中國土豪！黃金週在英人均花8000英鎊

A fashionable young woman in socks, platform sandals and a mini-skirt tosses a waterfall of straight dark hair over her shoulder and eyes up an £850 golden handbag in the shape of an apple, sitting alone in a perspex cabinet.
一位腳穿厚底涼鞋和短襪、身着迷你短裙的摩登女郎，甩動一頭烏黑垂順的、瀑布般披在肩上的長髮，正注視着玻璃櫥櫃中一個價值850英鎊的蘋果形狀的手提包。

Nearby, a middle-aged woman with a bored, silent husband, stares at a £2,000 Celine handbag, intermittently snapping pictures of the object of her desire on her iPhone.
在年輕女郎附近有一位中年婦女，在沉默而厭煩的丈夫的陪伴之下，正盯視着一個價值兩千英鎊的名牌塞琳女包，她時不時的拿出蘋果手機偷拍這一心愛之物。

The distinctive strains of Mandarin chatter fill the air as an immaculate woman clad all in black wafts past in a cloud of scent, trying to convince a young couple of the merits of the latest designer perfume.
空氣中充滿了用普通話聊天的嘈雜聲響，一位一身黑的女士穿過人羣，給香水氣味氤氳的煙雲送來一絲清風，她正在向一對年輕夫妻介紹一瓶最新款名牌香水的價值所在。

Meanwhile, a man hands over his credit card to a female shop assistant, who clutches it carefully between both hands as if holding a gift, lowers her head reverentially and makes an elaborate show of averting her eyes out of respect.
同一時間，一位男士正將自己的信用卡交給一位女銷售員，這位女銷售員兩手小心的握着信用卡，彷彿是在接受一份禮物，她虔敬地低下頭，避免直視對方以表示對顧客的尊敬態度。

It could be an ordinary day on any luxury shopping street in Shanghai — but this is the heart of London’s West End.
這一幕也許每天都會在上海的某個高檔購物街上演——然而此時這是在倫敦西區的中心地帶。

And the Chinese signs, Mandarin-speaking shop assistants and extra deliveries of sought-after designer goods — in especially small sizes — are all part of making the high-spending visitors who have travelled here this week from Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou feel at home.
中文標識牌、說普通話的銷售員和應顧客要求進行的額外調貨——中國顧客的尺碼比較小——所有這一切都讓那些乘着一週假期，從北京、上海、廣州不遠而來的高消費顧客感覺賓至如歸。

Wave upon wave of Chinese visitors, in small groups and coach parties, alone and in pairs, pack the pavements and malls.
一撥又一撥的中國遊客，三五成羣或跟着旅行團，獨自一人或成雙成對，在人行道和商店裏匯聚着。

They are surprisingly young and rich. And they are here to splash their cash.
他們年輕又多金得讓人吃驚，他們來這裏是來揮霍財富的。

The reason for this sudden influx is that it’s Golden Week in China, a week-long holiday that kicked off with National Day on October 1 — the day the People’s Republic was founded in 1949.
這一突如其來的購物狂潮的形成原因是中國的度假黃金週，即從十月一日的國慶節開始的一週休假——中華人民共和國是在1949年10月1日成立的。

It’s the time when the country’s wealthiest and most adventurous hop on long-haul flights and come to London. Top of their shopping lists are luxury goods — the handbags, shoes, watches and expensive knick-knacks which, because of stringent Chinese taxes, are about 30 per cent more expensive back home.
正是這個時候，中國最富有、最具冒險精神的人們登上長途班機，來到了倫敦。他們購物清單上的第一項是奢侈品——手提包、鞋子、手錶和各種名貴的小飾品，由於嚴格的稅收政策，這些物件在中國本土的價格比這裏要高出30%左右。

No wonder British retailers leap with excitement. Quite simply, the Chinese spend unbelievable amounts of money; an average of £8,000 each on shopping alone, according to one recent survey.
難怪英國的零售商們要開心的手舞足蹈。原因很簡單，中國遊客消費額高得讓人難以置信；根據一項最新調查，僅在購物方面，中國遊客人均消費就到達8千英鎊。

It is not just the clientele of London’s busiest shopping streets which is transformed during Golden Week — the staff in luxury stores are supplemented by droves of Chinese speakers, signs directing shoppers around the store are in Mandarin, and even the customs when it comes to paying for goods are different.
在十一黃金週裏，在倫敦最熱鬧的商業街上上演的變化不僅是客流量——商家們紛紛增添了大批說中文的店員、街道上有了許多中文寫的指路牌以給顧客指路，甚至買賣貨物的社交禮儀都不同了。