新新世界从致富到返贫，在中国经济泥潭中遭遇重创的小企业主She Rose From Poverty as China Prospered. Then It Made Her Poor Again.袁莉2023年8月30日 孙军利（音）创建了曼尼咖啡，将其打造成拥有20家分店的连锁咖啡餐馆。这张照片是她在现已有新东家的咸阳分店拍的。 THE NEW YORK TIMESTwo years ago, as she walked through a hospital hallway in handcuffs and shackles to get tested for Covid, Sun Junli felt ashamed and defeated. At 45, she had come a long way. The poor village girl in northwestern China had become a successful businesswoman. 两年前，戴着手铐、脚镣的孙军利（音）经过医院的走廊去接受新冠病毒检测时，她感到羞愧和失败。现年45岁的孙女士曾经有辉煌的过去，她从一名贫穷的大西北农村女孩变成了一名成功的商人。 Then she was crushed. 后来她被压垮了。 In 2018, state-owned banks abruptly stopped lending to her business, a chain of cafe restaurants, and the pandemic destroyed her cash flow. By May 2021, Ms. Sun had lost her restaurants, and she was serving 16 days in detention for owing her employees about $28,000 in wages. 2018年，中国的国有银行突然不再向她的连锁咖啡餐馆发放贷款。后来出现的疫情断了她的现金流。到2021年5月，孙女士已失去了自己的餐馆，并因拖欠员工20万元工资而被拘留16天。 Weeks after her release, a court would seize her two-bedroom apartment in Xianyang in Shaanxi Province and her Toyota Camry because she was insolvent, and put her on a national blacklist. She can no longer book a hotel room or a plane ticket, or take out a loan. 获释数周后，因为无力偿还债务，法院扣押了她在陕西咸阳的一套两居室公寓和丰田凯美瑞汽车。她上了国家的失信黑名单，不再能订酒店房间或购买机票，也不能借贷。 “I’m surrounded by people like me,” she said, counting dozens of friends in dire straits, entrepreneurs in fields like fashion, energy and furniture manufacturing. “We all came from nothing and worked hard to create wealth,” Ms. Sun said. “We all lost everything and are deeply in debt.” “我身边都是和我一样的人，”她说，她能数出几十名陷入困境的朋友，他们曾是时尚、能源、家具制造等行业的企业家。“我们都是草根，通过自己的努力创造了财富，”孙女士说。“又无一例外都一贫如洗，甚至负债。” “Are we all bad at what we do?” she asked. “Are we all wrong?” “我们都不敬业吗？”她问道。“都错了吗？” A few years ago, Ms. Sun was the epitome of how small-business owners, through hard work, killer instinct and luck, became the backbone of the economy. 几年前，孙女士曾是小企业主的典范，靠努力、拼杀本能和运气成了中国经济的支柱。 Now she illustrates something very different: how China, under the leadership of Xi Jinping, killed the animal spirits of the entrepreneur class as it asserted more state control of the economy. Mr. Xi’s government has withdrawn help when business owners needed it the most, punished them for their risk-taking and failures, and made it nearly impossible for them to start over. 而现在，她处于一种截然不同的境况：随着中国在习近平领导下加强国家对经济的控制，企业家阶级的拼搏精神遭到扼杀。在企业主最需要帮助的时候，习近平的政府不仅袖手旁观，反而对他们的冒险和失败予以惩罚，使其几乎不可能东山再起。 咸阳的曼尼咖啡。“我们都是白手起家，靠努力工作创造财富，”孙女士在描述自己和数十名朋友时说。 THE NEW YORK TIMESThe Chinese authorities like to call small businesses the capillaries of the economy. But years of capricious government policies, crackdowns and blacklisting have left firms battered or destroyed. 中国当局喜欢将小企业比作经济的毛细血管。但多年来反复无常的政府政策、打击和黑名单使得企业遭受重创或垮掉。 In 2021, when China was heralding its success in fighting the pandemic, the number of small firms that shut their doors outnumbered those that opened, Zeng Xiangquan, a professor at Renmin University in Beijing, told an official newspaper. 在2021年中国宣称取得抗疫成功时，北京人民大学的曾湘泉教授对一家官方报纸说，“倒闭的小微企业比注册的还多。” Business confidence is still hurting, one reason that China is in an economic quagmire. Small businesses make up about 95 percent of China’s private sector, which contributes about 50 percent of national tax revenue, 60 percent of economic output and 80 percent of new jobs. 商业信心仍未恢复，这是中国陷入经济泥潭的原因之一。小企业约占中国民营经济的95%，贡献了约50%的国家税收、60%的经济产出，以及80%的新增就业岗位。 