【中文标题】征求租赁男友回家过年
【原文标题】Wanted: Rental Boyfriend for Lunar New Year
【登载媒体】纽约时报
【原文作者】DAN LEVIN
【原文链接】http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/12/world/asia/12iht-rent.html
照片上的女人看起来喜气洋洋，但是她在网络留言板上说的话却满是绝望：
“我今年就满28岁了，自我感觉这个年纪依然单身并不过分，但是我老家的父母几乎每天都在催我结婚。我曾经答应他们今年要带一个男朋友回家过年，但是我太忙了，到现在还没有找到男朋友。我不想让我的父母失望，所以决定‘租’一个男朋友，我和一起回家。”
她对于合格单身汉的要求还是相当苛刻的。他要有教育背景、目前在职、举止得体、身高在1米7到1米8之间，最好戴眼镜——在她父亲看来这是有学问的标志。另外还有一个标准：“不能太瘦“。
成功入选者将获得5000元人民币，折合735美元，用来补偿春节期间在她家里住10天的付出。唯恐应征者会错意，这个女人还写道：“双方不会睡在一起。”
这个星期天开始的阴历新年是中国传统中最重要的节日，春节期间在中国国内的旅行是地球上每年最大规模的迁徙活动，这个国家13亿人口中的大部分要返回家乡，预计客流量将达到25亿人次（译者注：原文如此。）。然而，对于很多20多岁和30多岁的中国人来说，与家里人一起过年多少带有一些恐惧心理。孔学的传统理念讲求孝顺长辈和延续宗族血脉，他们知道回家之后，必须要恭顺地忍受爱管闲事的父母们的唠叨。他们会不顾场合地频繁质问，为什么还不结婚，为什么还没有孩子。
但是一些中国人希望运用一种有创意的高等骗术来压制这种骚扰。近些年，网络上出现了数千条“情人租赁”广告，年轻人们希望在网络上聘请一个假的男友或女友来欺骗他们的家人，以缓解过年期间的焦虑情绪。还有很多人为自己打广告，把自己作为共谋犯来推销。
25岁的上海博士在读生苏菲（音译）也在网上打出了招聘男友的广告，她说：“很多年轻人现在都非常忙，不是忙工作就是忙学习。他们的社交圈子有限，越来越难找到自己的‘好好先生’。”
20多岁的人群是中国计划生育政策开始实施后出生的第一代人，这项政策给中国家庭延续香火的理念带来了更大的压力。苏女士认为，即使有负罪感的代价，用这种方式哄骗一下父母也是值得的，这样她可以赢得更多的时间来自我发展。换句话说，她害怕自己变成所谓的“剩女”——指那些找不到丈夫的成功女性。
她说：“我需要找个人在假日期间安慰我的父母，这样他们可以好好过自己的日子，而不用整天担心我为什么找不到一个男朋友。”
63岁的姜文君（音译）是北京人民大学的一名夜间保安，他提供的信息揭示了中国人在这方面的思想。他说：“在农村，如果一个女孩在25岁前就把一个男人在春节期间带回家，她的家人会觉得有面子。”但是，如果她快30岁了还在单身，“人们会认为她不正常，在背后议论她是不是有什么病导致不能结婚。”
年轻的男人也在内心衡量回家尽孝和自己内心的冲动之间的矛盾。24岁的马赢（音译）在网上贴出告示，说自己可以作为男友被出租。他承认，如果自己过年期间不回家，父母肯定会失望。但是他还说探险的刺激让他很难打消这个念头。
马是上海的一名市场营销人员，他说：“在回家做孝顺儿子和与漂亮女孩约会之间很难选择。”他给自己找的借口是，把自己租出去会让他向最终成家的目标迈出一步。
他说：“我想获得一些与女方家人见面的经验，这样，当我真有了一个女朋友的时候，我就会处理这样的场面了。”
2007年的一部电影《合约情人》挑动了中国人租赁自己钟意的另一半的念头。然而，在现实生活中，能够找到一个令人信服的租赁对象却是困难重重。
2008年的长沙晚间新闻报道，一名平面设计师雇用了一位女士作为他的女朋友，后来发现这完全是一次不愉快的经历。这位女士在不同的场合描述了自己不同的身世，先说自己是一名教师，后来又说自己是个学生，家乡的地点也前后不一致。
他说：“她一高兴就会忘乎所以，常常吓出我一身冷汗。我要时刻提防，还要经常收拾她留下的烂摊子。本来是一个愉快的假期，现在却比上班还要累。”
尽管很多中国人并不认为这种季节性的“产业”冒犯了神圣了孔学价值观，但是其它人认为，这恰好证明了传统的道德观念在当代中国依然存在。
中国农业大学社会学系主任赵旭东（音译）说，租赁一个假情人“说明中国的传统依然在人们的生活中扮演着重要的角色。但是这也说明，我们年轻一代人更聪明，他们懂得利用资本主义方式来解决社会和文化中面临的问题。”
然而，就像任何一个商业冒险行为，成功的租赁情人需要市场头脑和竞争优势。23岁的赵荣（音译）是广东省的一个销售员，他无力支付过年回家的费用。他说他已经成功地出租了自己两次，今年希望再来一次。
他的经验？价格方面要有弹性，还要有开放的心态。
他说：“只要他们需要男朋友，我无条件付出。客户是女王。”
原文：
BEIJING — The woman in the picture looked cheerful enough, but her words posted on an Internet message board spoke of desperation:
“I’ll be 28 this year, which I think is a normal age to be single, but my parents back home have been harassing me every day to get married. I promised I would bring home a boyfriend for New Year’s, but I’ve been too busy with work and haven’t found one. I don’t want to let my parents down, so I’ve decided to rent a boyfriend to come home with me.”
