周黎明：砧板上的事业

When college graduates go for the 'road less taken', it could be the entrepreneurial spirit or aninvoluntary choice.

当大学毕业生选择那些更少人走的路时，这可能是由于他们的创业家精神也可能是出于不得已的选择。

About a dozen years ago, Lu Buxuan shocked the nation when it was discovered he was a graduate of Peking University. He was a butcher. "How can someone with such an enviableeducation end up in such an unenviable position?" people asked.

大约在十二年前，当人们发现北大毕业生陆步轩却当了个屠夫，整个国家为之震惊。人们不禁疑问道，“是什么原因才可能让一个拥有如此优良教育背景的人从事如此卑微的工作？”

Lu considers himself a failure. "I have dragged down the image of my alma mater," helaments. "I'm the prime example of what my alums should not be."

在陆步轩自己看来，他是一个失败者。“我给母校丢脸抹黑了，”他叹息道。“我的校友们最不应该成为的就是我这样的。”

A few years later, Chen Sheng, another Peking University graduate, gave up his coveted jobas a public servant and got into butchering. In just two years he had grown to have 200 chainstores with an annual revenue of 200 million yuan ($32.6 million; 26 million euros).

几年过后，另一位北大毕业生陈生，放弃了体面的公务员工作，开始了卖肉事业。仅仅在两年之后，他就成为了为拥有200家连锁店，年收入2亿元的公司老板。

Granted, both Lu and Chen are outliers with career trajectories utterly unrepresentative of youngsters out of top schools. They are supposed to climb up the bureaucratic, business,academic or professional ladders. Sure, selling pork and other meat products counts as abusiness, but it ranks very low in the minds of most Chinese.

其实，陆步轩和陈生非同寻常的事业都不是顶尖高校学生中具有代表性的案例。他们本应该成为政治，商业，学术或专业领域的精英。的确，卖猪肉和其他肉类产品也是一门生意，但这个在大多数中国人看来，是很卑微的工作。

In the old days, one would need a little knowledge of arithmetic to operate a butcher shop, and nowadays that little skill has been taken over by the calculator, if not the automaticvending machine. So, you can be virtually illiterate and still be a competent butcher - not theproprietor though. In fact, the occupation of butcher is often used as an illustration in classicnovels of brute force or absence of brainpower.

以前，开肉铺的人仅需要一点点算术知识就可以，今天，若不是自动贩卖机的话，这一点点的算术技能也已经被计算器给取代了。因此，即便你是文盲，当不了老板，也能成为一个优秀的屠夫。事实上，屠夫这个职业在经典小说中通常代表的是那些充满蛮力，缺乏思考能力的人。

Generally, young Chinese come under the pressure of two forces while making careerchoices: One is pragmatism, meaning whatever job fetches the highest salary and perks istouted by parents and the media alike; and the other is conventional mindset, which oftenoverlaps with the first consideration. Officialdom has always occupied the apex of the pedigree, and business much lower. To be of similar attraction, a position with a private business, for example, has to offer much more in compensation than a public servant's position.

一般来说，中国的年轻人在择业的时候面对两个方面的压力：一个是实用主义，这意味着父母和媒体喜欢的工作是高薪水体面的工作；另一个是传统心态，这个与第一种情况常常有重叠。当官一直都是首选，而从商则地位就低得多了。相同的两个岗位，私营企业要提供更多的报酬才能和公务员的吸引力相比肩。

About the only progress I have detected in job selection is in show business. Star entertainers of every era are accorded hefty pay packets, but the stigma that used to be associated withthe profession is now largely gone. Even starving artists and artistes would proudly say they are stars in waiting.

