纽约时报中文网 - 中英对照版-中英中国人买买买造就东南亚榴莲富豪

Before he started a company 15 years ago selling the world’s smelliest fruit, Eric Chan had a well-paying job writing code for satellites and robots. His family and friends were puzzled when he made the career change.

15年前，埃里克·陈（音）创办了一家公司，销售世界上气味最强烈的水果。在此之前，他有一份为卫星和机器人编写代码的高薪工作。当他改行时，家人和朋友们都不理解。

The fruit, durian, has long been a cherished part of local cultures in Southeast Asia, where it is grown in abundance. A single durian is typically the size of a rugby ball and can emit an odor so powerful that it is banned from most hotels. When Mr. Chan began his start-up in his native Malaysia, durians were cheap and often sold from the back of trucks.

在盛产榴莲的东南亚，榴莲长期以来一直是当地文化中珍贵的一部分。一颗榴莲一般有橄榄球大小，散发出强烈的臭味，以至于大多数酒店都禁止携带入内。当埃里克·陈在自己的祖国马来西亚开始创业时，榴莲的价格还很低廉，经常从卡车后斗出售。

Then, China acquired a taste for durian in a very big way.

后来，许多中国人爱上了榴莲。

Last year, the value of durian exports from Southeast Asia to China was $6.7 billion, a twelvefold increase from $550 million in 2017. China buys virtually all of the world’s exported durians, according to United Nations data. The biggest exporting country by far is Thailand; Malaysia and Vietnam are the other top sellers.

去年，东南亚出口到中国的榴莲价值为67亿美元，比2017年的5.5亿美元增长了11倍。根据联合国的数据，中国几乎购买了世界上所有的出口榴莲。目前最大的出口国是泰国；马来西亚和越南也是主要的出口国。

Today, businesses are expanding rapidly — one Thai company is planning an initial public offering this year — and some durian farmers have become millionaires. Mr. Chan is one of them. Seven years ago, he sold a controlling share of his company, which specializes in producing durian paste for cookies, ice cream and even pizza, for the equivalent of $4.5 million, nearly 50 times his initial investment.

如今，榴莲企业正在迅速扩张——一家泰国公司正计划今年进行首次公开募股，还有一些榴莲种植者成了百万富翁。埃里克·陈也是其中之一。七年前，他以相当于450万美元的价格出售了自己公司的控股权，这几乎是他最初投资的50倍。这家公司专门生产用于饼干、冰淇淋甚至披萨的榴莲酱。

“Everybody has been making good money,” Mr. Chan said of the once-poor durian farmers in Raub, a small city 90 minutes from Kuala Lumpur, the Malaysian capital. “They rebuilt their houses from wood to brick. And they can afford to send their children overseas for university.”

“大家都赚了不少钱，”埃里克·陈说的是劳布那些曾经贫穷的榴莲种植农。劳布是距离马来西亚首都吉隆坡90分钟车程的小城。“他们把房子从木头改成砖头。而且有能力送孩子出国上大学。”

Farmers in Southeast Asian durian orchards say they can’t recall anything like the China craze.

东南亚榴莲果园的果农说，在他们的记忆中，类似中国榴莲热这样的事情前所未有。

The surge in durian exports is a measure of the power of Chinese consumers in the global economy, even though, by other measures, the mainland economy is struggling. When an increasingly wealthy country of 1.4 billion people gets a taste for something, entire regions of Asia are reshaped to meet the demand.

榴莲出口的激增反映了中国消费者在全球经济中的影响力，尽管从其他方面来看，中国大陆的经济正在苦苦挣扎。当一个日益富裕、有14亿人口的国家对某种东西产生兴趣时，整个亚洲地区都会为满足这种需求而重塑。

In Vietnam, state news media reported last month that farmers were cutting down coffee plants to make room for durian. The acreage of durian orchards in Thailand has doubled over the past decade. In Malaysia, jungles in the hills outside Raub are being razed and terraced to make way for plantations that will cater to China’s lust for the fruit.

在越南，官方新闻媒体上个月报道，农民正在砍伐咖啡树，为榴莲腾出空间。过去十年里，泰国的榴莲果园面积翻了一番。在马来西亚，劳布外山上的丛林正被夷为平地，修成梯田，为种植园让路，以满足中国对这种水果的需求。

“I think durian will be the new economic boom for Malaysia,” said Mohamad Sabu, the country’s minister of agriculture.

“我认为榴莲将为马来西亚带来新的经济繁荣，”马来西亚农业部长穆罕默德·萨布表示。

With so much money at stake, the race to plant more trees has spawned tensions. Land disputes have broken out over durian orchards. Some roadside orchards are surrounded by coils of razor wire. “Thieves Will Be Prosecuted,” a sign outside an orchard in Raub said, with a drawing of handcuffs.

由于涉及如此多的利益，人们竞相种植更多果树，从而引发了紧张局势。出现了围绕榴莲果园的土地纠纷。一些路边的果园被铁丝网围住。“盗窃必受法律制裁”，劳布一处果园外的牌子上写着，上面还画了手铐。

China is not only a buyer. Chinese investment has flowed into Thailand’s durian packing and logistics business. Already, Chinese interests control around 70 percent of the durian wholesale and logistics business, according to Aat Pisanwanich, a Thai expert in international trade. Thailand’s own wholesale durian companies could “disappear in the near future,” he said at a news conference in May.

