中國消費者不再"貪便宜"
There are two kinds of "made in China": made in China for export, and made in China to be palmed off on hapless consumers at home.
“中國製造”分兩種：一種是用來出口的“中國製造”產品，還有一種是甩給不幸的國內消費者的“中國製造”產品。
For years the gap in quality has been wide. Chinese consumers received the worst that "made in China" had to offer; all the good stuff ended up at Walmart.
多年來，中國出口和內銷產品的質量差距一直很大。中國消費者得到是最差的“中國製造”產品；所有質量上乘的產品最終都擺到了國外沃爾瑪(Walmart)的貨架上。
But now Chinese consumers are what it's all about. Beijing wants an economy driven by domestic consumption, so pleasing buyers at home has taken on a priority. About time. As the balance of consumer power shifts back to the motherland, Chinese consumers have responded by turning into some of the world's most demanding shoppers.
但如今，中國消費者成了關鍵所在。中國政府希望用內需來拉動經濟，因此取悅國內消費者已成爲頭等任務。早該如此。隨着消費力量的重心開始向國內轉移，中國消費者的迴應是：讓自己變成全球需求最旺盛的消費者羣體之一。
Everyone from grocers to handbag makers, mall developers to paint mixers, say Chinese consumers are ready and able to pay for world-class goods. Domestic and western retailers can no longer get away with giving them second best.
從雜貨商到手袋生產商，從購物中心開發商到塗料攪拌商，所有人都表示，中國消費者有意願且有能力購買世界一流商品。國內和西方零售商再也不能妄想向中國消費者提供二等貨而不受懲罰了。
China even seems to be losing its appetite for fakes. Counterfeit luxury goods, a hit with the girls in the Shanghai typing pool, are losing out to the real thing. Chinese shoppers still like an extra dose of bling on everything, but as salaries and sophistication rise, they prefer their glitz genuine rather than fake.
中國甚至似乎在失去對假貨的興趣。假冒奢侈品曾頗受上海白領女孩的歡迎，但現在正逐漸被正品取代。中國消費者仍希望擁有儘可能多的奢侈品，但隨着薪資的增加和修養的提高，他們更希望自己擁有的是真貨，而不是假貨。
Escada, the women's designer clothing group, has conducted a survey that found a steep drop in Chinese consumer willingness to buy fakes, from 31 per cent in 2008 to 12 per cent by 2010.
設計師女裝集團Escada進行的一項調查發現，中國消費者購買假貨的意願大幅下降，從2008年的31%降至2010年的12%。
Fakes were fine when all the Chinese wanted was a logo to flash around. But the country's middle class is learning that there is more to life than showing off.
當中國人想要的是不過一個可以到處炫耀的標識的時候，假貨就能大行其道。但中國的中產階級正逐漸認識到，除了炫耀之外，生活中還有更重要的東西。
No one should expect China's counterfeit markets to disappear. But Max Magni, head of McKinsey's Chinese consumer goods practice in Shanghai, says the market for luxury fakes is growing much more slowly than the real thing, and Chinese consumers are getting harder to please.
沒有人會指望中國的假貨市場消失。但麥肯錫(McKinsey)駐上海的中國消費品諮詢業務主管馬思默(Max Magni)表示，奢侈品假貨市場的增長速度遠遠慢於真貨市場，中國消費者正變得越來越難取悅。
This plays out in all sorts of markets. Until two or three years ago, Chinese people shopping for a television looked for clarity of sound and picture, and other basic attributes, he says. But now, the average Chinese consumer will not stop there. They will insist on pressing every button on the remote to make sure it does what they want it to do, and testing the screen to make sure it is non-glare.
這體現在各個市場。他表示，兩三年前，中國人購買電視時看重的是聲音和畫面的清晰度以及其他基本功能。但如今，普通消費者不會滿足於此。他們會堅持按下遙控器上的每一個鍵，以確保符合他們的要求，他們還會測試一下屏幕，以確保屏幕是否防眩。
"A lot of people in Europe wouldn't even care about that," says Mr Magni. He sees that attitude not just in rich cities like Shanghai but in many that most of us have never heard of.
馬思默表示：“在歐洲，很多人甚至都不會關心這些。”他表示，這種情況不僅出現在上海等富有城市，在我們多數人從未聽說過的很多城市也是如此。
When they are not testing TV remotes, middle-class Chinese are squinting at the labels of the foods they feed their children. Quality has become an obsession since the tainted milk crisis of 2008, which sickened hundreds of thousands of infants.
在不測試電視遙控器的時候，中國的中產階級就會盯着給孩子吃的食品的標籤。自從2008年導致數十萬嬰兒中毒的毒奶粉事件之後，食品質量已成爲困擾中國人的一個問題。
Not surprisingly, consumers were annoyed when Walmart was recently accused of labelling common-or-garden pork as organic. They expect that kind of thing from domestic companies but not from foreign multinationals.
毫不令人意外的是，當沃爾瑪最近被曝光用普通豬肉冒充綠色豬肉後，消費者會感到憤怒。他們本以爲這種事只會出現在國內企業身上，沒有想到外國跨國企業也會這樣做。
Now that China is getting into the habit of exercising the basic human right to buy non-toxic foods, it is a short step to demanding shoes that do not fall apart in the first week and home appliances that last at least until the next house renovation.
既然中國正在養成行使基本人權購買無毒食品的習慣，那麼要求鞋子不會在購買一週內開膠、家用電器至少能堅持到下一次房屋裝修，都只是一小步。
Tesco, the UK retailer, says the Chinese middle class is "becoming increasingly sophisticated in the quality of products they purchase", including buying more foreign and high-end brands, not just safer food.
英國零售商特易購(Tesco)表示，中國中產階級“在產品質量的問題上正變得越來越老練”，包括購買更多國外和高端品牌，而不僅僅是更安全的食品。
Everyone is jumping on the safety bandwagon. Malls and real estate developers are trying to brand themselves as safe by asking impartial international quality inspection companies to verify that their lifts will not plunge or their walls fall down on shoppers.
所有人都加入了安全這個大潮。購物中心和房地產開發商正努力給自己打上安全的鋼印，它們邀請中立的國際質檢公司來證明它們的電梯不會墜落，或它們的牆不會倒塌砸到消費者。
"From fruit to paint, Chinese are willing to pay for something with a safety seal," says Shaun Rein, author of The End of Cheap China.
《即將消失的廉價中國貨》(The End of Cheap China)一書作者雷小山(Shaun Rein)表示：“從水果到塗料，中國人都願意爲有安全標籤的商品買單。”
That may sound like good news for multinational brands, because they — rightly or wrongly — are perceived as having the edge on quality.
對於跨國品牌而言，這聽上去或許是一個好消息，因爲它們——不管這麼想是對還是錯——向來被視爲質量更好一些。
But there is no room for complacency. Chinese consumers are no longer willing to spend blindly on anything foreign for the sake of it.
但它們沒有理由自滿。中國消費者不再願意因爲這點而盲目地購買外國商品。
The Chinese shopper has come of age, not just in the world's premier shopping destinations but in the malls and high streets back home. "Made in China" will never be the same again.
中國消費者已成熟起來，這不僅僅體現在全球最熱門的購物目的地，在中國國內的購物中心和商業區也是如此。“中國製造”再也不會是以前的模樣。
Patti Waldmeir is the FT's Shanghai Bureau Chief
本文作者是英國《金融時報》駐上海首席記者
譯者:樑豔裳
