中国分享经济的未来 小猪短租

Chinese Airbnb rival Xiaozhu was valued by investors at $300m in a fundraising round last year, reflecting high hopes for the country’s home-sharing sector and prompting takeover interest from the Silicon Valley company.

在去年一轮募资中，投资者对小猪短租(Xiaozhu)的估值在3亿美元，可见他们对中国住宿分享行业抱着多大的希望，同时也激起了硅谷同行公司Airbnb对小猪短租的收购兴趣。

But Kelvin Chen, the Chinese tech veteran who is Xiaozhu’s co-founder and chief executive, has bad memories of excessive overseas management after a previous US buyout.

但在中国科技行业浸淫多年的陈驰(Kelvin Chen)对于中国公司被美资收购后外方的过度管理却有着不好的回忆，他是小猪短租的联合创始人及首席执行官。

“If we wanted to hire a single person, we would need approval from HR three months in advance but, in the same time, our competitors could grow from a staff of 200 to 1,000,” Mr Chen says of his time at travel site Kuxun, owned by TripAdvisor from 2009-15.

谈到他在旅游网站酷讯(Kuxun)呆过的时光，陈驰说道：“在那里如果我们想招一个人，我们需要提前3个月获得人事部门批准，而这个时候我们的竞争对手可能已经把员工数量从200名增加到了1000名。”酷讯在2009年至2015年期间由TripAdvisor所有。

Xiaozhu boasts 100,000 listings in China, making it the second biggest home-sharing service in a country where travellers make 4bn trips each year. Tujia, a Chinese company that links property developers with short-term renters, was valued at $1bn and has 400,000 listings.

小猪短租声称在中国拥有10万套房源，在每年旅游人次有40个亿的中国，它算是规模第二大的住宿分享服务公司。将房地产开发商与短租客联系起来的途家(Tujia)估值为10亿美元，拥有40万套房源。

Airbnb currently lists around 75,000 properties in China, and has partnered with internet giant Alibaba to make mobile payments easier for Chinese users. It plans to double its listings, investment and spending over the next year.

Airbnb目前在中国约有7.5万套房源，并通过与互联网巨头阿里巴巴(Alibaba)合作，让其中国用户能够更方便地使用移动支付。Airbnb计划未来一年将其房源数量、投资和支出均翻一番。

Investors are betting that the Chinese government will back the “sharing economy” as a source of growth as old drivers such as heavy manufacturing and property slow.

投资者相信，随着重工业、房地产行业等旧经济引擎放缓，中国政府将支持“分享经济”，把它作为一个增长来源。

Participation in the sharing economy — renting out belongings once thought of as personal — is now within the reach of China’s middle class. “Thirty years ago, we had nothing to share. Now Chinese people have extra cars, extra space,” says Mr Chen.

中国中产阶层已具备参与分享经济（将曾经被视为私人财产的东西出租给别人）的能力。陈驰表示：“30年前，我们没有东西可以分享。如今，中国人有了多余的汽车、多余的空间。”

Li Keqiang, China’s premier, told a Davos forum last year that “the sharing economy means entrepreneurship for the masses”. Beijing has tolerated the rapid growth of car-booking apps to a greater degree than many western countries, despite fierce resistance from the country’s state-linked taxi providers. China’s flexibility towards the disruptive sector is “greater than what we see in foreign countries”, Mr Chen says.

中国国务院总理李克强在去年一次达沃斯(Davos)论坛上表示，“分享经济意味着大众创业”。中国对叫车应用的快速发展采取了比许多西方国家更为宽容的态度，尽管与政府有关联的出租车公司强烈抵制。陈驰指出，中国对颠覆性行业的灵活性“超过我们在外国看到的程度”。

Mr Chen predicts pushback from hotels should be less fierce, as the sector is used to competition. But he admits that Chinese officials — who insist that travellers have their identity cards scanned and sent to local police every time they check into a hotel — might be wary about loss of control. “China is a little special in this regard,” he says.

陈驰预计来自酒店的阻力应该不会那么大，因为这个行业习惯了竞争。但他承认，中国官员可能会比较担心失去控制。（官方规定在游客入住酒店时必须扫描身份证并上传至当地公安系统。）他表示：“在这方面，中国有点特殊。”

In an attempt to ease concerns, Xiaozhu hosts are encouraged to use the company’s mobile app to scan a guest’s identity card upon arrival. Although the information is not automatically sent to local authorities, they can access it in the event of security incidents. The company wants to start supplying hosts with “smart locks” that can read the cards without the host being present.

为了缓解这些担忧，小猪短租鼓励房东使用该公司的手机应用在客人入住时扫描身份证。尽管扫描信息不会自动上传至当地公安机关，但一旦发生安全事件，警方可以获取这些信息。小猪短租正要开始向房东供应“智能锁”，可以在房东不在场的情况下读取房卡。

On Wednesday, Airbnb started storing bookings and listings data on Chinese servers, to comply with a restrictive cyber security law that requires operators of “critical information infrastructure” to store data in China and assist government security agencies.

上周三，Airbnb开始在中国服务器上存储订房信息和房源数据，以遵守网络安全法的有关规定，即“关键信息基础设施”的经营者必须在中国存储数据并协助政府安全部门的工作。

For now, Xiaozhu exists in a grey zone marked out by its semi-formal arrangements with the government. “There has not been any clear law supervising [house-sharing]. For now, the way we do it is more of a result of negotiation,” says Tarry Wang, Xiaozhu’s chief operating officer.

与政府的非正式约定给小猪短租划出了其所生存的灰色区域。“还没有任何清晰的法律来监督（住宿分享服务）。目前我们做这个的方式更多取决于协商的结果。”小猪首席运营官王连涛(Tarry Wang)表示。

But analysts expect tighter regulation. “The government’s usual approach is to step back and let the market develop. Then, once a handful of players achieve significant traction and demonstrate a successful mechanism for meeting regulatory requirements, you start licensing the top players and weed out the rest,” says Mark Natkin at Marbridge Consulting, an advisory group.

但分析人士预计监管将会收紧。北京迈博瑞咨询(Marbridge Consulting)的马克.纳特金(Mark Natkin)表示：“政府通常的做法是退一步，让市场发展。然后一旦有一小撮参与者引起了瞩目，并展示出一套符合监管要求的成功机制，政府就会向最优秀的参与者发放牌照，让其他参与者出局。”

When Mr Chen considers the prospect of regulators swooping in and stifling the sector, he finds solace in a Shanghai wonton shop championed last month by Mr Li. The premier stepped in to defend the humble stall as an example of “grassroots entrepreneurship”, rebuffing zealous bureaucrats who had ordered it to close because it lacked a licence.

在陈驰考虑监管机构介入并压制行业发展的可能性之时，李克强上月对上海一家馄饨铺的支持让他感到安慰。李克强称这个小店是“草根创业”的典范，反驳了一帮因为该店无照营业而责令其关门的积极官员们。

“From this small event we can see that the Chinese government, when it comes to reform and regulation, China is not quite [as strict] as the outside world thinks,” Mr Chen says.

陈驰表示：“从这件小事我们可以看出，在涉及到改革和监管方面，中国政府不太像外界想的那样（严格）。”