中国不仅是买家而已。中国的投资流入了泰国的榴莲包装和物流行业。据泰国国际贸易专家阿特·披讪瓦尼称，中国已控制了大约70%的榴莲批发和物流业务。他在5月的一次新闻发布会上说，泰国自己的榴莲批发公司可能“在不久的将来消失”。

Durian is to fruit what truffles are to mushrooms: Pound for pound, the fruit has become one of the most expensive on the planet. Depending on the variety, a single durian can sell for anywhere between $10 to hundreds of dollars.

榴莲在水果中的地位就像松露在蘑菇中的地位：按单位价格计算，榴莲已成为地球上最昂贵的水果之一。根据品种不同，一个榴莲的售价从10美元到数百美元不等。

But Chinese demand, which has pushed up prices fifteenfold over the past decade, has frustrated Southeast Asian consumers, who see durians morphing from a plentiful fruit growing in the wild and in village orchards to a luxury commodity earmarked for export.

但是，中国的需求在过去10年里将榴莲的价格推高了14倍，这让东南亚消费者感到沮丧，他们看到榴莲从一种生长在野外和乡村果园的丰产水果变成了一种用于出口的奢侈品。

Countries are exporting a fruit that is an integral part of their identities and cultures, especially in Malaysia, where it is a unifying national icon among its many ethnic groups. “God gave us a desire for durian,” said Hishamuddin Rais, a Malaysian film director and political activist.

这些国家出口的是一种与其身份和文化密不可分的水果，尤其是马来西亚，榴莲是该国众多民族团结的标志。“上帝给了我们对榴莲的渴望，”马来西亚电影导演、政治活动人士希沙姆丁·赖斯说。

Eating an entire durian, which for most people is too rich and filling to do alone, is often a social event in Southeast Asia. The act of opening a durian, which requires a very sharp knife or machete, feels festive and brings friends together the way that sharing a bottle of fine wine does in other cultures. Mr. Hishamuddin pointed out that a traditional expression declares it a tragedy if a Malay person doesn’t like durian. The fruit is even embedded in the country’s financial lexicon: The Malay word for a windfall is durian runtuh, a term that offers the joyous image of durians collapsing to the ground.

在东南亚，吃一整颗榴莲通常是一种社交活动，对大多数人来说，一个人吃一颗榴莲会太腻、太撑。打开榴莲需要一把非常锋利的刀具或是砍刀，开榴莲让人感觉很有节日气氛，可以让朋友们聚在一起，就像在其他文化中分享一瓶美酒一样。希沙姆丁指出，传统的说法是，如果一个马来人不喜欢榴莲，那是一个悲剧。榴莲甚至被印进了马来西亚的金融词汇：马来语中表示意外之财的词是“durian runtuh”，这个词的字面意思让人想到榴莲落在地上的喜悦景象。

The China surge is reshaping the durian supply chain. It’s relatively easy to deliver the fruit in the back of a truck to regional destinations like Kuala Lumpur, Singapore or Bangkok. But shipping it to Guangzhou, Beijing and beyond, especially when the fruit is ripe and most flavorful, can be perilous. The fruit’s potent smell can resemble a gas leak.

中国市场的激增正在重塑榴莲供应链。用卡车将这种水果运送到吉隆坡、新加坡或曼谷等本地市场相对容易。但是，把它运到广州、北京和其他地方可能会很危险，尤其是在水果成熟、味道最鲜美的时候。这种水果浓烈的气味就像煤气泄漏一样。

One of many examples of durian-incited emergencies was in 2019, when a Boeing 767 passenger jet took off from Vancouver, British Columbia, with a shipment of durians in the cargo hold. According a report by Canadian regulators, the pilots and crew “noticed a strong odor throughout the aircraft” soon after takeoff. Fearing a problem with the plane, the pilots strapped on their oxygen masks and told air traffic controllers that they needed to land urgently. Once on the ground, the durian was discovered as the culprit of the foul smell.

榴莲引发紧急情况的例子有很多，比如在2019年，一架波音767客机从不列颠哥伦比亚省的温哥华起飞，货舱里装着一批榴莲。根据加拿大监管机构的报告，起飞后不久，飞行员和机组人员“注意到整个飞机上都有一股强烈的气味”。由于担心飞机出现问题，飞行员们戴上了氧气面罩，告诉空中交通管制员需要紧急降落。在地面上，人们发现臭味的罪魁祸首是榴莲。

Malaysia has tried to solve the transport problem by freezing the fruit before shipping. One of the pioneers of the process was Anna Teo, a former flight attendant who noticed on her travels that durian was not available overseas.

马来西亚试图通过在运输前将水果冷冻来解决运输问题。安娜·特奥是这种做法的先驱之一，她曾是一名空姐，在旅行中注意到榴莲在海外是买不到的。

She quit her airline job and experimented with cryogenic freezing techniques in a rented warehouse, hauling her children to durian farms on weekends. She found that freezing not only mitigated the fruit’s odor but also prolonged its shelf life.

