机遇、梦想与风险：中国直播带货浪潮的起与落The Shining Promise and Dashed Dreams of China’s Live Shopping Craze王月眉2023年4月28日 学生们在中国东部城市义乌的小辣椒电子商务学院参加直播课程，两周的课程收费约为7000元。 QILAI SHEN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMESThe yurt stood in the middle of a sweeping northern Chinese grassland, beneath a cloudless sky. A reedy folk tune played. Nearby, sheep grazed. 晴朗的天空下，一望无际的中国北方草原中，坐落着一顶毡包。尖利的民乐声响起。不远处有羊儿在吃草。 Suddenly the livestream, which had been showing the idyllic vista, cut to a man in his 30s, wearing a Mongolian hat with a pointed golden spire. “Welcome, brothers and sisters!” he announced from his perch atop a platform bed. “How’s the signal? I set up Wi-Fi in my yurt.” He held up a bag of beef jerky, branded with a cartoon image of his face. “If it’s your first time here, I’m Taiping, and I make beef jerky.” 突然，正在展现这一派恬静美景的直播画面转向了一个三十来岁的男人，他戴着有金色尖顶的蒙古帽。“欢迎兄弟姐妹们！”他坐在一张炕上说道。“卡不卡？我在蒙古包里设了个Wi-Fi。”他拿起一包牛肉干，包装上印有他的卡通形象。“如果第一次来我直播间，太平哥是做牛肉干的。” It was another day at work for Taiping, a Chinese livestreaming salesman. Illuminated by carefully arranged studio lights, speaking into two iPhones propped up on a table, Taiping began wooing the thousands of viewers who tapped into his channel. He dangled unwrapped jerky before the camera, describing traditional Mongolian air-drying techniques. He shredded it with his fingers to show its tenderness. 对中国直播推销员太平来说，这就是一个平常的工作日。在精心安排的演播室灯光下，太平对着固定在桌上的两部iPhone讲话，向成千上万来到他直播间的观众推销产品。他拆出一根牛肉干在镜头前摆弄，讲解传统的蒙古牛肉风干技术。他把牛肉撕成一条条，展现肉质的柔嫩。 Viewers, by typing comments, sent real-time questions that bubbled from the bottom of the video feed, about how spicy it was or which flavor was best. (Taiping, who read each comment aloud, suggested buying half original, half cumin.) Some longtime fans sent animated pink hearts or thumbs-up symbols, while others simply wanted to say hello. “I missed you, too,” Taiping, who like many ethnic Mongolians uses only one name, replied to one viewer. 观众通过文字评论实时提出的问题从画面下方跳出，他们问牛肉干辣不辣，或哪种口味最好吃。（太平大声读出每一条评论，建议搭配着买，原味和孜然味各一半。）有一些老粉丝会发动画红心或大拇指图标，还有些只是来打招呼的。“我也想你啊，”和许多蒙古族人一样只使用名字的太平对一位观众说。 By the end of the four-hour session, during which he barely paused to drink water, he had received more than 650 orders, totaling $15,000. 四小时的直播过程里，他甚至很少停下来喝口水，最后一共拿到了超过650份订单，总值约10万元人民币。 Taiping is one of countless Chinese riding the explosive wave of influencer culture and live online videos in the country to transform the way people buy and sell. Last year alone, an estimated $500 billion in goods were sold via livestream on apps like Douyin, the Chinese version of TikTok, or Kuaishou, another short video platform — an eightfold increase since 2019. 无数像太平这样的中国人正在追逐这股网红文化和网络直播的风潮，它已经彻底改变了这个国家购买和出售商品的方式。仅去年一年，在抖音、快手等短视频平台上出售的商品总额估计就达到了5000亿美元——是2019年的八倍。 太平会在草原上的真蒙古包里直播，但在他的实体店也搭了一个蒙古包布景。 VIVIAN WANG/THE NEW YORK TIMES义乌市的一块宣传直播购物课程的广告牌。 