为讨好官员，中国人不遗余力（漢、英）
2009-3-23 07:48 | クリック数: (45) | コメント・口コミ数: (0)
For Bribing Officials, Chinese Give the Best(为讨好官员，中国人不遗余力)
Shoppers at a Gucci store in Beijing. Gifts to government officials are prohibited in China, but bribery laws are selectively enforced and sales of luxury goods spike in March during Communist Party meetings.
照片：北京一家“古奇”专卖店中的购物者。
By DAVID BARBOZA
Published: March 13, 2009 2009年3月13日，北京
翻译：CommonData《纽约时报》
Last week, a finely dressed Chinese man walked into Louis Vuitton’s flagship store here, seeking the perfect gift for that special someone: a senior government official.
“I tell you, he is at the top,” the man told the sales clerk, as his bodyguard stood nearby. “So what kind of handbag do you think is suitable for him?”
上周，一名衣着考究的中国男子步入路易·威登位于当地的一家旗舰店，为一个特殊的人物——一名高级政府官员——寻找称心的礼品。
“我告诉你，他在顶上（高层，译者）”，这名男子对售货员说到，他的保镖就站在附近。“所以你感觉应该选哪种手提包最合适？”
Purchases like this one are part of a two-week shopping spree every March, when up to 5,000 Communist Party delegates from China’s provinces and regions gather in the capital for two annual meetings: the National People’s Congress and the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference. Their mission is to assess the nation’s progress and debate public policy.
But while here, the delegates also seek to curry favor with their superiors, the nation’s top leaders, often by showering them with expensive gifts: Gucci handbags, Hermès scarves, Montblanc pens and $30,000 diamond-studded Swiss watches.
上述购物活动是一个为期两周购物狂欢中的一部分。因为每年三月，五千名来自全国各行省和地区的共产党代表们便会聚集在首都，召开两个年度会议：国家人民议会（人代会，NPC，译者注）以及中国人民政治协商会议，为期两周。他们的使命是评估国家的进步，并辩论公共政策。
与此同时，代表们也试图利用这个机会讨好他们的上级——那些国家最顶级的领袖们。方法往往是奉上大量昂贵的礼品，比如古奇手包、爱马仕围巾、万宝龙钢笔以及价值三万美元的镶钻瑞士表。
Though sales spike in March during the national congresses, executives of luxury goods companies say that lavishing government officials with such products is a year-round practice that reflects China’s culture of gift-giving and tradition of basing business decisions on personal relationships. They admit to having special accounts for government officials, their relatives and even their mistresses, often with code names like Dr. No and Miss K.
Luxury producers also keep profiles of their customers’ fashion tastes. Government officials, for example, favor Ermenegildo Zegna suits and Salvatore Ferragamo shoes, the executives say. They dislike gifts with big noticeable logos, lest the bribe be too obvious. And they mostly covet expensive watches, which are easily hidden and sometimes traded for cash.
虽然三月份两会期间销量暴涨，但几家奢侈品公司的高管们认为，慷慨大方的政府官员们购置这类产品全年无休，这反映出中国的送礼文化，以及把商业决定建立在私人关系上的传统。他们承认，一些政府官员，他们的亲属，甚至他们的情妇都拥有特别的账户，往往使用代号，比如No博士，或者K女士。
奢侈品生产商也会保留顾客们对于时尚品位的纪录。比如，经理们表示，政府官员往往钟情于杰尼亚套装，以及萨尔瓦多·菲拉格慕皮鞋。他们不喜欢那些标志过于醒目的商品，唯恐送礼行为太过招摇。他们中的绝大多数都痴迷昂贵的手表，因为它很容易藏匿，而且可以随时兑成现金。
The gifts are essentially bribes or kickbacks, and they are prohibited under Chinese law. But in China, legal experts say, bribery laws are selectively enforced, and party members in good standing are rarely investigated.
As a result, the practice of bribing government officials — by other government officials and, more commonly, by private businessmen — is so widespread that luxury goods producers have come to count on it as an increasingly important revenue source.
