(C to E) 買車背後的文化暗流

All comments appreciated.

買車背後的文化暗流
http://qnsx.cyol.com/gb/qnsx/2005-10/20/content_79139.htm

     美國人買車，用快餐的方式，就像餓了就隨便到麥當勞吃點東西。
　 歐洲人買車，就像坐在左岸的酒吧里品嘗MACANUDO的雪茄，有絲詩意。
　 中國人買車,好像拍全家福，往往拖兒帶女，是一件大事。
　 買車，有N種方式。漢堡式，雪茄式和全家福式。我們選擇的是哪一種？
　 星期六早晨走進汽車銷售公司，一邊吃著公司里做的漢堡一邊聽業務員的講解，下午就把車開回去。
　 這是美國的方式。
　 我們不禁笑話，美國人買車，用快餐的方式，原來就像吃麥當勞那樣隨意。
　 突然之間我們濃厚地感知到愛國主義，美國通用的汽車征服市場，卻征服不了我們的生活方式。
　 在中國，我們買車就好像讀一個MBA，首先要溫習功課。排擋什麼國家生產的，都有什麼特點，發動機什麼型號什麼性能，都了如指掌。好像在中國想要買車的都須達到博導級別的，才不會吃了啞巴虧；至於現在不買車但想買車的人也都像專家。有一天我竟然聽到一群年輕人在聊吉利美人豹時，談笑之中分析了中國汽車產業結構和未來競爭態勢。
The Americans buy cars in a fast-food fashion, like a casual order in McDonald when feeling hungry.
The Europeans buy cars with a poetic touch, like tasting Macanudo cigar in a riverside bar.
The Chinese buy cars like a family event, taking their sons and daughters as if they were to take a family photo.
There are so many different s to buy a car: the hamburger way, cigar way, and family way. Which one are we choosing?
Walking into a car dealer on a Saturday morning, listening to the salesman』s pitch while having a burger offered by the dealer, the buyer ends up driving a new car home in the afternoon.
That is the American way.
We can』t help joking that Americans buy cars in such a fast-food fashion, as casual as taking a McDonald meal.
Abruptly a patriotic feel surges up. The American cars have conquered our markets, but they can not subdue our life s^tyle .
In China, we start a car purchase with research homework, as if doing a MBA course. We aim to know where the gear boxes are made  and what are their features; what  motors are fitted  and what are their performances like.  It appears that in China we have to become an expert before buying a car, otherwise we may be taken advantage of. It has gone so far that those merely in planning of buying a car talk like a car expert. One day I was amazed to hear a bunch of young fellows effortlessly covering China』s car industry structure and future competition trend in discussing Geely』s Queen Panther, a domestic  sports model.

買車背後的文化暗流 ---- The cultural undercurrent behind car purchase?

a good title translation!

haoone, i tried to translate the Chinese to English. i didn't try a word-for-word translation since the emphasis was on readability.

suggestions and critiques are welcome.

[:491:]


Buying a Car and More

Americans buy cars like going to eat in a McDonald's when hungry.

Europeans buy cars with an attitude so poetic that it is as if to sit in a riverside bar tasting an Acanudo cigar.

Chinese buy cars with the entire family present as if they are in a dealership only to take a family photo.

Different people approach to car buying differently. It can be like an American eating a hamburger, a European smoking a cigar, or a Chinese taking photos with his family. Which one would you like?

Walking into a car dealership on a Saturday morning, listening to the salesperson's introduction while eating the hamburgers offered free, an American's way to buy a car is as simple as driving it home in the same afternoon.

This fastfood approach to car buying is typical of Americans that it is so lightly taken as if not at all different from eating a hamburger in a Mcdonald's, which really amazes us.

At this moment, it all becomes so clear, as what patriotism is meant for us, and why America's General Motor can dominate our car market but not our life s^tyle.

In china, buying a car is like pursuing an MBA degree that the buyers first study the background materials of the car of concern. Where the transmission is manufactured? What are the technical merits? What model and specifications of the engine inside? All this must be known before a would-be car owner goes to dealership. It is as if a potential car buyer had to be as knowledgeable as the supervisor to a doctorate cadidate in order not to be cheated in a car-buying negotiation. Even those who are not going to buy right now can speak of cars like a real expert. Once I have heard a group of young people talking about Geely's Queen Panther that as the discussion went on, an analysis was developed of the structure of China's automobile manufacturing industry and the potential competition in the future.

If we have as much money as westerners, and as cheap car as in west markets, We can also take it as if eating a fast-food.

yes. i agree!
it was said that an american would buy as many as a dozen or more cars over his/her entire life. no wonder they do it like eating in mcdonald's.

A car in USA is a tool for work, whereas in China it is just a symbol of bloody show-off -----Please look at me, how rich I am....bullshit!

In other words, China shouldn't follow USA's suit to have such a car culture, which doesn't really suit Chinese culture at all.

Look! Do you know how many fat arses are in USA? tons upon tons, it has become a social headache. It has cost taxpayers a lot to keep this sinking ship float.

Have seen a TV show by name of "the biggest losers" hehehe, O, my god, it is ....well

Riding a bicycle to and from work is fantastic exercise for fitness ------it kills two birds with one stone.

Riding a bicycle to and from work is fantastic exercise for fitness ------it kills two birds with one stone.

yes. i agree. riding a bicycle saves gasoline and keeps slim. the only problem is that it often becomes a quite scary experience to ride a bicycle on a street. you are not in the same league with the cars that pass by from behind for the weight and speed.

hehehe, yes, I agree with you. Anyhow, practice makes perfect ------when you get used to the streetscape, you will be the master of the traffic.

hehehehe, please keep in mind -----Who dares wins!

(just kidding)

but i think most Chinese are even richer than Americans.It's just a different way of living.Gernerally speaking,
We live with a culture of not knowing what the future will be.We save every penny as we need the money in case we need it so bad one day.We do not have a very good welfare system like Americans do.They could spend every penny they have in their pocket because they do not have to worry about being ill,jobless..their government will take care.They could buy any luxuries by taking a mortgage,but in China,there's still a lot of limitations even if you could pay the downpayment.

i agree with you. it is a God blessing that we now don't need to worry as much as our folks back in home china. still i remain suspicious about the life attitudes of those here who mortgaged out their houses near the peak of the market. now the interest rate is on the rise.

in Germany,the jobless rate is almost 13%,that's A LOT!!
The business that I am involving is crafts and housing decorations,and now the buying power in Germany is decrease because people start to save money.There're so much for them to pay,e.g. interest rate,tax etc.They do not want to spend too much on decorating the xmas tree...instead,they started to save money as we do in China.

Chinese are in a sense richer in terms of bank deposit they got.