我所发现的在工作选择上唯一的进步是在商业选秀活动中。每个时代的明星艺人都有着高额薪酬，早期与这些职业相联系的污名现在大都消失。即使是穷困潦倒的艺术家和艺人也能骄傲的说他们是等待冉冉升起的明星。

China's tradition of channeling the brightest into stable and respectable professions and away from entrepreneurship could be the effect of long-held discrimination against self-made men and women - unless one is big enough to grab headlines and turn into a household name a la Jack Ma. The fear and even stigma of striking out on one's own are not unfounded asentrepreneurship is notoriously risky. The rate of failure is extremely high, especially in the first few years, and you may never run out of challenges even if you are at the top of the game. You may say this is the same everywhere. But even had Bill Gates failed in turning Microsoft into a profitable business, I bet his father would not have nagged him for years about quitting Harvard. Now imagine what Chen Sheng would face if his plunge into private business, to use a Chinese analogy, had run into serious adversity.

传统中国观念认为稳定收入，受人尊敬是最好的工作，而企业家精神则不受待见，个中原因可能是长期以来对自力更生创业者的歧视导致——除非这个人的拥有足够的关注度，成为家喻户晓的人物，如马云。走自己的路所背负的恐惧，甚至是羞耻感，并不是毫无理由，因为创业常常伴随着风险。创业失败率相当高，特别是刚开始创业的那几年，并且即时你在所处的领域是最厉害的，也可能有无数挑战等着你。你可能会说这种事情到哪都一样。但即便是比尔·盖茨在将微软转变为一家可盈利的公司的过程中，他也遭遇过失败。我敢说他父亲绝不会因他从哈佛辍学而责骂他。现在想象一下如果陈生转身进入私营企业，用中国的一个说法来说是，陷入极大的困境，那么他将面临着什么。

The crux of the matter lies in public attitude toward small businesses, which, in turn, is largely determined by government policies and regulations in that area. Most entrepreneurs are not going to end up in the market position or wealth bracket of Ma or Gates. They may not evencome close to owning 200 chain stores. But in a small-business-friendly atmosphere theymight be able to earn a comfortable living for themselves and their families while providinggoods and services unaccounted for by big business. With the average starting salary for acollege graduate at just 3,378 yuan a month last year, that will be the fulcrum for a balance with tradition-ordained professions.

问题的关键在于公众对于小公司的态度，而这在很大程度上又取决于政府在这个方面的政策和规定。绝大多数的创业者都不会取得像马云或盖茨那样的地位和财富。他们甚至没有能做到拥有两百家连锁店这个程度。但在一个对小公司友好的环境中，他们可能会通过给大公司提供产品或各种服务而让自己和家人过上比较舒适的生活。去年，大学毕业生的平均月薪为3378元人民币，这个值会成为大学毕业生们是否选择传统职业的平衡点。

Reports in recent years highlight graduates from prestigious schools who for one reason oranother have forsaken the preferred career paths and taken adventures left and right. High-tech tends to be held in high regard whereas low-tech or no tech, such as selling groceries, is often sneered at. Sadly, the focus is ultimately results-oriented. "Say, there's this young manfrom Xi'an who craves his hometown snack so much that he gave up his job in the information industry and started his own snack stand. Now he is pulling in more than 10,000 yuan a day."

最近几年的资讯报道里，名校毕业生出于某一种或多种原因放弃一些好的工作机会而选择创业的资讯成为了热点。人们赞赏那些高科技型，而低技术水平或没有技术含量的，比如销售员之类，常常就会被嗤之以鼻。可悲的是，公众的焦点最终是以成败与否为导向的。“比如这样一个例子，有个来自西安的年轻人想念家乡的小吃，于是他放弃了信息行业的工作，转而开启了自己的小吃摊，现在他每天的收入达到了1万元人民币。”

This kind of story usually ends with a venture capitalist stumbling upon the bright young man with the unusual dream and pouring money into his new venture. It is an ad hoc validation when there is no fortune worth billions to prove the merit of the youngster's initial step. The nostalgia for hometown food is such a literary flourish that it plays right into the feel-good sentiments of the readership, but may be of little relevance to a business equation.

