移民商业社区-唐人街-走向衰亡

For Lawrence Cheng, the arrival of another betting shop in London’s Chinatown district is one more nail in the coffin of the immigrant business community whose colourful, lantern-laced streets have been part of the capital since the 1950s. 伦敦唐人街(见上图)又出现了一家博彩店，在郑健强(Lawrence Cheng)看来，这就等于是推动该移民商业社区向着衰亡又迈进了一步。自上世纪五十年代以来，该社区五颜六色、挂满灯笼的街道就一直是英国首都的一道风景线。 “We need another betting shop like we need a hole in the head,” says Mr Cheng, a restaurant owner who serves as secretary-general at the London Chinatown Chinese Association. “Within 60 yards of where you’re sitting there are seven or eight bookies.” 郑健强表示：“我们根本不需要又一家博彩店。你现在坐的位置方圆60码之内已有七八个经营博彩店的人。”郑健强是一家餐厅的业主，另外还担任伦敦华埠商会(London Chinatown Chinese Association)的秘书长。 Historically, Chinatowns have been a distinctive feature of many city centres, seemingly impervious to gentrification and constantly rising property prices. But Mr Chen is voicing a fear, felt in Chinatowns from London to San Francisco, that the struggle to keep up with rising rents and other challenges will prompt these vibrant communities to disappear. 在很多城市的中心，唐人街历来是一个独特的景观，似乎从不受士绅化(gentrification)和房地产价格不断上涨的影响。但郑健强担忧，由于很难应对不断上涨的房租和其他挑战，这些充满活力的社区将会消失。从伦敦唐人街到旧金山唐人街，这样的担忧普遍存在。 It is not just rising rents that are threatening their survival. In London’s Chinatown, businesses have become the target of regular raids by a UK Border Agency that is clamping down on illegal workers. 威胁到其生存的不仅仅是租金上涨。在伦敦唐人街，商家已成为英国边境管理局(UK Border Agency)定期搜查的目标。该局正在对非法劳工进行整治。 A generation gap means that children often have little interest in the family business, while would-be immigrants see brighter prospects at home. 代沟的存在导致现在的孩子往往对经营家族企业提不起兴趣，而那些想要移居海外的人也在家乡看到了更加光明的发展前景。 The appreciating price of Chinese merchandise is pushing up costs as the falling value of the US dollar and pound has fallen against the renminbi, meaning that the money that gets sent home no longer goes so far. 由于不断贬值的美元和英镑相对人民币的汇率有所下滑，中国货的价格不断上涨，这推高了唐人街商家的成本，意味着寄回家的钱已不再如以前那样多。 In New York’s Chinatown, where trendy coffee shops and boutique clothing stores are replacing noodle bars, the Asian population dropped 15 per cent over the past decade, according to census data, even as the wider New York Asian population grew by 30 per cent. In areas around San Francisco’s Chinatown, the Asian population has fallen by about 23 per cent in the same period. 在纽约唐人街，时髦的咖啡馆和精品服装店正在取代面吧(noodle bar)。人口普查数据显示，过去十年，纽约唐人街的亚裔人口减少了15%，尽管整个纽约的亚裔人口增加了30%。同一时期，在旧金山唐人街周边地区，亚裔人口减少了23%左右。 The Chinatown in Philadelphia is particularly exposed to an influx of investors buying up surrounding luxury developments which is pushing up property prices and rents, according to a study by the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund. Ironically, much of the hot money hails from Chinese mainland. 亚裔美国人法律辩护与教育基金会(Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund)的一项研究显示，费城唐人街受到的冲击尤其明显，不少投资者涌入那里大举购买周边的豪宅，推高了房地产价格和房租。具有讽刺意味的是，很大一部分热钱来自于中国大陆。 Andrew Leong, one of the authors of the study, said that as cities lose their Chinatowns, they also lose important services and businesses – such as English schools and job centres – that help new immigrants to integrate. 研究报告的作者之一Andrew Leong表示，随着唐人街在一座座城市中逐渐消失，一些帮助新移民融入社会的重要服务和生意也在走向消亡，比如英语学校和就业指导中心。 “New immigrants will use Chinatown during the first 10-15 years because of language and cultural barriers they face if left to live in the suburbs,” Mr Leong said. “If you have a China-town it reduces tension. Andrew Leong说：“新移民刚来的时候，可能会先在唐人街生活10年到15年——如果他们住在城郊，会面临语言和文化上的障碍。如果有唐人街，摩擦就会减少。