A deliveryman falls for a female livestreamer. She seduces him, drains his savings, then vanishes. Heartbroken, he reinvents himself as a successful businessman seeking revenge on women like her.

一名快递员爱上了一个女主播。女主播引诱他，榨干他的积蓄后便消失得无影无踪。心碎之下，他改头换面成为一名成功商人，决心向这类女人复仇。

This is the plot of Revenge on Gold Diggers, one of the most popular and contentious video games in China.

这是《捞女游戏》的剧情，它是中国最热门也最具争议的电子游戏之一。

The interactive game, which debuted in June to enormous success, temporarily topped the charts on Steam China, the local version of the global gaming platform. Its tagline, “Who killed love? It’s the gold diggers who killed love,” has electrified Chinese social media. Players, cast as “emotional fraud hunters,” navigate romantic relationships, searching for deception while guarding their wallets — and their hearts.

这款互动游戏于6月推出后大获成功，在全球游戏平台Steam中国版的排行榜上一度位居榜首。其宣传语“是谁，杀死了爱情？是捞女杀死了爱情”在中文社交媒体上掀起轩然大波。玩家扮演“情感诈骗猎手”，在恋爱关系中周旋，既要识破骗局、守护钱包，也要保护自己的心。

One of the most liked comments on the game’s community board calls it “an elegy for our generation of Chinese men.” Another declares, “Men must never retreat — this is a fight to the death.”

游戏社区版块中，一条获赞颇多的评论称其为“我们这代中国大陆男性的悲歌”。另一条则宣称：“男人，绝不后退一步，这是决死的斗争。”

The game has drawn the enthusiasm of disaffected young men, and fierce criticism from other corners. It has been decried as misogynistic. Some male gamers complain it panders to the Chinese government’s concerns about plummeting marriage and birth rates.

这款游戏吸引了心怀不满的年轻人的热情，同时也遭到了其他方面的猛烈抨击。它被抨击为厌恶女性。一些男性玩家抱怨游戏迎合了中国政府对结婚率和出生率急剧下降的担忧。

The debates surrounding Revenge on Gold Diggers reveal deep-seated male resentment and the broader socioeconomic anxieties about love, marriage and financial security in China.

围绕《捞女游戏》的争论揭示了中国男性内心深处的怨恨，以及对爱情、婚姻和经济安全的广泛社会经济焦虑。

In recent years, a sense of stagnation, compounded by high housing costs, worsening job markets and limited social mobility, has left many young Chinese men disillusioned. This economic malaise has dovetailed with anxiety around dating, marriage and masculinity, breeding a sense of emotional desperation.

近年来，高昂的房价、不断恶化的就业市场和有限的社会流动性加剧了停滞感，让许多中国年轻男性心灰意冷。经济不景气与对约会、婚姻和男子气概的焦虑交织在一起，滋生出一种情感上的绝望感。

The Chinese internet is full of bitter comments from men who write about feeling reduced to “walking wallets” in romantic relationships, perpetuating a sense of victimization.

中国互联网上充斥着男性的怨言，他们说在恋爱关系中感觉自己沦为了“行走的钱包”，从而延续了一种受害者的感觉。

Amid anxiety about the economy, jobs, high marriage costs and gender imbalances, many young people are reluctant to get married and have children. Last year, 6.1 million couples registered for marriage, a 21 percent plunge from a year earlier and fewer than half the number in 2013.

出于对经济、就业、高婚姻成本和性别失衡的焦虑，许多年轻人不愿结婚生子。去年，有610万对夫妇登记结婚，比前一年下降了21%，不到2013年的一半。

“The economic challenges are very real, and they naturally give rise to anxiety,” said a Beijing-based video producer who asked that I use only his family name, Huang, for fear of government retaliation. In an interview, he called the game “a cheap, opportunistic product” that “very precisely taps into the intense gender antagonism currently sweeping through Chinese society.”