她辞掉了航空公司的工作，在租来的仓库里试验低温冷冻技术，周末带着孩子们前往榴莲果园。她发现，冷冻不仅能减轻水果的气味，还能延长保质期。

Today, in a suburb of Kuala Lumpur, Ms. Teo oversees more than 200 employees at the company she founded, Hernan, which exports frozen durian as well as mochi and other durian products.

如今，特奥在吉隆坡郊区创办了一家名为赫纳的公司，管理着200多名员工。这家公司出口冷冻榴莲、榴莲麻糬和其他榴莲产品。

Thailand, by contrast, has been shipping fresh durian in refrigerated containers for many years. The Thai durian industry is centered in Chanthaburi Province, near the border with Cambodia. During peak harvest season, in May and June, heaping piles of durian are everywhere.

相比之下，泰国多年来一直用冷藏集装箱运输新鲜榴莲。泰国榴莲产业集中在靠近柬埔寨边境的庄他武里府。在5月和6月的收获旺季，到处都是堆积如山的榴莲。

Around 1,000 shipping containers of durian leave packing houses throughout Chanthaburi every day, creating durian traffic jams that rival manic Bangkok intersections. Some containers are loaded onto what the Thai media calls the Durian Train, a cargo railway service that connects Thailand and China using tracks that China built for a high-speed rail.

每天大约有1000个装着榴莲的集装箱从庄他武里府各地的包装厂离开，榴莲造成的交通拥堵堪比曼谷繁忙的十字路口。一些集装箱被装载到泰国媒体所称的榴莲列车上，这是一条连接泰国和中国的货运铁路，使用的是中国高铁使用的轨道。

Because the demand from China is so great, containers often return to Thailand empty — to be quickly reloaded with more China-bound durian.

由于中国对榴莲的需求非常大，集装箱经常空载返回泰国，然后迅速装上更多榴莲，再次运往中国。

Jiaoling Pan, the chief operating officer of Speed Inter Transport, a company based in Bangkok that uses American-made refrigerated containers to ship durian, said two-thirds of her containers came back empty.

总部位于曼谷的斯彼得国际物流有限公司使用美国制造的冷藏集装箱运输榴莲，该公司首席运营官潘娇玲（音）说，她的集装箱中有三分之二是空载回来的。

At her packing house, durians are passed under a laser that etches a serial number onto the skin of each fruit. Retailers in China want the ability to trace any bad fruit back to its orchard.

在她的包装车间里，榴莲要经过激光照射，在每个榴莲的表皮上蚀刻一个序列号。中国的零售商希望能够追踪到任何坏果的源头。

Ms. Pan was born in Nanning, in southern China, and went to Thailand for college. She stayed after falling in love with durian, which she had never seen before. She compared her obsession with durian to an addiction.

潘娇玲出生于中国南方的南宁，曾在泰国读大学。她留在了这个国家，并且爱上了榴莲这种自己之前从未见过的水果。她把自己对榴莲的痴迷比作上瘾。

“Actually, just last night at 3 a.m., I had a durian,” Ms. Pan said cheerfully in between calls from Chinese customers seeking empty shipping containers.

“其实昨天夜里3点我还吃了一个榴莲，”潘娇玲在中国客户打来电话寻找空集装箱的间隙高兴地说。

Around the corner from her business is 888 Platinum Fruits, a company that specializes in durian and is planning to list on the Thai stock exchange this year, a first for the durian industry.

距离她公司不远处，是专营榴莲的888铂金水果公司，该公司计划今年在泰国证券交易所上市，这是榴莲行业的头一家。

Natakrit Eamskul, the chief executive of 888 Platinum Fruits, offered a measure of the industry’s growth in Chanthaburi: Two decades ago, the province had 10 durian packing houses — today there are 600.

888铂金水果公司的首席执行官纳塔克里特·埃姆斯库尔为庄他武里府的榴莲业发展提供了一个衡量标准：20年前，该府有10家榴莲包装厂，如今有600家。

Across Chanthaburi, the signs of durian wealth are everywhere: modern houses and new hospitals. A shopping mall, inaugurated two years ago, hosted a car show in April.

在整个庄他武里府，榴莲财富的迹象随处可见：现代化的房屋和新医院。一家两年前开业的购物中心今年4月举办了一场车展。

“When you’re from another province and you arrive here, you come to realize that durian farmers are very, very rich,” said Abhisit Meechai, a car dealer who, on a recent afternoon, was selling MG vehicles, the venerable British brand owned by SAIC Motor, a Chinese automaker.

“当你从其他府来到这里，你会意识到榴莲果农非常非常富有，”汽车经销商阿披实·米猜说。最近的一个下午，他正在销售著名英国品牌名爵汽车，它由中国汽车制造商上汽集团所有。

“Never judge a book by its cover,” Mr. Abhisit said of his customers who are durian farmers. “They come with dirty clothes and dirty hands. But they pay for their cars with cash.”

“永远不要以貌取人，”阿披实在谈到榴莲种植者时说。“他们衣服很脏，手也很脏。但他们用现金买车。”