傳統白酒在中國國內的未來前景
Russia has vodka, Korea soju, Japan sake, and China – baijiu (bye-joh). Like its cousins, baijiu serves as a national symbol, a social lubricant, a business sealant, a cultural baptism, and not the least of all, a mark of distinction. Rookies gag on its infernal flow, but a cultured person would never turn down a chance to clink glasses. As one Chinese friend puts it, “To the older generation, baijiu is a habit – there is no good or bad to it. It’s a part of the culture.”
俄羅斯有伏特加，韓國有燒酒，日本有清酒，而中國有白酒。像其他酒類一樣，白酒是國家的象徵、社會的潤滑劑、商界的粘合劑、文化的洗禮，然而不僅於此，白酒還是身份的標誌。It therefore came as a pleasant surprise to me when I started doing business in China last year and realized that most of my associates turned their noses up at it. I unabashedly admit that I have no taste for the stuff, but I accepted long ago that it would be an important – nay, critical – aspect to sales in China (let alone beer sales, which was my industry).
因此，當去年我在中國做生意時，白酒給我帶來了驚喜的發現，而且我意識到我的大部分同事都對白酒嗤之以鼻。我毫不掩飾地承認，我對白酒也沒有興趣，但是我很久以前就明白，白酒將是在中國展開銷售的重要環節，不，可以說是關鍵的環節（除了啤酒銷售外——那是我的老本行）。What I instead encountered was a distinct split between people born before and after 1980. While the older generation clearly preferred to slicken meetings with the traditional liquor, the younger clients cringed at the suggestion of it. The latter group was quicker to offer a beer or cigarette, and did not press when I turned either down. The older group, however, had a song-and-dance centered on baijiu, and to interrupt this show would be to derail the business transaction.
而我遇到的情況卻顯示，1980年前和1980年後出生的人對此存在明顯的分歧。儘管老一代人顯然喜歡在聚會上用傳統的白酒助興，可是年輕的客戶卻害怕提議喝點白酒。年輕人會很快拿出啤酒和香菸，如果我對這兩樣都拒絕的話，他們也不會堅持。然而，上年紀的人會大肆宣傳白酒的好處，如果打斷他們的表演，可能會搞砸這次商業交易。
Most who have lived in China have participated in “the baijiu show” more than once. Picture a group of middle-aged people seated around a circular table, pleasantries underscored by a bubbling hot pot and punctuated by the clinking of cups. When someone offers to cheers you, you shove your chair back and jump to your feet, grasping your own porcelain teacup of baijiu with both hands to show “reqing” (passionate friendliness). To have reqing is to have culture, and the offering of baijiu opens the floodgate to a night of reqing. Business talk may or may not come up, and the deal is successfully closed only when one party carries the other out to a taxi.
大多數在中國生活的人都參加過不止一次的“白酒秀”。你可以想象一下，一羣中年人圍坐在圓桌旁邊，在沸騰火鍋的助興下寒暄致意，席間相互碰杯敬酒。如果有人向你敬酒的話，你要向後推開自己的椅子站起來，雙手舉起自己的瓷酒杯，表現出“熱情”（熱忱的友善）。要表現出熱情，就要有文化，敬酒爲熱情洋溢的夜晚叩開了大門。席間也許會談生意，也許沒有，如果宴席一方把醉酒的另一方送上出租車，說明交易已經成功達成。My younger clients are just as – if not more – interested in befriending their beer supplier, but they find other ways to exhibit reqing. Instead of hot pot and expensive liquor, we clink bottles of cheap Tsingtao and search for common interests. Music, movies, and current events are the most common topics. Smartphones footnote our conversations as we reference news articles, blogs, or WeChat. For China, the internet has contributed to a generation of young adults that, informed of their society’s follies, are disillusioned from its greatness. We tacitly bond over this generational oneness, knowing that we must soon shoulder responsibility for a ridiculous world that is often as stinging and fiery as a gulp of baijiu itself.
我的年輕客戶也一樣——如果說不是比這更熱情的話——對於友好接待他們的啤酒供應商很感興趣，不過他們會找到其他的方式來表現熱情。沒有火鍋和昂貴的白酒，取而代之的是便宜的青島啤酒，我們在觥籌交錯間尋找共同的興趣。音樂、電影和新聞動態都是最常見的話題。智能手機在我們的談話中經常出現，因爲我們會提到新聞報道、博客或微信。對於中國來說，互聯網使年輕一代瞭解社會弊端，認清假大空。由於這種同屬一代人，我們心照不宣地拉近了關係，知道我們必須儘快爲這個荒謬的世界承擔責任，通常像喝下的白酒那樣辛辣而灼熱。When these twenty-somes turn forty, will they still uphold the art of chilling out over a couple of cold ones? Or is “the baijiu show” a rite of passage, a harbinger of maturity and professionalism?