Her criteria for eligible bachelors were fairly demanding. They should be educated, employed, well-behaved and between 170 and 180 centimeters, or 5 feet 7 inches to 5 feet 9 inches, tall. Glasses — a sign of erudition to her father — a plus. One other thing: “Don’t be too skinny.”
The successful applicant would earn 5,000 renminbi, or $735, for the 10-day home stay during the Lunar New Year holiday, also known here as Spring Festival. Lest candidates get the wrong idea, the woman also wrote: “We will not sleep together.”
The Lunar New Year, which begins Sunday, is the most important day in the traditional Chinese calendar, and New Year’s-related travel in China is the largest annual migration on earth, with 2.5 billion journeys expected as most of the country’s 1.3 billion people return home. For many Chinese in their 20s and early 30s, though, the prospect of joining their families for the holiday is tinged with dread. Confucian ideals of filial piety entail respect for elders and ensuring the bloodline, and they know they will have to politely endure the nagging of nosy parents who will loudly and frequently wonder why they have not yet settled down and produced a grandchild.
But some Chinese hope to quell the harassment with a little high-technology-inspired deception. In recent years, thousands of “rental lover” ads have popped up on Web sites as young people turn to the Internet in the hopes of hiring a counterfeit boyfriend or girlfriend to fool their families during the high-anxiety visit home. Even more numerous are ads by people offering themselves up as the rented co-conspirator.
“Lots of young people are so busy with work and study nowadays that their social circle is limited, so it’s getting harder to find a ‘Mr. Right,”’ said Su Fei, 25, a doctoral student in Shanghai who posted one of the ads.
Chinese in their 20s are the first to come of age under the country’s one-child policy, which only adds to the familial pressure to produce a descendent. Ms. Su thinks duping her parents is worth any accompanying pangs of guilt so she can buy time to develop her career. That said, she dreads becoming what is known here as a “leftover girl” — a professionally successful woman who cannot find a husband.
“I need someone to comfort my parents over the holiday so that they can have their own life, rather than worrying all day why I can’t find a boyfriend,” she said.
Jiang Wenjun, 63, a night watchman at Renmin University in Beijing, provided some insight into the thinking of many Chinese. “In villages, if a girl brings a guy home for Spring Festival before she’s 25, her family saves face,” he said. But if she remains single into her late 20s, “people will think she’s abnormal and gossip that she might have some disease and can’t get married.”
Young men are also conflicted between filial obligation and individualistic impulse. Ma Ying, 24, who posted an ad offering himself as a rental boyfriend, acknowledged that his parents would be disappointed if he did not come home. But he said the potential for adventure was too tempting to pass up.
“It’s hard to choose between being an obedient son and meeting a pretty girl” willing to pay for his train tickets, meals and cigarettes, said Mr. Ma, a marketing professional from Shanghai. He justified the ruse by saying any possible rental-arrangement would bring him closer to his goal of eventually settling down.
“I want to gain some experience meeting a girl’s parents so that when I have a real girlfriend, I’ll know how to handle the situation,” he said.
The possibility of renting a significant other for the holidays has titillated the Chinese public since a film titled “Contract Lover” was released in 2007. In real life, though, finding someone who can play the role convincingly can be difficult.
According to a 2008 account in The Changsha Evening News, a graphic artist who hired a woman to pose as his girlfriend found the experience nightmarish when the woman began mixing up her story, first saying she was a teacher, then a student, and then giving different hometowns.
“When she got excited she’d forget the lines we’d prepared, making me break out in a cold sweat,” said the man. “I was constantly on guard to clean up her mistakes. What was supposed to be a nice vacation was harder than going to work.”
While many Chinese disapprove of this seasonal “industry” as a violation of hallowed Confucian values, others see it as proof that ancient morals remain relevant in contemporary China.
Zhao Xudong, dean of the sociology department at China Agriculture University in Beijing, said renting a fake lover “shows that Chinese traditions still play a role in people’s lives. But it also shows that our young generation is smart, using capitalism to solve major problems facing our society and culture.”
Like any entrepreneurial venture, however, success as a rental lover takes marketing savvy and a competitive edge. Zhao Yong, 23, a sales clerk in Guangdong Province who cannot afford the trip home, said he had successfully rented himself out twice and hoped to do so again this year.
His advice? Be flexible on price and keep an open mind.
“As long as she needs a boyfriend, I have no conditions,” he said. “The customer is queen.” |
狗仔卡
发表于 2010-2-12 14:41
提升卡
变色卡
抢沙发
千斤顶
显身卡
发表于 2010-2-12 16:22
女王~~一手皮鞭一手蜡烛