此类故事的结局通常是一名风险资本家发现这个前途无限的年轻人有着不同寻常的梦想，于是注资帮助了他。这样的情况属于特例，尤其是投资者并未得到相应投资回报，以此来证明这个年轻人走的第一步是正确的。对家乡食物的怀念情结正是具有这样一种文学性的东西，虽然迎合了读者的阅读感受，但对于企业经营而言，却无半点关系。

Still, it is a subtle shift toward personal interests, which used to figure so insignificantly incareer choices. More young people want to turn their passion into vocation and, logically, if it's something they love, they will have a higher chance of succeeding.

即便如此，这种个人兴趣的微妙转变在事业的选择上，影响甚微。越来越多的年轻人想要将激情投入到自己的事业中，并且按理来说，若他们选择了自己所爱的事业，则成功的几率也越大。

When people talk about college graduates opening food stands, the customary lament is they have wasted what they have learned. But that is not necessarily true. A lot of the young get into college almost clueless about what they will like. Only belatedly do they discover their disciplines do not jibe well with the areas of their passion. Some may take years and explore different fields before they determine what they want to devote their life to, and some may never stop exploring. If you judge by how many of China's college graduates have to find jobs totally unrelated to their college majors, the waste is just a foregone conclusion.

当人们谈论大学毕业生毕业后去摆摊这类话题时，他们感到痛惜的是这些学生们浪费了在学校所学的东西。但事实却并非完全如此。绝大部分年轻人茫然地进入到大学，他们并不知道自己的喜好会是什么。当他们发现自己并不喜欢自己所学时，业已太晚。一些人在找到自己一生的事业之前，常常要耗费数年时间在不同的领域探索，而另一些人则一生都处在探索过程中。如果你以从事与所学专业无关的工作的中国大学毕业生数量来看，那么以上所指的浪费现象就是一个必然的结果了。

Lu and Chen are very different cases. Lu wanted the conventional job, but could not get it. He has never been comfortable with the butcher's job. The farthest he has gone is to make do on grounds of legal propriety: "I did not steal or rob. It's an honest living. There's nothing to be ashamed of." But the traces of humiliation are everywhere. Chen, on the other hand, has the adventurous streak in his genes. For him, a job as a clerk, no matter how well it pays, is frustrating. Worldly and restless, he is cut out for the self-made job. He also says he is quite "dictatorial", which probably means he is not comfortable working as an employee. He has to be his own boss. The fact that he sells meat and produce is almost beside the point - a point not raised in the media reports anyway.

陆步轩和陈生是两个特例。陆步轩曾想要一份传统的工作，但没能找到中意的。他从未对屠夫这个工作感到舒心过。他做的做好的就是脚踏实地地做合法生意：“我不偷不抢，我这是靠诚信经营过日子。这没什么好感到羞耻的。” 但耻笑声到处都是。而另一个案例的情况却大不一样。陈生凭借着自己的聪明才智，在事业上一路高歌。对他而言，文员这种工作，无论薪酬多高，都是无聊至极的。世故且不安分的他辞去了工作，白手起家。他还说过，他很独断专行，这很可能意味着他不安于为人打工。他要做自己的老板。他去卖肉和农产品这件事几乎是次要的——但媒体也未曾报道过重要的那一点。

A dramatic detail surfaced when Chen hired Lu to be his "consultant". Obviously, Chen wanted to use Lu's "credentials" as the Peking University-educated butcher as a marketingtool. But I cannot imagine them as equal partners. They are such polar opposites in disposition and personality. About the only thing in common is their alma mater. With the economy growing at the speed it is, there will be more Chen Shengs who deviate from charted courses and fewer Lu Buxuans who get mired in humbling occupations because they have no choice.

陈生聘请陆步轩作为顾问这件事是个重要的细节。很明显，陈生想利用北大毕业生当屠夫这个卖点来营销。但我不认为他们会是平等的伙伴关系。他们的性格和个性天南地北。唯一的共同点是他们都是北大的毕业生。随着经济的高速发展，社会上将会涌现更多的陈生们，他们会跳出教材的条条框框，也会有更少的陆步轩们因没有选择余地而深陷卑微工作的泥潭。