"臉基尼"成中國最新文化輸出品
It may never rival porcelain or Peking duck in popularity beyond China’s shores, but the “facekini” is being hailed by domestic Newspapers as the country’s latest cultural gift to the world.
儘管“臉基尼”(facekini)在中國海灘之外的地方，可能怎麼無法與中國陶瓷或北京烤鴨相提並論，但它受到了國內報紙的稱讚，被譽爲中國向世界輸出的最新文化禮物。The recent publication by a New York-based style magazine, CR Fashion Book, of a photo shoot showing models wearing “pool masks” has prompted the Qingdao Evening News to claim the look as a foreign variation on a familiar theme in the north eastern seaside city.
最新一期紐約時尚雜誌《CR Fashion Book》刊登了戴着“游泳池面罩”的模特照片之後，《青島晚報》(Qingdao Evening News)立刻聲稱，該面具是外國人抄襲了中國東部沿海城市青島的一種類似面罩。
“As soon as this photo shoot was published, the sharp-eyed among our netizens immediately recognised that this was none other than a ‘knock off’ of our Qingdao old woman’s ‘facekini’,” the newspaper said.
該報稱，“大片一出，眼尖的網友立即認出，這不正是‘山寨’咱青島大媽的‘臉基尼’！”
The upgrading of this “matronly style” (see left) to the heights of New York fashion has stirred a whirlwind of comment on Chinese social media, with around 12m posts on Sina weibo, China’s version of twitter, so far.
這款“大媽式面罩”登上紐約時尚界的巔峯，在類似Twitter的中國社交媒體新浪微博(Sina weibo)引來熱議，到目前相關帖子已接近1200萬條。Although the facekini owes its popularity to the protection it offers from the sun in a culture that prizes white skin, its origins may be more pragmatic.
儘管臉基尼由於其防曬功能而大受歡迎（中國文化崇尚白膚色），它的問世可能出於更實際的原因。Zhang Shifan, a 58 year-old Qingdao local identified by the Qingdao Television website as the facekini’s inventor, says that the headgear was first intended as protection against the nipping of sea crabs, which lurk offshore in large numbers.
青島電視臺網站找到了臉基尼的發明人、58歲的當地居民張式範。張式範說，當初設計這種頭罩是爲了防止被海蜇蟄傷，因爲海里的海蜇數量非常多。“Ms Zhang said that in 2006 she had the facekini idea, though it wasn’t called that then, going by the more general name of ‘face mask’,” the Qingdao Television website said. “It was designed as a protection against sea crabs…as an underwater hat.”
該網站稱，“大媽說，2006年，自己有了臉基尼這個創意，當時還不叫這個名字，籠統叫做‘面罩’。最早，它和水母衣一樣，是爲防海蜇設計的，靈感的來源是潛水帽。”These days the masks are a common sight on Qingdao’s popular beaches. “I went on down to the swimming area and although there were so many swimmers, i could very easily identify matrons wearing the facekini,” the Qingdao Evening News journalist wrote. “They show only their eyes, with their nose and mouth covered just like a covered superman.”
最近，臉基尼成爲青島熱門海灘的常見景觀。《青島晚報》記者寫道，“我來到了第一海水浴場，雖然前來游泳的人密密麻麻，但在人羣中找出戴着‘臉基尼’的大媽非常容易。她們只露着眼睛、鼻子和嘴巴，乍一看像一位‘蒙面超人’。”Others on Weibo thought that headgear made it look as if the beaches are being invaded by bank robbers.
新浪微博上也有人認爲，這種頭套戴上去，看起來像是海灘遭到了銀行搶劫犯的入侵。
