中国的蚁族与房奴

WHO knew China was tribal? The diversification of Chinese society has seen a flowering of a new vocabulary. Perhaps most fascinating has been the division of people into tribes (zu in Mandarin). The travails of the yi zu, or ant tribe, have been well-chronicled—recent graduates from outside the main cities who move to urban areas, live cheaply and work hard, often in low-paid jobs. Perhaps less well-known are the ken lao zu, the bite-the-old tribe, those between 25 and 35 who are underemployed or out of work, still at home and sponging off mum and dad.

你知道中国也有很多群落吗？中国社会的多元化创造了很多丰富多彩的新词。也许最有趣的当属公民所被划分的群落了（普通话称为“族”）。大量的文章在描绘“蚁族”的辛劳。毕业不久的大学生从外地来到大城市，他们辛勤地工作，却挣着微薄的钱、住着廉价的房。也许另一个没这么有名的是“啃老族”。这些介于25到35岁间的年轻人要么半失业，要么完全失业。他们还赖在家里靠着父母过活。

Many of the tribes, inevitably, are made up of people looking for love. There is the jia wan zu, the marry-the-bowl tribe. These are young women searching for that most stable of husbands, the one who holds a government job (still known as the iron rice bowl). The shan hun zu, or lightning-marriage tribe, marry fast and sometimes divorce faster. They should not be confused with the yin hun zu, the hidden-marriage tribe. These are women in their 20s who hide the fact that they are married, knowing they will not be hired or promoted if there is even the whiff of the possible need for maternity leave—socialist gender-equality does not offer much protection in the Wild East of modern China. And if you can only afford a postage stamp of an apartment, you’re probably a member of the wo ju zu, the snail-house tribe.

如人所料，很多“族”由一些寻找爱情的人组成。“嫁碗族”指一群寻找拥有稳定工作的意中人的年轻姑娘，稳定的工作指政府公务员（依旧被称为铁饭碗）。“闪婚族”——嫁得快，有时离得更快。还有我们熟知的“隐婚族”，二十多岁的年轻姑娘隐瞒了已婚的事实，深知一丁点儿要休产假的需要就会让她们丧失雇用和晋升的机会。社会主义国家的性别平等在位于奇异东方的现代中国尚不能给她们提供足够的保护。如果你只能负担得起公寓里的弹丸之地，那你就差不多算是“蜗居族”中的一员了。

You can belong to more than one tribe. Most members of the ant tribe also belong to the ben ben zu, the rush-rush tribe, to which, in fact, most urban Chinese belong. All that rushing around can create a lot of pent-up anger, giving rise to thenie nie zu, the crush-crush tribe, so named because they go into supermarkets and take out their frustration by standing in the aisles crushing packets of instant noodles (yes, really).

你可以同时属于多种“族”。“蚁族”成员多数也是“奔奔族”，事实上，多数城市人口都算得上“奔奔族”。整日奔忙就会产生郁积的愤怒，他们继而变成了“捏捏族”——站在超市过道里，通过捏方便面袋来发泄沮丧（真是这样的）。

Many tribal members are also slaves (nu in Mandarin). There are the fang nu (mortgage slaves) and hun nu (marriage slaves, who are also, by definition, mortgage slaves) and all Chinese parents are of course haizi nu (slaves to the only child).

许多人既是“族”又是“奴”。有“房奴”也有“婚奴”，都是指为按揭所累的人。当然，所有的中国父母都被称作“孩奴”。

Perhaps the group China needs most as it tries to stimulate its domestic consumer economy is the yue guang zu, or moonlight tribe, so named because the Chinese characters for “moonlight” sound the same as the phrase “spend all your monthly salary”. Their parents saved every yuan, but life for these youngsters is just spend, spend, spend. Now, that’s patriotic consumption.

也许中国在极力扩大内需经济的同时，最需要的当属“月光族”了。中文里“月光”听上去和“花光了所有的月薪”一样。父母虽省吃俭用，子女却只懂得花、花、花。不过，现在他们是在为了祖国而消费。