China's 'leftover women'

剩女不可怕,可怕父母為自己女兒到了婚嫁年紀(jì)還沒(méi)結(jié)婚而覺(jué)得丟人；剩女不可怕,可怕的是要面對(duì)他人莫名其妙的白眼和諷刺.

Over 27? Unmarried? Female? In China, you could be labelled a "leftover woman" by the state - but some professional Chinese women these days are happy being single.

已經(jīng)過(guò)了27歲？未婚？女性？如果這些你都符合,那在中國(guó)你就會(huì)被打上"剩女"的標(biāo)簽.不過(guò)如今很多中國(guó)女性白領(lǐng)表示：我單身我快樂(lè).

Huang Yuanyuan is working late at her job in a Beijing radio newsroom. She's also stressing out about the fact that the next day, she'll turn 29.

黃媛媛(音譯)在北京的一家廣播的編輯室加班至深夜.還有一個(gè)事實(shí)讓她倍感壓力山大：明天她就要迎來(lái)29歲了.

"Scary. I'm one year older," she says. "I'm nervous." Why? "Because I'm still single. I have no boyfriend. I'm under big pressure to get married."

她說(shuō)："我覺(jué)得非常恐懼,我又老了一歲了,我很焦慮." 為什么會(huì)恐懼焦慮？她這樣回答道："因?yàn)槲疫�單身,我沒(méi)有男朋友,我頂著巨大的結(jié)婚壓力."

Huang is a confident, personable young woman with a good salary, her own apartment, an MA from one of China's top universities, and a wealth of friends.

黃小姐是一位非常自信迷人的年輕女性,工資薪水高,住在自己的公寓里,擁有中國(guó)重點(diǎn)大學(xué)的碩士學(xué)位,身邊還有一大群朋友.

Still, she knows that these days, single, urban, educated women like her in China are called "sheng nu" or "leftover women" - and it stings.

不過(guò)她也知道,在如今的中國(guó),像她這樣受過(guò)良好教育的單身都市女性,都被稱(chēng)為"剩女",這個(gè)稱(chēng)呼讓她覺(jué)得有些刺耳.

She feels pressure from her friends and her family, and the message gets hammered in by China's state-run media too.

她受到來(lái)自朋友和家人的逼婚壓力,而在很多中國(guó)官方媒體上,這種信息也總是會(huì)反復(fù)強(qiáng)調(diào).

State-run media started using the term "sheng nu" in 2007. That same year the government warned that China's gender imbalance - caused by selective abortions because of the one-child policy - was a serious problem. National Bureau of Statistics data shows there are now about 20 million more men under 30 than women under 30.

官方媒體在2007年開(kāi)始使用"剩女"一詞,同年政府發(fā)布報(bào)告稱(chēng)中國(guó)的性別不平衡現(xiàn)象是非常嚴(yán)重的社會(huì)問(wèn)題.因?yàn)橹袊?guó)實(shí)施獨(dú)生子女政策,造成很多人會(huì)進(jìn)行性別選擇性墮胎.根據(jù)國(guó)家統(tǒng)計(jì)局的數(shù)據(jù)顯示,30歲以下的中國(guó)人口,男性要比女性多2000萬(wàn).

"Ever since 2007, the state media have aggressively disseminated this term in surveys, and news reports, and columns, and cartoons and pictures, basically stigmatising educated women over the age of 27 or 30 who are still single," says Leta Hong-Fincher, an American doing a sociology PhD at Tsinghua University in Beijing.

正在清華大學(xué)攻讀社會(huì)學(xué)博士的美國(guó)學(xué)生麗塔·洪-芬奇表示："從2007年開(kāi)始,中國(guó)媒體就開(kāi)始在調(diào)查、新聞報(bào)道、專(zhuān)欄、動(dòng)畫(huà)和圖片中大量使用'剩女' 這一術(shù)語(yǔ),通常定義的是超過(guò)27歲或30歲的單身知識(shí)女性."

Census figures for China show that around one in five women aged 25-29 is unmarried.

普查數(shù)據(jù)顯示,在中國(guó)25-29歲間的女性中,5人中就有1人未婚.

The proportion of unmarried men that age is higher - over a third. But that doesn't mean they will easily match up, since Chinese men tend to "marry down", both in terms of age and educational attainment.

這個(gè)年齡段的未婚男性比例更高,超過(guò)三分之一,但這并不意味著他們就能輕易相配.中國(guó)的男性更喜歡"低娶",所謂的"低"包括年齡和教育程度.

