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“穷人的幸福之家”:为何上海年轻人开始流行吃食堂

艾莎

2024年4月24日

晚餐时间,上海徐汇区天平街道社区食堂。这些食堂由私人经营,但得到中共的补贴。 Qilai Shen for The New York Times

Inside a canteen for seniors in downtown Shanghai, a worker brandishing a sponge inched closer to Maggie Xu, 29, as she was finishing her rice and garlic-and-oil-soaked broccoli. Ms. Xu ignored her.

上海市中心一家老年食堂里,29岁的玛吉·徐(音)马上就要吃完她的米饭和蒜茸西兰花了,清洁工手持海绵慢慢向她坐的地方擦过来。徐女士没有理会她。

“If you come at 12 o’clock, the aunties will give you less food,” Ms. Xu said, speaking softly. After 1:30 p.m., they give away soup. They also start to hover — like the auntie with the sponge — hurrying laggards out the door.

“如果你12点来的话,阿姨们打给你的菜会少,”徐女士轻声说道。下午1点30分后,她们会发放免费的汤。她们也会像那名清洁工那样,开始逼近那些来得晚的人,让他们快点离开。

Ms. Xu is familiar with the rhythms of the Tongxinhui Community Canteen because she eats there every day to save money. She has a good job as an accountant at a foreign firm, but she can’t shake a creeping sense of unease about her future.

徐女士很熟悉同心荟社区食堂的节奏,因为为了省钱,她每天都在这里吃饭。虽然她在一家外企有一份不错的会计工作,但她对自己的未来总有点无法摆脱的不安全感。

“Only when you save money will you feel safe,” she said.

“只有攒够了钱,你才会觉得安全,”她说。

In these tough economic times in China, many young people are jobless, but they aren’t the only anxious ones. A devastating crash in the value of real estate, where most household wealth is tied up, has heightened a feeling among young working professionals like Ms. Xu that their situation is precarious, too.

中国现在的经济状况不佳,许多年轻人找不到工作,但焦虑的不只是他们。房价的毁灭性暴跌已加剧了人们的不安全感,因为中国家庭的大多数财富与房地产挂钩。就连像徐女士这样的年轻职业人士也觉得自己的情况不稳定。

In Shanghai, some people are finding relief at subsidized community centers that once served mostly seniors but are now also drawing younger crowds. The food is affordable and plentiful. The plates on offer, sometimes as cheap as $1.40, are crammed with local specialties like shredded eel with hot oil, steamed pork ribs or red braised pork belly.

上海的一些人正在从有政府补贴的社区中心寻求救济,这些中心以前主要为老年人服务,但现在也吸引了更年轻的人群。社区食堂的价格实惠,菜品丰富。有很多带有地方特色的菜,便宜的只要十块钱,如响油鳝丝、蒸排骨、红烧肉。

Similar to soup kitchens, the canteens are privately run but subsidized by China’s ruling Communist Party and cater to older residents who are too frail to cook or are homebound, offering discounted meals and delivery services.

与(西方为穷人免费提供食物的)施食处类似,中国的社区食堂由私人经营,但从执政的中国共产党那里得到补贴。社区食堂为身体虚弱不能自己做饭或不能出门的老年居民提供打折餐和送餐服务。

At the canteen where Ms. Xu likes to eat, diners who are 70 or older are given a 15 percent discount. The canteen is part of a three-story party community center that opened in May.

在徐女士喜欢吃饭的那个食堂,70岁以上的用餐者享受15%的折扣。这个食堂位于去年5月开业的一栋三层楼的社区党群服务中心里。

As neighbors and workers from nearby shops and small offices pack into the canteen for lunch and dinner, collapsible dining tables and plastic chairs are quickly assembled, spilling out into the building entrance to accommodate grumbling bellies.

午餐和晚餐时段,食堂里挤满了来吃饭的社区居民和在附近的商店和小型办公室工作的人,快速组装起来的折叠餐桌和塑料椅子一直摆到了楼的入口处。

00china canteen 01 klhb master1050在食堂排队打饭。00china canteen 03 zkwg master1050上海静安区同心荟社区食堂有面条和汤。下午1点30分以后,汤免费。00china canteen 02 klhb master1050顾客们在餐厅应用程序和社交媒体上找食堂,分享最佳菜肴贴士。

During the lull between meals, older residents sit in the entrance, chatting and passing the time. A giant sickle-and-hammer ceiling light glows, reminding diners of the landlord.

在非用餐时段,老年居民们坐在里面聊天,打发时间。天花板上巨型镰刀锤头形状的灯提醒着人们谁是房子的主人。

The canteens date back to a dark time during Mao’s Great Leap Forward in the late 1950s, when the Communist Party replaced private restaurants with communal canteens, said Seung-Joon Lee, an associate professor of history at the National University of Singapore.