QILAI SHEN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMESStar streamers have become celebrities. The most famous, including Li Jiaqi — whose prowess at trying on and pitching makeup products earned him the nickname “lipstick king” — are able to attract tens of millions of viewers per session. Kim Kardashian once appeared with another top Chinese streamer, Viya, to promote her perfume in China, selling 15,000 bottles within minutes. 走红的主播成了名人。这其中，最著名的李佳琦——他因为善于把化妆品用在自己脸上来推销而得到了“口红一哥”的称号——每次直播可以吸引数千万观众。金·卡戴珊曾经出现在另一位中国顶尖主播薇娅的直播中，推广她在中国销售的香水，几分钟内就卖出了15000瓶。 The format emerged in China several years ago, then became ubiquitous during the coronavirus pandemic. Now nearly half of China’s one billion internet users have tried it, even as it remains largely unfamiliar in the West. To Americans, it may be reminiscent of television shopping — but interactive and, as a result, far more compelling. 这种销售形式多年前就已经在中国出现，而后在新冠大流行期间变得无处不在。如今中国的10亿互联网用户有将近一半使用过这种服务，而西方世界多数人对此还很陌生。对美国人来说，这可能让他们想起电视购物——但这是一种有互动的形式，因此也更具吸引力。 The most successful streams are as much entertainment as they are sales pitches. Hosts hawk everything from makeup to microwaves, in an energetic patter that marries the urgency of an auctioneer with the intimacy of an old friend. They tell jokes and personal anecdotes to hold viewers’ attention. They call individual fans by name to earn their trust. They promise exclusive deals to win their dollars. 最成功的主播既是推销员，也是娱乐艺人。他们用急匆匆的、充满活力的语调推销着从化妆品到微波炉的一切，有着拍卖师的紧迫感，同时又像个亲切的老朋友。他们会讲笑话、拉家常，保持观众的注意力。他们会呼唤某些粉丝的名字，赢得他们的信任。他们会承诺提供独家的优惠来提高销量。 For viewers, the appeal is not only convenience, but also the feeling of being catered to. They can ask a host modeling clothing to show it from a different angle, or inquire how long a snack will keep. They place orders in the stream, never interrupting their favorite host’s spiel. 对于观众来说，它的吸引力不仅在于方便，还在于有人招呼的感觉。他们可以要求主持人从不同的角度展示服装，或者询问一种零食的保质期多久。他们在直播间里下单，从不打断他们心爱的主播的滔滔不绝。 Restaurants, beauty salons, and even car dealerships and property developers now court customers in real time. Global brands from Ikea to Louis Vuitton have paid China’s influencers to stream their products. But much of the appeal of this line of business is that anyone can do it: Farmers, factory workers and retirees have joined the frenzy. 无论餐馆、美容院，甚至汽车经销商和房地产开发商，现在都在实时吸引客户。从宜家到路易威登等全球品牌都付钱给中国网红，让他们在网上宣传自己的产品。但这一行的吸引力很大程度上在于任何人都可以做：农民、工厂工人和退休人员都加入了这一热潮。 Taiping, a former herdsman, now runs his own jerky factory and has more than one million followers. He recently starred in a Kuaishou ad campaign splashed across subway stations in Beijing. 太平曾经是一名牧民，现在经营着自己的牛肉干工厂，拥有超过100万粉丝。他最近登上了快手在北京地铁站的一则广告。 Yet with the market’s breakneck growth has come new challenges. Fierce competition has driven many streamers away. A broader economic slowdown has fueled layoffs at the companies behind the streaming platforms. 然而，随着市场的飞速增长，新的挑战也随之而来。激烈的竞争迫使许多主播离开。更广泛的经济放缓促使流媒体平台背后的公司裁员。 And the Chinese government, worried that the business was growing too big, too fast, has issued a flood of ever-evolving regulations. Celebrity hosts have abruptly disappeared from view. 中国政府担心该行业发展得太大、太快，出台了大量不断变化的监管规定。一些知名主播突然从人们的视野中消失了。 