China’s wealthy residents take Nimbyism to their hearts
中国富人的“邻避”行动
广州地产翻译公司：北京海晟名苑业主驱逐小区健身房的抗议活动，在我看来，象征着现代中国富人和穷人两个阵营之间的对峙。
I have gone to great lengths to cover social unrest in China, from striking factory workers in the southern city of Shenzhen to teachers’ protests in the north. Last month, for a change, I found myself in the middle of a “not in my backyard” protest in my residential compound in Beijing, pitting millionaire property owners against a gym owner and his staff.
我花了很大精力报道中国社会的不安定现象，从南方城市深圳的工人罢工到北方的教师抗议。7月份我的关注点有了变化，因为我发现自己置身于一起“邻避”（not in my backyard，缩写为Nimby，也称做“不要建在我家后院”）抗议事件之中，这起事件发生在北京我所居住的小区，身家百万的房屋业主们与一家健身中心的老板及其员工对上了。广州地产翻译公司。
The Seasons Park uprising of July 2016 began with a social media chat group whose members called themselves the La Mas, or Spicy Mamas.
2016年7月海晟名苑发生抗议活动，始推动者是一个社交媒体聊天群，群成员自称“辣妈”。
For years the Spicy Mamas, many of them owners of flats worth more than $1m, obsessed over rich-people problems such as how much to pay the a’yis, or aunties, who clean their kitchens and raise their children. Then an entrepreneur tried to open a gym in our compound’s vacant clubhouse facility, which had been closed for almost two years.
其中许多辣妈拥有价值超过100万美元的住宅，多年来她们烦恼的是典型的“富人家问题”，比如该给阿姨们（帮她们收拾厨房和带孩子的保姆）多少工资。后来，一位老板想在我们小区一个停业近两年的俱乐部会所开设健身中心。
The residents cannot say they did not see it coming. The gym required a large investment and extensive refurbishment. And, even if we had missed all the building activity, every time we left or entered our compound we were assailed by touts trying to sell us memberships.
住户们不能说他们不知道小区里要开一家健身中心，事情是在他们眼皮子底子张罗起来的。健身中心需要大笔投资，并进行全面的重新装修。再者，即便整个装修过程我们都没看到，每次进出小区时，我们都会被一些销售人员缠住，向我们推销健身会员卡。广州地产翻译公司。
But it was only after the gym formally opened in mid-July that the Spicy Mamas realised the consequences. It was a 24-hour operation, with staff and members coming and going at all times. Many of the physical trainers were tough, buff types with tattoos and smoking habits that required them to gather outside for regular cigarette breaks.
但是直到7月中旬健身中心正式开业后，辣妈们才意识到了这件事的后果。这家健身中心24小时营业，员工和会员总是在小区里进进出出。很多教练体型魁梧强壮，身上有纹身，并且有吸烟的习惯，时常聚集在健身房外抽烟休息。
How, the Spicy Mamas asked, could they guarantee their children’s safety with so many strangers loitering about? And who was going to clean up all the cigarette butts?
辣妈们问，这么多陌生人在小区里闲晃，她们还怎么保证孩子们的安全？还有，谁来清理地上的烟头？
Overnight, the Spicy Mamas discovered Nimby activism and rebranded their chat group as the United Residents of Seasons Park. Allied now with their husbands, who I like to think of as the Dad Bods, they set up watch patrols to harass gym staff and members as they “trespassed” across the compound.
一夜间，辣妈们发现了邻避行动主义，并把聊天群更名为“海晟名苑居民联盟”。她们的丈夫——我喜欢把他们联想为“肥爸”(Dad Bod)——也加入了行动。业主们组建了巡逻小组，在健身中心的员工和会员“闯入”小区时上前阻挠。广州地产翻译公司。
The residents hung two large banners, alleging that the gym was operating illegally and warning prospective members that they would lose their money if they signed up. The instructors, in turn, glowered back at the residents. Tempers soon flared between the two camps, which for me epitomised modern China’s haves and have-nots.
业主们挂起了两条大横幅，声称该健身中心非法经营，警告人们办卡会蒙受损失。健身教练们也对业主们怒目而视。两个阵营之间很快剑拔弩张，在我看来这象征着现代中国富人和穷人之间的对峙。
As owners of flats in central Beijing, the Spicy Mamas and Dad Bods are some of the biggest winners in President Xi Jinping’s China. The surging property values of the past few years have made them very wealthy while pricing humble gym employees out of home ownership.
作为在北京市中心拥有住房的业主，这些辣妈和肥爸在国家主席习近平领导下的中国属于大赢家之列。这些年飞涨的房价使得他们身家暴涨，同时也让身份卑微的健身房员工买不起房。
I witnessed no violence but, after a few days the situation grew so heated that the police were called in, some of them in riot gear. The Spicy Mamas and Dad Bods threatened to escalate their protest if the gym continued to operate, and raised money to print additional 150 banners. I began to wonder if it would all spill on to the streets of our quiet neighbourhood.
我没看到暴力行为，但是数日后局势变得白热化，警察来了，有些人身着防暴装备。辣妈和肥爸们威胁称，如果健身房继续营业，他们会加大抗议力度，并筹集资金打算再印刷150条横幅。我不由得想，这些横幅是否会挂满我们这个宁静的社区的街道。广州地产翻译公司。
For the United Residents of Seasons Park, much was at stake. To say they are emblematic of the emerging middle class is to insult them. They are far richer than that. The car park is full of Mercedes, BMWs, Porsches, Range Rovers and the odd Bentley.
对于“海晟名苑居民联盟”，这件事关系很大。说他们代表新兴中产阶级简直是侮辱他们。他们要富有得多。停车场里全是奔驰(Mercedes)、宝马(BMW)、保时捷(Porsch)、路虎(Range Rover)，还有一辆宾利(Bentley)。
The developer of our compound described it as the “home of tycoons”. These landlords’ properties are their castles and they will not tolerate anything that could reduce their value.
海晟名苑开发商形容这个小区是“大亨之家”。对业主们来说，这些房产是他们的城堡，他们不会容忍任何损害房产价值的事情发生。
In the end the 150 additional protest banners did not have to be deployed. The gym has shut, at least temporarily, and my neighbours are preparing to elect an owners’ association to protect their interests, something they now realise they should have done a long time ago.
结果，那150条新横幅没派上用场。健身房关闭了，至少是暂时停业了。而我的邻居们准备选出业主委员会来维护他们的利益，现在他们意识到早该如此了。广州地产翻译公司。
When I checked in with one of the Spicy Mamas recently for an update, she said she was a bit out of touch because she had taken her daughter to summer camp in Japan.
不久前我跟一位辣妈打听此事的最新进展，她说她也不太了解，因为她带女儿去日本参加夏令营了。
She added: “Japan is great; orderly society, polite people.”
她补充称：“日本很棒；社会井然有序，人们有礼貌。”
Would she run for a seat on the owners’ association when she returned, I asked. To my surprise she said no. She and her family are instead planning to move to the US next year.
我问她回来后是否会竞选业委会成员。令我惊讶的是，她说不会。她和家人计划明年移居美国。
“[We’re] really looking forward to living in an orderly society and safe environment,” she said.
“（我们）非常期待在一个有序的社会和安全的环境中生活，”她表示。