唐人街可帮助他们融入美国社会。” It helps them acclimatise into American society.” The bustle in Chinatowns worldwide has not stopped, but behind the facades of Chinese shops and offices, there is concern that the most recent problems affecting their communities may be insurmountable. 世界各地唐人街的热闹景象并没有消失，但在中国商店和办公楼的背后隐藏着一种担忧——人们担心，最近影响他们社区的一些问题可能是无法解决的。 As the global population increasingly shifts to living in cities, competition for prime space, whether business or residential, is likely to keep on driving up rents and prices in prime locations. London property prices recently reached a record partly on the back of international investment. 随着全球人口不断转向城市居住，人们对优质空间（无论是商用空间还是居住空间）的争夺很可能会持续推高黄金地段的房租和房价。伦敦房地产价格最近创下新高，在一定程度上就是依靠国际投资的支撑。 Residents and businesses established in Chinatowns are aware of this and a barrage of other problems closing in on them. 唐人街的现有居民和商家意识到了这一点，也意识到了扑面而来的一系列其他问题。 “Even rent on the first and second floor is very high,” says Lawrence Lee, a dentist based in London’s Chinatown, referring to the services provided to Chinese speakers that are tucked away, above street level. He has seen more than 10 businesses nearby, including two accountancy firms, move away in the last three years. 谈到那些在位置比较难找的非底商场所为华人提供的服务时，伦敦唐人街牙医Lawrence Lee说：“就连二楼和三楼的租金也高得厉害。”过去三年，附近十多家公司都搬走了，包括两家会计师事务所。 Based on prime rents and yields, the value of offices in the London Soho area has risen 65 per cent in the past five years, says CBRE, a property agent. Over the past 18 years, as far as the data go back, they are up 234 per cent. 地产代理世邦魏理仕(CBRE)指出，按高端地产的租金和收益衡量，伦敦SOHO区的办公楼在过去五年升值了65%；自18年前开始编制该数据以来，累计升值了234%。 Restaurateurs in particular are feeling the pinch. “When I first ran this restaurant 23 years ago, the rent was about ￡87,000 per year,” says Shun Bun Lee, manager of Harbour City restaurant. “At the moment, it is four times [that].” 餐厅老板尤其感到吃不消。Harbour City餐厅经理Shun Bun Lee说：“23年前我刚开始经营这家餐厅时，年租金大约是8.7万英镑。现在，年租金已是那时的四倍。” Shaftesbury, a property management company that rents out space for 65 restaurants and bars in London’s Chinatown, dismisses the argument that rent increases are having a detrimental effect on the neighbourhood, saying that rents have gone up steadily as they would in any prosperous city. 地产管理公司沙夫茨伯里(Shaftesbury)并不认为房租上涨给周边带来不利影响，称任何繁荣城市的租金都已稳步上涨。在伦敦唐人街，有65家餐厅和酒吧在租用该公司的房子。 “London is thriving and this of course brings business and prosperity to Chinatown,” says Tom Welton, a director at Shaftesbury. He also insists that “we work with our tenants to promote Chinatown”. 沙夫茨伯里的一位主管汤姆?韦尔顿(Tom Welton)说：“伦敦正在蓬勃发展，这肯定给唐人街带来了生意和繁荣。他还坚称，“我们是在与租户一起推动唐人街的发展”。 However, rent is not the only issue that London Chinatown businesses have to struggle with. Last month they went on strike for two hours in protest against a crackdown on illegal workers by the UK Border Agency. They say the number of raids has increased recently, counting 13 in the six weeks leading up to the protest, and worry that when UKBA officers lock down an establishment, it puts off customers and tarnishes the community’s reputation. 然而，租金并不是伦敦唐人街商家要努力应对的唯一问题。上个月，这些商家罢市两个小时，抗议英国边境管理局对非法劳工的打压。他们说，近期的突然搜查有所增加，在抗议之前的六周里发生了13次。他们担心，英国边境管理局官员在封闭一家店的时候，会吓跑顾客，破坏该社区的声誉。 Then there is the trouble that they have finding employees, especially when their children’s generation do not want to continue in the same line of business. Mr Lee has retained his 80-year-old dim sum chef and says with exasperation: “It’s strange to have Europeans cooking Chinese food.” 找到合适的员工也不是一件容易事，特别是当他们的下一代不愿继续干他们这一行时。