"There is an opinion that A-quality guys will find B-quality women, B-quality guys will find C-quality women, and C-quality men will find D-quality women," says Huang Yuanyuan. "The people left are A-quality women and D-quality men. So if you are a leftover woman, you are A-quality."

黃媛媛這樣描述這種現(xiàn)狀："一流男人找二流女人,二流男人找三流女人,三流男人找四流女人,剩下的就只有一流女人和四流男人.如果你是剩女,你就是一流女人."

But it's the "A-quality" of intelligent and educated women that the government most wants to procreate, according to Leta Hong-Fincher. She cites a statement on population put out by the State Council - China's cabinet - in 2007.

而根據(jù)麗塔·洪-芬奇的觀點(diǎn),這群"一流"的聰明知識(shí)女性,正是中國(guó)想要培養(yǎng)的對(duì)象.她援引了中國(guó)國(guó)務(wù)院在2007年發(fā)表的一份人口報(bào)告.

"It said China faced unprecedented population pressures, and that the overall quality of the population is too low, so the country has to upgrade the quality of the population."

"報(bào)告中稱(chēng)中國(guó)面臨著空前的人口壓力,而整體人口素質(zhì)偏低,又促使國(guó)家迫切需要提升人口素質(zhì)."

Some local governments in China have taken to organising matchmaking events, where educated young women can meet eligible bachelors.

中國(guó)的一些地方政府開(kāi)始著手安排相親活動(dòng),未婚女性在那里遇到一些符合條件的單身漢們.

But the tendency to look down on women of a certain age who aren't married isn't exclusively an attitude promoted by the government. Chen (not her real name), who works for an investment consulting company, knows this all too well.

不僅是政府方面,到某年齡段尚未婚的女性在中國(guó)社會(huì)也會(huì)遭受異樣的眼光.在某投資咨詢顧問(wèn)公司工作的陳小姐(非真名)對(duì)此就深有感觸.

She's single and enjoying life in Beijing, far away from parents in a conservative southern city who, she says, are ashamed that they have an unmarried 38-year-old daughter.

她單身,獨(dú)自一人在北京生活得還不錯(cuò),父母則遠(yuǎn)在家鄉(xiāng),一個(gè)傳統(tǒng)保守的南方城市.她說(shuō)父母為有一個(gè)38歲的未婚女兒而覺(jué)得丟人.

"They don't want to take me with them to gatherings, because they don't want others to know they have a daughter so old but still not married," she says.

她說(shuō)："他們不愿意帶我去參加聚會(huì)活動(dòng),因?yàn)樗麄儾幌胱寗e人知道自己有個(gè)這么大年紀(jì)卻沒(méi)嫁出去的女兒."

"They're afraid their friends and neighbours will regard me as abnormal. And my parents would also feel they were totally losing face, when their friends all have grandkids already."

"他們害怕朋友和鄰居覺(jué)得我不正常,他們也會(huì)覺(jué)得丟臉,因?yàn)樗麄兊呐笥熏F(xiàn)在都抱孫子了."

Chen's parents have tried setting her up on blind dates. At one point her father threatened to disown her if she wasn't married before the end of the year.

陳小姐的父母也曾經(jīng)幫她安排過(guò)相親,她的父親還曾威脅過(guò)她必須在那年年底嫁出去,否則就跟她脫離父女關(guān)系.

Now they say if she's not going to find a man, she should come back home and live with them. Chen knows what she wants - someone who is "honest and responsible", and good company, or no-one at all.

現(xiàn)在他們的說(shuō)法是,如果她不打算找個(gè)男人結(jié)婚,那就應(yīng)該回老家跟他們一起住.陳小姐說(shuō)她很清楚自己想找的是什么樣的人：誠(chéng)實(shí)、有責(zé)任心,一位志趣相投的好伙伴.如果找不到這樣的,她寧愿一個(gè)人單著.

Meanwhile, the state-run media keep up a barrage of messages aimed at just this sort of "picky" educated woman.

而同時(shí),各大媒體也開(kāi)始通過(guò)各種信息方式,朝這些挑剔的知識(shí)女性"發(fā)起攻擊".

"Pretty girls do not need a lot of education to marry into a rich and powerful family. But girls with an average or ugly appearance will find it difficult," reads an excerpt from an article titled, Leftover Women Do Not Deserve Our Sympathy, posted on the website of the All-China Federation of Women in March 2011.

