纽约时报中文网 - 中英对照版-中英催生无效中国2023年出生人口继续减少
January 17, 2024 7 min 1291 words
这篇报道揭示了中国政府在人口问题上的困境，尤其是在生育率不断下降和人口老龄化的压力下。尽管政府采取了一系列鼓励生育的措施，包括提供便宜的住房、税收优惠和现金奖励，但这些努力似乎并未取得明显成效。 报道指出，中国女性普遍对婚姻和生育持谨慎态度，部分原因是根深蒂固的性别不平等和社会观念的改变。政府强调传统家庭价值观，但女性在社交媒体上和现实生活中表达了对这种观念的反感。此外，报道还揭示了在法律实践中，对女性在离婚案件中的权益保护不足的问题，这可能进一步阻碍了女性对生育的积极性。 整体而言，这篇报道突显了中国社会在性别平等和人口问题上所面临的复杂挑战，以及政府在调整传统价值观和应对人口老龄化方面的尝试的不足之处。
China’s ruling Communist Party is facing a national emergency. To fix it, the party wants more women to more have babies.
中国执政的共产党正面临国家紧急事态。为解决这个问题，该党希望更多女性生育更多孩子。
It has offered them sweeteners, like cheaper housing, tax benefits and cash. It has also invoked patriotism, calling on them to be “good wives and mothers.”
政府给她们提供了一些甜头，比如更便宜的住房、税收优惠和现金。它还用上了爱国主义，呼吁她们做“贤妻良母”。
The efforts aren’t working. Chinese women have been shunning marriage and babies at such a rapid pace that China’s population in 2023 shrank for the second straight year, accelerating the government’s sense of crisis over the country’s rapidly aging population and its economic future.
这些努力没有奏效。中国女性一直在以迅猛的速度逃避婚姻和孩子，以至于2023年中国人口连续第二年出现萎缩，这加剧了政府对中国人口迅速老龄化和经济前景的危机感。
China said on Wednesday that 9.02 million babies were born in 2023, down from 9.56 million in 2022 and the seventh year in a row that the number has fallen. Taken together with the number of people who died during the year — 11.1 million — China has more older people than anywhere else in the world, an amount that is rising rapidly. China’s population was “1,409.67 million” people at the end of 2023, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.
中国周三表示，2023年出生人口为902万，低于2022年的956万，这是该数字连续第七年下降。加上去年死亡的1110万人，中国的老年人比世界上任何地方都多，而且这个数字还在迅速上升。根据国家统计局的数据，截至2023年底，中国人口为14.0967亿人。
The shrinking and aging population worries Beijing because it is draining China of the working-age people it needs to power the economy. The demographic crisis, which arrived sooner than nearly anyone expected, is already straining weak and underfunded health care and pension systems.
人口萎缩和老龄化令中国政府忧心忡忡，因为这使得中国失去了经济发展所需的适龄劳动人口。人口危机的到来比几乎所有人预期的都要早，给本就薄弱且资金不足的医疗和养老金体系带来了压力。
China hastened the problem with its one-child policy, which pushed the birthrate down for three decades. The rule also created generations of young only-child girls who were given an education and employment opportunities — a cohort that turned into empowered women who now view Beijing’s efforts as pushing them back into the home.
中国的独生子女政策加速了这一问题，它将出生率压低了30年。该政策也造就了一代又一代年轻的独生女，她们获得了受教育和就业的机会——这个人群已经成为有能力的女性，现在，她们认为中国政府的努力是在把她们逼回家庭。
Xi Jinping, China’s top leader, has long talked about the need for women to return to more traditional roles in the home. He recently urged government officials to promote a “marriage and childbearing culture,” and to influence what young people think about “love and marriage, fertility and family.”
长期以来，中国最高领导人习近平一直在谈论女性回归家庭更传统角色的必要性。他最近敦促政府官员提倡“婚育文化”，影响年轻人的“婚恋观、生育观、家庭观”。
But experts said the efforts lacked any attempt to address one reality that shaped women’s views about parenting: deep-seated gender inequality. The laws that are meant to protect women and their property, and to ensure they are treated equally, have failed them.
但专家表示，这些努力没有试图解决影响女性育儿观的一个现实问题：根深蒂固的性别不平等。那些旨在保护女性及其财产，确保她们得到平等对待的法律令她们失望。
“Women still don’t feel sure enough to have children in our country,” said Rashelle Chen, a social media professional from the southern province of Guangdong. Ms. Chen, 33, has been married for five years and said she didn’t intend to have a baby.
“我们国家没有让很多女性安心生育的条件，”来自南方省份广东的社交媒体专业人士拉谢尔·陈（音）说。33岁的拉谢尔·陈已经结婚五年，她说自己没有要孩子的打算。
“It seems that the government’s birth policy is only aimed at making babies but doesn’t protect the person who gives birth,” she said. “It does not protect the rights and interests of women.”
“生育政策好像只是针对传宗接代，完全没有保护生育的那个人，”她说。“没有保护女性自身的权益。”
Propaganda campaigns and state-sponsored dating events goad young people to get married and have babies. In China, it is uncommon for unmarried couples or a single person to have children. State media is filled with calls for China’s youths to play a role in “rejuvenating the nation.”
宣传活动和国家主办的相亲活动鼓励年轻人结婚生子。在中国，未婚夫妇或单身人士生孩子并不多见。官方媒体上有大量呼吁年轻人在“民族复兴”中发挥作用的言论。
The message has been received by parents, many of whom already share traditional views about marriage. Ms. Chen’s parents sometimes get so upset at her decision not to have children that they cry on the phone. “We are no longer your parents,” they tell her.
