何謂小資 Enjoy Life, You Petty Bourgeoisie
China's new crop of hedonists indulge themselves, whether or not they can afford it.
不管能否負擔得起，中國的新一茬享樂主義族羣都在縱情享樂。
By Shepherd Laughlin
文/謝潑德·勞克林 譯/王珏 李曉丹 審訂/王軍
Ma Nuo, a contestant on a Jiangsu dating show, became infamous last year for declaring that she'd "rather cry in a BMW than smile on a bicycle." Outraged netizens took her comments as fresh evidence that China's new rich had sacrificed inner fulfillment for the fleeting pleasures of material wealth. But, in fact, many upwardly mobile Chinese fall somewhere in the middle, chasing personal fulfillment and consumer gratification with equal abandon.
去年，江蘇的一檔相親節目的選手馬諾宣稱，她“寧可在寶馬裏哭，也不在自行車上笑”，因此臭名昭著。憤怒的網民將她的話作爲新證據，證明中國的新富爲了追求稍縱即逝的物質財富而放棄精神追求。但事實上，許多向上登攀的中國人介乎中間，對於自我實現和消費滿足同樣縱情追逐。
The so-called Xiaozi are a distinctly Chinese urban tribe that occupies a space somewhere between the yuppies and hipsters familiar to Westerners. A short list of Xiaozi accoutrements includes coffee, Haruki Murakami's "Norwegian Wood," French cuisine, the Houhai neighborhood in Beijing, European films, Apple computers, the city of Shanghai and Adidas—though a real Xiaozi would never admit to their addictions so bluntly.
所謂的小資顯然是中國都市一族，介於西方人熟悉的雅皮士和嬉皮士之間。咖啡、村上春樹的《挪威的森林》、法國美食、北京後海一帶、歐洲電影、蘋果電腦、城市上海和阿迪達斯——均屬小資必備，儘管真正的小資從來不會如此直率地承認他們對這些有癮。
Sipping latté in a Chaoyang Starbucks, Beijing native Wei Yuan explained the Xiaozi ideal to me as it applied to her 33-year-old friend: "Her life is so Xiaozi. She's single, her house is full of art and she travels abroad to buy foreign things." At the next table, a group of three men in their 30s gathered around an iPad for a meeting, but each tapped furiously on their own iPhone 4. Wei told me her friend worked in public relations—a very Xiaozi profession. "Sometimes she says, 'no, I'm not a Xiaozi,' but it's precisely her lifestyle, I think."
在朝陽區的一家星巴克，北京人魏媛（音譯）一邊喝着拿鐵咖啡，一邊向我解釋小資理想，還說這適用於她一位33歲的朋友：“她的生活就是這麼的小資：單身，房子裏擺滿了藝術品，還到國外買洋貨。”在旁邊的桌子，三個30多歲的男子圍着一臺iPad開會，但每個人都在急速地敲着自己的iPhone 4。魏媛告訴我說，她那位朋友幹公關——一種非常小資的職業。“有時候她說，'不，我不是小資'，但我想，她的生活方式就是很小資。”
What makes these Xiaozi different from China's rising middle class? According to Helen Wang, who interviewed members of both groups for her book The Chinese Dream, many Chinese "associate the middle class with houses and cars, and Xiaozi with candlelight dinners and a glass of wine." Xiaozi, it seems, like to spend money on high-sensation experiences like travel and fine meals. They may also indulge their penchants for sleek consumer gadgets and well-crafted fashion accessories. One person told me that the typical Xiaozi salary is anywhere from 5,000–20,000 RMB a month, but that living the Xiaozi life is more about attitude than earning power.
是什麼使得這些小資不同於中國的新興中產階級呢？據王海倫所說，爲了寫《中國夢》，她採訪了這兩種羣體中的一些人，她說，許多中國人都“把中產階級與房子和汽車聯繫在一起，把小資與燭光晚餐和葡萄酒聯繫在一起”。看來，小資喜歡將錢花在富於感官刺激的體驗上，像旅行和美食。他們或許還沉迷於時髦的電子消費裝置和設計精美的時尚配飾。有人告訴我說，典型的小資月薪在5000-20000元人民幣之間，但是，過小資的生活是一種生活態度，而不是掙多少錢的本事。
In a society where memories of scarcity are none too distant, Xiaozi live for the present. Many Chinese people see home ownership as the mark of an eligible bachelor, but Xiaozi regard such notions with disdain. As real estate prices skyrocket, they prefer to rent and spend any extra cash on escapes to Yunnan or foreign-language novels and DVDs. Such choices may be individually fulfilling, but the "live it up" mentality of the Xiaozi provokes concern from older relatives, who worried about the next generation's financial future. "Young people think they're living in the moment," said Zhuang Shi, a lifestyle editor in Beijing, "but in older people's point of view, they are wasting their time and life, because if they're living in the moment, it means they have no plan for the future."