2011年3月,中國(guó)婦聯(lián)的官方網(wǎng)站上發(fā)表了一篇題為《有多少剩女值得我們同情？》的文章,文章中這樣寫(xiě)到："長(zhǎng)相靚麗的女孩子不需要太高的學(xué)歷,照樣可以嫁入豪門(mén),但長(zhǎng)相普通和丑的女孩子則很難".

It continues: "These girls hope to further their education in order to increase their competitiveness. The tragedy is, they don't realise that as women age, they are worth less and less. So by the time they get their MA or PhD, they are already old - like yellowed pearls."

文章還指出："所以,這樣的女孩子就希望能夠通過(guò)提高學(xué)歷來(lái)增強(qiáng)自己的競(jìng)爭(zhēng)力.悲哀的是,她們不知道女人是越老越不值錢(qián),等到自己拿到碩士、博士畢業(yè)證的時(shí)候,不料自己已經(jīng)人老珠黃."

Ouch.

這話太傷人.

The All-China Federation of Women used to have more than 15 articles on its website on the subject of "leftover women" - offering tips on how to stand out from a crowd, matchmaking advice, and even a psychological analysis of why a woman would want to marry late.

中國(guó)婦聯(lián)的網(wǎng)站上曾有過(guò)多達(dá)15篇文章討論"剩女"的話題,為剩女們出謀劃策如何脫穎而出,提供相親建議,甚至就"為什么女性想要晚婚"進(jìn)行心理分析.

If it sounds odd to call women "leftover" at 27 or 30, China has a long tradition of women marrying young. But the age of marriage has been rising, as it often does in places where women become more educated.

27歲或30歲沒(méi)結(jié)婚就被稱(chēng)為"剩下的",也許聽(tīng)起來(lái)有些怪異,但中國(guó)女性一向有早婚的傳統(tǒng).不過(guò)婚姻年齡一直在推遲,就像在很多地方女性受教育程度越來(lái)越高的情況一樣.

In 1950, the average age for urban Chinese women to marry for the first time was just under 20. By the 1980s it was 25, and now it's... about 27.

1950年,中國(guó)城市女性初婚平均年齡不到20歲.到了20世紀(jì)80年代這一年齡是25歲,而現(xiàn)在這一年齡也許是27歲左右.

A 29-year-old marketing executive, who uses the English name Elissa, says being single at her age isn't half bad.

現(xiàn)年29歲的銷(xiāo)售主管艾麗莎(英文名)表示,在她這個(gè)年紀(jì)還單身其實(shí)還挺不錯(cuò).

"Living alone, I can do whatever I like. I can hang out with my good friends whenever I like," she says. "I love my job, and I can do a lot of stuff all by myself - like reading, like going to theatres. I have many single friends around me, so we can spend a lot of time together."

"我一個(gè)人過(guò),想做什么做什么,只要我喜歡,想什么時(shí)候跟好朋友出去玩都行.我喜歡我的工作,我一個(gè)人可以做很多事兒,看看書(shū),看看電影.我身邊有很多單身的朋友,大家經(jīng)常一起玩."

Sure, she says, during a hurried lunch break, her parents would like her to find someone, and she has gone on a few blind dates, for their sake. But, she says, they've been a "disaster".

艾麗莎是在匆忙的午飯時(shí)間接受我們的采訪.她說(shuō)當(dāng)然父母還是希望她能找到一個(gè)合適的對(duì)象,為了父母她要去參加過(guò)幾次相親,不過(guò)她表示相親就是"災(zāi)難".

"I didn't do these things because I wanted to, but because my parents wanted it, and I wanted them to stop worrying. But I don't believe in the blind dates. How can you get to know a person in this way?"

"我不是因?yàn)槲蚁胂嘤H才去的,我完全是為了我父母,我不想讓他們擔(dān)心,不過(guò)我不相信相親,怎么可能通過(guò)這種方式就了解一個(gè)人？"

Elissa says she'd love to meet the right man, but it will happen when it happens. Meanwhile, life is good - and she has to get back to work.

艾麗莎說(shuō)她也想遇到對(duì)的人,不過(guò)這一切都要看緣分.在這個(gè)過(guò)程中,生活也還是很美好的——她也要回去工作了.

 

(Source: hjenglish.com/CRIENGLISH.com)