男朋友让我帮洗餐具:中国梦的终结(中英对照)

中国梦的终结

 随着中国经济的持续下行，北京的精英们激起普通大众中到处都可以感觉到的新的沮丧之情。

 
BY CHRISTINA LARSON | DECEMBER 21, 2011
BY CHRISTINA LARSON

BEIJING – In June, a Chinese friend of mine who grew up in the northern industrial city of Shenyang and recently graduated from university moved to Beijing to follow his dream -- working for a media company. He has a full-time job, but the entry-level pay isn't great and it's tough to make ends meet. When we had lunch recently, he brought up his housing situation, which he described as "not ideal." He was living in a three-bedroom apartment split by seven people, near the Fourth Ring Road -- the outer orbit of the city. Five of his roommates were young women who went to work each night at 11 p.m. and returned around 4 a.m. "They say they are working the overnight shift at Tesco," the British retailer, but he was dubious. One night he saw them entering a KTV Club wearing lots of makeup and "skirts much shorter than my boxers" and, tellingly, proceeding through the employee entrance. "So they are prostitutes," he concluded. "I feel a little uncomfortable."

    北京——今年6月，我在东北工业城市长大的一位朋友，大学毕业来到北京追求自己的梦想——在一家媒体公司工作。他有了一份全职工作，起薪不高，入不敷出。最近我们一起吃午饭，说到自己的住房问题，他说并“不理想”。他在北京城边的四环路附近，与7个人一起租了一套三居室的房子。室友中有5个都是年轻女人，每天晚上11点上班，凌晨4点回来。“他们自己说在英国零售商Tesco上夜班，”可他表示怀疑。有一天晚上，他看见他们浓妆艳抹明显地从员工入口进了一家KTV歌厅，“穿得裙子比我的拳击短裤还短”。“所以，她们其实是些妓女，”他得出结论. “我感到有点不舒服。”

But when he tallied his monthly expenses and considered his lack of special connections, or guanxi, in the city, either to help boost his paycheck or to find more comfortable but not more expensive housing, he figured he'd stick out the grim living situation. "I have come here to be a journalist -- it is my goal, and I do not want to go back now. But it seems like it's harder than it used to be."

    不过，算算自己每月的花销，想到自己在北京没有特殊的关系帮助自己要么增加收入，要么找到更舒适更廉价的住房，他觉得还得在这样恶劣的居住条件下继续呆着。“我来这里是想当一名记者，那是我的目标，我现在不想回去。不过，看来过去没有想到有这么艰难。”

When I asked how his colleagues and former classmates were getting along, he thought about it for a moment and then replied that some were basically in the same lot as him, "but many of my friends have parents in Beijing, and they can save money to live with them. If your family is already established here, it helps a lot." After a moment, he added: "And some of them have rich parents who have already bought them their own apartments -- and cars."

    我问他同事和以前的同学混的怎么样，他想了一会儿回答说，有些人基本上跟他一模一样，“不过我的许多朋友父母就在北京，他们跟父母住在一起省钱。如果家已经在这里，情况就好多了。”过了一会儿，他接着说：“有些人父母很有钱，已经给他们买下了房子，还有汽车。”

Despite China's astonishing economic growth, it has gotten harder for people like my friend to get by in the big city. His is not a particularly lucrative profession. Like many in Beijing, he cannot count on his annual pay to keep pace with China's official rates of inflation -- which many economists suspect are lowballed anyway. (The consumer-price-index inflation rate is considered so sensitive that the State Council approves it before it is released publicly.) Even so, every month this year consumer-price-index inflation has exceeded the official average monthly target of 4 percent. Last month state media hailed it as good news that it was, officially, just 4.2 percent.