The story of livestreaming e-commerce, then, is not only about the rise of a new form of shopping. It is a window into the opportunities and perils of doing business in today’s China, as Beijing seeks greater control of private enterprise. 因此，电商直播的故事不仅仅是关于一种新购物形式的兴起。随着北京寻求对私营企业的更大控制，这是一个了解当今中国经商机遇与风险的窗口。 “The Chinese state is so caught up in this economy; it has a dual goal of boosting development, which is a huge imperative for them, and maintaining stability,” said Lin Zhang, a media studies professor at the University of New Hampshire who has studied Chinese e-commerce. “Sometimes, this tension is impossible for them to resolve.” “这种经济令中国政府非常为难；他们有促进发展的目标，这对他们是当务之急，但他们也有维稳的目标，”研究中国电子商务的新罕布什尔大学媒体研究教授张琳说。“有时候两者的冲突是不可能调和的。” A High-Tech New Opportunity 高科技的新机遇 Growing up, Taiping could hardly have imagined making a fortune by any means, let alone by talking into his phone. Born in the plains of Inner Mongolia, a region in northern China where temperatures can plummet to minus 20 degrees, he left school after fifth grade, working as a herdsman, security guard and truck driver. He hardly spoke Mandarin, China’s dominant language, as his schoolteachers had taught mostly in Mongolian. 从小到大，太平几乎无法想象自己能够通过任何方式发财，更不用说只需要对着手机说话。他出生在中国北方地区内蒙古的草原，那里的气温可以骤降到零下20度。他读完五年级就辍学了，做过牧民、保安和卡车司机。他几乎不会说中国的主要语言普通话，因为他的学校老师大多用蒙古语授课。 In 2015, noticing that his town’s scenic grasslands were attracting tourists, Taiping, then 30 years old, decided to borrow $15,000 to make and sell his own beef jerky. But weeks later, the tourist season ended. 2015年，30岁的太平注意到本镇风景优美的草原正吸引着游客，他决定借10.5万元来制作并出售自己的牛肉干。但几周后，旅游旺季结束了。 Then a friend introduced him to Kuaishou. 后来一个朋友向他介绍了快手。 The app, pronounced kwai-show, started as China’s first short video platform, a place where users shared clips of themselves dancing, cooking or harvesting crops. Taiping quickly saw business potential: He began posting prerecorded videos about his jerky, shipping it to people who messaged him to buy. 这个应用程序最初是中国第一个短视频平台，用户可以在这个平台上分享自己跳舞、做饭或收割庄稼的视频。太平很快就看到了商业潜力：他在上面发布预先录制的视频介绍牛肉干，然后给发信息要求购买的人发货。 Soon, a different opportunity arose. Kuaishou itself had also been looking for ways to make money, and around the time Taiping joined, it introduced livestreaming. At first, streamers earned money purely by performing, trying to attract fans who could send virtual tips; the platform took a cut. But before long, some streamers began staging outlandish stunts to lure viewers, like eating light bulbs, or discussing topics considered taboo, like teenage pregnancy. 很快，另一种机会出现了。快手本身也一直在寻找赚钱的方法，在太平加入的时候，平台引入了直播功能。起初，主播纯粹靠表演赚钱，试图吸引可以虚拟打赏的粉丝；平台从中抽成。但不久之后，一些主播开始上演一些古怪的噱头来吸引观众，比如吃灯泡，或者讨论少女怀孕等被视为禁忌的话题。 Chinese officials, alarmed by what they called “vulgar” content, ordered the company to clean up. Kuaishou scrambled for a new direction — and, in 2018, landed on live sales. By encouraging streamers to sell products, it could still capitalize on the popularity of livestreaming, but in a more predictable context. 中国官员对这些在他们看来“低俗”的内容感到震惊，命令该公司进行整顿。