暴富心態頑固 中國股民難去心魔

Farmers turned village community centers into makeshift trading floors. Young workers quit low-paying jobs to play the market full time. Retirees started investment clubs, counseling one another on stock picks.

農民把村裏的社區中心變成了臨時交易大廳。年輕人辭去低薪工作，以便全職炒股。退休人員組織了投資俱樂部，交流選股心得。

China fell under the spell of the stock market over the last year, as millions of factory owners, university students, wheat growers and other investors jumped at a chance to strike it rich.

去年，中國股市像是着了魔，成百上千萬的工廠主、大學生和糧食種植戶等投資者投身股市，追趕這個發橫財的機會。

“When we eat breakfast, we think of the stock market. When we sleep, we see flashing red and green screens,” said Elizabeth Xu, 37, a customer service supervisor at an electronics company in Shanghai, who invested $2,500 last fall. “This is our new sport.”

“吃早飯的時候，我們想到股市。睡覺的時候，我們眼前會浮現紅綠閃爍的顯示屏，”37歲的伊麗莎白·徐(Elizabeth Xu)說。她是上海一家電子公司的客戶服務主管，去年秋天在股市投資了1.5萬元人民幣。“這是我們新的競技活動。”

But with the market stumbling in recent weeks, investors are now engaged in a national game where the risks are increasingly outweighing the rewards.

然而，最近幾周，隨着市場劇烈震盪，在這場席捲全國投資者的遊戲中，風險也日益高於回報。

That reality has prompted reflection among some traders, and it has touched off a wider debate about wealth in a society caught between the proud egalitarianism of its socialist past and the lure of capitalist riches. Some Chinese citizens have taken to social media to question the amount of attention devoted to the market and to criticize what they describe as an unhealthy materialist tendency in society.

這樣的現實促使一些股民開始反思，並且引發了關於財富的廣泛辯論。一邊是對以往社會主義傳統中的平均主義的自豪，另一邊是資本主義財富的誘惑，而當今中國社會夾在兩者之間。一些中國民衆在社交媒體上質疑大家把太多精力用在了股市上，批評他們有不健康的物質主義傾向。

“The stock market is all about filling your pockets,” said Zhou Lian, 32, a visual artist in Beijing who wrote a critical post on WeChat, a popular mobile messaging application. “Is that what we want to stand for?”

“炒股無非是想賺大錢，”32歲的北京視覺藝術家周廉（音）在微信上的一篇評論帖裏寫道。“這是我們想要支持的東西嗎？”微信是一個流行的移動即時通訊應用。

A recent opinion article in China Daily, a state-run newspaper, warned, “It is dangerous to play with greed.”

官方刊物《中國日報》最近發表評論文章警告，“貪婪很危險。”

Cheered on by relatives, co-workers and rapturous headlines in the state-run press, ordinary investors in China helped stoke a remarkable rally over the last year. With easy access to loans for trading, individual investors opened more than 38 million stock accounts in the second quarter, compared with nine million in all of 2014.

在親戚、同事和官方媒體熱情的頭條的鼓動之下，中國普通投資者在過去的一年裏帶動股市大幅上揚。由於現在可以方便地配資炒股，今年第二季度中國新開的個人股票賬戶超過3800萬個，而2014全年只有900萬個。

The lure of the stock market reflects broader cultural influences. Many people in China prize financial prudence, and the savings rate is among the highest in the world. But many Chinese also believe passionately in the power of luck, and China has a long history of high-stakes betting.

股市的誘惑也反映了更加廣泛的文化影響。很多中國人在理財上態度審慎，中國的儲蓄率位居世界前列。然而，很多人也由衷地相信運氣的力量，中國也素來有“險中求財”的說法。

Gambling is widespread and often considered a social activity; mah-jongg games are common on street corners, and the lottery is a popular pursuit.

賭博在中國很普遍，往往被視爲一種社交活動；街頭巷尾常可以看到有人在打麻將，彩票也相當流行。

The intense interest in the stock market, in some ways, grew out of those habits. Many investors entered the market with lofty dreams — finally, they would have the money for an exotic vacation, an engagement ring or a new home.

從某些方面而言，人們對股市的濃厚興趣就源自這種習慣。進入股票市場時，很多投資者懷抱着美好夢想——最後他們能有錢去外國度假，能購買訂婚戒指，或擁有一個新家。

Amateur traders turned to numerology, long a fixture of Chinese culture, to pick the best investments. Some purchased prayer beads made especially for investors, hoping to conjure good luck.

