2023 年 7 月 4 日
于中国北京
 
诸位大使、各位嘉宾、以及在华的美国人，欢迎参加我们的国庆节活动，庆祝美国独立 247 周年。
让我特别对外交部马朝旭常务副部长表示欢迎。我们要谢谢他今晚作为中华人民共和国政府的代表出席。
今天，美国全国人民会以多种多样的方式庆祝独立日。
《独立宣言》将在费城的独立厅予以宣读。
分布在 50 个州的3亿3600万美国人都会在这天放假，办个烧烤、看全民热衷的棒球赛、家庭团聚、或是到海滩一游。
在我的家乡马萨诸塞州以及全美国各个城市、郡和乡镇，美国人民会聚集起来观赏在主要街道上进行的7月4日游行。他们会向驾着公务车、警铃响彻云霄的消防队员和警察们致敬；向我们的军人致敬，向童子军和四健会的孩子们致敬；农民们会骄傲地驾驶他们的拖拉机；学校乐队和我们所有的民选和市政领导也都会在游行队伍中，来纪念美国在两个半世纪前建国的这一天。
7月4日是我们最具有爱国精神的一个节假日，是我们对身为这个伟大国家的国民致以感谢的日子。
7月4日也是一个反思的日子。要记住，建立一个叫做“美利坚”的新国家的这个想法，源自于启蒙运动的思想激荡，那是約翰·洛克与让·雅克·卢梭、亞當·斯密和托馬斯·霍布斯、托馬斯·杰斐遜及詹姆斯·麦迪逊，在绝对权力千年来把持在少数人手中之后，谱写出了彰显个人自由、平等、宗教自由的新时代。
从这个意义上来说，美国是一个与众不同的国家，因为我们的国家是建立在一系列的理念之上。这些理念在当年饶富革命性，至今依然如此。
平等、自由、民主和人类自由的理念。
杰斐逊1776 年写下铿锵有力的文字掷地有声：
“人人（无论男女）生而平等，造物者赋予其若干不可剥夺的权利，包括生命权、自由权和追求幸福的权利。”
两个世纪过去后，约翰·F·肯尼迪总统在一次讲演中指出，“我们是自由的象征。那是我们对自己坚守的信念。那是我们对他人唯一的承诺。”
因此，我们美国人在7 月 4 日，应该要对我们享有的许多自由心存感谢。
言论自由、宗教自由、
和平集会的自由、选择自己领导人的自由、
新闻自由、法治社会的自由。
这些自由深植于政府不能夺走的权利之中。
今晚在此的美国人，没有任何一个人会声称我们是完美的，或是我们面前没有任何重大的挑战有待克服。我们当然有。
然而，我们的故事和历史的弧线所展现的是，每一代的美国人都不畏艰难地将国家往前推进，使其更为平等、更加公正，以期建立我们宪法序言中刻骨铭心的叙述，“更完善的联邦”。
那个“更完善的联邦”就是我们的指路明灯，让我们不断寻求让民主为我们所有的人民发挥作用。
正如拜登总统所说，“自由，个人自由，乃是身为美国人之本。”
没错，自由是我们，为了美国人，为了世界各地的人们，持久的理想。
我们相信，这个在 1776 年 7 月 4 日诞生的理念，在我们的国家、在这个世界上，无论是现今、未来的数十年或是数百年，都是一股强大的良善力量。
这就是7月4日的意义。
在我致辞结束前，让我最后说几句感谢之言。
对所有尽心尽力筹备庆祝活动的各位：
北音CMA爵士大乐团
驻华使团自家的外交照会合唱团出自肺腑的国歌演唱；
我们深以为荣的陆战队护旗队；
我们今晚看板上诸多慷慨解囊的赞助商
超凡三雄Hayley Timmins、Pablo Barruti、Adaeze Igwe，以及独立日筹备委员会。
让我们举杯向美国第247周年独立纪念日祝酒。
在我们举杯祝酒之后，另一个独立日传统将登场，那就是受到中国启发、具美国特色的烟火表演。
让我们一起欣赏。
谢谢。

July 4, 2023
Beijing, China
 
Ambassadors, distinguished guests, and members of the American community here in China, welcome to our national day—celebrating the 247th anniversary of American independence. 
 
Let me pay a special welcome to Executive Vice Foreign Minister Ma Zhaoxu.  We thank him for his presence on behalf of the government of the People’s Republic of China this evening. 
 
Americans will celebrate July 4 today all across our nation in thousands of ways.  
 
The Declaration of Independence will be recited at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. 
 
336 million Americans in fifty states will have the day off for cookouts, our national pastime of baseball, family reunions and trips to the beach. 
 
In my own hometown in Massachusetts and in every town, county, and city across the U.S., Americans will gather for July 4th main street parades.  They will honor our fire and police forces as they ride by with sirens blaring; honor our military, honor Scouts and 4H kids; proud farmers riding on tractors, school marching bands and our elected and civic leaders—all marching in parades in honor of America’s founding two and a half centuries ago. 
July 4th is our most patriotic national holiday when we give thanks to be citizens of our great country. 
 
July 4th is also a day for reflection.  A day to remember that the very idea of a new nation called America originated during the intellectual ferment of the Enlightenment—when John Locke and Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Adam Smith and Thomas Hobbes, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison were authoring a new age of individual liberty, equality, and religious freedom after millennia of absolute power in the hands of the few. 
 
In this sense, America is unique among nations as we were founded on a set of ideas.  These ideas were then, and remain today, revolutionary. 
 
The ideas of equality, liberty, democracy, and human freedom.   
 
Jefferson’s magisterial words ring out to us from 1776:  
 
“All men (and women) are created equal, that they are endowed by their creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.”  
 
Two centuries later, President John F. Kennedy said: “We stand for freedom.  That is our conviction for ourselves. That is our only commitment to others.”  We Americans should thus indeed give thanks for our many freedoms on this July 4th.  
 
The freedom of speech; the freedom of religion; 
 
The freedom to assemble peacefully, the freedom to choose our own leaders;  
 
The freedom of a free press; the freedom of a rule of law society. 
 
These freedoms are rooted in rights that government can not take away.  Now, no American here this evening will claim that we are perfect, and that we don’t have major challenges to overcome.  We certainly do.  
 
The story and arc of our history, however, is that each generation of Americans has struggled to push the country forward, to make it more equal and more just in order to create, in the memorable words of the Preamble of our Constitution, “a more perfect union.”  
 
That “more perfect union” is our north star as we seek to make democracy work for all our people. 
 
As President Biden has said, “Freedom –personal freedom–is fundamental to who we are as Americans.”  
 
Indeed, freedom is our enduring ideal for the American people and people everywhere. 
 
We believe that idea – born on July 4, 1776 – is a powerful force for good in our country, in the world for today and for the decades and centuries to come. 
 
This is the meaning of July 4. 
 
Before closing, let me say a final word of thanks.  
 
To all who made this celebration possible:  
 
–The Jazz Band of the Beijing Contemporary Music Academy;  
 
–Mission China’s very own Dipnotes for their soulful renditions of the national anthems; 
  
–Our great Marine Corps color guard of which we are very proud;  
 
–Our many, generous sponsors on display tonight;  
 
–The terrific triumvirate of Hayley Timmins, Pablo Barruti, Adaeze Igwe, and the July 4 Committee.  
 
I would now like to propose a toast to the 247th anniversary of American independence. 
 
Following our toast, we will be treated to another July 4th tradition – – Chinese-inspired fireworks with American characteristics. 
 
Let us enjoy them together. 
 
Thank you.