译者注：以下章节选自Richard McGregor将于6月8日发行的新书“The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers（中共领导者的秘密世界）”。该章节发表于华尔街日报（The Wall Street Journal）5月15日介绍该书的文章“China's Private Party”内。

在中国50家最大的国营企业老总办公桌上，除了有一些电脑、家人的照片和其它一些当代CEO办公室的装饰品外，还有一部红色的电话。把它称作“电话”并不确切，它通常被称作“红色机器”。当“红色机器”铃声一响，那些老总及其下属都会“跳”起来关注。一家国家银行的高级执行长官对我说“这可不能不接。”

这台“红色机器”可不是一个普通的电话。每台红色机器都有一个只有4位数的号码，只与其它同样只有4位号码的电话相连，整个系统经过了加密。对于那些顶级国企的老总，他们的指尖拥有任何一种现代化的通讯工具，“红色机器”显示的不是他们企业老总的地位，而是其在中共党内所爬到的官阶，是得到极权的象征，因为根据中共党内和政府的规定，只给副部长以上级别的官员配发。

这些电话均经过了加密处理，不仅仅是提防外国情报机构，也防止在中国被任何一个党外人士窃听。拥有“红色机器”就意味着取得了“党内名流”的资格，来运营这个央央大国。能拥有“红色机器”的圈子大约是300人，主要是男性，他们主宰了世界上1/5的人口。

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Richard McGregor将于6月8日发行的新书The Party: The Secret World of China's Communist Rulers封面

英文原文：

On the desks of the heads of China's 50-odd biggest state companies, amid the clutter of computers, family photos and other fixtures of the modern CEO's office life, sits a red phone. The executives and their staff who jump to attention when it rings know it as "the red machine," perhaps because to call it a mere phone does not do it justice. "When the 'red machine' rings," a senior executive of a state bank told me, "you had better make sure you answer it."

The red machine is like no ordinary phone. Each one has just a four-digit number. It connects only to similar phones with four-digit numbers within the same encrypted system. They are much coveted nonetheless. For the chairmen and women of the top state companies, who have every modern communications device at their fingertips, the red machine is a sign they have arrived, not just at the top of the company, but in the senior ranks of the Party and the government. The phones are the ultimate status symbol, as they are only given out—under the orders of the Party and government—to people in jobs with the rank of vice minister and above.

The phones are encrypted not just to secure party and government communications from foreign intelligence agencies. They also provide protection against snooping by anyone in China outside the party's governing system. Possession of the red machine means you have qualified for membership of the tight-knit club that runs the country, a small group of about 300 people, mainly men, with responsibility for about one-fifth of humanity.