中国信奉“高即美”

It will amaze no one that China plans to build the world’s tallest building in just three months, but the people’s republic is also building taller children, too. There are even special summer camps designed to boost stature in ways that will pay off in the job and marriage markets.

如果中国计划在短短三个月内建造世界最高的建筑，不会有人感到惊奇。但现在的问题是，中国还打算“建造更高的孩子。在那里，甚至出现了一些特殊的夏令营来帮助孩子们增高，让他们日后在就业和婚姻市场上获得优势。

Wei Junfang, who sports a diamond inset in one canine tooth and a tracksuit that celebrates her glorious physique as a former competitive athlete, runs the Happy Growth Camp on the grounds of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, one of China’s richest cities. Some children come to her to get taller during their summer holidays – a rare bit of leisure time for heavily homework-laden Chinese youth – and others take time out from trumpet or trigonometry lessons at weekends to stimulate their growth hormones.

韦俊芳的犬齿上镶着一颗钻石，身着一套运动服，衬托出她以前作为竞技运动员时练就的强健体格。韦俊芳是“快乐成长夏令营的负责人，该夏令营是在杭州（中国最富有城市之一）浙江大学的田径场上举办的。一些孩子利用暑假来参加她的夏令营，希望能够增高。对于作业负担繁重的中国孩子来说，暑假可是他们难得的休闲时间。还有些孩子是从周末的乐器学习班或三角函数学习班中挤出时间来这里刺激生长激素分泌的。

Coach Wei thinks Chinese parents are naturally heightist (especially the short ones). One parent who signed her daughter up for last weekend’s tall camp pulled the child out when she heard that she would probably grow to only 1.55 metres anyway.

韦教练认为，中国的父母天生是“身高控（特别是个头矮的父母）。一位给女儿报了成长夏令营的母亲在得知孩子可能无论如何也只能长到1.55米后，硬是把孩子给拖出来了。

It is not just parents who are heightist: Chinese bosses are, too. “If companies are faced with two candidates, one is 1.7 metres and the other is 1.75 metres, they will choose the 1.75 metres one because they think he is healthier, says Ms Wei, who adds that being taller helps children get into fiercely competitive middle as well as high schools.

不仅中国的父母们是“身高控，中国的老板们也是“身高控。韦教练说：“如果公司面对两个求职候选人，一个身高1.70米，一个身高1.75米，它们会选那1.75米的，因为这些公司觉得身高的人更健康。她接着说，个头高有助于孩子挤进那些竞争激烈的初中和高中。

Zeng Youlin, who brought his son Zeng Yuhang to last weekend’s camp, says the boy already stands at 1.65 metres, which is hardly short for a 12-year-old anywhere. But he hopes that boosting his height further, through exercise, will help him move from public middle school to a better private school, and guarantee success in the world of work. “In most companies in China what determines how well you do is endurance and strength, if you can work longer than others, says Mr Zeng.

曾友林（音译）带着儿子曾玉华（音译）参加了夏令营。他说，他儿子现在身高已经1.65米，对一个12岁的孩子来说，放到任何地方，这个个子也不算矮。但这位父亲希望，通过锻炼让儿子进一步长高，这将有助于他从一个公立学校转到一个更好的私立学校，确保以后能在职场获得成功。曾先生说：“在大多数中国公司，决定你工作好坏的是耐力和精力，如果你能干得比别人长的话。

As Zeng the younger sweats out a gruelling course of callisthenics under the tough-love gaze of Coach Wei, followed by an 800-metre run, it becomes clear that all this heightening may not be as crazy as it sounds, especially in a country where leg lengthening is still widely available. “In the west, children go outside to exercise but in China it’s all indoor homework, says Ms Wei.