“经济下行是真实的，就会有焦虑情绪，”北京的一位视频制作人说，因担心遭政府报复，他仅透露自己姓黄（音）。他在采访中称这款游戏是“很廉价很投机的产品”，“很精准切中了中国目前剧烈的两性对立情绪。”

He said he believed the game appealed particularly to incels, involuntarily celibate men who consider themselves unattractive to women. A global phenomenon, the incels often blame women for their romantic failures. They tend to be economically marginalized and socially isolated, and to see the game as both therapy and resistance.

他认为，这款游戏对非自愿独身者(incel)尤其具有吸引力。这类男性自认对女性缺乏吸引力。作为一种全球现象，非自愿独身者往往将恋爱不顺归咎于女性。他们通常在经济上处于边缘地位，在社会上被孤立，将这款游戏视为一种疗愈，也是一种反抗。

A 23-year-old unemployed man living with his parents in Chongqing, who also asked that I use only his surname, Xi, told me: “I hate women, though I still want to fall in love, just a little bit.” He has never been in a relationship, he said, and hopes Revenge on Gold Diggers could teach men like him how to behave in love.

一位仅透露自己姓席（音）的失业男子现年23岁，与父母同住，他告诉我：“我承认厌女，但也不是不想恋爱，好像有那么一点愿望。”他说自己从未谈过恋爱，希望《捞女游戏》能教会像他这样的男人如何处理感情。

After graduating from college, Mr. Xi worked briefly in an electronics assembly factory and as a phone service salesman. He quit both jobs because of health reasons and boredom, he said, and spends most of his time online. He said he joined online boycotts of brands that were perceived to support feminism, such as JD.com. The e-commerce site was targeted last year after hiring Yang Li, a comedian who once joked, “How can men look so average, and yet be so confident?” JD.com dropped Ms. Yang after the protests.

大学毕业后，席先生曾在一家电子装配厂短暂工作，还做过电话客服销售。他说，因健康原因和觉得无聊，他辞去了这两份工作，大部分时间都泡在网上。他还参加了对被认为支持女权主义的品牌（如京东）的线上抵制活动。这家电商平台去年因聘请了脱口秀演员杨笠而成为众矢之的，她曾开玩笑说：“男人为什么明明看起来那么普通，却又那么自信？”抗议发生后，京东与杨笠解约。

Mr. Xi said that his opinions about women and feminism were shaped by social media, and that he sometimes regretted and deleted some of his harsh comments. But other times he can’t help but fight with women online, he said.

席先生表示，他对女性和女权主义的看法受社交媒体影响，有时会后悔并删除一些过激言论。但他说，有时候他还是忍不住在网上和女性争执。

Like many of his peers, Mr. Xi sees himself as doubly oppressed, both by women and by the government. “The Chinese Communist Party and the Chinese government now inhabit a different world from ours. They are blind to our real situation,” he said.

和许多同龄人一样，席先生觉得自己受到双重压迫——来自女性和政府。“中国共产党还有中国政府他们实际上已经和我们形成了是两个世界，他们看不到我们的真实情况，”他说。

《捞女游戏》的截图。

The opening scene of Revenge on Gold Diggers features a heartbroken, overweight man who is about to jump to his death. That is widely understood as a reference to an incident in 2024 when a man died by jumping into the Yangtze River after his girlfriend suggested they take a break.

《捞女游戏》的开头是一位心碎的肥胖男子正要跳楼自杀。这被广泛认为是影射2024年的一起事件：一名男子在女友提出暂时分开后，跳入长江身亡。

The police investigated and found that the woman had done nothing wrong, calling it a “normal relationship.” But some men called her a “gold digger” and wanted her to be held legally accountable.

警方调查后认为该女子并无过错，称这是“真实恋爱关系”。但一些男性称她是“捞女”，要求追究其法律责任。

Another case cited in the game’s comment section is a 2023 conviction in Shanxi Province. A man was sentenced to three years in prison for raping his fiancée. The defense argued that betrothal implied consent, especially after the man had paid a so-called bride price of about $14,000. But the court ruled against him. The decision was included in the case library of China’s highest court, elevating its importance and further angering male commenters who saw it as evidence that feminists had taken over the legal system.