父母们已经接受了这一信息，他们当中许多人本来就持有传统的婚姻观。拉谢尔·陈的父母有时会对她不要孩子的决定感到生气，他们会在电话里哭闹。“我们断绝关系，”他们告诉她。
Women in China today have a better awareness of their rights because of the rise in advocacy against sexual harassment and workplace discrimination. The authorities have tried to silence China’s feminist movement, but its ideas about equality remain widespread.
由于反对性骚扰和职场歧视的呼声越来越高，中国女性对自己的权利有了更好的认识。当局试图压制中国的女权运动，但女权运动关于平等的思想仍然广泛传播。
“During these past 10 years, there is a huge community of feminists that have been built up through the internet,” said Zheng Churan, a Chinese women’s rights activist, who was detained with four other activists on the eve of International Women’s Day in 2015. “Women are more empowered today,” Ms. Zheng said.
“过去十年里，通过互联网，建立了一个庞大的女权主义社区，”中国女权活动人士郑楚然说，她曾在2015年国际妇女节前夕与其他四名活动人士一起被捕。“今天的女性更有力量了，”郑楚然说。
Censorship has silenced much of the debate around women’s issues, sometimes tamping down on public discussion of sexual discrimination, harassment or gender violence. Yet women have been able to share their experiences online and provide support to the victims, Ms. Zheng said.
审查制度压制了很多围绕女性问题的辩论，有时还压制了关于性别歧视、骚扰或性别暴力的公开讨论。然而，郑楚然说，女性可以在网上分享自己的经历，并为受害者提供支持。
On paper, China has laws to promote gender equality. Employment discrimination based on gender, race or ethnicity is illegal, for example. In practice, companies advertise for male candidates and discriminate against female employees, said Guo Jing, an activist who has helped to provide legal support to women facing discrimination and sexual harassment in the workplace.
“In some ways, women are more aware of gender inequality in every area of life,” Ms. Guo said. “It’s still difficult for women to get justice, even in court.” In 2014, she sued a state-owned company, Dongfang Cooking Training School, after she was told not to apply for a job because she was a woman. She prevailed, but was awarded only about $300 in compensation.
“在某种程度上，女性更加意识到生活各个领域的性别不平等，”郭晶说。“女性仍然很难得到公正，即使是在法庭上。”2014年，她起诉了国有企业东方烹饪职业技能培训学校，因为她被告知学校只招聘男性。她胜诉了，但只获得了2000元的赔偿。
A recent uptick in shocking social media postings and news articles about acts of violence against women have grabbed the attention of the nation, like the savage beating of several women in Tangshan at a restaurant and the story of a mother of eight who was found chained to the wall of a shack.
Women often cite such violent acts when discussing why they don’t want to get married. Changes to policies and regulations, like a new rule requiring a 30-day cooling-off period before civil divorces can be made final, are another. Marriage rates have been falling for nine years. That trend, once limited mostly to cities, has spread to rural areas as well, according to government statistics.
女性在讨论为什么不想结婚时，经常提到这种暴力行为。政策和法规的变化也是一个原因，比如，新规定要求民事离婚必须有30天的冷静期才能最终裁定。结婚率已经连续九年下降。政府统计数据显示，这一趋势曾经主要局限于城市，现在也蔓延到了农村地区。
Another reason women say they don’t want to get married is that it has gotten harder to win a divorce in court if it is contested.
女性说她们不想结婚的另一个原因是，如果发生争议，在法庭上获得离婚裁决变得越来越困难。
An analysis of nearly 150,000 court rulings on divorce cases by Ethan Michelson, a professor at Indiana University, found that 40 percent of the petitions filed by women were denied by a judge, often when there was evidence of domestic violence.
印第安纳大学教授伊森·迈克尔森分析了近15万份法院对离婚案件的裁决，发现40%的女性离婚申请被法官驳回，而且往往是在有家庭暴力证据的情况下。
“There have been so many strong signals from the very top, from Xi’s own mouth, about family being the bedrock of Chinese society and family stability being the foundation of social stability and national development,” Mr. Michelson said. “There is no doubt that these signals have reinforced judges’ tendencies,” he said.
“从最高层，从习近平本人的口中，已经发出了非常强烈的信号——家庭是中国社会的基石，家庭稳定是社会稳定和国家发展的基础，”迈克尔森说。“毫无疑问，这些信号强化了法官的倾向，”他说。
Popular sayings online — such as “a marriage license has become a license to beat,” or worse — are reinforced by news reports. In just one of many similar cases last summer, a woman in the northwestern province of Gansu was denied a divorce petition despite evidence of domestic abuse; a judge said the couple needed to stay together for their children. Another woman in the southern city of Guangzhou was murdered by her husband during a 30-day divorce cooling-off period.
In 2011, a Supreme People’s Court ruled that family homes would no longer be divided in divorce, but instead given to the person whose name was on the deed — a finding that favored men.
2011年，最高人民法院裁定，离婚时家庭房产不再分割，而是由房产证标明的业主所有，这一裁决有利于男性。
“That decision really frightened a lot of women in China,” said Leta Hong Fincher, the author of “Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China.”
“这个裁决真的吓坏了很多中国女性，”《剩女时代》(Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China)一书的作者洪理达(Leta Hong Fincher)说。
That sense of panic has not gone away.
这种恐慌并没有消失。
“Instead of having more care and protection, mothers become more vulnerable to abuse and isolation,” said Elgar Yang, 24, a journalist in Shanghai.
“不仅没有拥有更多社会关怀，反而是更加容易被虐待、被束之高阁的一个对象，”24岁的上海记者埃尔加·杨（音）说。
Policies by the government that are meant to entice women to marry, she added, “even make me feel that it is a trap.”
她还说，政府旨在吸引女性结婚的政策，“甚至让我觉得它是一个trap（陷阱）。”