當這些二十幾歲的年輕人步入四十歲時，他們依然會保持心意已冷的態度喝冰啤酒嗎？或者說“白酒秀”代表了一個必經階段、成熟的前奏和敬業精神？A survey of fifteen of my Chinese friends suggests the latter. One 30-year-old baijiu fan commented, “The more mature a person is, the more capable he is of learning how to drink baijiu.” In a similar vein, a 28-year-old responded, “[Young adults] don’t understand baijiu, only middle-aged people know how to appreciate it. People born in the 80s will do it for work, networking, and friends. People born in the 90s do it to look cool.”
我調查了身邊的15位中國朋友，結果指向了後者。有位30歲的白酒愛好者說，“一個人越成熟越能幹，他就越願意瞭解喝白酒的門道。”與此類似，有位28歲的朋友回答說，“年輕人不懂白酒，只有中年人懂得如何欣賞。上個世紀80年代出生的人會爲了工作、人脈和朋友而喝酒。90年代出生的人喝酒只是爲了看起來很酷。”All but one respondent claimed that they “did not love” to drink baijiu, but listed a few occasions when they willingly drank it anyway. Business meetings, networking events, and Chinese New Year with the family were common answers for people of both genders. What this suggests to me is not that baijiu is bound to be overtaken by newer products, but that it will maintain its standing as a stronghold of power, tradition, and amiability.
除了一位受訪者，所有的人都宣稱他們“不愛喝白酒”，但是提到了他們願意喝白酒的幾個場合。商務會議、社交活動以及春節閤家團聚時，這些都是人們共同的答案，無論男女。這讓我意識到白酒不會被更新的酒類所超越，而是白酒將作爲權力、傳統和友好的象徵維持其地位。The New Year factor is not to be overlooked. The biggest holiday on the Chinese calendar, the New Year facilitates a full-country shutdown for a week every February. In China, family unity is often at odds with the reality of its changing society. This week of ultimate reqing brings together several generations of family to unite in a timeless activity: eating and drinking. A lot.
春節的因素也不容忽視。作爲中國農曆最盛大的節日，春季的到來會讓全國在每年2月份左右放假一週。在中國，不斷變化的社會現實往往使得人們很少有機會合家團圓。爲期一週的春節假期洋溢着熱情喜慶，全家幾代人歡聚一堂，活動的內容從來都沒有變化：大吃大喝。Another friend wrote, “I think no matter how old we Chinese people are, we take baijiu as a connection implement for communication.”
另一位朋友說，“我想，不管我們中國人活到多大年紀，我們都會把白酒作爲聯繫感情的紐帶。”This attitude is precisely what will keep baijiu in its position for the foreseeable future. In China, drinking culture is centered around forging social connections vis-à-vis reqing rather than drinking for the sake of the drink itself. In this sense, baijiu is the lynchpin of networking. While my own company’s explosive beer sales suggest an increasing awareness of and interest in high-end foreign beers, the baijiu culture is a time-honored tradition with a rock-solid foothold in its homeland.
這種態度將在可預見未來保持白酒的地位。在中國，飲酒文化圍繞着熱情會面打造社會關係，而不是爲了喝酒本身。在這層意義上，白酒是交流聯絡的關鍵。儘管我所在的公司啤酒銷售額飛速增長，表明消費者對高端外國啤酒的意識和興趣不斷提高，但是白酒文化依然有悠久的傳統，在其發源地具有堅如磐石的地位。Derek Sandhaus, a baijiu expert with a forthcoming book on the subject, remarks that “Expensive baijiu is connected to power and money in the business world. As long as it maintains its prestige, it’s here to stay.”
德里克·桑德豪斯（Derek Sandhaus）是位白酒專家，他將出版一本以白酒爲主題的新書，他評論說，“昂貴的白酒把在商界權力和金錢聯繫起來。只要白酒保持其威望，就能長盛不衰。”Young people who have climbed the social ladder by drinking heavily with their bosses are likely to consider baijiu a mark of professionalism, fortune, and – importantly – reqing. To this end, baijiu will continue to exist as an essential tile of the reqing mosaic. As long as there exists a desire to bond with friends, family, co-workers, guests, business associates, politicians, and whomever, baijiu will be there to christen the bonds.
那些通過和老闆豪飲爬上社會階梯高出的年輕人可能會把白酒看做職業精神、財富——最重要的是——熱情的標誌。爲此，白酒將繼續存在，爲熱情的酒文化添磚加瓦。只要人們希望與朋友、家人、同事、賓客、生意夥伴、政治家和任何人保持聯繫，白酒都將洗禮這些關係。
