這個小村有“中國最好的浪”,但“山竹”把它毀了
XICHONG, China — One of the world’s largest population centers was spared the worst when Typhoon Mangkhut swept through Hong Kong and the cities of the Pearl River Delta four days ago, but not this village in a remote peninsula that has become a destination for something still novel in China: surfing.
中國西涌——四天前，當颱風“山竹”席捲香港和珠江三角洲衆多城市時，這個世界上最大的人口中心之一躲過了最嚴重的部分；然而一個偏遠半島上的小村子沒能倖免。那裏是一項在中國尚屬新奇的運動——衝浪——的目的地。When the storm hit the village, called Xichong, it created sea surges that dismantled sea walls upon which dozens of small shops, cafes and guest cottages stood. Wind gusts that reached 100 miles per hour shredded scores of coniferous trees that studded the scenic, crescent-shaped cove facing the South China Sea.
風暴襲擊這個名爲西涌的村莊時掀起了巨浪，摧毀了建在海堤上的幾十家小商店、咖啡館和民宿。風速達到每小時100英里，將許多針葉樹撕成粉碎。那些樹曾經裝點着一個面朝南海的月牙形美麗海灣。A brick guardhouse where loudspeakers once warned surfers of dangerous conditions had toppled onto the beach from a bank overlooking the sea, still intact but its foundation washed away. A large chunk of pink wall — neon hues being the color of choice here — was hurled back to where the surf breaks on the beach, a reminder of the awesome power of a turbulent sea.
一座磚砌的崗亭原本位於堤岸上，通過一個喇叭向衝浪者發出危險情況警報，如今它已經掉落到海灘上，房子仍然完好無損，但地基被沖走了。一大塊粉紅色的牆壁——霓虹色是這裏的首選色調——被拋回到浪打在沙灘上的地方，提醒着人們洶涌澎湃的大海的驚人力量。
In a matter of hours, the typhoon destroyed a beachfront repurposed in recent years as a laid-back retreat from the urban bustle of Shenzhen, a center of global trade, investment and technology with 13 million residents.
在短短几小時內，颱風摧毀了一片海灘區域。這一帶靠近深圳的城市喧囂，近年來被作爲悠閒的休養地來重新規劃。深圳是全球貿易、投資和科技中心，擁有1300萬居民。“Too horrible to look at,” said Xia Bing, who owns concessions along a section of the beach that until Sunday included a cafe called Brother, changing facilities for swimmers and surfers, and a handful of bungalows for overnight guests — all now a twisted mangle of debris and broken branches. Accessories like air-conditioners and a television simply disappeared.
“慘不忍睹，”夏冰說。他在海灘的一段區域擁有經營特許。在週日以前，他的經營範圍包括一家名爲“兄弟”的咖啡館，爲游泳和衝浪者提供的更衣設施，以及爲過夜客人準備的幾間平房——現在這些全都變成了扭曲、損毀的的廢墟和折斷的樹枝。像空調和電視這樣的配件乾脆消失了。“It was like this when we got back,” he said. “Nothing left.”
“回來就是這樣，”他說。“什麼都沒有了。”Typhoon Mangkhut cut a far more catastrophic swath through the Philippines, where scores were killed in floods and landslides, but it also exacted a considerable toll in China. The storm hammered Hong Kong and Macau on Sunday morning, before moving into the mainland, where at least five people were killed, according to latest government figures cited by the state-run news agency Xinhua on Tuesday. One person is still missing.
颱風“山竹”在菲律賓造成的災難要嚴重得多，數十人在洪水和山體滑坡中喪生。但中國的損失也不小。據中國官方媒體新華社週二援引的政府最新數據，颱風週日上午襲擊了香港和澳門，隨後進入中國內地，造成至少5人死亡。一人至今失蹤。In Shenzhen, which abuts Hong Kong, nearly 12,000 trees were knocked over in the city, according to municipal officials, and workers continued to clear roads and highways in the days following.
在毗鄰香港的深圳，據市政官員稱，該市有近1.2萬棵樹被吹倒，工人們在接下來的幾天裏繼續清理道路和高速公路。The recovery in Xichong — a two-hour drive east from Shenzhen’s city center, when fallen limbs have not blocked the roads — could take far longer.
在落下的樹枝沒有阻塞道路時，西涌距深圳市中心有兩小時車程，這裏的重建工作可能要慢得多。Xichong lies within a national park at the end of the Dapeng Peninsula, which extends into the South China Sea. The area’s remoteness and natural beauty are what began luring surfers and backpackers. Now, the beach is divided into four sections, all owned by the Xichong Beach Company, a private enterprise created to capitalize on a growing tourist market.
西涌位於伸入南海的大鵬半島盡頭的一座國家公園內。這一帶的偏遠和自然美景吸引了衝浪者和揹包客。海灘現被分成四個部分，全部歸西涌海灘股份有限公司所有。這是一家希望在此地不斷增長的旅遊市場中牟利而成立的私營公司。Surfing culture is still relatively new to China, but has begun to win adherents. Hainan, the island southwest of here that is known as the Chinese Hawaii, is the undisputed capital of Chinese surfing, with beaches like those at Riyue Bay hosting international competitions.
衝浪文化在中國還相對較新，但已經開始贏得追隨者。位於深圳西南部、被稱爲“中國夏威夷”的海南是無可爭議的中國衝浪之都，那裏擁有日月灣之類舉辦過國際比賽的地方。The surfing guide Magic Seaweed notes that in Guangdong Province, where Xichong is, “spots are few and far between,” but it goes on to explain that at Xichong and another beach nearby “good longboard waves peel lazily down some rivermouth sculpted sandbars.”
