There aren't many places in this town to spend money. Jiayuguan is in the Gobi desert, an outpost on the ancient Silk Road that linked Europe with the Orient. In the 1950s, some 50,000 construction workers nearly starved to death building the town's steel mill, part of Mao Zedong's Great Leap Forward.
在嘉峪关市，人们找不到太多可以花钱的地方。该市地处戈壁沙漠，是联结欧洲与东方的古丝绸之路上的一座偏远小城。1950年，大约5万名建筑工人在兴建该市钢铁厂的过程中几乎被饿死。那项建设是毛泽东发动的“大跃进”运动的一部分。
Now this city of 200,000-odd people - about the size of, say, Milton Keynes and surroundings - has just got its first department store and fast-food chain. KFC, as it happens, which often goes where fast food has never been before in China.
如今，这座拥有20余万人口的城市――规模大概相当于英国的米尔顿凯恩斯(Milton Keynes)及周边地区――刚刚开设了第一家购物中心和快餐连锁店。凑巧的是，肯德基(KFC)也常爱把店开到中国从未接触过快餐的地方。
It's all part of the grand plan shared in Beijing and in company boardrooms around the world: to spread the habit of spending money to the farthest reaches of the Middle Kingdom. Let a billion shoppers bloom. The aim is to substitute consumption-led growth for the investment boom that has powered the Chinese economy for decades.
把花钱的习惯传播到“中央王国”最偏远的地方，正是中国政府和世界各国企业董事会都酝酿实施的宏伟计划的一部分。让十亿消费者大举消费，目的是用消费主导型增长来代替数十年来驱动中国经济发展的投资热潮。
China's new-born middle class is definitely establishing a foothold in small cities such as this. But will they behave like their big-city brethren, who are famous for spending all - if not more than - they earn each month? Will the habit of profligacy come as easily to consumers raised in a deep-rooted culture of thrift?
在嘉峪关这样的小城市，新兴中产阶级无疑正在生根发芽。但他们是否会像中国大城市的中产阶级那样，成为著名的“月光族”甚至“月欠族”?在根深蒂固的节俭文化中成长起来的消费者，是否会像大城市中产阶级那样，轻易养成大把花钱的习惯?
We've gathered an impromptu focus group of Jiayuguan's new middle class at a local restaurant where diners jostle to get to the bowls of fish and fowl, sauces and condiments, used to flavour an each-man-for-himself hotpot.
在当地的一家餐馆，我们临时召集起了一个代表嘉峪关市新兴中产阶级的焦点小组，作为访谈的对象。在这里，食客们争相涌向一碗碗鸡鸭鱼肉、酱料和调味品，给自己的单人火锅增添美味。这家餐馆位于新开业的东方百盛购物中心顶层，紧挨着肯德基。该购物中心是嘉峪关市第一座现代化的零售商场。
The restaurant is on the top floor of the new East Parkson department store, the first modern retail development in the city, next door to KFC.
坐在餐桌边的是四位年轻的专业人士，有些已婚，有些单身;有些已在外打拼，有些则仍留在家乡发展。
At the table are four young professionals. Some are married and some single; some have flown the nest, others still live at home.
为了在21世纪的中国取得成功，所有人都面对着各种挑战。这四个人在嘉峪关市长大，但多数已在大城市工作了若干年。在那里，他们懂得了怎样大把花钱，但几乎没有谁想沾染任何挥霍的习气。
All are confronting the challenges of getting ahead in 21st-century China. They grew up in Jiayuguan but most have spent several years working in big cities, where they learned how the profligacy thing is done. And most of them don't want any part of it.
景曦(音译)是一名公务员，已经订婚。他在上海工作了四年，那座城市有2300万人，是他家乡的人口的100多倍。他在上海目睹了贪图物质的生活方式，并拒绝成为其中的一员。“我不是那种把钱全都造光的人，”他说，“我正在攒钱买房。”
Jing Xi is a civil servant, engaged to be married and no fan of the materialistic lifestyle he witnessed during four years working in Shanghai, whose population of 23 million is more than 100 times larger than that of his hometown. “I'm not the kind of person to spend all my money,” he says. “I'm saving for a house.”