快手努力寻找新的方向，并在2018年推出了直播销售。通过鼓励流媒体销售产品，这样仍然可以利用直播的流行，但环境变得更为可控。 在逛商店时销售零食的主播。 QILAI SHEN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES为了销售清洁产品而提供免费擦鞋服务的主播。 QILAI SHEN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMESOne day, Taiping received a phone call from a Kuaishou representative, who said the company was looking to support rural entrepreneurs. It wanted to help Taiping expand through livestreaming. 一天，太平接到了快手的代表打来的电话，他说快手希望支持农村企业家。它希望通过直播帮助太平把生意做大。 Taiping hesitated. “My Mandarin wasn’t good,” he recalled. “I was nervous. I didn’t know how to interact with people.” 太平犹豫了。“我以前汉语说不好，”他回忆说。“我紧张。不知道怎么跟人交流。” But the company offered to fly him to Beijing for training; he had never been on a plane, so he agreed. He received a crash course in public speaking, employee management and trademark registration. Kuaishou, eager to advertise its wholesome new direction, promoted his journey in the media. 但公司提出出机票钱让他到北京接受培训；他从来没有坐过飞机，于是就同意了。他接受了公开演讲、员工管理和商标注册方面的速成课程。快手急于宣传其健康的新方向，在媒体上宣传了他的旅程。 Over time, Taiping — who at first had kept a Mandarin dictionary just offscreen — became confident and unflappable. He heartily gnawed his jerky on camera. He invited fans, whom he called “old friends,” to visit, promising a personal grasslands tour. When he occasionally still stumbled over a word, he poked fun at his limited education. 随着时间的推移，最初还需要在屏幕之外放一本普通话字典的太平变得自信而镇定。他在镜头前大嚼牛肉干。他邀请被他称呼为“老铁”的粉丝们来参观，承诺那将是一场为个人定制的草原之旅。偶尔还为一个词磕磕绊绊时，他就取笑自己读书少。 In 2018, he sold $650,000 worth of jerky — earning 30 times more that year than two years earlier. 2018年，他卖出了价值450万元的牛肉干，当年的收入是两年前的30倍。 Then the pandemic hit, turbocharging online shopping. The value of Kuaishou’s e-commerce sales grew six times in 2020 over the prior year, according to company statistics, mirroring booms at Douyin and Taobao Live, the other major live shopping platform. In 2021, Kuaishou went public for $5.4 billion, the world’s biggest technology initial public offering since Uber. 然后，新冠疫情爆发推动了网上购物。根据快手的统计数据，该公司2020年的电子商务销售额比前一年增长了五倍，与抖音以及另一个主要在线购物平台淘宝直播一样红火。2021年，快手上市，融资54亿美元，成为继优步之后全球最大的科技公司首次公开募股。 Taiping’s business soared, too. He now has 10 customer-service employees who help him respond to fans while he talks. He still sometimes streams from his grassland yurt but also had a yurt backdrop built above his brick-and-mortar store. Onscreen, he wears traditional clothing — customers like the feeling of authenticity, he said — but off duty, favors Fila athletic suits. 太平的生意也蒸蒸日上。他现在有10名客服人员，在他讲话时帮助他回应粉丝。他有时还会去他的草原蒙古包里直播，但在他的实体店也搭了一个蒙古包布景。在屏幕上，他穿着传统服装——他说顾客喜欢那种地道的感觉——但下班后，他喜欢穿斐乐的运动服。 “Before, how would I know what a trademark was?” he said. “Now I have three.” “我以前哪知道商标？”他说。“我现在有三个商标。” 直播学徒通过以最快语速阅读脚本，来训练快速说话的能力。 QILAI SHEN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMESChasing an Elusive Dream 追逐遥不可及的梦想 More than 1,000 miles south of Taiping’s grassland empire, the city of Yiwu is a living showcase for how pervasive livestreaming sales have become. 在太平的草原帝国以南1600多公里处，义乌市生动地展示了直播销售的普及程度。 