    尽管中国经济增长速度令人惊叹，但是像我的朋友这样的人要在大城市生活却越来越艰难。他的职业属于并不是特别赚钱的行业。向北京的许多人一样，他无法指望着自己每年的收入能够跟上中国官方公布的通货膨胀率——许多经济学家怀疑官方公布的数字属于严重低估。（消费物价通货膨胀指数非常敏感，公布前要经过国务院的批准。）即便如此，今年各月的消费物价指数的上涨已经超过了官方月平均4%的目标。上月，被国营媒体赞誉为好消息的是官方CIP数字刚好到4.2%。

Anyone in Beijing can point to examples of friends who see rents hiked 10 percent or more in one year. The prices at restaurants keep going up, even as portions are getting noticeably smaller. Throw in the loss of intangibles that money can't buy -- like air quality and food safety -- and you begin to understand the grumbling among some of Beijing's non-wealthy folks that their standard of living seems to be diminishing, even as the national GDP surges ahead at a heady 9 percent.

    在北京，任何人都可以以自己的朋友为例，说房租在一年内上涨10%，甚至更高。饭店里的价格一直在涨，而每份菜的量却明显越来越少。再加上那些金钱买不来的无形东西上的损失——如空气质量与食品安全——你就开始理解那些并不富裕的人当中的抱怨，他们抱怨说，尽管国家的GDP以令人兴奋的9%的速度增长，他们的生活水准似乎在不断下降。

Could it possibly be true that a swath of people in China's big cities is downwardly mobile, if one compared wages with living expenses? I asked Patrick Chovanec, an associate professor at Tsinghua University's School of Economics and Management in Beijing. Alas, he told me, it's difficult to find much clarification in China's famously fudgeable official statistics. (For instance, the official unemployment rate only includes individuals with urban hukous, or permanent residency permits -- which excludes the most economically vulnerable.) Still, he noted: "If you perceive that you're losing buying power -- or have rising but unmet expectations -- that's when people get upset.… And this country, for a country growing at over 9 percent, is in a foul mood."

    如果比较一下工资与生活成本，中国大城市的一批人在往下走，难道这种说法会是真实情况？我请教了北京清华大学经济与管理学院的副教授Patrick Chovanec先生。他告诉我，唉，“很难从中国以捏造而闻名的官方统计数据中得到许多清楚的东西。”（例如，官方公布的失业率只包括具有城镇户口的城市居民，大量经济条件不好的人士并不包括在内。）不过，他注意到：“如果你感觉到自己在丧失购买力——或者期望不断上升而无法满足——人会感到失望。这样一个经济增长速度超过9%的国家，真令人伤心。”

Indeed, there is a palpable sense of frustration in Beijing, especially compared with the last time I lived here in 2008. You can see it on the dour faces on the metro, hear it in raspy voices at dinner conversations, and especially sense it in the new gruffness of taxi drivers, who no longer think ferrying people around town for 10 yuan, about $1.60, is such a good deal for them (their base fare hasn't been raised). Still, it's hard to rage against abstractions. It's a lot easier to fume at obnoxious people.

    实际上，在北京到处都能有令人沮丧的感觉，特别是与我上次2008年住在这里相比。你可以在地铁里看到人们沉闷的脸庞，在听到饭桌前人们说话时的焦操不安的声音，尤其是在出租车司机中可以感到新添的粗暴态度，他们不再10块钱（约为1.6美元）乘车是个好的价钱（他们的起步费用并没有涨价）。不过，人们很难对抽象的东西生气，而对那些令人讨厌的人发火就容易多了。

No wonder, then, that in 2011 the Chinese media and Sina Weibo (China's version of Twitter) buzzed nearly every month with salacious reports of China's Paris Hilton-types -- the sons and daughters of the wealthy and political elite, dangling opulent accessories and impoverished judgment -- behaving badly in BMWs and Audis and typically expecting to get away with it, to boot.

    难怪 2011 年中国媒体与新浪微博 (中国版的 Twitter) 几乎每个月都充斥中国的帕丽斯·希尔顿式放荡生活报道——富人和政治精英的后代，招摇过市的华丽服饰，贫乏的判断力——在宝马车和奥迪车上胡闹，还期望不受约束。

The year began with the trial of Li Qiming, a university student in Hebei province who in October 2010 was drunk-driving and slammed into two other college students out skating, killing one of them. When he saw what had happened, he tried to speed away, but the campus guard stopped his vehicle. When questioned, the first thing he is widely reported to have blurted out was, "My father is Li Gang." Li Gang is the district's deputy police chief.