社区食堂有过一段黑暗历史,那是在20世纪50年代末毛泽东发动“大跃进”时,中共用公共食堂取代了私人餐馆,新加坡国立大学历史学副教授李承俊(音)说。

Mismanagement of the canteens played a role in the disastrous famine that would come to define the Great Leap Forward.

“大跃进”的后果包括一场灾难性的饥荒,食堂管理不善是造成饥荒的部分原因。

“Perhaps to some, it may remind them of the tragic events of the Maoist communal canteens,” Mr. Lee said.

“也许对有些人来说,这可能会让他们想起毛泽东时代公共食堂的悲剧,”李承俊说。

More recently, community canteens have emerged as part of a broader social welfare initiative to improve food services for a swiftly aging population.

而在近期,社区食堂是作为一个更广泛的社会福利项目的一部分出现的,目的是为迅速老龄化的人口改进膳食服务。

There are 6,000 local groups running community canteens around the country, according to the official Xinhua news service. In Shanghai, where nearly one-fifth of the population is 65 or older, there are more than 305 community canteens. Many of them get tax breaks and low or free rent.

据官方的新华社报道,有6000个地方组织在全国各地经营社区食堂。上海有近20%的人口年龄在65岁以上,那里的社区食堂已超过305个。其中许多得到税收减免、低租金或免租金的补贴。

But the canteens have become an important fixture for Shanghai’s younger working population, too. The portions are often so generous that they can be stretched out over several meals, and diners can often be seen packing away dishes they haven’t finished.

但这些社区食堂也已成为上海年轻打工族常去的一个重要场所。食堂给的菜量往往很大,可以分几顿吃,经常能看到食客们把没吃完的菜打包带走。

The cost-saving impetus stems from a reluctance to spend that has become so common among Chinese people that it is contributing to the country’s economic problems and prompting top officials to talk with a sense of urgency about promoting confidence.

省钱的动力源于中国老百姓不愿花钱,这个相当普遍的问题已成为中国经济疲软的原因之一,导致高层官员在谈论提振信心时有一种紧迫感。

00china canteen 02 zkwg master1050社区食堂原本是为老年人创办的,但正在吸引更年轻的人群。00china canteen 05 zkwg master1050有数十种不同的菜肴可供选择,包括油焖鸭和炒蚕豆,便宜的只需十块钱。00china canteen 07 zkwg master1050社区食堂看起来与普通餐馆相似。上海有逾305家得到政府补贴的食堂。

If there is one thing that Deng Chunlong, 31, is missing right now, it’s confidence. Mr. Deng’s personal-training business has suffered. Some clients have stopped going to his studio altogether. Others sign up for a third of the classes they used to, he said.

如果说31岁的邓春龙(音)现在缺少什么的话,那就是信心了。邓先生的私人健身教练业务已受到影响。一些客户已不再来他的工作室了。他说,其他人报名参加的课程数量只有以前的三分之一。

Mr. Deng, who is tall with unruly hair, has been eating cheaper food at the community canteen in Jing’an, a district of Shanghai, to reduce his spending. He recently stopped renting an apartment and sleeps in his Pilates studio.

邓先生身材高大,头发有点蓬乱,他一直在上海静安区的社区食堂吃便宜饭,以节省开支。他最近停止了续租公寓,改为在自己的普拉提工作室睡觉。

“I feel that business is not as easy as before,” he said between bites of cauliflower and pork. “It feels like people are not willing to spend as much.”

“我觉得生意不像以前那么容易做了,”他一边吃着肉片炒花椰菜,一边说。“感觉人们不愿意多花钱了。”

When Mr. Deng discovered the canteen a year ago, it had mostly older customers, he said, but the clientele has since expanded. “There are many young people now,” he said.

邓先生说,他一年前发现这家食堂时,里面的顾客大多是老年人,但顾客群体后来扩大了。“现在里面有很多年轻人,”他说。

In some neighborhoods, the young stand alongside older people, forming lines that sometimes stretch onto the street. The customers find the community canteens listed on restaurant apps and on social media platforms, where people also share tips about which dishes are the tastiest and the cheapest.

在一些社区食堂里,年轻人和老年人一起排队,长长的队伍有时一直延伸到街上。顾客在找饭馆手机应用和社交媒体平台上能找到社区食堂,还有人在这些平台上分享秘诀:哪道菜最好吃,哪道菜最便宜。

“Young people who are not very wealthy for the time being must visit Shanghai community canteens,” one person wrote on Xiaohongshu, an app similar to Instagram. Another person described the canteens as a “happy home for the poor.”