游戏评论区引用的另一个案例是2023年山西省的一起案件。一名男子因强奸未婚妻被判处三年有期徒刑。辩方辩称，订婚意味着同意，尤其是在该男子支付了约10万元的所谓彩礼之后。但法院做出了不利于他的判决。该判决被收录到中国最高法院的案例库中，提升了其重要性，也进一步激怒了男性评论者，他们认为这证明女权主义者已经控制了司法系统。

At the center of many of these grievances is the bride price, a Chinese custom in which the groom’s family pays money or gifts to a bride’s family before marriage. Once seen as a form of good will, it’s now often seen as a financial transaction and, unsurprisingly, a contentious one.

诸多不满的核心是彩礼——这是中国的一项传统习俗，即新郎家在婚前向新娘家支付金钱或礼物。彩礼曾被视为一种善意的表达，如今常被视为一种金钱交易，也因此充满争议。

In regions of China with many more men than women, bride prices can soar to tens of thousands of dollars, adding crushing financial burdens to young men. Male gamers and commenters sometimes describe the custom as “legalized robbery.”

在中国一些男多女少的地区，彩礼金额可能高达数十万元，给年轻男性带来沉重的经济负担。男性玩家和网友有时将这一习俗称为“合法抢劫”。

Feminists and many others argue that the system is part of deeper inequalities in the society. They note that women are not necessarily the financial beneficiaries.

女权主义者和许多人则认为，这一体系源于社会更深层次的不平等。她们指出，女性未必是经济上的受益者。

“In many cases, the money doesn’t go to the daughters at all,” Li Sipan, a visiting scholar at Stanford and an advocate for women’s rights, said in an interview. “It goes to her parents, and often gets used as bride price for her brothers,” she said. “In this sense, it’s not just intergenerational exploitation of daughters, but also of sisters.”

“彩礼通常的受益者并不是女儿，”斯坦福大学访问学者、女权倡导者李思磐在采访中说，“很多时候是要提供给自己的父母，甚至主要是父母要拿来做兄弟交给别人的彩礼。这种情况下，彩礼是一种代际剥削，也是对姐妹的剥削。”

She said the government’s failure to address broader inequalities and provide an adequate social safety net for women had intensified gender mistrust on both sides.

她说，政府未能解决更广泛的不平等问题，也未能为女性提供充分的社会安全网，这加剧了两性之间的不信任。

Some male gamers have turned against Revenge on Gold Diggers. After its developer, Qianfang Studio, publicly thanked female players for their support, some men posted screenshots canceling their purchases in protest. The game’s director later issued an apology for hurting players’ feelings. Qianfang Studio did not respond to a request for comment.

一些男性玩家开始抵制《捞女游戏》。在开发商前方工作室公开感谢女性玩家的支持后，一些男性玩家发布了取消购买的截图以示抗议。游戏导演随后就伤害玩家感情一事发表了道歉声明。前方工作室没有回应置评请求。

The government’s responses to the game have been more ambivalent. Shortly after the game’s release, the studio changed its Chinese title to Emotional Anti-Fraud Simulator. The English-language title remained, and the move was widely believed to be an effort to deflect criticism and appease the government.

政府对这款游戏的态度则更为矛盾。游戏推出后不久，工作室将其中文名称改为《情感反诈模拟器》。其英文名称未变，外界普遍认为此举是为了规避批评、安抚政府。

Yet the official newspaper Beijing Youth Daily published a favorable review, reposted by Xinhua News Agency, that highlighted the game’s potential for public education.

但《北京青年报》发表了一篇正面评论——后被新华社转载，强调这款游戏的公众教育潜力。

“Online romance scams are surging,” the article noted. “This game helps young people internalize the message: ‘Only by learning to protect yourself can you safeguard your true feelings and love.’”

文章指出：“网络婚恋诈骗案件持续高发，（这款游戏）希望帮助青年群体树立‘学会保护自己，才能守护真心与爱情’的认知。”