    本年伊始是对李启明的审判。他是河北省的一名大学生，2010年1月醉驾撞上了在外滑冰的两个大学生，其中一位被压死。事情发生后，他企图驾车逃跑，却被学校的保卫拦住。据广泛报道，讯问时，他一开口就说“我爸是李刚。”李刚是该区警察局的副局长。

Then there was 15-year-old Li Tianyi, the son of a high-ranking army official, who had no license when he got behind the wheel of a BMW in September. While carousing the streets of Beijing, he grew frustrated when another car was blocking his path. He reportedly got out of the car and assaulted the other driver while either he or a friend shouted, "Who will dare call the police?" Behind his car's windshield was a temporary driving pass for the Great Hall of the People, China's parliament building.

    接着又是15岁的李天一，一位高级军官的儿子，没有驾照却于今年9月开着一辆宝马车。李在北京大街上狂欢作乐时，对另一辆挡路的车大为不满。据说他下了车，就去殴打那辆车上的司机，不是他就是他的朋友还狂喊：“谁敢打110？”。李天一的挡风玻璃后面，有一张中国国会人民大会堂的临时通行证。

And earlier this month, a student at Beijing Film Academy got into a fight over where he could park his Audi, the telltale car of choice of Chinese officials. After a brawl in the parking lot, a cleaner, a 43-year-old migrant worker from nearby Hebei province, was taken to a hospital, where he died.

    就在那个月的上旬，一名北京电影学院的学生开着中国官员喜欢的警车，在停车的地方与人发生打斗，从附近河北省来北京43岁民工清洁工被送进医院，死在那里。

Perhaps the closest female equivalent was the lightning-rod saga of Guo "Meimei," a petite 20-year-old with a heart-shaped face and big brown eyes who took to posting photos of herself driving her "little horse" (a white Maserati) and her "little bull" (an orange Lamborghini) on her Weibo microblog. On her account, she claimed to be a general manager at the Red Cross of China, one of the country's largest and most politically connected charities. Her luxury goods, not to mention horrible judgment, were widely taken by readers as signs of corruption at the charity. (In the months following the scandal, which reached its zenith in June, donations to the charity dropped off precipitously). Later, it came out that she held no such position and was rumored instead to be either a mistress or relative of someone at the Red Cross.

    女性里面也许最为相像的是郭美美雷人的传奇，她20多岁，身材娇小，瓜子脸，一双黑色的大眼睛，喜欢在微博上贴自己驾驶她的“小马”（白色的玛莎拉蒂）和她的“小公牛”（橙色的兰博基尼）的照片。根据她的表述，她是中国红十字会的一位总经理。中国红十字会是中国最大的、与政治最为紧密的慈善机构。她拥有的奢侈品，更不用说吓人的判断力，被读者广泛视为慈善机构腐败的标志。（丑闻事件于6月达到顶峰，接下来的几个月里，对该慈善机构的捐赠直线下降。）后来事情证明，郭美美并没有这样的头衔，有传言称，她不是红十字会某人的情妇就是亲戚。

The anger in China at such dilettantes misbehaving runs deeper than, say, America's love-hate relationship with Lindsay Lohan. As Michael Anti, a popular Chinese blogger and political commentator, told me, "The rich are becoming a dynasty." Now people in China recognize that "you get your position not by degree or hard work, but by your daddy." Anti added that though corruption and guanxi are hardly new concepts in China, there was previously a greater belief in social mobility through merit. "Before, university was a channel to help you to ruling class. Now the ruling class just promote themselves."

