凯拉韦：中国见闻China rekindles fondness for western ways

“How was China?” everyone asked last week when I pitched up at home bleary-eyed after an overnight flight. In reply, I found myself repeating the line from Noel Coward’s play Private Lives. “Very big, China.”

“中国怎么样？”上周，当我坐了一夜飞机、睡眼迷朦地回到家，每个人都在问我这个问题。在回答时，我发现自己在不断地重复诺埃尔?考沃德(Noel Coward)的戏剧《私生活》(Private Lives)中的台词：“中国，很大。”

This was not an especially impressive insight given that I’d just spent six fabulous days swanking around Beijing, Shanghai and Hong Kong. Neither was it something I’d learnt from being there. When you are whisked round from flight to car, distance ceases to mean much.

鉴于我刚刚在那里度过美妙的六天，辗转穿梭于北京、上海和香港三地，这实在不是多么让人印象深刻的见解，也并非我亲身到过那里之后的体会。当你一会儿飞机、一会儿汽车地到处转到转去，距离已经算不了什么。

In accepting the invitation to go on a debating tour, I had expected to return with a mind full of management ideas and a suitcase full of rip-off handbags. The former, I was sure, would be as plentiful as the latter: you can’t have an economic miracle on the scale of China without producing the odd management lesson that other countries can learn from.

接受参加一个巡回讨论会的邀请时，我原以为会带回来一脑子管理思想和一箱子冒牌手袋。而且我确信，前者会与后者一样丰盛：像中国这样的经济奇迹，不可能没有值得其他国家借鉴的新奇管理经验。

Within 30 seconds of my arrival in Beijing, I’d had my first workplace insight. Waiting to help us manage the airport was the neatest young woman I have ever seen, wearing a uniform of a belted blue coat and white gloves. At the hotel, the staff were wearing smart grey dresses; the men driving the tourist rickshaws were in fashionably rustic beige jerkins. China really knows how to do uniforms, while the west has forgotten: it sacrificed them on the temple of individuality a long time ago. Uniforms, I saw, are smart, good for the consumer, give some pride to the job and take the stress out of getting dressed in the morning.

对于中国职场，我在抵达北京的30秒内就有所见识。在机场等着迎接我们的是我毕生见过 穿戴最整齐的年轻女郎：一身蓝色制服，身上佩着绶带，戴着白手套。在酒店，服务员穿着齐整的灰色服装；旅游人力车的司机身着时髦而朴素的浅褐色短上衣。中 国真是懂得怎样做制服，而西方已经把这种技巧忘得一干二净：老早就把它供奉给了个性的祭坛。在我看来，制服整洁雅致，对顾客有益，带来工作自豪感，还有利 于减少清早的着装压力。

The next lesson was more profound. Everywhere was speed and efficiency. Workers were conspicuously doing the very thing that workers are meant to do – work. As we drove around, we saw lines of uniformed people being given a stern talking to by their bosses before starting their shifts. It seems that in China the long forgotten management tool “do it because I say so” still works a treat. All rather impressive, if a little scary.

下一个体会则比较深刻。到处都显得繁忙而高效。员工们明显在做着自己该做的份内之事 ——工作。我们开车转悠时，看到站成一排排、穿着制服的人们在聆听老板严厉的换班前训话。看来，“照我说的做”这种早已被遗忘的管理教条在中国依然盛行。 一切都给人留下了深刻印象，只是也有点让人犯怵。

On day three, I met a Chinese journalist who writes about the workplace and compared notes. She told me that Chinese workers moan the whole time and have conniptions if any colleague is given any privilege they are not. The place is riddled with office politics – promotions on merit are almost unheard of; the rules that govern relationships and status are all important – and impossible for any westerner to grasp.