The city, a manufacturing hub south of Shanghai, claims China’s first college for livestreaming e-commerce, as well as multiple training academies that offer days- or weeklong courses. Its office towers house dozens of companies dedicated to managing streamers. The city government, to woo high-earning influencers, has promised prime school placement for their children. Officials built a red archway above a street, trumpeting in neon letters: “Social Media and E-Commerce Capital.”‌ 位于上海以南的制造业中心义乌拥有中国第一所直播电商学院，以及多家提供几天或一周课程的培训学校。那里的写字楼内有数十家致力于管理主播的公司。市政府为了吸引高收入的网红，承诺统筹安排其子女入学。官员们在一条街道上方建造了一个红色拱门，用几个霓虹灯大字大肆宣扬“社交媒体和电子商务之都”。 Every day, Yiwu draws aspiring streamers like Wang Tiebiao, 55, who is from a small city in eastern Shandong Province about 700 miles away. Mr. Wang had been delivering cargo and selling cheap stainless steel cookware, barely covering inventory costs. Then he saw a Douyin video recruiting streamers to sell home goods for a factory in Yiwu, and promising free training. 每天，义乌都会吸引像55岁的王铁标（音）这样满怀抱负的主播，他来自1100多公里外山东省东部的一个小城市。王铁标过去一直做的是货物运输和销售廉价不锈钢炊具，几乎无法负担库存成本。然后他看到一个抖音视频在招募主播为义乌的一家工厂卖家居用品，并承诺免费培训。 “If you open a physical business, you have to pay rent, buy goods, invest so much,” Mr. Wang said in February, days after getting to the city. “For this, you just need yourself and a phone.” “投资实体店你又要租房，又要进货的，资金多大，”王铁标在2月来到这座城市几天后说。“这个出个人就可以了，然后有个手机就行了。” But the rapid expansion of the field, which has created more opportunities for anybody to jump in, has also made it more difficult to hang on. If Taiping embodied livestreaming’s potential for riches, Yiwu is closer to most people’s reality. 这个领域的迅速扩张创造了更多的机会，任何人都可以进入，但也让坚持下去变得更加困难。如果太平体现了直播的致富潜力，义乌更接近大多数人的现实。 Under Mr. Wang’s deal with the factory, he could choose any of its goods to promote on his personal Douyin account. He would receive a commission on any sales. He had no income otherwise. 根据王铁标与工厂的协议，他可以选择工厂的任何商品放在他的个人抖音账户上进行推广。任何销售都能让他获得佣金。没有销售就没有收入。 直播学院一位老师的直播示范。 QILAI SHEN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES直播学院的一名学生在训练如何自信地出镜。 QILAI SHEN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMESTo make a sale, however, he had to stand out against legions of other streamers — not only the fellow newbies working for the same factory, but also the smooth-talking veterans trained and backed by production companies. From his free training, he learned only a few catchphrases and basic technical skills. 然而，为了卖出东西，他必须在众多其他主播中脱颖而出——不仅是同一家工厂里的那些新手，还有那些由制作公司培训和支持的能说会道的老手。从他的免费培训中，他只学到了一些流行语和基本的操作技能。 For several days, Mr. Wang wandered around the factory’s showroom, assessing what among the rows of plastic bowls and spatulas he could pitch well. One morning, fixing his camera on a decorative hourglass shaped like interlocking gemstones, he tested the techniques he had learned for sweet-talking viewers. 几天来，王铁标在工厂的展示厅里转来转去，看着一排排塑料碗和锅铲，估量着什么好卖。一天早上，他将摄像头对着一个宝石形状的装饰性沙漏，检验自己学到的那些吸引观众的技巧。 “Fans are the heavens and earth, so hit that follow button,” he said. His glasses and measured delivery gave him a soothing, professorial air, and he avoided extended silences. Still, his viewers stayed in the single digits. “粉丝是天，粉丝是地，点个关注，”他说。他的眼镜和有条不紊的讲话让他有一种舒缓的、教授般的气质，他避免长时间的沉默。尽管如此，他的观众仍停留在个位数。 “There’s some metaphysics, or luck, or secrets that we don’t know,” Mr. Wang said. “谁知道他这玩意，很多玄学的东西，很多运气的东西，要不就是有很多秘密咱不掌握，”王铁标说。 Some secrets may be just a matter of money. Many streamers now complain that the apps promote only accounts that pay for traffic. Big agencies splurge on advertising. 有些秘密可能只是钱的问题。许多流媒体现在抱怨说，这些应用程序只推广为流量付费的帐户。大机构在广告上一掷千金。 Within days of arriving in Yiwu, several of Mr. Wang’s fellow trainees had pivoted to looking for more traditional work. Still, Mr. Wang, who had amassed about 1,000 followers, planned to keep trying. “对于那些没有大量初始资金的人来说，要真正取得成功越来越难，”电子商务学者张琳教授说。“它非常工业化。” “If I were just another cog in a factory, I could make a few thousand dollars, but I don’t want that,” he said. “Since we all have to work anyway, I’d rather work for something that has a chance of success.” 抵达义乌几天后，王铁标的几位同期实习生就转向了更传统的工作。尽管如此，已经积累了大约1000名粉丝的王铁标仍然打算再试一试。 希望成为主播的王铁标走在义乌一个直播基地的产品展厅里。 QILAI SHEN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMESThe State Tries to Clean Up — And Control “稳稳当当的进厂当螺丝也能挣几千块钱，”他说。“既然都是做事，那么就抱着成功几率大的方向努力。” But that success can vanish as quickly as it appears. 政府试图整顿——并控制 First to disappear was Viya, whose real name is Huang Wei, the livestreaming star who had broadcast with Ms. Kardashian. One day in December 2021, all of her social media accounts were deleted. 但这种成功消失的速度和它的到来一样快。 Several months later, Li Jiaqi, the lipstick king, was abruptly cut off midstream. He posted on social media that he was fixing a technical glitch — then went silent. 最先消失的是本名黄薇的薇娅，一名曾与卡戴珊一起直播过的主播。2021年12月的一天，她的所有社交媒体账户都被删除了。 Both had run afoul of the other major force reshaping the livestreaming market: government scrutiny. 几个月后，“口红一哥”李佳琦突然中断直播。他在社交媒体上发帖说正在修复一个技术故障——然后就没了消息。 Growth was so quick that at first few rules existed to govern it, and soon complaints of misconduct piled up. Brands accused influencers of faking viewership numbers to demand higher commissions. Shoppers reported receiving counterfeit goods from streamers who had seemed trustworthy. Beijing had little way of knowing just how much streamers were earning. 两个人都与重塑直播市场的另一主要力量发生了冲突：政府审查。 And as audiences grew, so did the potential for livestreams to promote ideas beyond what to buy — in a format that was, by definition, unpredictable, posing political concerns for a government fixated on control. 这个领域增长非常迅速，以至于起初几乎没有什么规则来监管它，人们对不当行为的投诉很快堆积如山。品牌指责网红伪造观看量以索取更高的佣金。消费者举报说，他们从看上去可靠的主播那里买到了假货。北京几乎无法知道主播的收入有多少。 Starting in late 2020, regulators began playing catch-up, issuing increasingly detailed restrictions on what streamers could say and do — part of a broader crackdown on the tech sector, which Beijing believed had grown too influential. 随着观众数量的增长，直播对于购物之外的东西也越来越有推广潜力——这种形式从一开始就是不可预测的，会给一门心思要控制的政府带来政治担忧。 