Ms. Sun’s career began in the 1990s. After dropping out of high school at 17 to support her family, she worked as a farmer, a textile worker, a street food vendor and a taxi driver. Then in Hancheng, a city of about 400,000 people near her village, she opened three sportswear stores that sold Nike, Adidas and the Chinese brand Anta. It was 2008, the year China held its first Olympic Games, a coming-out party for an emerging power. She would make what she called her “first bucket of gold.” 孙女士的事业始于20世纪90年代。因为需要帮家里挣钱，她17岁时从高中辍学，当过农民、纺织工人，在街头摆过小吃摊，也开过出租车。后来，她在村子附近约有40万人口的韩城市开了三家体育用品店，销售耐克、阿迪达斯和中国品牌安踏。那是在2008年，中国首次举办奥运会，它将自己作为一个新兴大国展现给世界舞台，而孙女士也赚来了她所说的“第一桶金”。 In 2013, when e-commerce began to affect retail businesses, Ms. Sun opened Manny Coffee, a 4,000-square-foot cafe in Hancheng. It sold coffee, steak, pizza and other Western-style food and drinks, a novelty in the city. By 2018, she had expanded to 20 branches in six smaller cities in Shaanxi Province. 2013年，零售业务开始受电子商务影响后，孙女士在韩城开了一家名叫“曼尼咖啡”的面积近400平方米的咖啡餐馆，卖咖啡、牛排、披萨等西餐和饮料，这些对韩城来说都是新鲜东西。到2018年时，她已在陕西省六个小城市开设了20家分店。 When she had started out years earlier, Chinese banks were reluctant to lend to the private sector. Around 2015, given competition from online financial institutions such as Ant Group, regulators instructed banks to lend more to small businesses. 在那之前几年她刚开始创业时，中国的银行不愿意向民营企业提供贷款。2015年前后，由于有了来自蚂蚁集团等在线金融机构的竞争，监管部门指示国有银行向小企业提供更多贷款。 孙女士从朋友那里租了一套公寓，她自己在咸阳的公寓因债务问题被法院扣押。 THE NEW YORK TIMESBanks chased after Ms. Sun, who borrowed $1.3 million to expand and build a central production kitchen for her restaurants. But the credit dried up suddenly in 2018. The regulators, worried about debt, issued new guidelines telling banks to “pay attention to the quality of loans to small businesses.” 国有银行追着孙女士向她贷款，她借了相当于130万美元的钱，扩建了餐馆，还建了一个中央厨房。但银行在2018年突然断贷，监管部门因担心债务问题发布了新的指导方针，要求银行“注意小企业贷款的质量”。 The abrupt change bruised many companies. The fallout got so bad that regulators started to investigate the “irrational practices” of banks. 突如其来的变化让许多公司受到打击。后果如此严重，以至于监管部门开始调查银行的“不合理行为”。 But it was too late for Ms. Sun. In October 2019, she borrowed money from family and friends to pay back her last bank loan, about $300,000. Her restaurants were doing well — revenue reached $8 million in 2018. She was confident that the Chinese New Year in January 2020 would bring in healthy cash flows. 但对孙女士来说为时已晚。2019年10月，她用从家人和朋友那里借来的钱偿还了最后一笔相当于约30万美元的银行贷款。她餐馆的生意不错，2018年有相当于800万美元的营收。她有信心2020年1月的春节假期会给业务带来兴旺的现金流。 On the eve of the holiday, all her branches were shut as the coronavirus began to spread fast. The shutdown was lifted after three months, but her business never recovered. To pay rent and wages, Ms. Sun borrowed more from people close to her and maxed out her credit cards. Every month, she believed that the next month would be better. The government offered no help. 春节前，由于新冠病毒开始迅速传播，她所有的分店都关了门。虽然餐馆在三个月后重新开张，但生意再也没有恢复过来。为了支付房租和工资，孙女士从关系近的人那里借了更多钱，并刷爆了信用卡。她每个月都相信下月会更好。政府没有提供任何帮助。 By November 2020, she was $1.5 million in debt and couldn’t keep going. She shut the six restaurants she owned outright and gave up a 70 percent ownership she had in the 14 others, and in exchange her minority shareholders agreed to pay rent and wages. 到2020年11月时，她已背上了相当于150万美元的负债，无法继续下去。她关闭了自己独资拥有的六家餐馆，放弃了对其他14家餐馆拥有的70%股权，作为交换，拥有那些餐馆少数股权的股东们同意支付租金和工资。 China doesn’t really allow for bankruptcy, which in other countries can allow business owners to work out the money they owe. 中国实际上不允许破产。