第三天，我见到一位撰写职场文章的中国专栏作家，并进行了交流。她告诉我，中国员工总 在发牢骚，假如一个同事享有某种特权，而他们没有，就会大发雷霆。职场上充斥着“办公室政治”——任人唯贤、唯才是举的事情鲜有所闻；关系学与地位观念凌 驾一切——这些都是西方人难以领会的。

In return, I tried to explain the ludicrousness of western office life to her. “People skills?” she repeated, looking entirely baffled. “Anger management classes?” She shook her head in disbelief. In China there is nothing wrong with shouting. Everyone does it all the time. When I explained “360° feedback” to her she nearly keeled over. In China, she said, workers are often asked to appraise their peers, but this turns out to be less feedback than snitching. Only when I talked about team bonding she perked up. Ah yes, she said, very popular in China only it happens at the weekend and if you don’t show up your pay gets docked.

作为回报，我试图向她解释西方职场生活中的种种荒谬之处。“People skills?” 她满脸困惑地反问。“愤怒管理课程？”她难以置信地摇了摇头。在中国，大喊大叫没什么不正常。人人都在不停地叫嚷。当我向她解释“360度反馈”时，她几 乎晕倒。她说，在中国，老板经常要求员工对同事进行评价，但结果往往是打小报告的成分多于反馈。当我谈到“团队建设”时，她才精神起来。哦，是的，她说， 这在中国很流行，不过一般都在周末举行，不到场还会被扣工资。

As we talked, something peculiar happened. Even as I was ridiculing the nonsense and hypocrisy of western management I started to think about it rather more fondly than usual. I stopped wanting to bring home any management lessons from China at all. Evidently she felt the same way: after our lunch she e-mailed to say that her next column was on why it’s easier to be a boss in China.

在谈话过程中，某种奇怪的事情发生了。虽然我在嘲笑着西方管理的荒唐与虚伪，但我已开始对它产生了一种异于平常的亲切感。我已经不想从中国带走什么管理经验了。显然她也有同感：午餐后，她给我发了一封电子邮件，告诉我她下一篇文章准备写为什么在中国当老板更容易。

This left shopping for handbags and watches – which turned out to be equally perplexing. On the street the going rate for a fake Calvin Klein watch is ￡1.80, less than a cappuccino. What invisible hand decreed this set of relative prices?

接下来就是逛街购买包包和手表了——结果同样让人困惑不已。街上一款假CK手表的售价相当于1.80英镑，比一杯卡布基诺还便宜。是什么无形之手在操纵着这二者之间的相对价格？

An even bigger puzzle were the luxury shops. In Beijing and Shanghai there are almost as many Louis Vuitton and Chanel stores as there are Starbucks and Costas. Everyone knows that in China there is the greatest luxury boom the world has ever seen. But when I walked past these stores, the only signs of life were squadrons of eager shop assistants. Westerners don’t shop there, as the stuff is much cheaper at home. But I didn’t see a single Chinese customer in any of the stores either.

更让人困惑的是奢侈品店。在北京和上海，路易威登(Louis Vuitton)和香奈儿(Chanel)的门店几乎与星巴克(Starbucks)和Costas一样多。众所周知，中国正兴起一轮奢侈品消费热潮，其 声势之大是世界上前所未有的。然而，当我走过这些商店时，店里唯一可见的人迹是一群群神情热切的销售员。西方人不会在这里驻足，因为那些东西在老家买要便 宜得多。但是，我在所有这些商店中，都没有见到一个中国顾客的身影。

Are the shops a front for something? Or will some of the big luxury companies soon admit – like Mattel did recently with its Barbie store – that they dashed into China too hastily? What’s at the bottom of it all, I asked our Shanghai correspondent. She shrugged. The better she got to know China, she said, the less she expected to be able to get to the bottom of anything.

这些商店只是一种门面吗？抑或，一些大型奢侈品公司不久就会承认自己在中国过于冒进？日前美泰(Mattel)就关闭了在中国的芭比(Barbie)门店。真相究竟是什么？我询问英国《金融时报》驻上海记者。她耸了耸肩说道，越是了解中国，就越是不可能看得清楚。