中国中小城镇掀起不必要奢华消费
Mao Zedong would not be amused.
毛泽东恐怕不会对此感到高兴。For more than a decade, Mao lived in a cave in the remote mountain town of Yan’an, central China, giving birth to Chinese communism. Now, more than 60 years later, the town is at the centre of a revolution in Chinese consumerism. Conspicuous consumption has arrived – and the Communist party could not be more delighted.
在十多年的时间里，毛泽东都居住在偏远山区城市延安的一座窑洞中，在这里孕育了中国的共产主义。60多年后的今天，这座城市成为了在中国掀起的一场消费主义革命的中心。炫耀性消费已经来临——中共对此高兴不已。From Beijing to the boardroom, communists and capitalists around the world are counting on China to encourage a new generation of big spenders in cities such as Yan’an, and in other places that even Chinese people have never heard of.
从北京到企业董事会，世界各个角落的共产主义者和资本家，都指望中国在延安这样的城市以及在其他连中国人都从未听说过的地方培育出新一代大手大脚的消费者。
The aim is to substitute consumer-led growth for the investment boom that has powered the economy for decades. That is all the more important given that recent data show the country’s economy is showing signs of slowing.
此举旨在用消费拉动的增长取代推动中国经济增长数十年的投资繁荣。鉴于近期数据显示中国经济正露出放缓的苗头，此举就显得更加重要。Just minutes away from Mao’s cave, Zhang Peng, 36, is responding to the modern party’s call to consumption.
在距毛泽东所住窑洞几分钟路程的地方，36岁的张鹏（Zhang Peng，音译）正在响应时下中共呼吁消费的号召。He has paired a lime green striped T-shirt with grey sweatpants and blue sneakers at the town’s newly opened Adidas store – an ensemble that would set him back Rmb1,250 (about $200), more than a month’s rent.
在延安新开的阿迪达斯(Adidas)门店中，他挑选了一件浅绿色条纹T恤、一条灰色运动裤和一双蓝色运动鞋。这套行头得花掉他1250元人民币（约合200美元），比一个月的房租还多。The German sportswear brand is banking on shoppers like him – and cities such as Yan’an – to deliver the growth that is so elusive in Europe and in first-tier Chinese cities that are becoming saturated with foreign brands.
这家德国运动服装品牌正寄希望于张鹏这样的顾客以及延安这样的城市来实现增长。目前在欧洲，阿迪达斯已很难实现这样的增长，在中国一线城市也是如此，因为这些城市充斥着各种国外品牌、日渐饱和。With his Gucci watch and rapidly expanding paunch, Mr Zhang needs gear to help him work off the extra weight – but also to show off to his friends. “If I am out playing badminton with my friends, and I am wearing Adidas while others are wearing Nike or Anta [a Chinese brand], then the one wearing Anta will lose face.”
张鹏戴着古驰(Gucci)手表、肚腩日益隆起，因此需要运动装备来帮自己减掉多余体重，但同时也是为了向朋友们炫耀。“如果我出去和朋友一起打羽毛球，我穿着阿迪，其他人穿着耐克(Nike)或者安踏（一个中国本土品牌），那么穿安踏的人就很没面子。”Colin Currie, managing director of Adidas China, explains why towns such as Yan’an are so important. “Two-thirds of the growth in China will come from lower-tier cities,” he says. To do that, the German group will have to go where no foreign sportswear brand has been before in China: to fifth and sixth-tier cities, where even existing Adidas franchisees lack the local contacts they need to get prime retail sites and butter up the local bureaucracy. (Adidas defines fifth-tier as a minor province level city with an average population of 700,000, while sixth tier cities are county level, with an average population of 500,000.)
阿迪达斯大中华区董事总经理高嘉礼(Colin Currie)解释了为何延安等城市如此重要。他表示：“我们在中国市场三分之二的增长将来自中小城市。”要实现这一目标，这家德国企业必须进入外国运动服装品牌此前从未涉足的地方，也就是中国的五、六线城市。在这些地方，即便是现有的阿迪达斯门店也缺乏搞到黄金零售地段以及逢迎地方官僚所需的本地人脉。（阿迪达斯把五线城市定义为小型地级市，平均人口70万，把六线城市定义为县级市，平均人口50万。）China’s smaller cities are only just now opening their first modern fast-food restaurants, department stores and car dealerships.
在中国较小的城镇，现在才刚刚出现首批现代化的快餐店、百货商场以及汽车经销店。“Consumers in lower-tier cities have a lot more time to participate in activities that do not cost a lot, like running, and there is not so much choice in lower-tier cities in apparel so it’s OK to wear sportswear for going to work or even to a wedding,” says Mr Currie.
高嘉礼表示：“中小城市消费者有多得多的时间参与各种不需要花太多钱的活动，例如跑步。而且中小城市的服装选择不多，所以穿着运动服上班甚至参加婚礼也没什么关系。”Any lingering doubts about the disposable income of the modern Yan’an dweller are dispelled by the price tags on luxury bicycles for sale near one Adidas shop: Lamborghini bicycles retail for Rmb7,580, and staff say the best seller is a Ferrari toddler bike with training wheels, for Rmb2,880.
如果你还不能打消对现代延安居民可支配收入的怀疑，只需去看看阿迪达斯门店旁边待售的高档自行车的价签：兰博基尼(Lamborghini)自行车，零售价7580元人民币；这里的员工表示，最畅销的是带辅助轮的法拉利(Ferrari)儿童自行车，零售价2880元人民币。
