這個春節(jié) 百萬中國人出境掃貨
他們出去，是為了體驗一個(或好幾個)法國皮手包的奢侈觸感，享受具有坐浴盆特色的日本高科技坐便器的暢快淋漓，或是在霍比特人比爾博·巴金斯(Bilbo Baggins)隱藏于新西蘭蔥郁青山中的圓洞門前利用自拍架擺出完美造型。
More than five million Chinese were estimated to havetraveled abroad over the Lunar New Year holiday that ended on Wednesday, a 10 percentincrease over the year before and the first time Chinese tourists bound for foreign landsoutnumbered those vacationing domestically, according to Xinhua, the state news agency.Flush with cash and wanderlust, over 60 percent of mainland Chinese who chose to travelduring the holiday — eschewing the traditions of gathering at home with relatives to eatdumplings and watch the Communist Party’s propaganda-drenched Spring Festival Gala —preferred to get their passports stamped, surf uncensored Internet sites and fill their suitcaseswith souvenirs.
官方媒體新華網(wǎng)報道，本周三結(jié)束的春節(jié)假日期間，出國旅游的中國游客人數(shù)估計超過了500萬，同比增長10%，出境游人數(shù)首次超過國內(nèi)游人數(shù)。不少大陸人選擇在春節(jié)期間出游，避開與親人在家吃餃子、觀看充滿共產(chǎn)黨宣傳意味的春節(jié)聯(lián)歡晚會的傳統(tǒng)。由于資金充裕，旅游意愿又旺盛，其中60%的人更青睞跨出國門，暢通無阻地上網(wǎng)，往箱子里塞滿紀(jì)念品。
Li Zhao, 24, who works for a candy company in Beijing, took her family to Bali, Indonesia, fortheir first overseas vacation together. On the island they went white-water rafting, rodeelephants and watched dolphins — along with masses of other mainland Chinese. “Almost all ofthe big tour buses I saw there had Chinese characters on them,” she said.
24歲的李昭(音)在北京一家糖果公司工作，帶著家人到印度尼西亞的巴厘島度假。這是他們?nèi)沂状渭w出國度假。他們在巴厘島玩激流漂流，騎大象，看海豚——周圍有很多同樣來自中國大陸的游客。“我在那里看到的幾乎所有旅游大巴上都有漢字，” 她說。
Like a weeklong version of Black Friday in the United States, the Lunar New Year holiday isincreasingly known for astounding displays of conspicuous consumption by Chinese travelingabroad. The China Tourism Academy estimated that Chinese tourists shelled out more than 140billion renminbi, or $22 billion, during the holiday, Xinhua reported. The weakening yen andeuro provided an additional lure to Chinese shoppers.
就像是美國黑色星期五的加長版，為期一周的春節(jié)假期越來越出名的地方在于，中國出境游客令人瞠目結(jié)舌的炫耀性消費行為。新華網(wǎng)的報道稱，中國旅游研究院估計，中國游客在春節(jié)期間的花費超過了1400億元人民幣。日元和歐元的疲軟對于中國購物者來說是一種額外的誘惑。
In Tokyo, Chinese tourists cleaned out shelves of mechanized toilet seats, digital cameras andrice cookers, according to People’s Daily, the Communist Party mouthpiece. On Sunday, a 27-year-old Chinese woman spent more than $300,000 on clothes, jewelry, cosmetics and a$45,000 Cartier watch at a South Korean mall, the Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported. An onlineChinese shopping guide for Thailand recommended buying crocodile leather goods, snakemedicine and visiting a tailor shop in the Holiday Inn Bangkok that supposedly helped outfitforeign leaders with suits and shirts for a diplomatic summit meeting.