業餘股民通過命理來挑選股票，而這也是中華文化中的一個長期傳統。一些人購買了股民專用念珠，希望能帶來好運。

In Shaanxi Province in northern China, rural workers wishing for an early retirement began investing after seeing chatter on social media sites about the “mad cow market,” as it is sometimes called. They were encouraged by reports this spring in The People’s Daily, the flagship paper of the Communist Party, which trumpeted the seemingly never-ending bull market.

在中國北方的陝西省，一些希望儘早退休的農民工看到社交媒體網站上對“瘋牛市”的談論此起彼伏，於是開始炒股。今年春天，黨報《人民日報》上的多篇文章鼓吹看似永無止境的牛市，也鼓勵了這些股民。

In Nanliu, a small town in Shaanxi, workers set up computers so that they could track stock purchases. “Everyone wants a chance to improve their lives, even if they only get a little piece of meat,” said Zhang Li, a longtime resident who invested several hundred dollars.

在陝西小鎮南流，工人裝上了電腦，以便能夠跟蹤股票行情。 “每個人都希望有機會改善生活，即使只賺到一小片肉，”這裏的長期居民張利（音）說。他投入了幾千元人民幣炒股。

But greed has long been viewed as a particularly dangerous quality in Chinese culture.

不過，在中華文化中，貪婪一直被看成是一種特別危險的品性。

The ancient scholar Xunzi, in describing the bad nature of human beings, cited a love of profit as his first piece of evidence, noting its ability to cause chaos and a lack of cooperation. Mencius, another ancient Chinese philosopher, warned against acquiring showy material possessions.

古代學者荀子在談到人性本惡時，將“好利”列爲第一個證據，並指出它會造成爭奪，不利於辭讓。另一位中國古代思想家孟子則告誡大家不要去追求浮華不實的物質財富。

The early Confucian view, said David Wong, professor of philosophy at Duke University, was that “income, wealth, material possessions and social prestige are necessary only up to the point where they enable one to pursue goods that are of much greater value.”

杜克大學(Duke University)哲學教授黃百銳(David Wong)表示，早期的儒家觀點是“只有在能夠讓人去追求更有價值的事物時，收入、財產、物質財富和社會聲望纔是必要的。”

“The human tendency to lose focus on that priority,” Mr. Wong said, “is perhaps the primary cause of our loss of connection to and care for each other.”

“人往往會淡忘這個大前提，”黃百銳說，“這也許就是人們對彼此失去體諒和關心的主要原因。”

The financial pain for Chinese households has not been pervasive, since stocks are still not broadly held by families. The major indexes, too, have recovered somewhat in recent days, after the government aggressively moved to prop up stocks.

中國家庭並沒有普遍感覺到股市下跌的損失，因爲炒股仍然不是普及的家庭投資方式。而且近日來，隨着政府積極託市，主要股指也有所反彈。

But the recent volatility has unsettled investors as they grapple with not only the financial toll but also a loss of the day-to-day emotional rush that underpinned the trading culture.

不過，近期的劇烈波動讓投資者感到不安。他們承受的不僅是財務上的煎熬，還有市場情緒的日益萎靡，而市場情緒是股市文化的基石。

In some areas, retirees have made a habit of watching the market’s movements together, finding solace in collective cursing and celebration. At a brokerage house in downtown Beijing last week, retirees gathered before large stock boards, playing cards and assessing how much money they had lost in recent weeks.

在一些地區，退休人員習慣一起查看市場的走勢，通過集體咒罵或慶祝來尋找慰藉。上週，在北京市區的一家證券營業廳，退休人員聚集在大型交易板前玩牌，估算他們最近幾周損失了多少。

One man said he was down about $10,000. “We’ve all lost money,” he said, growing irritated. “Everybody’s pretty much the same.”

一名男性表示，他虧了大概6萬元。“我們都賠錢了，”他說，口氣越來越氣憤。“大家都差不多。”

At another brokerage house, a 70-year-old man who gave only his surname, Wei, said he had lost about $30,000.

在另一家證券營業廳，70歲的魏先生表示，他賠了大概20萬。

“My wife blamed me, but is it of any use?” he said. “This is money we could have left to our son. But what else can I do? The damage is done.”

“我老婆怪我，但有用嗎？”他反問道。“我們本來打算把這筆錢留給兒子。但我還能做什麼？於事無補。”

Mr. Wei had been investing in the market since 2008 but said he was devastated by the recent losses.

魏先生自2008年以來一直炒股，但他表示最近的損失讓自己非常痛心。

“I have lots of anger inside me,” he added. “It’s just never easy for us ordinary people to make money.”

“我窩了一肚子火，”他還表示。“我們普通人賺錢從來都不容易。”

Despite the volatility, Lu Wenjie, an analyst at UBS in China, said that many investors were likely to stay in the market.

