China has overtaken Japan as Asia’s number one nation for producing top universities.

　　中国已经超过日本，成为亚洲顶尖大学最多的国家。

　　While Japan’s University of Tokyo is the highest-placed institution in the Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings 2015, the country has lost ground overall, with the balance of power now tilting towards mainland China.

　　虽然《2015年泰晤士高等教育亚洲大学排名》中，东京大学依然高居榜首，但日本在整体上失去了优势，天平正在向中国大陆倾斜。

　　Japan has 19 universities in the prestigious top 100, down from 20 last year and 22 in 2013, and 15 of those have slipped down the list, by an average of 5.8 places.

　　在前100名中，日本大学占了19所，比起去年的20所和2013年的22所有所下降。其中，15所大学排名平均下降了5.8位。

　　By contrast, mainland China now has 21 representatives, up from 18 last year and 15 in 2013, and many of these are rising up the table, including Peking University (fourth) and Tsinghua University (fifth), which have both moved up a place. Wuhan University has also climbed an impressive 15 places to joint 49th.

　　与之相反，中国在前100名中从前年的15所以及去年的18所上升到今年的21所，其中许多大学的排名有所上升，其中排名第四的北大和排名第五的清华均上升一位。武汉大学排名并列第49，上升了15位，令人印象深刻。

　　China’s special administrative regions are also performing well, with all six of Hong Kong’s ranked universities in the top 50, while Macau has made its debut in the table with the University of Macau entering in joint 40th place.

　　中国的特别行政区同样表现优秀。香港的全部六所大学均进入前50，而澳门的高校也首次出现在名单中——澳门大学并列第40位。

　　The shift in power towards China takes place against a backdrop of investment in research and development while Japan wrestles with cuts as a result of its crippling level of public debt.

　　由于高额的公共债务，日本正疲于应付研究和开发经费的削减。在此背景下，中国的高校开始崛起。

　　Gerard Postiglione, director of the Wah Ching Centre of Research on Education in China at the University of Hong Kong, said that Japan’s declining performance is due to a combination of “a lot of inbreeding” at its universities (graduates teaching at the same university at which they studied); research funding being concentrated at its top-tier institutions; and fewer promotion opportunities for young academics.

　　香港大学华正中国教育研究中心主任白杰瑞指出，日本大学的表现下降是由于以下因素共同造成的：学术近亲繁殖(毕业生在母校任教);研究经费被顶尖大学垄断;年轻学者缺乏晋升机会。

　　“[China] started from scratch and rose quickly from the 1990s when they didn’t have world-class universities, whereas Japan was already at a pretty high level, so its productivity has levelled off for a few years,” he said.

　　他说：“1990年以来，中国从零开始并取得飞速发展。当时，中国没有世界级大学，而日本已经处于相当高的水平。因此，日本的生产力在若干年里止步不前。”

　　Simon Marginson, professor of international higher education at the UCL Institute of Education, agreed that higher education in Japan is “now largely standing still”.

　　伦敦大学学院教育系的国际高等教育教授西蒙·马金森赞同日本的高等教育“目前很大程度上停滞不前”。

　　“Japan is careful to maintain the leading edge of its very top universities such as Tokyo and Kyoto, but has been less committed than has China to pumping more investment into the universities on the next level,” he said.

　　他表示：“日本小心的维持东大、京大等顶尖大学的领先位置，但和中国相比，对给予其它等级大学更多投资方面做得不够。”

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