共產(chǎn)黨喉舌《人民日報》報道，在東京的中國游客將機械化馬桶座圈、數(shù)碼相機及電飯鍋搶購一空。韓國的《朝鮮日報》(Chosun Ilbo)則報道，一名27歲的中國女性周日在當(dāng)?shù)氐囊患疑虉龌ㄙM逾30萬美元(約合188萬元人民幣)購買了服裝、珠寶、化妝品和一塊售價4.5萬美元的卡地亞(Cartier)手表。網(wǎng)上的一份中文版泰國購物指南建議游客購買鱷魚皮具和蛇藥，前往曼谷假日酒店(Holiday Inn Bangkok)的裁縫店——據(jù)說這家店曾為參加外交峰會的外國領(lǐng)導(dǎo)人提供西裝和襯衫。
Yet even as countries have clamored to profit from the Chinese travel bug by loosening visarestrictions and hiring Mandarin-speaking sales clerks, Chinese tourists are finding that moneydoes not always buy love abroad, including from other Chinese.
然而，雖然各個國家紛紛放寬簽證限制、雇傭會講漢語的售貨員，急切地希望從中國人的旅游熱潮中獲利，中國游客卻發(fā)現(xiàn)，有錢在國外也不一定能享受到笑臉，包括從其他中國人那里。
Liu Yikun, 26, an accountant, took her mother along for what she thought would be a relaxingtrip to Boracay, a tropical island in the Philippines famed for its white-sand beaches andWindex-blue waters. But she quickly discovered that droves of her compatriots had the sameidea.
26歲的劉亦昆(音)是一名會計，帶著母親一起前往菲律賓的熱帶島嶼長灘島游玩。那里以雪白的沙灘和碧藍的大海而聞名，她原本以為這會是一次令人放松的旅行，但很快就發(fā)現(xiàn)，很多同胞有著同樣的想法。
“I rolled my eyes when I saw Chinese tour groups going to the beaches,” said Ms. Liu.Desperate to avoid the crowds, the Lius fled to a less popular strip of sand and returned toBeijing before the peak travel days.
“看到中國旅行團向海灘進發(fā)時，我翻了個白眼，”劉亦昆說。她和母親急于避開人群，逃到了知名度較低的一片沙灘，并在交通高峰到來之前返回了北京。
While complaints of Chinese manners — or the lack thereof — are a chronic source ofembarrassment in China, occasionally there are more serious consequences. In New Zealand,some police officers blamed a recent spike in fatal car crashes and reckless driving incidents onthe 40,000 Chinese tourists who flocked to the country over the holiday, according to ThePress newspaper. On Monday, a driver from Beijing with a baby on board was filmed repeatedlycrossing into oncoming traffic before a fellow motorist confiscated his rental car keys. A fewdays earlier, a Chinese tourist was charged with causing the death of a five-year-old NewZealand girl after his car crossed the median and collided with an oncoming vehicle. Incourt,“the man showed no emotion during the hearing,” Hong Kong’s Standard newspaperreported.
盡管對中國人禮儀——或者說缺乏禮儀——的抱怨一直讓中國感到難堪，但偶爾會出現(xiàn)更為嚴(yán)重的后果。新西蘭《新聞報》(The Press)報道，一些警員將當(dāng)?shù)刂旅攒嚨溂棒斆я{駛事件近期的激增歸咎于在節(jié)日期間涌入該國的4萬名中國游客。周一，一名來自北京的司機多次被拍到越過中線，駛進迎面而來的車流，直到另外一輛車的司機奪走了這輛租賃汽車的鑰匙。幾天之前，一名中國游客被控導(dǎo)致新西蘭的一名五歲女孩死亡，他越過中線，撞上了一輛迎面駛來的汽車。香港《英文虎報》(The Standard)報道稱，在法庭上，“這名男子在聆訊時面無表情。”
Yet for most of the world’s largest group of outbound travelers, vacations pass without a hitch.Last year, Chinese took more than 100 million trips abroad, according to China’s state tourismadministration. Over the New Year holiday, the most popular destinations were South Korea,Thailand and, perhaps surprisingly, Japan.