Shun Bun Lee手下的中式点心厨师已经80岁了，他颇为无奈地说：“雇欧洲人做中餐是件很奇怪的事。” Elsewhere, particularly in the US, the residential nature of Chinatowns means homes are at risk, as well as businesses. On Eldridge Street in Manhattan’s Chinatown, it is not only the looming luxury apartment blocks being built on the area’s periphery that symbolise the change 42-year-old Siu Lam has seen since arriving from Hong Kong 10 years ago. 在其他地方，特别是在美国，唐人街的居住属性意味着面临风险的不仅是商家，也包括住宅。在曼哈顿唐人街的埃尔德里奇街(Eldridge Street)，现年42岁、十年前从香港来到这里的Siu Lam见证了一系列变化，该地区周边正在建造的高端公寓楼只是象征这种变化的例子之一。 Halloween costumes now hang from racks in her store, alongside Chinese New Year decorations, as she attempts to cater to a new influx of non-Asian residents. Ms Lam’s family has been split by the changes that have pushed up the cost of living and doing business there (she says rent for her store has risen 50 per cent in the six years she has been running it). “Young families, new immigrants, they’ve all moved away to areas with cheaper residential rents like Queens. My friends and family have all left.” 现在她的店里既摆着一些中国农历新年的装饰品，也挂着一些万圣节服装，后者是为了迎合新涌入的非亚裔居民的需求。各种变化推高了那里的生活和营商成本（据Siu Lam说，自她六年前开店以来，租金已上涨了50%），她的家庭也因此被“拆散”。“年轻的家庭、新移民，全都搬到了住房租金更便宜的地方，比如说皇后区(Queens)。我的亲朋好友都离开了。” Jason Chan, co-ordinator of the Chinatown tenants union at Caaav, a community group in New York, believes the only solution to the encroachment is to build more affordable housing for the poorer residents. 纽约社区组织亚裔反暴力联盟(Caaav)的唐人住客协会项目主任陈立熙(Jason Chan)认为，应对这种“侵入”的唯一方法就是为较为贫困的居民建造更多可负担的住房。 “Overcrowding has become a huge problem as residents bunk together to save costs, while the few reasonably-priced residences that do exist are often poorly maintained by unscrupulous landlords,” he said. 他说：“过度拥挤已成为一个严重的问题。为了节约成本，住户们都挤住在一起。虽然确实存在少量价格合理的住所，但它们往往由无良房东把持、得不到妥善的保养维修。” San Francisco, which has an even larger residential community than New York, is experiencing a similar fate. A boom in Silicon Valley jobs, has fuelled San Francisco’s property market, pushing prices up a quarter in August. 旧金山的唐人街比纽约的还要大，但它也面临类似的命运。硅谷(Silicon Valley)就业机会的迅速增长对旧金山的房地产市场形成支撑，推动该地房价在8月份上涨了25%。 Rents in San Francisco soared 9.8 per cent in the third quarter compared with the year-earlier period. If studios are going for $2,000 a month outside Chinatown, suddenly one going for $1,000 in the area looks very attractive, argues Cindy Wu, vice-president of San Francisco’s city planning commission. 今年第三季度，旧金山房租同比跃升9.8%。旧金山城市规划委员会副会长Cindy Wu认为，如果唐人街以外工作室的月租金为2000美元，那么该地区月租金为1000美元的工作室一下子就会显得非常有吸引力。 Landlords are using the Ellis Act, which allows owners to evict tenants so long as they do not subsequently rent the flat, to get rid of unwanted occupants, to sell the property. 房东们正在利用《埃利斯法》(Ellis Act)摆脱不识趣的住户，以出售房产。根据该法，房东可向租户下“逐客令”，前提是他们随后不将房子租出去。 But the community is not giving up without a fight. In San Francisco, protesters and tenants demonstrate outside City Hall against evictions and property speculation in and around the Chinatown neighbourhoods, and the problem is gaining traction in the local press. 但唐人街社区不想“不战而退”。在旧金山，抗议者和租户在市政厅外示威，反对唐人街内及周边地区的驱逐租户行为和房地产投机活动。这个问题正引起当地媒体的关注。 “Ellis Act evictions are like tumours plaguing the housing market in the city,” said Wing Hoo Leung, a resident on the outskirts of Chinatown, who with the help of community groups helped beat eviction five years ago. “This will evolve into an untreatable cancer if we don’t do something. We need to control the real estate speculators.” 唐人街周边地区的居民Wing Hoo Leung说：“《埃利斯法》就像毒瘤，正在困扰这个城市的住房市场。如果我们不做点什么，它将演变为不可治愈的癌症。我们需要遏制炒房的人。”五年前，在社区组织的帮助下，Wing Hoo Leung曾参与打击驱逐租户的行为。