自行车老刮裤子腿:为什么世界上最富有的女人是中国女人？

        在最近发布的一个女富豪榜单上，只有14名女性是经过自身的努力拥有了10亿以上的家产。其中的一半来自中国这个女性曾经没有地位和权利的国家。这是为什么呢？

On a list of the world’s richest self-made women, you would hardly be surprised to find the all-powerful US talk show host Oprah Winfrey featured. Similarly, the inclusion of Harry Potter author JK Rowling might be considered a done deal. What may be less predictable is the most common nationality of the world’s wealthiest women: Chinese.

图：张欣，SOHO中国

　　在一份世界女富豪的榜单上，看到著名美国脱口秀主持人Oprah Winfrey、哈利波特的作者JK罗琳的名字，你肯定不会惊讶。而你肯定预测不到的全球女富豪来自最多的国家却是——中国。

US business magazine Forbes has just published its rich list and has included the “female billionaires’ club” – those women who have accrued at least $1billion (£675 million) due to their own entrepreneurship rather than inheriting their ­fortunes. There are, it seems, just 14 women in the world who qualify for this super-elite club (compared to the rather more impressive 1,011 male dollar billionaires which include Bill Gates and his £35 billion). But of these 14, seven are Chinese. In other words, half of the world’s female self-made billionaires hail from communist China. Five of the top 10 alone are Chinese.

　　美国商业杂志《财富》发布了全新的富豪榜，其中就包括“女性十亿美元俱乐部”的成员名单。这些女性通过自己的管理能力，累积了至少十亿美元，而不是通过继承等方式。全球一共只有14名精英女性有资格进入这个俱乐部（而全球有1011名男性和她们一样拥有十亿以上的财产，其中包括比尔盖茨和他的350亿美元资产）。但在这14位女性中，其中7名是中国人。换句话说，世界上一半靠着自身努力赚取十亿美元的女富豪们，有一半是来自中国。其中前十名，中国女性占了5个席位。

It is something which is causing a stir. “If this were a ping-pong team you wouldn’t be surprised to hear that five out of 10 were from the Chinese mainland,” says Rupert Hoogewerf, founder of the Hurun Report, which tracks the rapid changes in China’s entrepreneurial community. “But when you are talking about the top 10 self-made rich women in the world, this is mind-blowing.”

　　这件事引发了轰动。中国百富榜的创始人胡润说：“如果这是一场乒乓比赛，听到前十名中有一半是中国人你肯定不会惊讶。但是当讲的是10个世界上最富有的自主致富的女性，就实在是太意外了。”他一直关注着中国企业家界的变化。

Topping the list is 44-year-old Wu Yajun, from Chongqing in China’s Sichuan Province, who worked her way up from being a mechanical ­engineer, reporter and editor to being general director of Longhu Real Estate Development Co Ltd with a wealth of £2.6 billion. Native Chinese Xiuli Hawken, now a UK citizen, ­registers fifth, her wealth coming from property and from running shopping centres in China in spaces converted from underground military shelters. Oprah has been kicked into sixth place and JK Rowling just makes it to the billionaires’ club in 14th place.

　　在榜单上排名第一的是44岁的吴亚军，来自四川。她从一个机械工程师干起，先后从事过记者、编辑等职业。现在是龙湖地产董事长，拥有26亿英镑的资产。排行榜第五位，英籍华裔秀丽•好肯（原名戴秀丽，后嫁英国老公改姓，生于哈尔滨——译者注），她的财富来自房地产和运营由防空洞（military shelters）改成的购物中心。Oprah Winfrey被踢出了前五，仅列第六，而JK Rowling 刚刚跨过门槛，位列14名。

Quite why China is leaps and bounds above any other country when it comes to female billionaires is being put down to a number of factors, first and foremost being the booming ­Chinese economy, which Forbes reasons has created huge opportunities. But another important factor is that there is a level playing field when it comes to men and women in China which does not necessarily hold true in Western countries and which allows Chinese women an advantage over their female counterparts worldwide.

　　为什么中国在这样一份榜单上能够超越许多发达国家排行第一呢？原因有很多。《福布斯》载文说道：最主要的一点就是中国腾飞的经济创造了大量的机遇。但是另外一个重要的因素就是中国有一个男女公平的竞争环境。这和西方国家的环境不一样，也就使中国女性比世界其他地区的女性相比有更大的优势。

“China hasn’t always lived up to it but it does have a good, strong ideology of gender equality going back to Chairman Mao and his famous ­pronouncement that ‘women hold up half the sky’,” says Dr Fiona Moore, a lecturer from Royal Holloway College at the University of London. Since the creation of the People’s Republic of China in 1949, women have been encouraged into education and careers and instilled with a strong work ethic. Think of the images of the so-called Iron Girls during the ­Cultural Revolution – women dressed in the same androgynous way as men and always engaged in military, ­agricultural or production work.

　　“中国并非一直有着这样的环境，但是从毛泽东时代和他的著名的‘妇女能顶半边天’言论发表之后，性别平等的观念开始在中国兴起，”伦敦大学皇家霍洛威学院的讲师，Fiona Moore博士说。自从中华人民共和国在1949年成立，女性就被鼓励去接受教育和参加工作，并且被灌输要有良好的职业道德。想想当时在文化大革命中所谓的“铁姑娘”：女人穿着和男人一样的衣服，也和他们一样参军卫国，下地劳作或者进工厂干活。

It is a point stressed by Fei Qin, a lecturer in entrepreneurship at the London School of Economics. “In terms of gender difference there is a special culture in modern China,” she says. “I grew up in Beijing and I’ve lived in Europe and in the UK but I would say China has the highest standard of gender equality anywhere.

