经济不平等加剧香港政治分歧

Hong Kong’s protest movement – now more than three weeks old – has largely focused on definitions of universal suffrage and various methods for electing political leaders.

如今，香港抗议活动已持续超过三周。在很大程度上，这次抗议活动争论的焦点集中于普选的定义以及选举政治领袖的不同方法上。

However, many of those taking part also feel economically disenfranchised by a system they blame for leaving a generation locked out of the housing market and making an already troubling income divide even worse.

然而，许多参加抗议活动的人同样感觉到，现行体制也让他们在经济上被剥夺了应有的权利。他们认为，在现行体制下，一代香港人因买不起房子而被排除于香港楼市之外。而且，这个体制还让香港原本就问题重重的收入差距问题变得更为严重。

On Monday CY Leung, Hong Kong chief executive, appeared to confirm protesters’ fears when he warned in an interview with the FT and other foreign media that a fully open voting system would lead to populism by shifting power towards low-earners.

周一，香港特首梁振英似乎是确认了抗议者内心的这种担忧。当时他在接受英国《金融时报》及其他外媒采访时警告说，完全开放的选举体制会导致权力向低收入阶层倾斜，从而导致民粹主义。

While Hong Kong’s establishment has stressed the importance of protecting the interests of the business community, many in the street believe political change is needed to fix economic imbalances.

尽管香港当权者曾强调过保护商界人士的利益，许多走上街头的抗议者还是相信，必须通过政治改革，改变经济上的不平等。

“We need to think if Hong Kong should stay an international financial centre and a paradise for global capitalism,” said Rebecca Lai, a 47-year-old NGO worker at a protest site in Mongkok district. “We need to think if this is still good for the citizens.”

在旺角一处抗议地点，一名47岁的非政府组织(NGO)员工Rebecca Lai表示：“我们必须考虑一下，香港是否还要做国际金融中心，是否还要做全球资本的天堂。我们必须考虑一下这么做对香港市民有没有好处。”

Hong Kong’s low-tax, laisser-faire style of government has created one of the world’s most successful economies. The territory’s per capita GDP has soared from below $7,000 two decades ago to about $38,000 now.

香港拥有一个秉持低税收和自由放任政策的政府，这令香港成为全球最成功的经济体之一。过去20年间，香港人均国内生产总值(GDP)从20年前的不到7000美元激增至如今的大约3.8万美元。

In the annual “Ease of Doing Business” report compiled by the World Bank, Hong Kong ranks second again this year, recognition for a city that has fostered a number of globally successful business empires.

在世界银行(WB)编制的年度《营商环境报告》(Ease of Doing Business)中，香港今年再次排到了第二，这是对一个孵化了多家成功的全球性商业帝国的城市的认可。

However, that economic dynamism has come at a price. A fifth of Hong Kong’s 7m people live in poverty, according to the charity Feeding Hong Kong, while the income gap is the widest in the developed world.

然而，这种经济活力也是有代价的。根据慈善组织乐饷社(Feeding Hong Kong)的数据，香港700万居民中有五分之一生活在贫困之中，香港收入差距是发达经济体中最大的。

Loose monetary policy across the globe in the wake of the financial crisis has contributed to worsening inequality in many places, as asset prices have risen while wages have stagnated.

金融危机之后，全球推行的宽松货币政策也加剧了许多地区的不平等，原因是在薪水增长陷入停滞之际，资产价格却出现了上涨。

But Hong Kong’s experience has been among the most extreme, owing to its unique position of importing interest rates from the US through its currency peg, while benefiting from rapid Chinese growth across the border. The richest 10 per cent of the Hong Kong population now controls 77.5 per cent of the wealth, according to Credit Suisse research, up from 69.3 per cent in 2007.

香港拥有一种独一无二的经济地位，这种地位一方面源自港币与美元挂钩而从美国输入的低利率，另一方面则源自中国的高速增长。这种经济地位令宽松货币政策的影响在香港达到极点。如今，根据瑞士信贷(Credit Suisse)的研究，香港人口中10%的最富有人群控制着77.5%的财富，高于2007年的69.3%。

House prices have soared, making them the most expensive in the world. Average prices are now 14.9 times median household income, according to consultancy Demographia, compared with 4.7 times in London and 9.2 times in San Francisco. Inflation has also remained high as costly retail space and a tourist wave from China has fed into the pricing of everyday goods.