景曦在上海作软件工程师，每月可挣到7000到9000元人民币(合727至937英镑)。嘉峪关市的工资水平不及上海，但它也拥有后者不具备的优势。“房租没那么贵，”景曦说道，“所以尽管工资只有沿海城市的一半、甚至还不到一半，但我们的可支配收入也许更高。”
Salaries are lower in Jiayuguan than they are in Shanghai, where Jing earned between Rmb7,000 and Rmb9,000 (GBP727-GBP937) per month as a software engineer. But there are benefits, too. “The cost of an apartment is cheaper,” says Jing. “So although our salary is only half or even less than half of that in coastal cities, our disposable income may be higher.”
在家乡生活还有一个优势：父母会负担他的各种开销，年已30岁的景曦则可攒下足够的钱，每月买下一平米梦想中的房产。“在上海，我绝无可能做到这一点。”
He goes one better by living at home, where his parents cover all his costs - leaving Jing, who is 30, with enough savings to pay for one square metre of his dream property every month. “In Shanghai I could never do that.”
其原因在于，中国大城市的房价已涨到每月攒下一部分工资都不足以攀登上“房产阶梯”的地步。怪不得有些人宁愿把钱花在手袋上。
That's because in China's biggest cities, property prices have risen beyond the point where saving part of your salary each month is enough to get a foot on the property ladder. It's no wonder some prefer handbags.
而在嘉峪关市，普通人还能买得起房。因此，景曦这代人从父辈身上学到的节俭习惯，仍然有意义。这种习惯是由数十年乃至数百年的贫困造成的。
In Jiayuguan, where property prices remain affordable for ordinary people, the habit of thrift that Jing's generation learnt from their parents - a habit shaped by decades if not centuries of deprivation - still makes sense.
就连那些刚作父母的人也会想方设法把大部分工资攒下来。他们不像中国其他地方的父母那样，把可能多达一半的工资都花在进口配方奶粉和其他必需品上。 29岁的郅慧(音译)就是这么攒钱的。她是当地酒泉钢铁集团的一名员工，和父母住在一起。郅慧说，父母负担了她宝宝多数用品的开销，因此她能把半数收入存起来――大多用来购买了企业债。
Even new parents, like Zhi Hui, a 29-year-old employee of the local Jiugang steel company, find ways to save most of their salary - unlike parents elsewhere in China, who find the high cost of imported milk formula and other necessities can cost up to half their salary each month. Zhi lives with her parents, who pay for most of the baby's things, so she can put half her income into savings - mostly corporate bonds, she says.
这种审慎的态度让我们的餐桌调查产生了第一个有点令人意外的结论：虽然中国人喜爱西方奢侈品品牌，但没有谁在焦急地期盼香奈儿(Chanel)马上在嘉峪关市开一家精品店。
This cautious attitude produces the first slightly surprising conclusion around our dinner table: despite China's penchant for western luxury brands, no one is holding their breath for Chanel to open a boutique in Jiayuguan anytime soon.
27岁的吴青青(音译)已经成家，是一名公务员。她热衷于在淘宝网(相当于中国的eBay)上淘便宜货。她说：“我努力控制自己，每月在淘宝上花的钱不得超过1000元人民币(合104英镑)。”在淘宝的消费无疑为她添置了各种装备――亮蓝色的T恤、带有金色饰品的粉色棒球帽、看似很像芬迪 (Fendi)品牌的宝蓝色和粉红色的人造革手袋等――但她每月还是能攒下3000元人民币(合312英镑)。[page]
Wu Qingqing is 27, married, a civil servant and an avid bargain hunter on Taobao, the Chinese version of eBay. “I try to control myself to spend no more than Rmb1,000 (GBP104) on Taobao per month,” she says. But even with the Taobao outlay - which doubtless provided some of Wu's outfit of sparkly blue T-shirt, pink baseball cap with gold-toned studs, and a Fendi lookalike handbag in royal blue and shocking pink pleather - she still saves Rmb3,000 (GBP312) every month.
