昂贵的兰花如何变得不值钱

WUSHU VILLAGE, Taiwan--A custard-ellow orchid dubbed P. Golden Emperor 'Sweet' changed hands between Taiwan breeders in 1978 for $100,000. Now, orchids roll out of greenhouses in Taiwan and onto the shelves of big-box retailers like Lowe's for as little as $5.48.

1978年，一株被称为“黄帝”(P. Golden Emperor 'Sweet')的奶黄色兰花在台湾种植者间的交易价格为10万美元。而今，由台湾温室大量培育的兰花登上了Lowe's等大型零售商的货架，售价低至5.48美元。

As with flat-panel televisions and laptop computers, the once-rare orchid has become a mass-market commodity. Orchids now are the best-selling potted flower in the U.S., with annual sales exceeding the poinsettia, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

与平板电视和笔记本电脑一样，曾经非常稀有的兰花如今已经成为一种大众商品。美国农业部(U.S. Department of Agriculture)数据显示，如今兰花是美国最畅销的盆花，年销售额超过了一品红。

Behind the shift are the entrepreneurs of Taiwan, who have brought to orchid-breeding the energy and methods applied to making consumer electronics. Leanne Huang for The Wall Street Journal

图片：珍稀兰花的大众化之路推动这一转变的是台湾企业家，他们把消费电子产品业界投入到生产中的那种精力和方法引入了兰花种植业。

One result is familiar to many electronics makers: While global orchid sales are rising, profit margins are thinning.

有一个结果是许多电子产品生产商都不会感到意外的：随着全球兰花销售额的上升，利润率会收窄。

'An orchid is no longer worth what it used to be,' said Wu Po-Hung, one of Tainan's largest orchid growers. 'We learned how to grow them too well.'台湾最大的兰花种植商之一吴波洪（音）表示：“兰花没有过去那么值钱了。我们太了解怎么种兰花了。”

Greenhouses rise from the humid plains of southern Tainan County in clusters that bring together dozens of small growers. Each specializes in a specific stage of the production cycle--from germination to potting plants.

在台湾南部台南县湿润的平原上，成片的温室把数十个小种植户联合在了一起。每一位种植户都专注于生产周期中的一个环节──有的专门催芽，有的专门装盆。

Together they form an intricate orchid-production chain that can produce orchids to meet client specifications. Its efficiency resembles the assembly lines of Hon Hai Precision Industry Co., the Taiwanese contractor that makes iPhones and other Apple Inc. products.

他们共同组成了一个复杂的兰花生产链，这个生产链能生产满足客户特殊需求的兰花。其效率可与生产iPhone及苹果公司(Apple Inc.)其他产品的鸿海精密工业股份有限公司(Hon Hai Precision Industry Co.)流水线媲美。

Overall, since the U.S. first permitted imports of Taiwanese potted orchids in 2004, the wholesale value of a large potted orchid in the U.S. has dropped around 30%, with inflation factored in, according to figures from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Smaller orchid plants now wholesale for as little as 100 New Taiwan dollars ($3.33), said Mr. Wu.

美国农业部数据显示，总体而言，将通货膨胀因素考虑在内，2004年美国首次允许进口台湾盆栽兰花以来，美国大盆栽兰花的批发价已经下跌了30%左右。吴波洪说，较小的兰花目前批发价低至新台币100元（合3.33美元）。

It is a reversal for Mr. Wu, whose family originally grew orchids on their rooftop as a hobby. His father turned it into a business after discovering he could make more money selling collectors the orchids on weekends than in his day job as an airplane mechanic.

这对吴波洪而言是一大挫折。吴波洪家起初是在屋顶上栽种兰花，把种兰花当做业余爱好。后来他父亲发现周末向收藏者出售兰花比他当飞机机械师挣到的钱还多，便开始做起了兰花生意。

A market for rare orchids still exists. But that has been on decline since the mid-20th century when horticulturalists figured out how to clone orchids from tissue cells. Leanne Huang for The Wall Street Journal

几乎长成的植株会被出口到美国。珍奇兰花市场依然存在。但这一市场自20世纪中期园艺学家发现通过组织细胞无性繁殖兰花的方法以来就一直在衰落。

For centuries prior, growing orchids was something of a mystery. Their dust-like seeds would sprout only if they landed on particular types of fungus. They grew best clinging to trees or rocks, instead of dirt, in the jungles of Southeast Asia and South America.

