金色的结婚浪潮

爱思英语编者按：2009年，“金融危机”无疑是一个避不开的热词。虽然如此，国内婚庆业非但没有业绩惨淡，反而有种逆境中绽放的势头--婚嫁黄金时代(a golden age of weddings)的到来无疑让婚庆、房地产等行业海捞了一笔。人们不禁问，经济惨淡，婚礼不能简办么？房价飞涨，新房不能不买么？一起来听听专家和当事人是怎么说的吧。  
 
蒙妮和范志清彼此互道“我愿意”。而就在同一个月，他们对房地产经纪人也说了“我们愿意”。 Meng Ni and Fan Zhiqing said "I do" to each other in the same month that they said "we do" to their real estate agent.
中国正处于婚嫁的黄金时期，从摄影工作室到全球铂金矿商的各行各业因此受益。但是，最能体现婚嫁所带来的深刻经济影响的，莫过于住房市场。 China is in the midst of a golden age of weddings, a boon for businesses from photo studios to global platinum miners. Yet nowhere is the economic impact so potentially profound as in the housing market.

一些投资者正担心房价已成危险的泡沫，大批像孟和范这样的新婚夫妇却开始购入第一套房子，这可能有助于中国的房地产销售红火数年。 A flood of newlyweds such as Meng and Fan buying their first homes could help power China's property sales for years, even as some investors fear that prices are already in dangerous bubble territory.

孟和范属于20来岁的庞大年轻人群体，从现在到2015年，这个群体到了适婚年龄，因而会带来更大的影响。据分析家估算，这些夫妇每年可以买入多达4.5亿平方米住房，相当于目前在建住房总面积的16％。 What makes it more powerful is that Meng and Fan are part of a demographic bulge of people in their twenties who will be of prime marrying age between now and 2015. Analysts estimate such couples could mop up as much as 450 million square meters of housing every year, or roughly 16 percent of all that is under construction at present.

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位于北京市中心的西单婚庆大厦共3层楼，内设礼服店、珠宝店和婚纱照工作室。 The Xidan Wedding Mall in the heart of Beijing offers three floors of dress makers, jewellery merchants and photo studios.

大厦内一家礼服店Modern Bazaar的女店员英姿说：“新娘一般买两套婚纱，一套白色的，在举行西式婚礼时用，另一套是中国传统的结婚礼服，在办婚宴时穿。” "A bride usually buys two gowns: a white one in the Western style, used for the procession and vows, and a traditional Chinese one in red for the banquet," said Ying Zi, a saleswoman at Modern Bazaar, a dress shop in the mall.

回想几年前，新娘们经常是租赁婚纱。英姿说，现在几乎所有的顾客都是买婚纱，每套至少2000元（293美元）。 A few years ago, brides often rented their clothes. Ying said almost all of her customers were now buying the dresses, which cost at least 2,000 yuan ($293) each.

除了礼服，钻石也很抢手。10年前，看重了这一潜力巨大的市场，陈茵一家开始在家里制作钻戒。如今，他们开了一家名为Bling Jewellery的店，每月出售商品数量多达数百件。 Diamonds are also hot. Chen Yin's family began crafting diamond rings at home for a niche market a decade ago. Now they run a shop, Bling Jewellery, selling hundreds a month.

结婚潮的兴起并没有逃过政府的注意。2003年，中国社会工作协会创建了婚庆行业委员会，专门收集相关数据，制定标准。 The wedding boom has not escaped the government's notice. China Association of Social Workers, a government agency, established the Wedding Industry Committee in 2003 to gather data and set standards.

据中国社会工作协会婚庆行业委员会总干事史康宁介绍，2008年中国婚礼数量达1000万左右，并以每年10%的速度增长，婚礼开销则年增长20%。 The number of weddings, about 10 million in 2008, is increasing by 10 percent a year, while spending is rising 20 percent, according to Shi Kanning, the committee chief.

未受金融危机影响 No Crisis

史康宁还说：“全球金融危机冲击了出口、银行、保险等许多行业。但婚庆行业不仅未受影响，去年以来反而增长更强劲。” "The global financial crisis hit a lot of industries: exporters, banks, insurance. But not only was the wedding industry not affected, it has had even stronger growth over the past year," Shi said.

他表示，这种韧性影响到了房地产市场，新婚夫妇购买住房而其他行业却在后退。他引用中国指数研究院的调查说，首次买房人四分之三年龄低于35岁。 This resilience, he said, spilled over to the property market, with newlyweds buying homes when other business dried up. He pointed to surveys by the China Index Research Institute, which show that three-quarters of first-time home buyers are below the age of 35.

父母助推 Fuelled By Parents

与此同时，是节俭的父母而非年轻新婚夫妇和银行为他们的新家投放巨资。手里拿着一生辛劳所得，又只有一个孩子，如今的父母过于热心帮孩子买套房子--有时甚至是两套。 In the meantime, it is frugal parents, not the young couple and not banks, who often foot much of the bill for new homes. Armed with a lifetime of savings and with just one child, parents are only too willing to lend a hand -- and sometimes twice.

汪大建和牛晓霞说，不久前他们为29岁的儿子和儿媳在北京买了第二所公寓。之前买的第一所房没能成功诱惑两个年轻人搬出去单住。 Wang Dajian and Niu Xiaoxia said they recently purchased a second Beijing apartment for their 29-year-old son and his wife after the first one they had bought failed to entice the young couple out of the parents' home.

两位家长说，由于往返上班需要30分钟时间，孩子们觉得第一所房子“不方便”上班。 The newlyweds found the first apartment "inconvenient" for their jobs, their parents said, because it required a 30-minute commute from their offices.

“他们应该更独立，也该为自己的生活负责，”牛晓霞感叹道。想当年，老两口结婚后等了两年多工作单位才为他们分了一间小一居室。 "They should be independent. They should be responsible for their own lives," lamented Niu, who noted that when she and Wang married they had to wait more than two years after marrying before their work unit arranged for a tiny one-room apartment.

“我想让他们搬出去自己住，让他们经历一点儿以前我们经历过的事情，”汪大建神情果断地说，但是他的决心马上就软化了。“但问题是，一看到他们受苦我们就觉得难受。这也不能怪他们，因为这些都是我们造成的。因为我们的溺爱他们才变成这样，所以我们要负责。” "I want to push them out, to make them suffer a little like we had to," Wang said with a wave of determination that quickly melted. "But the problem is, when we see him suffer, we feel bad. I don't blame them, because all this resulted from us. We are responsible because we spoiled them."