“暂时不太富裕的年轻人一定要去上海社区食堂,”一名用户在(类似于Instagram的应用程序)小红书上写道。另一名用户把社区食堂描述为“穷人的幸福之家”。

It was by scrolling on Dianping, a Chinese food app, that Charles Liang, 32, discovered Tianping Community Canteen in the upscale Shanghai neighborhood of Xuhui.

现年32岁的查尔斯·梁(音)在浏览中国美食应用大众点评时发现了位于上海高档社区徐汇区的天平街道社区食堂。

From the outside, the canteen looks more like a modern restaurant, with floor-to-ceiling windows and a red brick facade. Inside, the plastic blue boxes overflowing with colorful and dirtied plastic plates give the place more of a cafeteria vibe.

这个食堂从外面看更像是一家现代化餐厅,有落地窗和红砖外墙。食堂里面,装满了食客用过的各种颜色塑料盘子的蓝色塑料箱使其更像是自助餐厅。

00china canteen 06 zkwg master1050吃放的时候,桌边坐着年轻和年老的用餐者。00china canteen 04 zkwg master1050更多的年轻专业人士为了省钱已开始去食堂吃饭,他们这样做是出于对中国经济前景的不安。00china canteen 03 klhb master1050实惠的价格是吸引回头客的原因。

“I tend to save money,” said Mr. Liang, an independent graphic and clothing designer who said finding work had become harder. A two-month Covid lockdown across Shanghai in 2022 also weighed on his outlook, he said, making him more ambivalent about his future and cautious about his finances.

“我喜欢省钱,”梁先生说,他是从事平面和服装设计的独立工作者,他说找工作已变得越来越难。上海曾在2022年实施了长达两个月的新冠封城,他说,那件事也加重了他对前景的悲观看法,让他对自己的未来有更多的矛盾情绪,对自己的财务状况更加谨慎。

Mr. Liang said he ate regularly at the canteen, which opened in 2020. On this particular evening, when he arrived for dinner, every table was full. One man in a three-piece suit sat down with a tray filled with dishes and began to partition food into plastic takeout containers. Nearly everyone ate quickly and left.

梁先生说,他经常在这个食堂吃饭,食堂是2020年开业的。具体到他来吃饭的那个晚上,他到食堂时,每张桌子都已坐满人。一名身穿三件套西装的男子端着一个装满菜盘的托盘坐下来后,开始将食物分装到塑料容器中带走。几乎所有人都吃得很快,然后很快离开。

As Mr. Liang was finishing his meal, the dinner crowd began to thin out and some of the canteen’s servers and chefs sat down to eat. One of the servers, Li Cuiping, 61, a migrant worker from the central Chinese province of Henan, said she had been serving people in the canteen for half a year and had noticed more young people in recent months. “Everyone is welcome,” she said.

梁先生快吃完时,吃饭的人已经不多了,食堂的一些服务员和厨师也开始坐下来吃饭。其中一名服务员叫李翠萍(音),现年61岁,是来自中国中部河南省的农民工。她说,她已在食堂工作了半年,最近几个月注意到来吃饭的年轻人越来越多。“欢迎所有的人来,”她说。

On a recent Wednesday at another canteen, near Jiangsu Road in the Changning district, a worker known as Fatty Yao was busy clearing more than a dozen empty blue and white dishes left by a group of young office workers. The canteen was serving more young people like that group, he said.

最近的一个周三,在长宁区江苏路附近的另一个社区食堂里,一名外号“胖姚”的工人正在忙着收拾一群年轻上班族留下来的十几个蓝白相间的空盘子。他说,这个食堂正在为更多像这群刚走的人那样的年轻人服务。

The dishes had been left by Qiu Long, 24, and five of his colleagues who worked together at a lighting design company about a 10-minute walk down the road. Mr. Long and his colleagues said they had started eating at the canteen only a week ago.

那些盘子是24岁的龙邱和他的五名同事留在那里的,他们在一家照明设计公司工作,公司距离食堂走路大约10分钟。龙先生和他的同事说,他们一周前才开始在食堂吃饭。

They kept returning, though, because it was cheaper and offered more variety than other eateries nearby, many of which Mr. Long said tended to go out of business after a few months.

但他们已经成了回头客,因为食堂比附近的其他餐馆更便宜,菜品也更多。许多小餐馆常常在开张几个月后就倒闭了,龙先生说。

“I think for working people,” Mr. Long said, “the canteen is a more affordable place to eat.”

“我觉得对上班族来说,食堂是一个吃饭更实惠的地方,”龙先生说。

00china canteen 08 zkwg master1050经常看到人们将大量的剩菜打包带走。

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