。我們相信由城市化引 導的空間構建勢必走向一種社會重組。我們希望能夠找到理解這些空間的方法與思路，儘管它們的繁殖速度看上去遠遠超過了我們思想與身體的消化上限。

Concrete Flux is a multi-disciplinary journal which takes as its subject matter China’s hyper-fast emerging urban spaces, their meaning and one’s everyday experiences of them. We believe that a new configuration of space through urbanisation will lead to a new configuration of society. Our aim, then, is to contribute to some understanding of or gain insight into what these spaces, which seem to emerge faster than our minds can log and assess, may mean.