    在中国，对这些行为不端半吊子艺人的愤怒超过了美国对林赛·罗韩又爱又恨的关系。正如中国有名的博客作家及政治评论家Michael Ant告诉我的那样，“富人正在变为一个王朝。”现在的中国人承认“地位的取得一不靠学位，二不靠勤奋，而考的是爹。”他还说，虽然腐败与关系在中国并不是什么新的观念，但在过去人们更多地相信，社会地位的上升要靠德行。“过去，上大学时进入统治阶层的一个通道。现在统治阶层只提拔他们自己。”

There is a dark sense that something has changed. "It's not simply income equality that bothers people -- that's a misconception," Chovanec told me. "When Jack Ma makes a billion dollars for starting a successful company, that's OK.… It's inequality of privilege. It's how people make their money. There's now a whole class of people getting wealthy because of who they are, not what they do -- and they follow a different set of rules."

    事情的发展变化让人感到黑暗。“人们感到恼怒的不仅仅是收入上的不平等——那是一个错误的概念，”Chovanec告诉我，“马云开的公司非常成功，他赚了几十亿美元，没问题。现在是特权上不平等。人们就靠这赚钱。现在有整个一个阶层，他们发财靠的是自己的身份，而不是自己的劳动——他们遵循不同一套法则。”

In today's China, the abilities to buy and sell real estate and to win government contracts are among the greatest drivers of wealth, and it's those who are already wealthy and well-connected who have access to these opportunities. If their children are lazy or dull, they can use their stature to create opportunities and positions for them, cutting short the trajectories of more able aspirants. Social status is becoming further entrenched because, as Chovanec notes, "Government is so pervasive in China's economy.… Government has great power in determining winners and losers, so who you are and who you know does more than anything else to determine success." And those at the top increasingly act above the law. "Privilege begets money, and money begets privilege."

    在今天的中国，有能力买卖房地产，拿到政府的合同才是拥有财富的最大来源，而正是那些已经有钱有关系的人才有这样的机会。如果他们的孩子不愿干事或者头脑愚钝，他们可以利用自己的身份为孩子创造机会，谋取地位，这样就切断了那些有能力有出息的人的上升渠道。社会地位变得越来越根深蒂固，因为正如Chovane指出的那样，“在中国经济中，政府无所不在……政府具有决定赢家和输家的强大权力，所以你到底是什么样的人和你认识什么样的人在决定成功方面比任何其它事情都重要。”那些高高在上的人的行为越来越凌驾于法律之上。"特权生金钱，金钱生特权。"。

This, of course, runs counter to the optimistic, popular fairy tale of China over the past 30 years, duly promoted by the ruling Communist Party, that a rising tide and roaring economy inevitably lifts all boats; that the future will be better, materially, than the past; that hard work will get you ahead; and that education is the great leveler. Call it the Chinese dream.

    当然，这样现象与过去30年来执政的共产党鼎力推行的乐观向上、广受支持的中国寓言故事截然相反。这样的故事是说，上升的浪潮以及快速发生的经济不可避免地要提升所有的船只；未来将会大大地好于过去；勤奋努力就有奔头；教育人人平等。这就是所谓中国梦。

"Well, that used to be true, pretty much -- but not now," reflects Qiao Mu, a professor at Beijing Foreign Studies University. "Take myself. I was born in 1970 into a poor family in west China. There wasn't yet a large class of rich people in China, so the opportunities were more open. At that time, I could depend on my hard work and study to advance. I could change my position in society." But today, he says, sighing deeply, "It's much more difficult for these young guys, my students. You have to rely on your background, and those who already have connections and wealth help themselves and their children.… The condition is getting worse, not better."

    “是啊，过去的确如此，可现在不是，”北京外国语大学教授乔木（音译）说。“那我自己来说吧。我1970年出生在中国西部一个贫穷的家庭。不过，那是中国没有一个庞大的富人阶层，所以机会更为开放。那时，我可以靠自己的勤奋工作与学习取得进步。我可以该表自己的社会地位。”他深深地叹了口气说，可是现在。“对于我的学生这样的年轻人来说，就困难地多了。你得靠自己的背景，那些有钱有关系的人只帮助自己和自己的孩子…… 情况越来越糟，不会好的。”

Or, as my friend, the struggling reporter, put it: "People no longer believe you can win by working hard and honestly in China."

    或者像我的朋友，一位苦苦挣扎着的记者说的那样：“在中国，人们不再相信，通过艰苦而诚实地努力就能取得成功。”