在其他国家，破产程序能让企业主们设法偿还他们欠的钱。 Ms. Sun owed six weeks of wages to her 31 employees. The employees reported her to the local labor inspection agency, which handed her to the police. 孙女士欠了31名员工六周的工资。员工向当地劳动监察机构举报了她，后者将她移交给了警方。 疫情期间，孙女士给雇员开过工资欠单，这是其中一部分。 THE NEW YORK TIMESDuring her 16 days in the detention center, her hair went gray. She spent most time meditating. The police didn’t release her until their investigation confirmed that she hadn’t hidden any assets. A year later, the court would find “no criminal facts” against her, according to a court document. But she had lost her business and her reputation. 她的头发在被拘留的16天里变白了。她把拘留期间的大部分时间花在冥想上。警方直到经过调查证实她没有隐藏任何资产后才释放了她。一年后，法庭在一份法庭文件中认定，她“没有犯罪事实”。但她已经失去了自己的生意和名声。 Ms. Sun tried to make a living by helping to manage the 12 Manny Coffee branches that were still in operation. But she had little work and income in 2022 because of China’s draconian “zero Covid” measures. The apartment complex where she rents was locked down eight times. Her brother, who delivered meals, sometimes gave her money and brought her food. 为了谋生，孙女士曾试图帮助管理仍在营业的12家曼尼咖啡分店。但中国严厉的“新冠清零”措施导致她在2022年几乎没有工作，也没有收入。她租住的小区被封控了八次。她从事送餐工作的哥哥有时给她点钱，有时给她送点吃的东西。 Her father, who had lung cancer and had become infected with Covid, died on Dec. 25, 2022. It was her birthday. She turned 47. 她患有肺癌的父亲感染了新冠病毒，于2022年12月25日去世。那天是她的47岁生日。 Like many Chinese, Ms. Sun thought business would bounce back in 2023 after Covid restrictions were dropped. But it didn’t. 和许多中国人一样，孙女士曾以为，政府取消了“新冠清零”政策后，生意将在2023年反弹。但事实并非如此。 To make a living, she is trying to start a new food business. In the economic downturn, she figures, her former customers might not want to pay $15 for steak, but they might buy a bowl of spicy vegetables for $4. 为了谋生，她眼下尝试在食品行业重新创业。她觉得，在经济低迷时期，她以前的顾客可能不想花100块钱吃牛排，但他们也许会花30元买一份放了辣椒的炒青菜。 She said she didn’t expect any financial support from the government. But she’d like to get off the blacklist she was added to in 2021. 她说，她不指望得到政府的任何财政支持。但她希望政府能将她的名字从黑名单上取消，她是2021年被列入黑名单的。 The so-called dishonest persons list was started in July 2013, a few months after Mr. Xi took power. It had eight million people on it in March. Many business owners got swept onto the list, including the founders of at least 22 of the top 500 private enterprises in China, according to Chinese media reports. 习近平上台几个月后，中国在2013年7月启用了所谓失信人员名单。今年3月的黑名单上有800万人。据中国媒体报道，许多企业主上了黑名单，包括中国民营企业500强中至少22家的创始人。 “I’m not asking them to give me money,” Ms. Sun said. “But I’d really like them to get my name off the blacklist so I can become a normal person and start a business again.” “我真的没有说让你给我多少钱，”孙女士说。“我只想让你把我从黑名单里面解除了，让我能成一个正常人，能正常地再次创业。” “I can’t fly if I want to go to Shanghai,” she said. “I can’t take the high-speed train. I can’t travel. In a way, it’s no different from locking me down at home.” “我要去一趟上海，我坐不了飞机，”她说。“我坐不了高铁，我是出不了门的。其实无形中，它和把你封到家里有什么区别？没区别。” 这是曼尼咖啡仍在经营的12家分店之一。孙女士想在食品行业重新创业。 THE NEW YORK TIMES 袁莉为《纽约时报》撰写“新新世界”专栏，专注中国及亚洲科技、商业和政治交叉议题。点击查看更多关于她的信息。 翻译：纽约时报中文网 点击查看本文英文版。 相关报道袁莉专栏：新新世界 中国经济疲软，悲观和焦虑情绪蔓延2023年8月22日 中国房产危机的牺牲品：小型供应商2023年8月29日 中国人为什么日渐对经济失去信心2023年8月28日 中国政府的政策如何加剧了房市危机2023年8月24日 最受欢迎从致富到返贫，在中国经济泥潭中遭遇重创的小企业主 中国人为什么日渐对经济失去信心 面对中国的衰落，西方国家该做些什么 美商务部长：美国不寻求切断与中国的经济联系 福岛核废水排海后，海鲜还能吃吗 中国经济前景如何？官方论调与民间悲观情绪脱节 中国经济危机的根源在中共高层 《奥本海默》观影指南：主要人物和历史事件解析 中国房地产危机蔓延，小企业供应商陷入困境 伊莎白·柯鲁克去世：中共忠实信徒，“友谊勋章”获得者 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 © 2023 The New York Times Company.