在韦教练的严爱监督下，曾玉华在极为累人的柔软体操课上练得大汗淋漓，接着又跑了一个800米。如此看来，这种增高训练或许并不像听上去那么疯狂，特别是在一个“抻腿依然盛行的国家里。韦教练说：“在西方，孩子们经常出门锻炼，在中国，则只有室内的家庭作业。

According to the state-owned Shanghai Daily, some parents make their children lie down and hold the bedpost while they pull on their legs to make them taller. Ms Wei’s camp is at least based on exercises that would benefit any textbook-bound child. It may or may not boost height, but it certainly boosts fitness, and that is worth it on its own.

官方媒体《上海日报》报道称，一些父母让孩子躺下来抓着床柱，然后抻孩子的腿，试图让他们长高。韦教练的夏令营至少是建立在锻炼基础上的，对天天“啃书本的孩子肯定有好处。不管有没有让孩子们长高，它肯定有助于增强体质，这本身就是值得的。

Height is beautiful

高即是美

When it comes to tall buildings, Chinese gigantism may be harder to defend. Nine of the 20 tallest buildings under construction worldwide are in China, and last year China built more taller than 200 metres than any other country, according to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat. Within 18 months, Shanghai will finish the world’s second-tallest building, the Shanghai Tower, which at 632 metres will dwarf the two “supertalls that stand right next to it: the 492-metre Shanghai World Financial Centre and 420-metre Jin Mao Tower.

但在高层建筑方面，中国的“身高控可能更难找到辩护理由。全球在建的20座最高建筑中，有9座在中国。高层建筑与城市住宅委员会(Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat)的数据显示，去年中国建造的200米以上高层建筑多于其他任何国家。18个月内，上海将建成世界第二高建筑：632米高的上海中心大厦。它将让身边的两座“超高建筑相形见绌：它们分别是492米高的上海环球金融中心和420米高的金茂大厦。

When the council held its annual conference last week in Shanghai (what better place to celebrate the cult of tall?), the city’s vice-mayor told delegates that Shanghai had no choice but to build straight upwards: with 23m people, 9m of them new migrants, the city could not afford to go any shorter. But it might be risky to assume from his comments that the city’s most expensive vanity project will be turned into housing for low-income migrant workers. It seems a fair bet the real reason has more to do with the fact that the city’s current tallest building, the Shanghai World Financial Centre, which commonly known as the “bottle opener, was built by the Japanese.

高层建筑与城市住宅委员会不久前在上海召开年会时（还有哪个地方更适合举行这种“身高控庆祝活动？），上海市副市长告诉与会代表们说，除了垂直向上建设，上海别无选择：上海的总人口为2300万，其中900万人为外来人口，它没法不建更高的楼。但如果我们假设他说的意思是，上海极其昂贵的面子工程会变成为低收入外来务工人员提供的居所，那可能不太靠谱。一个靠谱的假设似乎是，上海建高楼的真正原因更多的在于，该市目前最高的建筑“上海环球金融中心（被人们普遍称为“开瓶器）是日本人建造的。

Like the Empire State Building or Sears Tower, the mainland’s supertall buildings are the sign of a new triumphalism – and not just in architecture. Ultimately, China’s best reason to put up an 838-metre building in three months may be: just because it can. For the middle-schooler or the middle-kingdom government alike, the point of being tall is to prove you are better than the next guy. And in China, such competition is serious business: even Chinese cities most of us have never heard of are building their own twin towers. The rest of the world thinks tall is beautiful, too: they are just not quite so obvious about it.

与帝国大厦(Empire State Building)或西尔斯大厦(Sears Tower)类似，中国的超高建筑是一种新的必胜信念的象征——而且它不仅体现在建筑领域。归根结底，中国要在三个月内建起一座838米高建筑的最佳原因或许只是：中国有这个能力。无论是对中学生来说还是对“中央王国的政府来说，“个头高的意义就在于能证明你比别人更棒。在中国，这种竞争是件严肃的事情：即使是那些我们大多从未听说过的中国城市，也正在建造自己的“双子塔。世界其他国家其实也认为高即是美：它们只是没有表露得如此明显。