Chaguan
茶馆
Hard times for China’s micro-industrialists
中国小微实业家的艰难时日
A rural hub for children’s bicycle-making adjusts to a world with fewer kids
一个位于农村的童车制造中心正在调整，以适应一个孩子越来越少的世界
THERE ARE lots of upsides to making bikes for kids, explains Mr Li, a young entrepreneur from Pingxiang, a scruffy county in northern China that has become a centre for the children’s bicycle industry. For one thing, they are easy to build, he says, nodding at a toddler-sized machine parked near his desk, held upright by tiny stabilisers. Teenage mountain bikes are a bit fiddly, but smaller ones “need no special machinery at all”. Also, he grins, children grow. Sell a three-year-old their first ride and two years later their parents have to buy a bigger one, and so it goes on for years to come. The downside? China is running out of children.
中国北方有一个乱糟糟的县城平乡，如今已成为儿童自行车产业的中心。当地的年轻企业家李先生解释说，给小孩子造自行车有很多有利之处。首先，童车容易造，他朝桌子旁停着的一台家伙努了努下巴，这辆幼儿尺寸的车有小小的平衡轮作支撑。制造青少年骑的山地车需要点技术，但更小的童车“根本不需要特殊的机械”。 还有，他咧嘴一笑道，孩子总归要长大。三岁时买了第一辆车，两年后父母就要再买辆更大的，就这样持续好些年。不利的一面呢？中国的孩子越来越少了。
- upside （糟糕局面的）好的一面，光明的一面，正面
- scruffy 不整洁的；邋遢的
- fiddly 微小难弄的；需要手巧的；精巧难使用的（参见：小词详解 | fiddly）
- grin 露齿而笑、咧着嘴笑（参见：小词详解 | grin）
Pingxiang, in the province of Hebei some 400km south of Beijing, is a revealing place to see the country’s demographic future playing out today. Like many industrial clusters in China, it grew over decades as businesspeople forged networks, helped by local officials offering tax breaks and other subsidies. Initially, small firms assembled frames, pedals and other parts bought from established manufacturers in coastal cities. Over time complete supply chains were created in Pingxiang. Today, the county is a sprawl of large industrial plants linked to smaller suppliers, many of them tucked away in rural sheds and barns. There are traffic jams as lorries and three-wheelers piled high with bicycle cartons inch down narrow village lanes.
隶属河北省的平乡位于北京以南约400公里，从这里可以窥见中国的人口发展趋势。和中国的许多产业集群一样，在地方官员提供税收减免和其他补贴的帮助下，商人们打造的这个产业网络在几十年里不断发展壮大。起初，小公司组装从沿海城市的老牌制造商那里购买的车架、踏板和其他部件。渐渐地，完整的供应链在平乡建立起来。如今，这里到处都是串联着较小供应商的大型工厂，其中许多供应商栖身在农村的棚屋和谷仓里。满载着装有自行车的纸箱的卡车和三轮车在狭窄的乡间小路上缓慢挪动，造成拥堵。
- cluster （同类物丛生或聚集的）簇，团，束，串
- forge 喻指“艰苦干成、努力加强”，强调付出很多努力来使某事物成功或强大到足以持续，包括“缔造或建立”某种协议或关系，以及“创造或开创”某项事业（参见：小词详解 | forge）
- 拓展学习：熟词僻义 | frame 是一种怎样的害人手段？
- sprawl （城市）杂乱无序拓展的地区
- tuck sth↔away 坐落在，位于（僻静的地方）
- carton （尤指装食品或液体的）硬纸盒，塑料盒，塑料罐；硬纸盒（或塑料盒）所装物品
- inch （使朝某方向）谨慎移动（参见：熟词僻义 | inch 是一种怎样的移动？）
