淘寶村緩解中國城市化痼疾大綱

Behind China’s impressive economic rise is the biggest human migration in history. By 2013, some 269m rural residents had become migrant workers in cities, offering cheap labour and sustaining urban growth. However, unable to register and settle their family members in the cities, these migrant workers are forced to leave behind children, spouses, and old people in the villages. This has taken a tremendous toll on the rural society.

在中國令人歎爲觀止的經濟增長背後，是歷史上最大規模的人口流動。截至2013年，約有2.69億農民進城當了農民工，給城市提供了廉價勞動力，支撐着城市的發展。然而，由於無法在城市落戶和接家人來城市定居，這些農民工不得不將孩子、配偶和老人留在村子裏。這給農村社會帶來了嚴重損害。

Today, there are 61m “left-behind children” and 40m “left-behind elderly” in Chinese villages. Some 79 per cent of the left-behind children are under the care of grandparents, who are often uneducated and lack parenting resources and energy. As a result, the academic scores of 88 per cent of these children fall below what would be the passing line in cities.

如今，中國農村有6100萬“留守兒童”、4000萬“留守老人”。近79%的留守兒童由祖父母照料。這些老人往往沒念過書，也缺乏養育孩子的資源和精力。結果，88%的留守兒童的學習成績達不到城市裏的及格線。

The rural elderly, separated from their children, record an average suicide rate of 0.5 per cent, five times the rate for urban elderly. Villages, which have been the backbone of Chinese society for thousands of years, are falling apart. Reality paints a bleak picture of marginalisation, but there exists a beam of hope.

同子女分隔兩地的農村老人平均自殺率達0.5%，是城市老人的5倍。幾千年來一直是中國社會支柱的農村正在分崩離析。雖然現實勾畫出了農村被邊緣化的暗淡前景，但我們依然看到了一線希望。

In the past decade, the rise of e-commerce has transformed China’s economic landscape, with more than 300m active online shoppers today. A lesser-known trend is that e-commerce has begun to vitalise the rural economy as well. In 2013, roughly 2m out of the 8m online stores on and – two large e-commerce platforms – were registered in rural areas.

過去10年，電子商務的興起徹底改變了中國經濟格局。如今，活躍的網購者已逾3億。一個較不爲人知的趨勢是，電子商務也開始爲農村經濟注入活力。2013年，中國兩大電商平臺淘寶網()和天貓()的800萬在線商戶中，約有200萬是在農村地區註冊的。

In early 2014, China had just 20 “taobao villages”, classified as those villages in which at least 10 per cent of the population is involved in the selling of goods online or those in which annual revenues from those sales surpasses Rmb 10m. But by the end of 2014, there were 211 such villages.

2014年初，中國只有20個“淘寶村”。但到2014年末，這樣的村子增加到了211個。所謂“淘寶村”，是指村中至少有10%的人口做網店生意，或者全村的在線商品銷售年收入超過1000萬元人民幣。

The impact of taobao villages extends far beyond the generation of wealth. It is also helping to moderate the more deleterious effects of urbanisation. Our field research has indicated that e-commerce in some areas has helped reverse the labour drain and brought families back together.

淘寶村的影響遠大於其創造的財富。它還有助於緩解城市化帶來的較爲負面的影響。我們的實地調研表明，在一些地區，電子商務已幫助逆轉了勞動力的外流、讓家人重新團聚。

A case in point is Dongfeng, a village of 1,200 households. Just ten years ago, most young people from Dongfeng were working in the cities. Some said that during that time if an elderly person died, the village “would not be able to muster four able-bodied men to carry the coffin”.

有1200戶居民的東風村就是一個例子。就在10年前，東風村的大多數年輕人還在城市務工。一些人說，那時候，如果村裏有老人去世，整個村子“都湊不出四個身強力壯的人來擡棺材”。

However, since the creation of stores in Dongfeng selling Do-It-Yourself furniture online, the village’s social structure has been transformed. Youngsters are now much more likely to stay in their village, and college students from Dongfeng also tend to make their way back after graduation. It is also common for the elderly to help with their children’s online businesses, leading to a richer labour force and feeling of self worth.

但是，自從東風村村民開起了賣DIY傢俱的網店後，該村的社會結構就發生了徹底改變。年輕人現在遠比以前更有可能留在村裏，村裏出去讀大學的學生畢業後也傾向於回村。老人幫子女打理網店也很常見，這讓村裏的勞動人口變得更加富裕，也讓他們感受到了自己的價值。

Another example involves Wantou, which is known for the traditional craft of willow-weaved baskets. In 2006, a few villagers started selling baskets online. Their initial success demonstrated that, through e-commerce, producers of baskets could skip the economic middleman, access the market directly, and retain a significant portion of the profit.

以傳統手工草柳編籃子出名的灣頭村是另一個例子。2006年，一些村民開始在網上賣籃子。他們的初步成功表明，通過電子商務，籃子的生產者可跳過經濟環節中的中間商，直接對接市場，並保留很大一部分利潤。

Over time, villagers who had previously been migrant workers gradually came back to Wantou and set up their own stores online. Today, Wantou is known as a “three no village” – no lonely elderly, no left behind children, and no divorces due to physical separation caused by migration.

隨着時間的推移，之前外出務工的村民逐漸返回灣頭村，開起了自己的網店。如今，灣頭村被稱爲“三無”村：無孤寡老人，無留守兒童，無夫妻因外出打工兩地分居而離婚。