Many of the regulations aim to protect consumers. Unproven claims thatproducts can promote weight loss or improve feng shui are forbidden. Platforms often ban the use of superlatives, like “cheapest” or “best.” The rules are enforced through a mix of human censors and artificial intelligence; penalties range from 10-minute suspensions to permanent bans. 从2020年底开始，监管机构开始跟进，对主播的言行做出越来越详细的限制——这是对科技行业更广泛打击的一部分，北京认为科技行业的影响力已经过大。 2021年，明星主播李佳琦和薇娅在淘宝直播。FLORENCE LO/REUTERSViya’s offense was evading more than $100 million in taxes, according to the authorities. They fined her $210 million, then apparently erased her from the internet. More than a year later, she has not resurfaced. 许多法规旨在保护消费者。宣称产品有助于减肥或改善风水等未经证实的说法被禁止。平台通常禁止使用“最”字，例如“最便宜”或“最好”。这些规则是结合了人工审查员和AI来执行的；处罚范围从停播10分钟到永久禁播。 But the government also wants live-streamers to abide by its moral and political standards. Platforms have banned smoking and low necklines. A state-issued code of conduct, issued in June, ordered hosts not to disparage the Chinese Communist Party, and to “establish a correct world outlook.” 据当局称，薇娅的罪行是逃税超过1亿美元。他们对她处以2.1亿美元的罚款，然后似乎将她从互联网上抹去了。一年多后，她还是没有再露面。 “To be a live-streamer, you must have reverence,” a commentary in People’s Daily, the Communist Party’s mouthpiece, said. “You absolutely must not cross the bottom line for the sake of traffic, or test the law for the sake of money.” 但政府还希望直播者遵守其道德和政治标准。平台已经禁止吸烟和低胸装束。6月，国家发布了行为准则，要求主播不得贬低中国共产党，并“树立正确的世界观”。 As the rules proliferated, they risked eroding the central appeal of live-streamed shopping: the entertaining, carnivalesque atmosphere. Mr. Li, the star streamer, had drawn an ardent following with his sassy, at-times off-color jokes, poking fun at other celebrities. But as regulations emerged, he said, he restrained his style. In an interview with a Chinese news outlet in 2021, he acknowledged that some fans thought he had become boring; sometimes, he said, he agreed. “当网络主播，必须得有敬畏之心，”共产党喉舌《人民日报》去年夏天的一篇评论说。“绝不能为了流量突破底线，为了赚钱挑战法律、频打擦边球。” But Mr. Li could not avoid all risks. In the livestream last year where he was cut off midstream, he pitched his viewers on a tank-shaped ice cream cake — one day before the anniversary of the Chinese military’s June 4, 1989, Tiananmen Square massacre of pro-democracy demonstrators. There is no indication that Mr. Li intended to deliver a politically charged message. The topic is heavily censored in China and many younger people do not know about it. Still, he vanished for three months. 越来越多的规则可能会侵蚀直播购物的核心吸引力：娱乐、狂欢的气氛。明星主播李佳琦以其泼辣、时而粗俗的笑话，以及与其他名人逗乐的行为吸引了一群狂热追随者。但他说，随着法规的出现，他克制了自己的风格。在2021年接受一家中国新闻媒体采访时，他承认一些粉丝认为他变得无聊；他说，有时他也这么觉得。 The constantly evolving landscape has also weighed on smaller-time streamers, like Taiping. 但李佳琦也无法规避所有风险。去年，他直播被切断是因为向观众推销了一块坦克形状的冰淇淋蛋糕，而那正值“六四”纪念日的前一天——1989年6月4日，中国军队对天安门的民主示威者进行了血腥镇压。没有迹象表明李佳琦想要借此传递带有政治色彩的信息。关于“六四”的话题在中国受到严格审查，许多年轻人都不知道这件事。尽管如此，他还是消失了三个月。 义乌一家出售灯光、展台等直播设备的商店。 QILAI SHEN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMES正在为订单打包的义乌商家。 