衝浪指南《神奇海草》(Magic Seaweed)指出，在西涌所在的廣東省，“衝浪點很少，且相隔較遠。”但這本指南接着說，在西涌和附近的另一個海灘，“那些河口衝擊而成的沙洲上會緩緩捲起不錯的長板浪。”Yang Xue, 28, owns a surfing school and hostel in Xichong called Offshore Wind. Admittedly biased, she said that in the summer the beach had “the best waves in China.” The accommodations at Offshore Wind were not luxurious, though that is not what attracts people to Xichong.
28歲的楊雪在西涌擁有一所衝浪學校，和一家名叫“離岸風”的青年旅社。她承認自己有偏見，但她認爲這裏的海灘在夏天有“中國最好的浪”。離岸風的住宿條件並不豪華，儘管這並不是吸引人們去西涌的原因。“The surf community in China is still really small,” a surfer who identified himself only as Jun wrote on Vice China, describing how he came to take up residence in Xichong. “It’s so small that every time I meet a new surfer, it turns out we already have, like, 20 to 30 mutual friends. That helps it feel like a real community. No one is aggressive in the water.”
“浪人目前還算是一個很小的族羣”，一位自稱叫“君”（音）的衝浪者在Vice中國上描述他是如何來到西涌定居的。“小到每次加個微信都能發現二三十個共同好友。這讓它感覺像是一個真正的社區。浪人是沒什麼競爭意識的一個族羣。”He compared the mood here with Shenzhen, where “people are constantly overstimulated, staring at their phones on the subway, craning their necks downward to watch some imported soap opera.”
他把這裏的氣氛和深圳作比較。在深圳，“人們總是受到過度刺激，在地鐵上盯着手機，低頭看一些進口肥皂劇。”Ms. Yang employed 20 people. Many of them gathered again on Tuesday to help begin the arduous task of clearing debris. Chain saws buzzed through fallen limbs and trees, but repairing the damage to some of the buildings and the sea wall will be more difficult and expensive.
楊雪有20名員工。他們中許多人週二再次聚在一起，幫助開始清理廢墟的艱鉅任務。鏈鋸在倒下的樹枝和樹木間嗡嗡作響，但修復對一些建築和海堤的破壞將更加困難和昂貴。Most of those helping Tuesday were dressed for surfing — T-shirts and flip-flops — and the damp on their clothes made it clear that some had recently taken breaks from their work. Adversity had not seemed to affect the spirit of the place.
週二參加救援的大多數人都穿着去衝浪的衣服——T恤和人字拖——衣服的潮溼表明，一些人剛剛忙裏偷閒去玩了一會。逆境似乎並沒有影響這個地方的精神。“It’s O.K.,” Ms. Yang said when offered condolences for the damage. “We are still here.”
“沒事的，”當有人向她遭到的損失表示慰問時，楊雪說，“我們還在這裏。”The damage extended the length of the beach, which remains closed to visitors, though locals still waded in and two fishermen’s boats came ashore as the sun set Tuesday, hauling a decent catch, including two large sea bass.
這次破壞延長了海灘的長度。海灘尚未對遊客開放，但仍有當地居民上海灘。週二日落時，兩艘漁船上岸，他們捕獲了相當多的魚，其中包括兩條巨大的海鱸魚。The shops here had no insurance, Ms. Yang and other owners said, so they are relying for assistance on the company that operates the beach concession or the local government.
楊雪和其他業主說，這裏的商店沒有保險，所以他們依賴經營海灘特許權的公司或當地政府的幫助。Echo Huo, a worker at a new surf shop, moved here in April because she wanted to learn to surf. She previously worked at a cafe in Dali, far inland in Yunnan Province. She does not take lessons, but paddles out when off work. More seasoned surfers generously offer pointers.
在一家新開的衝浪店工作的艾蔻·霍（音）因爲想學衝浪，今年4月搬到這裏。她曾在大理的一家咖啡館工作過，那是在內陸的雲南省的一座城市。她不上課，只是不上班時划水出海。經驗豐富的衝浪者會慷慨地爲她提供指點。Winds sheared off the shop’s corrugated roof, which in turn sliced into a neighboring shop. The exterior wall disappeared, leaving a precipitous drop from the bank to the sand below. Everything in and around the shop was virtually destroyed.
商店的波形板屋頂被吹飛，插進了隔壁的店面。外牆消失了，房子危險地懸在海堤邊，俯瞰下方的沙灘。商店內外的一切幾乎都被摧毀了。
China’s building codes and zoning laws are often so vaguely written and loosely enforced that they can cause confusion in the best of times. No one in the storm’s aftermath could say for certain whether the spot would — or could — be rebuilt the way it had been.
中國的建築規章和分區法律往往寫得含糊不清，執行不力，在平常的時候都可能會造成困惑。颶風過後，沒有人能確切地說，這個地方會不會——或能不能——重建成以前的樣子。“We don’t know if they will let us rebuild or not,” she said. “We haven’t received any official notice from the company or the government yet.”
“我們不知道他們是否會讓我們重建。我們還沒有收到公司或政府的正式通知，”她說。Asked what she would do in the meantime, she shrugged, while making it clear she had no plans to leave. “We wait,” she said.
當被問及在此期間她會做什麼時，她聳了聳肩，同時明確表示她不打算離開。“我們等着，”她說。
