美麗陷阱,年輕人的信用卡危機

"I'M a little embarrassed," Liu Jing leaned in closer and lowered her voice,revealing for the first time a hint of discomfort since the topic of credit cards had been broached.
“我有點不好意思，”劉靜靠在櫃檯上放低聲音說，自信用卡問題被提出以來第一次暗示不適。

Liu was born in Henan. After four years at the university she landed a position as a junior executive at a digital advertising firm.
劉出生在河南。經過四年大學她謀得了數字廣告公司初級主管的一個職位。

As a junior executive, she netted 5,000 yuan (US$800) a month after taxes. From this, she paid 2,000 yuan per month in rent for a shared flat near Beijing's fourth ring road. This left her with 3,000 yuan a month in disposable income, or 100 yuan a day.
作爲一個初級管理人員，她稅收後一個月賺5000元人民幣(合800美元)。從中她每月要爲北京四環路附近合租的房子支付2000元的房租。這每個月給她留下3000元的可支配收入，或100元一天。

With this sum, she had to cover her remaining living expenses. She was hard-pressed to make ends meet.
這麼一點兒錢，她必須兼顧到她剩下的生活開支。她很難使得收支平衡。

At this moment, a friend recommended that Liu apply for a UnionPay credit card from one of China's large state-owned banks.
這時，一個朋友建議劉向中國的大型國有銀行申請銀聯信用卡。

At first, Liu used the card to make ends meet.
起初，劉使用這張信用卡還能使收支平衡。

But as time went on, the allure of this "extra" income and the social benefits it allowed compelled Liu to slowly increase her borrowing. She soon discovered that borrowing is a slippery slope.
但隨着時間的推移，這份“額外”收入的誘惑以及其允諾的社會福利迫使劉慢慢增加着她的借貸。她很快發現借款是一項滑坡謬誤。

After using the card for one year, she had accumulated debt of 15,000 yuan, or three times her previous monthly income. She had no plan for paying off the balance.
在使用信用卡一年之後，她已經累積債務15000元，是她以前月收入的三倍。她沒有計劃償還借貸。

Since being introduced in 1985, the number of credit cards issued in China has grown at an astonishing rate, reaching 285 million in 2011, five times the number in 2006. Growth has remained consistently high and is expected to continue at 31 percent per year over the next five years.
自從在1985年被介紹進來，信用卡在中國的發行數量以驚人的速度增長，在2011年達到2.85億，這一數字是2006年的5倍。增速仍持續走高，預計在接下來的五年將繼續以每年31%的速度增長。

According to the 2012 Chinese Credit Card Industry Bluebook, US$1.2 trillion of purchases were made with credit cards in China in 2011, a year-on-year increase of 48 percent.
根據2012年中國信用卡行業藍皮書，中國在2011年有1.2萬億美元的購買是通過信用卡支付的，比去年同期增長48%。

Over the next decade, the country is expected to become the largest credit card market in the world by number of issued cards, overtaking the United States.
在接下來的十年，通過發行的信用卡數量中國預計將成爲世界上最大的信用卡市場，超越美國。

Although the figure is high, it is worth noting that in China, credit cards are still used mostly for large-ticket items, while cash is still the predominant payment method for smaller purchases. Indeed, one study on credit card holders in Shanghai showed that 80 percent of purchases below 100 yuan are made with cash.
雖然這個數字很高，但值得注意的是，在中國信用卡仍主要用於大件商品，對於小型購買現金仍然是主要的支付方式。事實上，一項對上海信用卡持有者的研究表明100元以下的購買80%是使用現金。Changing attitude
改變的觀念

Despite these optimistic growth projections, China's cash-centric consumer culture and traditional beliefs about personal finance have meant that consumers are resistant to change, thus slowing the adoption of electronic payment methods.
儘管有這些樂觀的增長預期，中國以現金爲中心的消費文化和對個人理財的傳統信仰意味着消費者抗拒變革，從而緩慢採用着電子支付方式。

Many of these cultural beliefs stem from Confucian values, which see borrowing as shameful because it means living beyond one's means.
這些文化信念很多是源於儒家價值觀，視借貸爲可恥的，因爲這意味着生活不自足。

However, Western consumption-driven lifestyles are finding their way into China, especially among the youth.
然而，西方消費驅動型的生活方式正在逐漸進入中國，特別是青年之中。

This is demonstrated by the materialization of a new class of yue guang zu, those "with no savings at the end of the month." This group includes young urban students and professionals under 35, largely in first and second tier cities, who have begun to abandon some of the cultural taboos surrounding borrowing money in order to fund their modern, highly consumerist lifestyles, in some cases spending well beyond their means.
這由那些“月底沒有儲蓄”的新階層“月光族”的物質化來證實。這一羣體包括年輕的城市學生和35歲以下的專業人員，主要在一二線城市，他們已經開始放棄一些文化禁忌，通過借錢來支付他們現代高消費主義的生活方式，某些情況下開支遠遠超出他們的能力。

Many of these changes in the cultural attitude toward credit have been driven by aggressive marketing by banks issuing credit cards, which offer rewards, discounts and so on to encourage spending.
這些對信用卡的文化態度的變化很多是由積極的信貸市場所驅動，通過銀行發行的信用卡、提供獎勵、折扣等來鼓勵消費。