礼品主要用来赠送，或者当作报酬，法律禁止这种行为。不过，在中国，法律专家表示，贿赂法被有选择的执行，而且很少调查党员的遵守情况。
因此，向政府官员赠送礼品这类事情——赠送者中有其他的政府官员，但更为普遍的是商人——如此寻常，以至于奢侈商品生产商已经越来越多的将其视为最重要的收入来源。
China is now the world’s fastest-growing luxury market, with an estimated $7.6 billion in sales last year, according to Bain & Company, a global consulting firm. And industry experts say gifts to government officials make up close to 50 percent of the country’s luxury sales.
When lower level government officials are the gift-givers, the purchases are usually made with state money, or are paid for by private entrepreneurs. “The government officials are not really buying it — they have modest incomes,” said Radha Chadha, co-author of “The Cult of the Luxury Brand” and an expert on luxury brands in Asia. “Somebody else does the buying and gifts the stuff to them.”
一家全球性咨询机构“贝恩咨询公司”认为，中国现在已是世界上增长最快的奢侈品消费市场，其去年年销售额高达七十六亿美元。行内专家则估计，赠予政府官员的礼品在该国奢侈品销售总额中大约占到接近一半（50%）的比例。
当较低级别的政府官员赠送礼品时，花的其实都是国家的钱，或由私人企业主代付。“政府官员们实际上并不能真的买下它们——他们的收入极为有限”，《奢侈品邪教》一书作者，亚洲奢侈品牌专家拉达·查达表示。“往往是其他什么人买下（礼品）赠给他们”。
That is what is apparently happening in Beijing this month as party cadres and their friends search out brand names like Ferragamo, Dior and Cartier. Luxury companies celebrate these few weeks for the holiday-like boost in sales they provide.
But China publicly condemns such corruption. When asked whether such gift-giving takes place, Chinese officials offer strong denials.
这就是为什么这个月党的干部及其友人会在北京搜寻菲拉格慕、迪奥和卡地亚们的原因。同时他们也为兴高采烈的奢侈品公司提供了数周假日般暴增的销量。
但在中国，这种行为受到公开的谴责。当被问及是否发生过这种送礼事件时，中国的官员们会给予强烈的否认。
“Where have you heard this crazy news?” said Jiang Hongbo, a media relations official working with delegates from Heilongjiang Province in northeast China.
Yang Zhi, a liaison official from the Xinjiang region in far western China, was more indignant. “Do you think it’s possible we are busy sending gifts and hobnobbing with officials during such serious meetings?” he said.
“这种发疯的新闻你是从哪里听来的”？为来自东北省份黑龙江的代表从事媒体关系工作的官员蒋洪波（音）表示。
来自西部边陲地区新疆的一名联络官员杨志（音）则表现得更为愤怒。他说，“在这么严肃的会议上，我却忙着送礼讨好上级，你认为这可能吗？”
Publicly, big luxury brands are tight-lipped about the practice of gift-giving in China. Louis Vuitton declined to comment this week, as did Salvatore Ferragamo. Many other leading brands did not return phone calls.
Jonathan Seliger, managing director in China for Dunhill, was circumspect when asked about purchases intended for government officials. “Dunhill has always been a popular brand among Chinese businessmen and government officials,” he said.
在公开场合，大的奢侈品公司对于中国的送礼行为缄口不言。路易斯·威登本周拒绝发表评论，萨尔瓦多·菲拉格慕也是如此。许多其它的领先品牌都没有回音。
当登喜路中国区总裁乔纳森·瑟里加尔被问及对政府官员购买礼品之目的的看法时，总裁先生出言谨慎。“登喜路一直是广受中国商人和政府官员喜爱的品牌”，他表示。
Privately, however, marketing and sales executives and sales clerks at some of the leading brands offered a fascinating portrait of how bribery and corruption take place in China. Most of them insisted on anonymity because they did not want to offend their clients or jeopardize sales.