吴青青说：“我自己不买奢侈品，朋友中也很少有人会考虑连续几个月啃面包喝白开水、只为了买一件不常用的奢侈品。”
“Personally, I don't buy luxury goods, and very few of my friends would consider eating bread and water for months just to buy a luxury item that is barely used,” she says.
在中国的偏远城市，穿戴正品并不能带来多少社会地位方面的提升。“人们全都会认为那是假货，”吴青青说道。而在上海，“即便买不起，人们还是愿意掏钱买正品。”
In China's out-of-the-way cities, there simply isn't much status to be gained by wearing the right labels. “People will all assume it is fake,” Wu says. In Shanghai, on the other hand, “people will buy them even if they cannot afford them.”
即便是某些能砸钱购买芬迪产品或一辆法拉利(Ferrari)的人，他们这么做也不会是出于深层次的文化原因，同样从上海返乡的王春雷(音译)说道。那不过是炫耀性消费，让自己显得与众不同罢了。
Even some of those who could shell out for Fendi or a Ferrari will not do so for subtle cultural reasons, says Wang Chunlei, another returnee from Shanghai. Conspicuous consumption is just that: it marks people out from the crowd.
据他估计，“这里约有20%的人已有能力消费奢侈品。”
“About 20 per cent of the population has reached the level where they could consume luxury goods,” Wang reckons.
“但由于这一群体还太小，而且他们周围的人并没有奢侈品，因此他们不愿在同侪中表现得太过张扬。所以，真正愿意购买奢侈品的人是非常有限的，”王春雷说道。
“But since it's such a small population, and people around them don't have luxury goods, then they will not want to assume a high profile among their peers.
尽管这四人对大城市中产阶级“赚多少就花多少”的做法普遍怀有戒心，但我们的小城餐桌调查也发现了另一种潮流，即所谓的“绿色”消费。景曦表示，他愿意把钱花在一个叫“美体小铺”(The Body Shop)的品牌上，“因为它没什么化学添加剂”。他更喜欢在网上购买手工香皂，因为它们的品质更纯。
So the population that is actually willing to buy luxury goods is very small,” he says.
嘉峪关市还有很长的路要走：这里的消费革命才刚刚起步。该市现在连一家大型综合购物中心都没有，更不用说普拉达(Prada)了。零售业分析师认为，由于大城市零售市场饱和、赚取利润越来越难，西方品牌在中国的未来将取决于这些小城市。
Despite a general wariness towards the getting-and-spending of their big-city counterparts, one trend catching on around our small-town dinner table is so-called “green” consumption. Jing Xi says that one brand he is willing to spend money on is The Body Shop, “because it has few chemical additives”. He prefers handmade soaps, which he buys online, because they are purer.
但从我们餐桌调查的对象来看，中国不嗜奢华的中产阶级对这些品牌的到来，并没有那种望眼欲穿的渴望。“我觉得住在像嘉峪关这样的小城市，我们很幸福，”喜欢淘便宜货的吴青青说。
It's still early days in Jiayuguan: the consumer revolution has only just begun. The town doesn't even have a shopping mall yet - never mind a Prada. Small cities like this are where the future of western brands in China will be decided, retail analysts say, as it becomes harder and harder to make profits in the retail-saturated big cities.
“这里的消费水平适中，你在本地商店买不到的东西，可以在淘宝上买到。这里不会堵车，只要10到20分钟便可到达办公室。而且对年轻人来说，房价也可以接受。”
But to judge from our diners, China's unglamorous middle class is not exactly aching for the day the brands arrive. “I think we have a strong sense of happiness, living in a small city like Jiayuguan,” says Wu, the bargain hunter.
在今天的中国，幸福的内涵可不止是手袋。
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