但世界最大的出境旅游群體中的大多數(shù)人，都順利度過了假期。據(jù)中國國家旅游局透露，去年，中國公民出境游突破1億人次。新年期間最受歡迎的目的地是韓國、泰國，以及日本——這或許讓人感到驚訝。
Despite a longstanding territorial dispute with Japan inflamed by Beijing’s accusations thatTokyo must repent for crimes committed during World War II, around 2.4 million Chinesevisited the country in 2014, up 83 percent from the previous year, according to the JapanNational Tourism Organization.
盡管中日之間存在長期的領(lǐng)土爭端，而且中國指責(zé)東京應(yīng)該為二戰(zhàn)罪行懺悔也煽動起了民眾的情緒，據(jù)日本國家旅游局(Japan National Tourism Organization)透露，2014年赴日旅游的中國游客人數(shù)達到了240萬，同比增長83%。
Not all Chinese citizens were thrilled about their compatriots fraternizing with China’s historicenemy. After word spread of the Chinese shopping spree for Japanese toilets, some irateChinese took to social media to vent.
并非所有中國公民都對同胞親近歷史上的敵人的行為感到興奮。在中國人瘋狂搶購日本坐便器的消息傳開之后，一些憤怒的中國人通過社交媒體大肆發(fā)泄。
“The Japanese are raking in Chinese tourists’ money to manufacture weapons,” wrote onemicroblogger, Xue Ziyu. “I wonder if these shoppers will sit comfortably on their toilet.”
“日本拿著中國游客的錢制造著武器，”微博用戶薛子育寫道。“不知這些坐在馬桶蓋的人是否還感到安穩(wěn)。”
On Thursday, the state-owned Global Times newspaper jumped into the fray with an editoriallashing out at Chinese shoppers for making “a mockery” of grass-roots efforts to boycottJapanese goods. “Chinese customers flooding to Japan for shopping by no means is Chinesepeople’s glory, nor is it Chinese manufacturing industry’s glory,” it said.
周四，官方報紙《環(huán)球時報》加入論戰(zhàn)，發(fā)表社論，斥責(zé)中國購物者讓抵制日貨的草根行動顯得有些“諷刺”。該報稱，“中國人卻跑到日本去掃貨，這肯定不是中國人的光榮，不是中國制造的光榮。”
Still, some Japanese industries do not mind losing out on the influx of Chinese visitors.
然而，有些日本行業(yè)并不介意失去蜂擁而至的中國游客。
Along the side streets of Tokyo’s red-light district of Yoshiwara, the anterooms of bathhouseswith names like Satin Doll, Candy Girl and Cute were filled with men’s loafers arranged neatly inone corner and strappy high-heels in another, evidence that their owners were mutuallyoccupied elsewhere. “Come inside, the girls are happy to play,” cried a tout.
東京吉原紅燈區(qū)的小巷兩側(cè)，許多澡堂掛著“緞衣娃娃”(Satin Doll)、“蜜糖女孩”(Candy Girl)和“可愛寶貝”(Cute)這樣的招牌。澡堂的前廳擺滿了男人的拖鞋，這些拖鞋被整齊地擺放在一個角落，另一個角落則放著羅馬高跟鞋，這說明它們的主人正在別處一起忙得脫不開身。一個招徠顧客的人喊道，“進來吧，姑娘們很愿意玩玩。”
But Chinese men are no longer welcome in certain Yoshiwara establishments following a spateof incidents in which Chinese tourists behaved roughly with the masseuses, posted clandestinephotos of them online or simply refused to pay for erotic services rendered.
但是，在吉原的一些店家看來，中國男人不再受歡迎了。這是因為此前發(fā)生的一連串事件：有些中國游客對女按摩師舉止粗魯，把她們的私密照片放在網(wǎng)上，或者干脆拒絕為自己享受的色情服務(wù)付費。
“More and more Chinese are coming,” the tout said. “But they get turned away because weknow they make trouble.”
“來這里的中國人越來越多，”那個招徠顧客的人說。“但他們會被拒之門外，因為我們知道他們經(jīng)常制造麻煩。”
