【英语中国】中国反腐致月饼身价大跌

Whose head will be the next to roll in Beijing’s anti-corruption campaign? Sinologists all over the world are reading the teacup dregs on that one right now, but I prefer to read the price tags on mooncakes at the local supermarket. And I can report that the new age of austerity has led to a fairly steep devaluation of the renmin-mooncake.

Mooncakes are the fruitcake of the Orient: more of a gesture than a pastry. The luxury variety – popular for gifting by bureaucrats, mandarins and crony capitalists – come in gift boxes that are worth several times the value of the concoction of suet and duck egg yolk inside. Recent years have seen a veritable arms race in mooncake packaging, with millions of renminbi wasted each year on cakes that no one ever gets around to eating (though the secondary market in mooncake regifting is quite active). But now outré is out and austerity is all. The days of the jewel-encrusted mooncake may be numbered.

The official People’s Daily reported on the front page of its Monday edition that the mooncake market had returned to its senses this year, the result of a government ban on using public funds to buy the traditional pastries which mark the celebration of the lunar “mid-autumn festival” later this month. “Unhealthy trends” – such as using government money to buy jewels to decorate the mooncake, presumably – have been stamped out, like Bo Xilai’s political career.

The People’s Daily celebrates the fact that most gift sets in the grocery store these days cost less than Rmb200 ($33) – and unlike last year, it is hard to find any priced more than Rmb1,000. And it seems mooncakes stuffed with shark fin – a symbol of excess if ever there was one – have disappeared from markets in one southern city, according to Guangdong’s Foshan Daily.

It is not just government officials who are shy about splashing out on the mooncake de luxe this year: one Chinese newspaper last week quoted a purveyor of five-star pastries in Shanghai saying that pharmaceuticals companies had slashed their mooncake budget this year too. Call it the GSK effect; GlaxoSmithKline is facing corruption investigations for allegedly wooing doctors with free, or even fake, conferences in China. The pharma industry can hardly risk a fake mooncake scandal on top of that.

And even mooncake coupon touts are complaining. Mooncake gift coupons are normally purchased by companies to give to their staff, or as the favourite currency of graft for officials at holiday time. But this year the bottom seems to have fallen out of the scalping market too, with touts reporting that the coupon supply has dried up.

It is not, it seems, just a matter of mooncakes: prices of crabs, another traditional holiday delicacy, are being heavily discounted, in part (merchants surmise) because of the austerity campaign. Shops along Hong Kong’s malodorous if atmospheric “dried seafood street” say the campaign has depressed sales of traditional banquet foods such as dried abalone, shark fin and bird’s nest. Sales of high-end liquors used to grease the wheels of graft have also been hit hard; Maotai, the favourite firewater of Chinese officials, reported this week that revenue growth had fallen to the lowest rate since 2003 – when sales were hit by the Sars epidemic.

Moon festival television galas – the kind of larger-than-life entertainment that gives China’s modern culture its unique over-the-top flavour – have been cancelled by many provincial stations and even CCTV, the national broadcaster, says it is counting on donations (from, among other things, overseas Chinese) to stage the show. Next year’s Chinese New Year gala – the high point of the TV-viewing year for many Chinese families – promises to be a rather frugal affair.

In fact, China risks turning into a pale imitation of its former self, if abstemiousness sets in for good. Government buildings, which can always be counted on to take architectural excess to new levels, are being reined in. Government employees are being told to stay in budget hotels and take public transport when they travel. One local government has even ordered officials to carpool in its cars when they travel outside their county.

Will all this add up to a China where thrift is the new graft? It is far too soon to read that into the tea leaves yet. But mooncake prices do not lie: the graft industry is suffering. Just watch out for a lot of old mooncake regifting next year. Fruitcake, anyone?

在中国政府打击腐败的行动中，哪个行业将成为下一个目标？世界各地的中国专家此刻都在端详杯底的茶叶末（古代西方的一种占卜方法，译者注），我却更愿意研究一下当地超市的月饼价签。我发现，新节俭时代的到来已导致月饼价格大幅下降。

月饼是东方式干果蛋糕：它不只是一种糕点，还可用以示好拉关系。高档月饼会装在礼盒里，包装盒的价格比板油和鸭蛋黄等月饼馅料贵好几倍，高官要员、普通干部和裙带资本家之间非常流行送这种月饼。近几年来，中国月饼市场上掀起了包装盒大比拼，每年在包装上浪费的金额高达数百万元人民币，可这些月饼却没有人吃（不过，转送月饼的二手市场倒相当活跃）。但如今，铺张浪费之风不见了，紧缩时代到来了。以珠宝装饰月饼的日子可能已经屈指可数。

周一（9月2日）《人民日报》的头版文章称，由于今年公款送月饼的做法被叫停，月饼市场已回归理性。本月晚些时候将迎来中国农历的“中秋节”，月饼正是庆祝这一节日的传统食品。“不正之风”——大概包括用公款买珠宝装饰月饼的做法——已被刹住，就像薄熙来的政治生涯。

《人民日报》报道称，商场里多数月饼礼盒的价格都不超过200元人民币（合33美元），跟去年不同的是，千元以上礼盒已难觅踪迹。据广东的《佛山日报》报道，鱼翅馅月饼（鱼翅是奢华的象征，如果是真鱼翅的话）在佛山这座南方城市已基本绝迹。

今年，不敢重金购买高档月饼的不只是政府官员：上周，一家中国报纸援引上海一名顶级糕点供应商的话说，制药企业今年也大幅降低了月饼预算。这可以称为“葛兰素史克(GSK)效应”。葛兰素史克正在接受腐败调查，其被指控在中国通过免费、甚至虚假的会议拉拢医生。在这种形势下，制药业再也经受不起假月饼丑闻的打击了。

就连月饼券贩子们也开始抱怨起来。企业通常会在中秋节前购买月饼券发给员工，或者送给官员——这是一种很受欢迎的行贿方式。但今年，月饼券倒卖市场看来也萎靡不振了。券贩子们表示，月饼券供应量显著减少了。

看来遇到麻烦的不只有月饼。另一种传统中秋美食螃蟹的价格也大幅下滑，商家推测部分原因在于节俭运动。在香港气味有些难闻的“海产品干货街”上，多家商铺表示，这场运动抑制了鲍鱼、鱼翅和燕窝等传统宴会食品的销量。作为行贿佳选的高端白酒销量也大受冲击。最受中国官员青睐的“茅台”酒公告称，其营收增长率已跌到了自2003年非典肆虐以来的最低水平。

许多省级电视台已宣布今年不举办中秋晚会——这类“高于生活”的娱乐节目给中国当代文化染上带有夸张意味的中国特色，就连中央电视台都表示，今年中秋晚会的筹办经费将依靠捐款（比如海外侨胞的捐款）。明年春节联欢晚会也将是一台相当朴素的晚会。对许多中国家庭来说，每年春晚都是全年最精彩的电视节目。

实际上，如果节俭之风长久保持下去，那么中国有可能陷入对自身历史的拙劣模仿。政府办公大楼一直在把建筑浪费推向新的高度，这类建筑已开始受到限制。政府工作人员出差需住经济型酒店，乘坐公共交通工具。某地政府甚至规定，官员到外地出差时需要合用公车。

所有这一切会让中国迎来节俭的新风气吗？现在下定论还为时过早。不过，月饼价格不会说谎：贪腐产业正受到冲击。等着看明年有没有大量旧月饼被转送吧。干果蛋糕，有人想来一块儿吗？

译者/何黎