在當今社會，人們對物質匱乏的記憶猶新，但小資們卻只爲當下而活。許多中國人都把有房子看成是黃金單身漢的標準，但小資蔑視這種觀念。由於房地產價格扶搖直上，他們寧願租房子，將富餘的錢花在到雲南旅遊或外語小說和DVD上。這樣的選擇可能滿足了個人的需求，但小資“今朝有酒今朝醉”的心態卻讓老輩人對下一代未來的經濟基礎有所擔心。“年輕人認爲自己是爲眼前活着，”北京的生活時尚編輯莊施（音譯）說，“但老輩人的觀點是，他們在浪費自己的時間和生命，因爲，活在當下意味着對未來沒有規劃。”
Most people I spoke with thought that Xiaozi had a negative connotation, but some embrace the term. "Especially in Beijing, maybe 60 percent of people like being called this," says Li Ran, a Beijing native who studies economics at Seoul National University. "To be called Xiaozi means they have money, but you know, over time so many people used that word in a bad way." He turned to his friend, "Actually, she is Xiaozi!" The young woman next to him flinched. She was wearing a bright red, puffy coat and blushed as Li spoke approvingly of her white Honda. Asked what Xiaozi meant to her, she said in English, "Enjoy life!"
跟我聊過的大多數人認爲小資有貶義，但還是有些人願意接受這個說法。“尤其是在北京，也許60%的人喜歡被稱爲小資。”在首爾國立大學學習經濟學的北京人李然說，“被人叫小資意味着他們有錢，但是你知道，過去許多人將這個詞用作貶義。”他轉向他的朋友，“她其實就是小資！”他旁邊的年輕女子有點不好意思。她穿着一件鮮紅而蓬鬆的外衣，李稱讚她的白色本田時，她臉紅了。當問及小資對於她意味着什麼時，她用英語說：“享受生活！”
The term Xiaozi came into its current meaning in the 1990s as China's growing economy permitted new heights of consumer indulgence. Its origins, however, go back to the days of staunch Communism: Xiaozi originally meant "petty bourgeoisie," a term occupying a specific space in the Marxist theory of class.
20世紀90年代，中國的經濟增長使放縱消費浪潮達到新的高峯，小資一詞有了現在的意義。然而，它的起源可以追溯到堅定的共產主義歲月：小資原意爲“小資產階級”，在馬克思主義階級理論中，該詞有特定的含義。
The petty bourgeoisie were city dwellers who may have been government functionaries, owners of small businesses, or intellectuals. Stuck somewhere in between the true capitalist oppressors and the workers, farmers and soldiers who formed the core of the revolution, their status shifted during the early decades of Chinese communism. "The petty bourgeois writers and artists constitute an important force…" said Mao Zedong in 1942 at the Yan'an Forum on Literature and Art. "There are many shortcomings in both their thinking and their works, but, comparatively speaking, they are inclined towards the revolution and are close to the working people."
小資產階級是城市居民，他們可以是政府工作人員、小業主或知識分子。他們介於真正的資本主義壓迫者和形成了革命核心力量的工農兵兩者之間，在中國共產主義的最初幾十年，他們的地位發生了變動。“小資產階級文藝家在中國是一個重要的力量……”1942年毛澤東在延安文藝座談會上說，“他們的思想和作品都有很多缺點，但是他們比較地傾向於革命，比較地接近於勞動人民。”
Xiaozi today probably have different inclinations. "I think you should leave what Mao said behind," said Shi, who usually goes by Aviva Shey, her English name. "I think what you want to know about Xiaozi is very different from what he meant." True, Mao's ideas about class were based on the way people earned their living, not on taste or lifestyle. But isn't there some kind of important connection here? "Well, I choose not to see it," she told me.
當今的小資可能有不同的傾向。“我認爲你應該把毛主席的話放在一邊。” 莊施說，她通常用英文名字，叫阿維娃·謝伊。“我想你想知道的小資和他的意思有天壤之別。”的確，毛澤東關於階級的思想是基於人們謀生的方式而不是他們的品味或生活方式。但是，其中沒有某些重要關聯嗎？“嗯，我寧願不去看破。”她告訴我。
Watching well-heeled shoppers queue for designer cupcakes in the shadow of a massive new Comme des Gar?ons store in Beijing, it's hard to imagine that a scant 40 years ago, a basic commodity like shampoo might have been denounced as a decadent bourgeois splurge. And yet, during the radical and paranoid days of the Cultural Revolution, any hint that someone gained spiritual or emotional fulfillment from material possessions was suspect.