　　伦敦政治经济学院的一位企业学讲师斐琴（音译）也强调了这一点。“在性别差异这一点上，当代中国有着独特的文化氛围与认识，”她说，“我在北京长大，在欧洲和英国居住过。但是，我认为中国是在这几个地方性别观念最平等的地方。1

“In my generation every girl in school knew the saying ‘women hold up half the sky’ and knew that a career would be a very important aspect of her life. In my mother’s generation it was similarly taken for granted. Even 15 years ago, in school or college, no one cared too much about beauty and looks – it was all about achievement.”

　　“在我这一代，每个上学的女孩都知道‘妇女能顶半边天’并且事业对我们来说是生活中的很重要的组成部分。在我妈妈的那一代，这一切也都被认为是理所当然的。甚至在15年前，学校里的女孩们都还不注意自己的外表是否美丽，全部都关心着自己将来的成就。”

Y ou might say that achievement is epitomised by each of the Chinese women who ­features on the billionaires’ club list, most of whom are highly educated. They include Hong Kong entrepreneur Chu Lam Yiu, who chairs Huabao International, which makes tobacco flavourings for China’s top cigarette makers. Perhaps even more striking is Zhang Xin, 44, who is ninth on the list and who started the property development company Soho China with her husband Pan Shiyi.

　　你可以说这些在女性富豪榜上的中国女性就是她们所追求的成就的缩影。她们大部分都受过良好的教育。其中包括朱林瑶，她拥有的华宝国际为中国最大的香烟制造商提供香精。可能更有名的是44岁的张欣，排名第九。她和她的老公潘石屹共同创办了房地产企业SOHO 中国。

Zhang grew up as the daughter of poor ethnic Chinese immigrants from Burma and worked in a Hong Kong factory as a teenager before landing a place at Cambridge University and leaving with a masters degree in development economics. From there, she worked at Goldman Sachs before returning to China and then pouring her savings into her property business, apparently contributing more to the partnership than her husband.

　　张欣是在越南长大的，来自一个中国少数民族家庭。在她青少年的时候，为一个香港的工厂工作。在那之后，她去了剑桥大学学习，取得了发展经济学的硕士学位。之后，她在高盛工作了一段时间。然后回国，将她的积蓄投入房地产。和他丈夫相比，她显然对SOHO中国的贡献更大。

As Shenzhen-based writer Linda Xinrong Kausch has explained, it’s a matter of pride for Chinese women to make a large contribution to their family and nation. “Most Chinese working women will say: ‘I’m proud that I work,' ” says Kausch. “Chinese women are very ambitious and it’s in their nature to be hard-working .”

　　正如深圳作家Linda Xinrong Kausch解释的：中国女性是否能够给她们的家庭和国家带来巨大贡献是和她们的尊严有关的。“大部分的中国女性会说‘我骄傲因为我工作’之类的话”Kausch说，“中国女性往往有着雄心壮志，并且她们天性就十分能吃苦。”

According to Shaun Rein, founder of the Shanghai-based China Market research group, women contribute about half of the household income in China and student enrolment at university is 50/50 men and women.

　　根据上海一家中国市场研究公司的创始人Shaun Rein的研究结果，中国家庭的收入基本上一半由女性提供，并且大学生的男女比例也是一比一。

Moreover, says Dr Moore, the state applauds entrepreneurship. “ These days the idea of Communist China is quite different to what it once was,” she says. “There is still a strong state-centred ethos but the idea now is that by setting up your own business you benefit the state and other people. You bring money into the economy, you bring in jobs, you support the expansion of China’s scientific and entrepreneurial activities abroad.”

　　还有，Moore博士认为，国家鼓励企业家创业也是原因之一。“近年来，中国社会的想法和意识环境和原来有了很大的不同，”她说，“人们仍然有着很强的爱国意识，但是现在更多人选择自主创业来造福国家和人民。你带来经济发展，创造出工作岗位，你就支持了中国科学和工商业在国际上的发展。”

She adds that networking is also a factor : “The Chinese have always been very good at maintaining and building international networks. They have an infrastructure that allows for it. And we all know that women are better at developing and maintaining social networks than men are.”

　　她补充道关系网络也是一个因素：“中国人总是有着建立和维持国际关系网络的能力。他们有着基础设施做支撑。并且女性天生就比男性更善于维持社交关系网络。”

According to Hoogewerf there is one last factor to consider – China’s one-child policy. “The fact they have only one child means a shorter career break,” he says. “They may just have had 10 weeks out of their career, ­giving them time to build their businesses.” It is something which can be compared back to Mao’s insistence that every workplace should install childcare so women could work full-time.

　　Hoogewerf认为还有最后一个原因要考虑——中国的“独生子女”政策。“每个家庭只能有一个孩子意味着更短的产假，”他说。“她们的职业生涯中只要一个10周的中断就行了，所以她们有着更多的时间来建立她们的事业。”同时，毛主席当年提出每个工厂和企业都要有托儿所，这样女性就能全天工作了。

But while China’s businesswomen may today be riding high, Qin warns that the female work ethos could start to wane.

　　但是当今的中国职业女性可能不会去的这样的成就，Qin警告，女性的工作热情可能要开始减弱了。

“Girls are becoming more feminised and more concerned with their looks,” she says. “More of them are wanting to stay at home and not go out to work, which was unthinkable in my generation. In 20 years’ time, if we looked at the list of female billionaires again, would we get the same result? Perhaps not.”

　　“现在的女孩正在越来越娇生惯养并且跟注重她们的外表，”她说。“现在更多的女孩想呆在家做全职太太而不想去工作。这在我的年代是不可想象的。在20年后，如果我们在来看这个榜单，我们会得到同样的结果么？可能不会了。”