Usually, they said, the purchases are charged to the account or credit card of a private businessman. “When I first went to China I was fascinated because I always saw two guys going shopping,” Ms. Chadha said. “But later I found that one is doing the shopping, and the other is paying.”
然而在私下里，有关在中国怎样从事送礼和受礼活动，大品牌公司的市场销售经理以及售货员们会提供一些引人入胜的细节。他们中的绝大多数都坚决要求匿名，因为他们不愿触怒自己的顾客，或危及销售。
通常，他们表示，账单是由一名商人的信用卡或是账户支付的。“当第一次来到中国时，我被迷惑了，因为我总是看到两个家伙一齐来购物”，查达女士说。“但后来我发现，其中一个总是购物，而另外一个总是买单”。
According to sales and marketing managers, in most cases a private entrepreneur coordinates with a public official’s staff to set up accounts at luxury stores and sends the official, his family members and mistress code names to use for each store. If they shop at Louis Vuitton, for example, they need only give the code name and the purchases are charged to that account.
There are also middlemen who help buy the goods, whether the buyer is a government official buying for one of his superiors or a private businessmen seeking to influence an official.
据市场销售经理们透露，在大多数情况下，一名私人企业家会与一名公务员配合，在奢侈品商店中设立一个账户，然后把它寄给官员、官员的家庭成员及其情妇，这个账户的代码可以在任何店里使用。比如，如果在路易斯·威登购物，他们只需给出代码，然后将帐单记入这个账户名下就可以了。
无论买家是一名意在取悦上级的政府官员，还是试图影响一名官员的生意人，他们都有一个帮助购买商品的中间人。
Sales clerks at luxury stores quickly learn which products are popular with clients seeking to curry favor. “Jewelry is a favorite for people sending gifts to government officials,” said a clerk at the Jimmy Choo luxury shop in Beijing, who declined to be identified to protect his job.
Michael Ouyang, chief executive of the World Luxury Association China Office, said government officials “would rather wear luxury goods when playing golf.”
“They’ll be cautious at work,” he said.
奢侈品商店中的售货员们要快速学习哪些产品是顾客们的讨好对象喜爱的。“珠宝是人们给政府官员送礼的首选”，北京Jimmy Choo 奢侈品商店一名售货员表示。为了保住工作，他拒绝透露姓名。
世界奢侈品协会中国办公室首席执行官迈克尔·欧阳表示，政府官员们“去打高尔夫的时候才会穿戴奢侈品牌”。
“工作时他们很谨慎”，他说。
With the public increasingly aware of government corruption, there has been talk of creating a national register to track the family assets of all government officials, in the hopes of weeding out bribe-taking relatives.
The problem is that officials in China appear to be addicted to European luxury brands.
随着公众对政府腐败日益关注，一些人提出国家应为所有政府官员的家庭资产建立登记册，希望以此杜绝亲友贿赂。
但问题在于，中国的官员们似乎陷入欧洲奢侈品牌之中无法自拔。
In January, a land confiscation official in the southwestern city of Chongqing was sentenced to 13 years in prison for accepting kickbacks. The government confiscated 200 pairs of luxury shoes, 100 luxury suits and a luxury car.
At his sentencing in January, the official, Ding Meng, expressed no remorse about his expensive tastes.
一月份，中国西南部城市重庆的一名土地官员因为接受回扣被判入狱十三年。政府从他那里收缴了两百双奢侈鞋子，一百套高档套装，以及一辆豪华汽车。
接受判决时，这位名为丁蒙（音）的官员对自己的高尚品位无怨无悔。
He even scolded the prosecutor for her poor taste in fashion. “You’re a woman and you don’t even wear better luxury shoes than me,” he sniped. “Maybe you can spend $25 and buy a tube of shoe cream.”
他甚至对检察官贫乏的时尚品位品头论足。“你是一位女士，但你穿的鞋子还没我高档”，这位男子讽刺道。“或许你该花二十五美元去买管鞋油”。
Chen Yang contributed research.
（陈阳（音）为此文捐献研究）
オリジナル文章は：New York Timesから
通訳の文章は：yeeyanから
