中國分享經濟的未來 小豬短租

Chinese Airbnb rival Xiaozhu was valued by investors at $300m in a fundraising round last year, reflecting high hopes for the country’s home-sharing sector and prompting takeover interest from the Silicon Valley company.

在去年一輪募資中，投資者對小豬短租(Xiaozhu)的估值在3億美元，可見他們對中國住宿分享行業抱着多大的希望，同時也激起了硅谷同行公司Airbnb對小豬短租的收購興趣。

But Kelvin Chen, the Chinese tech veteran who is Xiaozhu’s co-founder and chief executive, has bad memories of excessive overseas management after a previous US buyout.

但在中國科技行業浸淫多年的陳馳(Kelvin Chen)對於中國公司被美資收購後外方的過度管理卻有着不好的回憶，他是小豬短租的聯合創始人及首席執行官。

“If we wanted to hire a single person, we would need approval from HR three months in advance but, in the same time, our competitors could grow from a staff of 200 to 1,000,” Mr Chen says of his time at travel site Kuxun, owned by TripAdvisor from 2009-15.

談到他在旅遊網站酷訊(Kuxun)呆過的時光，陳馳說道：“在那裏如果我們想招一個人，我們需要提前3個月獲得人事部門批准，而這個時候我們的競爭對手可能已經把員工數量從200名增加到了1000名。”酷訊在2009年至2015年期間由TripAdvisor所有。

Xiaozhu boasts 100,000 listings in China, making it the second biggest home-sharing service in a country where travellers make 4bn trips each year. Tujia, a Chinese company that links property developers with short-term renters, was valued at $1bn and has 400,000 listings.

小豬短租聲稱在中國擁有10萬套房源，在每年旅遊人次有40個億的中國，它算是規模第二大的住宿分享服務公司。將房地產開發商與短租客聯繫起來的途家(Tujia)估值爲10億美元，擁有40萬套房源。

Airbnb currently lists around 75,000 properties in China, and has partnered with internet giant Alibaba to make mobile payments easier for Chinese users. It plans to double its listings, investment and spending over the next year.

Airbnb目前在中國約有7.5萬套房源，並通過與互聯網巨頭阿里巴巴(Alibaba)合作，讓其中國用戶能夠更方便地使用移動支付。Airbnb計劃未來一年將其房源數量、投資和支出均翻一番。

Investors are betting that the Chinese government will back the “sharing economy” as a source of growth as old drivers such as heavy manufacturing and property slow.

投資者相信，隨着重工業、房地產行業等舊經濟引擎放緩，中國政府將支持“分享經濟”，把它作爲一個增長來源。

Participation in the sharing economy — renting out belongings once thought of as personal — is now within the reach of China’s middle class. “Thirty years ago, we had nothing to share. Now Chinese people have extra cars, extra space,” says Mr Chen.

中國中產階層已具備參與分享經濟（將曾經被視爲私人財產的東西出租給別人）的能力。陳馳表示：“30年前，我們沒有東西可以分享。如今，中國人有了多餘的汽車、多餘的空間。”

Li Keqiang, China’s premier, told a Davos forum last year that “the sharing economy means entrepreneurship for the masses”. Beijing has tolerated the rapid growth of car-booking apps to a greater degree than many western countries, despite fierce resistance from the country’s state-linked taxi providers. China’s flexibility towards the disruptive sector is “greater than what we see in foreign countries”, Mr Chen says.

中國國務院總理李克強在去年一次達沃斯(Davos)論壇上表示，“分享經濟意味着大衆創業”。中國對叫車應用的快速發展採取了比許多西方國家更爲寬容的態度，儘管與政府有關聯的出租車公司強烈抵制。陳馳指出，中國對顛覆性行業的靈活性“超過我們在外國看到的程度”。

Mr Chen predicts pushback from hotels should be less fierce, as the sector is used to competition. But he admits that Chinese officials — who insist that travellers have their identity cards scanned and sent to local police every time they check into a hotel — might be wary about loss of control. “China is a little special in this regard,” he says.

陳馳預計來自酒店的阻力應該不會那麼大，因爲這個行業習慣了競爭。但他承認，中國官員可能會比較擔心失去控制。（官方規定在遊客入住酒店時必須掃描身份證並上傳至當地公安系統。）他表示：“在這方面，中國有點特殊。”

In an attempt to ease concerns, Xiaozhu hosts are encouraged to use the company’s mobile app to scan a guest’s identity card upon arrival. Although the information is not automatically sent to local authorities, they can access it in the event of security incidents. The company wants to start supplying hosts with “smart locks” that can read the cards without the host being present.

爲了緩解這些擔憂，小豬短租鼓勵房東使用該公司的手機應用在客人入住時掃描身份證。儘管掃描信息不會自動上傳至當地公安機關，但一旦發生安全事件，警方可以獲取這些信息。小豬短租正要開始向房東供應“智能鎖”，可以在房東不在場的情況下讀取房卡。

On Wednesday, Airbnb started storing bookings and listings data on Chinese servers, to comply with a restrictive cyber security law that requires operators of “critical information infrastructure” to store data in China and assist government security agencies.

上週三，Airbnb開始在中國服務器上存儲訂房信息和房源數據，以遵守網絡安全法的有關規定，即“關鍵信息基礎設施”的經營者必須在中國存儲數據並協助政府安全部門的工作。

For now, Xiaozhu exists in a grey zone marked out by its semi-formal arrangements with the government. “There has not been any clear law supervising [house-sharing]. For now, the way we do it is more of a result of negotiation,” says Tarry Wang, Xiaozhu’s chief operating officer.

與政府的非正式約定給小豬短租劃出了其所生存的灰色區域。“還沒有任何清晰的法律來監督（住宿分享服務）。目前我們做這個的方式更多取決於協商的結果。”小豬首席運營官王連濤(Tarry Wang)表示。

But analysts expect tighter regulation. “The government’s usual approach is to step back and let the market develop. Then, once a handful of players achieve significant traction and demonstrate a successful mechanism for meeting regulatory requirements, you start licensing the top players and weed out the rest,” says Mark Natkin at Marbridge Consulting, an advisory group.

但分析人士預計監管將會收緊。北京邁博瑞諮詢(Marbridge Consulting)的馬克.納特金(Mark Natkin)表示：“政府通常的做法是退一步，讓市場發展。然後一旦有一小撮參與者引起了矚目，並展示出一套符合監管要求的成功機制，政府就會向最優秀的參與者發放牌照，讓其他參與者出局。”

When Mr Chen considers the prospect of regulators swooping in and stifling the sector, he finds solace in a Shanghai wonton shop championed last month by Mr Li. The premier stepped in to defend the humble stall as an example of “grassroots entrepreneurship”, rebuffing zealous bureaucrats who had ordered it to close because it lacked a licence.

在陳馳考慮監管機構介入並壓制行業發展的可能性之時，李克強上月對上海一家餛飩鋪的支持讓他感到安慰。李克強稱這個小店是“草根創業”的典範，反駁了一幫因爲該店無照營業而責令其關門的積極官員們。

“From this small event we can see that the Chinese government, when it comes to reform and regulation, China is not quite [as strict] as the outside world thinks,” Mr Chen says.

陳馳表示：“從這件小事我們可以看出，在涉及到改革和監管方面，中國政府不太像外界想的那樣（嚴格）。”