QILAI SHEN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMESViewers frequently ask him to speak in Mongolian, and he used to readily comply. But then the streaming platforms started issuing automated warnings for speaking in languages other than Mandarin. (The government has made Mandarin usage a key part of assimilationist policies; other languages may also be harder for censors to understand.) 变幻无常的格局也让太平这样的小众主播感到了压力。 Taiping now at most says hello in Mongolian. “I won’t talk at random,” he said. “I’ve seen what happened to others, and I warn myself.” 经常有观众要他说蒙古语，他过去总会欣然应允。但后来直播平台开始对汉语以外的语言发出自动警告。（讲汉语是政府民族同化政策的关键；其他语言也会让审查人员更难理解。） In recent months, the pace of new regulations has slowed, as the government has pledged to rejuvenate the economy, including by supporting tech companies. Government reports have called livestreaming e-commerce an important channel for boosting consumption. 如今太平顶多用蒙古语跟观众打招呼。“我不乱说话，”他说。“我就看到别人的东西，警告自己。” Tech companies still see room for expansion. Douyin last year reported 124 percent annual growth in livestreaming sales. 近几个月来，随着政府承诺重振经济——这包括支持科技企业——监管新规的出台有所放缓。政府报告将电商直播称为促进消费的重要渠道。 In the United States, YouTube and Amazon have poured money into it. But it has struggled to catch on. Americans have returned to in-person shopping after the pandemic, and unlike in China, Western social media apps don’t have as many built-in payment features. Facebook and Instagram recently abandoned live shopping. 科技企业仍看到了扩张的空间。抖音去年公布的直播销售额年增长124%。 Even in China, the future of the business is far from certain. 在美国，YouTube和亚马逊已经在大举投资电商直播。但它很难发展出中国的规模。疫情后，美国人恢复了实体购物的习惯，而西方社交媒体应用程序并未设置那么多内置支付功能，这也与中国不同。Facebook和Instagram最近都放弃了直播购物。 Taiping, despite his success, doesn’t see himself streaming forever. Spending hours every day performing for the camera is exhausting; once the stream turns off, he often doesn’t want to talk. 但即便在中国，该行业的未来也充满了不确定性。 He dreams of moving to a big city, becoming a more traditional businessman. 尽管太平取得了成功，但他不认为自己会永远播下去。每天在镜头前表演那么久令他精疲力尽；只要下播，他往往就失去了说话的欲望。 Once, he imagined passing his account to his preteen daughter, but no longer. “By then, who knows if e-commerce will still be around?” he said. “There will probably be something new.” 他梦想在大城市安家，做一个更传统的商人。 义乌，两位精心打扮起来推销发糕的主播。 QILAI SHEN FOR THE NEW YORK TIMESLi You, Joy Dong and Liu Yi contributed research. 他曾幻想过让未成年的女儿以后继承自己的账号，但最终打消了这个念头。“到她的时候电商不一定有了，”他说。“也得出来一波新的东西。” Li You、Joy Dong、Liu Yi对本文有研究贡献。 王月眉(Vivian Wang)是《纽约时报》驻华记者，常驻北京，撰写关于中国的崛起及野心如何塑造普通人日常生活的报道。为了这篇文章，她走访了内蒙古的乌拉盖草原和浙江的义乌，与直播从业者交谈。欢迎在Twitter上关注她：@vwang3。 翻译：纽约时报中文网 点击查看本文英文版。 相关报道中国一季度GDP同比增长4.5%2023年4月18日 动视暴雪与网易“分手”：一个警示故事2023年3月31日 销量下滑，中国汽车市场爆发价格战2023年4月19日 中国建26层养猪大楼推进养猪现代化2023年2月9日 最受欢迎中共正在抹杀香港的记忆 泄密文件再度引发对普京健康猜测 新加坡式的威权制度比民主制度更好吗 机遇、梦想与风险：中国直播带货浪潮的起与落 报告称中国搜索引擎有超过6.6万条内容审核规则 拜登称朝鲜若发动核攻击将导致金氏政权“灭亡” 中国加强金融控制，多名银行和保险业要人被查 习近平与泽连斯基通话，措辞谨慎称希望“劝和促谈” 希拉里·克林顿：共和党的算盘正中习近平和普京下怀 中国要求AI生成内容需体现“社会主义核心价值观” 国际 中国 商业与经济 镜头 科技 科学 健康 教育 文化 风尚 旅游 房地产 观点与评论 免费下载 纽约时报中文网 iOS 和 Android App 点击下载iOS App点击下载Android App点击下载Android APK © 2023 The New York Times Company.