經濟放緩並未影響中國人的消費熱情

Global markets may be blaming their jitters on the economic slowdown in China, but in the streets of Shanghai and Beijing there are few signs of panic over the “Black Monday” market rout .

全球市場可能會把它們的震盪歸咎於中國經濟放緩，但是在上海和北京的街頭，幾乎看不到人們對“黑色星期一”市場大跌有什麼恐慌的跡象。

At Shanghai’s largest Apple Store, in one of the city’s busiest shopPing streets, the lunchtime crowd is as large as usual awaiting the arrival of the newest Apple smartphone model, the iPhone 6s.

在上海最大的蘋果(Apple)店（位於這座城市最繁忙的購物街之一），午餐時間的人羣像往常一樣多，人們都在等待新款蘋果智能手機iPhone 6s的亮相。

“I still want to buy the iPhone 6s,” says Yu Xinyuan, a 21-year-old student in the store with Yu Yu, her boyfriend, also 21. “The slowdown in the economy won’t change my plans,” she says.

“我仍然想買iPhone 6s，”21歲的學生於欣媛（音譯）稱，她正在和21歲的男朋友于宇（音譯）一起逛蘋果店。“經濟下滑不會改變我的計劃，”她說。

She seems to echo the views of Tim Cook, Apple’s chief executive, who said in a market-moving email to a CNBC presenter this week that his company’s sales in China remained strong. “I can tell you that we have continued to experience strong growth for our business in China through July and August,” Mr Cook said, adding that “growth in iPhone activations has actually accelerated over the past few weeks”.

她似乎與蘋果首席執行官蒂姆錠克(Tim Cook)的觀點一致。庫克本週在發給CNBC主持人的一封影響股市的郵件中稱，蘋果在中國的銷售仍然強勁。“我可以告訴你，7月至8月，我們的在華業務繼續經歷強勁增長，”庫克稱，他補充道，“過去幾周，iPhone激活量增長實際上加快了。”

At the Starbucks kiosk opposite Apple’s shop, in the premier Hong Kong Plaza shopping centre, a lengthy lunchtime queue forms, despite the fact that a latté bought there can set some white- collar workers back as much as 1 per cent of their monthly salary.

在蘋果店對面、位於香港廣場(Hong Kong Plaza)高檔購物中心內的星巴克(Starbucks)，午餐時間的顧客排成長長的一隊，儘管這裏一杯拿鐵咖啡的售價可以花掉一些白領月薪的1%。

Outside Hong Kong Plaza, several passers-by agree on one thing: neither the jittery stock market nor the weakening economy has yet prompted them to tighten their belts.

在香港廣場外，一些行人也認爲，無論是動盪的股市還是日益疲軟的經濟，都還沒有促使他們勒緊腰包。

As he queues for a table outside a popular restaurant, office worker Frank Gu says: “I don’t think the economic slowdown will affect my life.” He adds almost as an afterthought: “I am still planning to buy the new iPhone.”

上班族Frank Gu在一家知名餐廳外排隊等桌時稱：“我不認爲經濟下滑會影響我的生活。”他稍加思索後補充稱：“我仍然計劃購買新款iPhone。”

Tina Tang, a new investor who is waiting to cross Huaihai Road, says she is not worried. “I recently started trading stocks along with some of my colleagues, but none of us has been affected much. We expect the stock market to go up and down and we are getting used to it.”

正在淮海路上等待過馬路的新晉股民Tina Tang稱她並不擔心。“我最近和幾個同事一起開始炒股，但是我們都沒有受太大影響。我們預料到股市會起起伏伏，也正在開始習慣。”

Asked whether the decline in the real economy would cause her to alter any spending plans she said: “I never even thought about that.”

當被問及實體經濟下滑是否會導致她改變消費計劃時，她說：“我甚至從沒想過這個。”

Wang Pingnan, a longstanding stock market investor, also takes a sanguine view, but warns that it is too early to say whether the slowdown will affect him. “It will be like a wave, which started in the manufacturing [areas of China] and hasn’t yet reached Shanghai. So we don’t feel a thing now... don’t feel like we are in danger now,” he says.

老股民王平南（音譯）也持樂觀態度，但是警告稱，現在說經濟下滑是否會影響他還爲時過早。“就像浪潮一樣，經濟下滑從中國以製造業爲主的地區開始，現在還沒到達上海。所以我們現在還沒有感覺……眼下我們並不覺得身處危險之中，”他稱。

At the Jinjiang Buick dealership in Shanghai, Dai Xiaoran, a sales executive, says it is getting harder to sell cars, but thinks that licence plate restrictions and competition are the main causes.

在上海錦江別克(Buick)經銷商處，銷售主管戴曉冉（音譯）稱賣車越來越難，但是他認爲主要原因是車牌限制政策和市場競爭。

“The economy is not good and the stock market is not good, but neither has a big influence on motor sales. Demand for cars is rigid here: for many people, to buy a car is a must,” he says.

“經濟不好，股市也不好，但是對汽車銷售都沒有太大影響。這裏的汽車需求是剛性的：對很多人來說，買車是必須的，”他稱。

Stock market turmoil is far from the minds of Beijing residents, who were last weekend treated to a rehearsal of a military parade on September 3 to commemorate the 70th anniversary of the end of the second world war. The capital was transformed into a theatre of troops marching, with streets blocked off.

股市動盪遠不在北京居民的考慮範圍中，上週末，他們迎來了爲9月3日慶祝二戰結束70週年閱兵儀式舉行的彩排。北京變成了一個巨大的閱兵場，很多道路禁止通行。

The rest of the world may feel that the Chinese economy is grinding to a halt, but the shoppers of China’s big cities are not ready to stop spending.

世界其他地區也許感覺中國經濟正逐漸滑向停滯，但是中國大城市的購物者還不準備停止消費。