中國式共享經濟

The sharing economy is taking off in China, where you can rent anything from basketballs to apartments, umbrellas to songs.

共享經濟正在中國蔚然成風，你可以租借任何東西，從籃球到公寓，從雨傘到歌曲。

But it has taken a mercantile twist in the officially Communist country, with venture capital rather than citizens taking the spoils.

但在這個由共產黨領導的國家，這種經濟正呈現出商業色彩，受益的是風險資本，而不是公民。

While the biggest proponents of the global shared economy, such as Airbnb and Uber, enable people to earn extra cash by renting out their apartments, cars or time, the income from virtually all China’s many rented goods accrues to the owners of capital.

全球共享經濟的主要旗手（例如愛彼迎(Airbnb)和優步(Uber)）讓人們能夠通過出租自己的公寓、汽車或時間獲得更多收入，但中國幾乎所有租賃商品所賺取的收入都集中到了資本所有者手中。

“In foreign countries it’s more like individuals’ sharing economy,” said Erik Zhang, business manager at 3W Coffee, a Shenzhen-based incubator. “But in China it’s more the companies.”

“在別的國家，共享經濟更像是個人的，”總部位於深圳的創業孵化機構3W咖啡(3W Coffee)業務經理Erik Zhang表示，“但在中國，它更像是公司的。”

The big prize for these companies is not a slice of transaction revenues but data. Goods rented out many times provide troves of statistics on usage habits. Data can also be used for credit scoring systems: fail repeatedly to return an umbrella, and your credit score will go down.

這些公司的巨大收穫並非來自交易收入的分成，而是數據。頻繁租賃的商品提供了大量有關用戶習慣的統計數據。數據還可以用於信用評分體系：多次未能歸還雨傘，你的信用評分就會下降。

That has made sharing a much-replicated business model. Bicycles, phone chargers, umbrellas and even basketballs can all be rented by the hour. Even purveyors of music have got in on the act: telephone box-style karaoke booths outside malls and supermarkets in some of the biggest cities allow crooners to dart in for a swift lunchtime song or two, and even record it.

這讓共享變成了一種被大量複製的商業模式。單車、充電寶、雨傘甚至籃球都能按小時租借。甚至連音樂供應商也加入了進來：在一些大城市的商場和超市，出現了類似電話亭那樣的卡拉OK吧，唱歌愛好者可以在午飯時間衝進去唱一兩首，甚至還能錄音。

Jiedian, a spin-off from electronics accessory maker Anker, plans to place more than 1m of its AnkerBox phone-charging units in Chinese bars and cafés this year. Proprietors simply pay the electricity; users pay when they charge for more than 30 or 60 minutes, depending on location.

電子設備配件製造商Anker旗下的街電(Jiedian)，計劃今年在中國的酒吧和咖啡廳放置逾100萬部AnkerBox充電寶。業主只需承擔電費；用戶充電30分鐘或60分鐘（取決於充電寶所在地點）以上付費。

The small charges attached to many services point to the ability to corral big data.

很多服務收取的低廉費用背後隱含的是收集大數據的能力。

“It’s not just the bikes; what is also valuable is the data,” said Sitao Xu, China economist and partner at Deloitte China, the consultancy. “That’s why venture capital and investors are willing to invest [in the multitude of bike-sharing apps that have sprung up in China in the last year].”

“這不僅僅是單車；同樣寶貴的是數據，”諮詢公司德勤中國(Deloitte China)首席經濟學家、合夥人許思濤表示，“風險資本和投資者之所以願意投資（於去年在中國如雨後春筍般興起的大量單車共享應用），原因就在這裏。”

Multinational exemplars of the sharing economy that are operating in China have seen their models customised by users. Rather than rent out their own apartments while they are on holiday, many Chinese have morphed into small-time landlords, investing in a second apartment to rent out by the day — a tactic also popular in Japan.

共享經濟的國際旗手在中國開展業務時，看到他們的業務模式被用戶改變了。很多中國人不是在度假時把自己的房子出租出去，而是變身小房東，投資第二套住宅，然後按日出租——這種做法在日本也很普遍。

“The sharing economy is really based on the character of the region where you want to start your business,” said Mr Zhang. “Here it’s more for cultural reasons: in China people don’t like to share stuff with other people unless we don’t need it [any more].”

“共享經濟實際上基於你開展業務所在地區的特點，”Eric Zhang表示，“在這裏，更多的是出於文化原因：在中國，人們不喜歡把東西與他人分享，除非這樣東西我們不（再）需要了。”

Even Didi Chuxing, the ride-hailing app that bested Uber in China and subsequently bought its China operations, has opened up opportunities for tangential businesses alongside drivers.

甚至連叫車應用滴滴出行(Didi Chuxing)也不僅爲司機、還爲相關公司帶來了機會。滴滴出行在中國擊敗優步，後來收購了後者的在華業務。

Didi has a number of partnerships with car rental businesses that rent out cars to drivers, while an industry in renting out number plates — an expensive part of keeping cars on the road — has also sprung up. One such agency is renting plates out at Rmb10,000 ($1,500) a year and says a fifth of its business comes from Didi drivers.

滴滴與很多向司機出租汽車的汽車租賃公司達成了合作，同時號牌租賃（這是維持汽車運營的一項昂貴費用）行業也迅速出現。一家號牌租賃代理機構的號牌租金爲一年1萬元人民幣(合1500美元)，該機構表示五分之一的業務來自滴滴司機。

“For something like bike-sharing in China, it’s not really sharing,” said William Chau, who leads Deloitte’s telecoms, media and technology practice in China. “It’s owned by a tech company. It’s a leasing model?.?.?.?and data capturing is one of their key agendas.”

“在中國，像共享單車這樣的業務並非真正的共享，”德勤中國科技、傳媒和電信行業領導合夥人周錦昌(William Chau)表示，“它由一家科技公司所有。這是一種租賃模式……獲取數據是它們的主要目的之一。”