同时，香港房价也激增到全球最贵的水平。根据咨询公司Demographia的数据，如今香港平均房价是香港居民收入中位数的14.9倍，伦敦这一比例只有4.7倍，而旧金山这一比例则是9.2倍。此外，由于零售卖场成本提高以及中国内地游客涌入推高了日常商品的价格，香港的通胀率也居高不下。

“Look at this street – it’s all jewellery shops and medicine shops,” said Catherine, a 30-year-old protester in the Causeway Bay shopping district, who declined to give her surname. “All the small restaurants have gone. We cannot eat gold.”

铜锣湾购物区30岁的抗议者Catherine表示：“看看这条街，街上全是珠宝店和药店，所有小餐馆都不见了。我们总不能吃黄金吧。”这位抗议者拒绝告诉记者她的全名。

The leaders of the protest movement have also highlighted their concerns about inequality, the lack of opportunities for young people, and the power of the wealthy.

抗议活动的领导人也在强调社会不公、年轻人缺乏机遇、以及富人影响力过大带来的担忧。

“We are not slaves to anybody. We are not slaves to Li Ka-shing,” said student leader Lester Shum to the crowd demonstrating outside government headquarters last week. The reference to Mr Li, a property tycoon and Asia’s richest man, was met with loud cheers and rapturous applause.

就在上周，学生领袖岑敖晖(Lester Shum)曾向港府总部外示威的人群表示：“我们不是任何人的奴隶。我们不是李嘉诚(Li Ka-shing)的奴隶。”李嘉诚是香港地产大亨，亚洲最富有的人。当时，岑敖晖对李嘉诚的引用招来了听众大声喝彩和热烈的掌声。

Mr Leung acknowledges the severity of the problems facing many of Hong Kong’s young and underprivileged, describing housing in particular as a “major concern”.

梁振英承认香港许多年轻人和贫困人士面临的问题十分严重，他特别指出住房问题是个“主要问题”。

“Social mobility, for a combination of reasons, is not as good as what we – my generation – enjoyed 30-something years ago, and we need to address that,” he said on Monday. “We need to do more.”

他在周一表示：“出于一系列原因，香港的社会流动性不如30多年前我们那代人的时候，我们必须解决这个问题。我们必须采取更多措施。”

Many protesters see an overhaul of the electoral system as the only answer. They want to take political power away from the 1,200-member committee that picked Mr Leung, and is set to vet the candidates for the 2017 election under current reform plans.

许多抗议者将选举制度的彻底改革视为解决问题的唯一答案。他们想要的，是剥夺香港特首选举委员会的政治权力。正是这个拥有1200名成员的选举委员会选出了梁振英，根据现有改革方案，该委员会还将在2017年审查香港特首的候选人。

In contrast, Mr Leung’s answer is to target faster economic growth. “An economy that grows at a high rate should provide the social mobility that young people deserve,” he said.

与此相反，梁振英对这个问题的答案则是以加快经济增长为目标。他说：“高速增长的经济会提供年轻人所需的社会流动性。”

However, many people on the streets complain that only a handful of super-rich tycoons, many of them property developers, have felt the benefits of previous booms, especially in the years since Hong Kong rejoined China.

然而，许多香港街头抗议者却抱怨说，从此前的经济繁荣（尤其是香港回归中国后的那几年）中受益的只有少数几个超级富豪——他们中许多人都是地产商。

“The Hong Kong economy has been flying since 1997. It has skyrocketed. But a lot of people don’t enjoy the success,” says Eric Yeung, a 26-year old protester, who works in a hospital. “We are earning our money to feed this small group of people. They get richer, while we get more underprivileged. Our burden has become heavier.”

在医院工作的26岁抗议者Eric Yeung表示：“1997年后，香港经济一直在飞速发展。在经济飞速发展的同时，许多人却未能分享到这种成功。我们赚了钱，却养活了少数人。他们变得更加富有，我们却变得更加贫穷。我们的负担也比以前更重了。”