瑞銀(UBS)駐中國的分析師陸文傑表示，儘管股市劇烈波動，但很多投資者很可能仍然會留在市場裏。

“They are kind of stuck,” he said. “They are reluctant to record losses, and some of them will even try to add money in the coming weeks and bet on a rally.”

“他們算是被困住了，”他說。“他們不願承擔損失，其中一些人甚至會嘗試未來幾周加大投資，打賭股市會反彈。”

The turbulence has rattled some traders, especially those unaccustomed to the ups and downs of the market. In China, some doctors have taken to calling it stock market anxiety syndrome.

這種波動讓一些股民焦躁不安，特別是那些不習慣股市起伏的人。在中國，一些醫生開始將此類現象稱爲“股市焦慮綜合徵”。

Academics have warned about the psychological effects of fluctuations in share prices. A study by Taiwanese researchers last year found that falling stock prices correlated with increased hospitalizations for mental health disorders. When a stock index fell for five consecutive days, for instance, hospitalizations increased by 1.6 percent.

學者們就股價波動帶來的心理影響提出了警告。臺灣的科研人員去年開展的一項研究發現，股價下跌與因爲精神健康障礙而入院治療的病人人數的增加有關聯。例如，當股指連續五天下跌時，入院治療的人數提高了1.6%。

Yan Zhengwei, a Shanghai psychologist, said he had recently seen several patients who told him they were depressed by the market, including a client who lost more than $1.6 million.

閆正偉（音）是上海的一名心理醫生。他說最近接待過好幾名自稱因爲股市而心情抑鬱的患者，其中一人虧了上千萬。

“They say they are fine, but they’re just saying it,” Mr. Yan said. “It’s a lot of money, after all.”

“他們說自己還好，但只是那麼說而已，”閆正偉說。“畢竟是好多錢。”

But Mr. Yan said there was a silver lining. Counseling sessions for couples had recently turned remarkably civil, he said, as husbands and wives found a common enemy in the market.

但閆正偉表示，也有好的一面。他說，最近夫妻諮詢輔導的氛圍變得非常和諧，因爲夫婦雙方找到了股市這個共同的敵人。

“When a major blow came, they actually stopped blaming each other and both blamed the market,” he said. “It’s like they had both become victims.”

“遭受重創時，他們真的不再責怪對方，而是一起埋怨股市，”他說。“像是雙方都變成了受害者。”

Xue Wei, chief psychologist at Linzi Counseling Center in Shanghai, said the popularity of the stock market reflected a deeper insecurity in society. He said that Chinese people were accustomed to having a fixed social status under the Communist system. Now, he said, many people are looking to the stock market to define their worth.

林紫上海心理諮詢中心首席心理專家薛偉表示，股市的受歡迎程度反映出了社會上更深層次的不安。他說，過去在共產主義制度下，中國人習慣擁有固定的社會地位。現在，他說，很多人指望股市來確定自己的價值。

“They are very insecure inside,” he said. “They think if they can achieve financial stability in a short period of time, they will feel more secure.”

“他們內心很沒有安全感，”他說。“認爲如果能在短期內實現財務上的穩定，就會覺得更安全。”

For some investors, the round-the-clock trading has placed a strain on relationships.

對部分投資者來說，不間斷的交易節奏讓一些關係變得緊張。

At the height of the downturn this month, Wang Xiaoming, a 23-year-old bank attendant, had a dilemma: celebrate his girlfriend’s birthday or try to salvage his portfolio? Mr. Wang, who had invested $2,000, about a fifth of his savings, chose the portfolio. His girlfriend quickly scolded him for “only having numbers on my mind,” he said. After that, he promised to spend less time checking stock market chat forums (he currently belongs to six).

23歲的銀行工作人員王曉明（音）投入了2000美元，大約是其積蓄的五分之一。在本月股市下跌最厲害的時候，他進退兩難：是給女朋友過生日還是努力挽救投資組合？選擇了後者的他說，女朋友很快就罵他“腦子裏只有數字”。那之後，他承諾減少查看股市聊天論壇的時間（他目前是六個論壇的成員）。

“It’s hard to find the right balance,” Mr. Wang said.

“很難找到恰當的平衡點，”他說。

Still, Mr. Wang said he thought it was important to gain experience in the market. He began to elaborate on his idea but abruptly excused himself. It was a quarter past nine, he explained, and the markets were opening.

但王曉明說，他認爲重要的是從股市獲取經驗。他開始詳細闡述自己的觀點，卻又突然表示要走了。他解釋說，已經九點一刻，要開盤了。