在高聳的Comme des Gar?ons北京店的陰影下，看着穿着講究的消費者排隊買精緻紙杯蛋糕，很難想象，在40年前，像洗頭膏這樣的基本商品都可能被譴責爲資產階級的腐朽奢侈。更有甚者，在文革激進和偏執的日子裏，如果有誰稍稍暗示出通過物質享受而追求精神或情感上的滿足，都要受到懷疑。
Today's discussion in China about Xiaozi and their supposed flaws reminds me of nothing more than the debates about "hipsters" that circulated in New York City when I lived there. My former neighborhood was called the unofficial capital of hipster America. It's a place where even the hardware store lends its window to installations by conceptual video artists. Residents are widely mocked for the high price tag of their "countercultural" lifestyle.
今天在中國關於小資及其所謂缺陷的討論，和我住在紐約時針對四處遊蕩的“嬉皮士”的辯論沒什麼兩樣。那時我住的街區被稱爲嬉皮士美國的非正式首都。在那個地方，連五金店都向概念視頻藝術家出借窗口來展示其裝置作品。這些居民“反文化”的高消費生活方式受到很多人的嘲笑。
Is Xiaozi translatable? "Hipster" doesn't quite work; Xiaozi aren't particularly countercultural (except that they often pursue an interest in things that are considered "un-Chinese"). "Yuppie," though dated, seems to be the most accurate English equivalent, but there's an important difference: the typical yuppie can afford the expensive things he buys, while Xiaozi are criticized for spending beyond their means. In the end, it seems the concept of Xiaozi is specific to China and we'll have to leave it at that.
小資可以翻譯嗎？“嬉皮士”不大準；小資並不特別反文化（但他們的興趣往往是追求那些被認爲“非中國”的東西）。“雅皮士”儘管陳舊，卻似乎是最恰當的英文對等詞，但是有一個重要的區別：典型的雅皮士買得起他想買的昂貴東西，而小資卻被批評爲入不敷出。歸根到底，小資的概念似乎是中國特有的，對此我們不用太強求。
I asked Shi if she thought she was Xiaozi. "I'm not so blind as to chase material things—balance is key," she said. Then, quickly, I, like last season's hottest restaurant, lost her interest. She was off to other things, "Do you have enough material yet? I have to go wash my hair now."
我問莊施，她是否認爲自己是小資。“我還沒有盲目到追逐物質享受的程度——平衡是關鍵。”她說。然後，我就像上季度最火的餐館一樣，讓她失去了興趣。她起身要幹別的事情了，“你挖夠素材了吧？我得去洗頭了。”
Notes註釋：
1.馬諾：一名來自北京的平面模特，因其在江蘇衛視《非誠勿擾》中大膽、犀利的言論而迅速在網絡上躥紅，被網友們稱作“拜金女”。
ie雅皮士：指西方國家年輕能幹有上進心的一類人，他們一般受過高等教育，具有較高的知識水平和技能。雅皮士風貌（yuppie look）興起於20世紀80年代。雅皮士的着裝、消費行爲及生活方式等帶有較明顯的羣體特徵，但他們並無明確的組織性。
ter一般翻譯爲“趕時髦的人，追求新奇的人”。這是一個俚語，最早出現於20世紀40年代，並在20世紀90年代和21世紀初再度流行。經常用來形容對非主流時尚和文化感興趣的年輕人和剛落戶城市的中產階級成人，這種人尤其喜歡另類音樂、獨立搖滾、獨立電影以及一些特殊的雜誌和網站。
4.《挪威的森林》，村上春樹著。講述了木月與直子、直子與渡邊、渡邊與綠子間纏纏綿綿的感情糾葛。
et（尤指電子、機械的）小裝置，小玩意兒。
it up〔俚〕過奢侈的生活；（一反常態地）縱情快樂。
gner cupcake精緻紙杯蛋糕，又譯口袋蛋糕、（波紋）紙託蛋糕。
8.日本“另類設計師”川久保玲1969年創立的潮流服裝品牌。“COMME des GARCONS”，法文意思是“像男孩一樣”。1981年巴黎的女裝發佈會上引起世界流行舞臺的重視，隔年更以有名之乞丐裝概念引領當代流行潮流。美國時尚界給予川久保玲“流行先鋒”的稱號，讚美她不僅在服裝設計上開創新意，而且在經營品牌旗艦店上眼光獨具。
allation（藝術館或博物館的）奇特展品，裝置作品展，亦作 installation art。