在之前的几个世纪里，兰花栽培一直笼罩着一层神秘色彩。兰花的种子像粉尘一样，只有落到特殊的真菌上才能发芽。在东南亚和南美的丛林里，附着在树上或岩石上（而不是生长在土中）的兰花长得最好。

The ancient Greeks saw the orchid as the incarnation of a nymph's lustful son who had tried to rape a priestess. In Victorian Europe, orchid hunters hired by wealthy collectors sometimes killed each other in pursuit of new breeds--the subject of Susan Orlean's 1998 book on orchid history, 'The Orchid Thief.' Disliking its often ostentatious collectors, American author James Agee wrote in 1935 that the orchid was 'the Largest, the Loudest, the Most Expensive, the most supercharged with Eroticism, Glamor, Prestige.

古希腊人将兰花视为一位仙女之子的化身，这个儿子是个好色之徒，试图奸淫女祭司。在维多利亚时代的欧洲，富有的收藏家雇佣的兰花搜寻者有时会为寻找新品种而相互厮杀──这是苏珊·奥林(Susan Orlean) 1998年讲述兰花历史的书《兰花窃贼》(The Orchid Thief)的主题。美国作家詹姆斯·阿吉(James Agee)不喜欢那些通常爱炫耀的收藏家，他于1935年写道，兰花是“最大、最招摇、最昂贵、最富色情味和诱惑力、气派十足的花”。

The contemporary orchid-breeding business in Taiwan and its main rival, the Netherlands, centers on the Phalaenopsis, or the moth orchid. Native to Taiwan, it is popular with overseas customers for its full petals in pink, purple, white and yellow.

台湾当代兰花种植业及其主要竞争对手荷兰都以种植蝴蝶兰为主。蝴蝶兰原产于台湾，这种兰花拥有粉色、紫色、白色和黄色大花瓣，很受海外顾客欢迎。

In the 1980s, a government-owned sugar company started growing orchids and found it more profitable than its core business. A decade ago, the Taiwan government plowed under huge swaths of unprofitable sugar cane to build greenhouses for orchids.

二十世纪八十年代，台湾一家政府所有的糖业公司开始种植兰花，并且发现这比其核心业务利润更高。10年前，台湾政府铲除了大片无利可图的甘蔗田，以建立温室种植兰花。

Following the tech industry model, the small growers grouped together into production chains.

小型种植户开始效仿科技行业模式，他们联合起来，结成了生产链。

Some growers focus on new breeds, coaxing cloned orchid cells into tiny green curls floating in glass flasks. Others then raise the slow-growing seedlings, packing them with dry moss into flexible plastic pots.

一些种植户专注于育种，他们小心翼翼地将无性繁殖的兰花细胞加工成极小的绿色螺旋状物，这些螺旋状物浮在玻璃烧瓶内。之后，另一些种植户会培育生长缓慢的幼苗，把它们和干苔藓一起装入有弹性的塑料花盆里。

The seedlings go through three growth stages of 4 to 6 months each, usually under the care of different growers, and are repacked each time into successively larger pots. Then they are shipped overseas. At a greenhouse in the U.S., a shock of cold jolts the plants into flowering. Then they go to the most profitable stage: end-user sales.

Leanne Huang for The Wall Street Journal 美国农业部(US Department of Agriculture)数据显示，如今兰花是美国最畅销的盆花，年销售额超过了一品红。这些幼苗要经历三个生长阶段，每个阶段持续四到六个月，通常由不同的种植者照料，每次都会被重新装入大一些的花盆内。之后这些花会被输往海外。在美国的温室内，低温刺激能促使兰花开花。随后它们进入利润最高的阶段：终端用户销售。

The process has allowed Taiwan to become the world's largest producer of orchids by shipment number (the Netherlands is actually the largest producer by revenue) while capturing only a fraction of the profits. It is a ceiling Taiwanese companies have hit repeatedly: from laptop computers to power wheelchairs and golf club heads.

这一流程使台湾成为全球发货量最大的兰花生产商（实际上以收入计算，荷兰是全球最大的生产商），但只能获得一小部分利润。这是台湾企业反复触及的天花板：从笔记本电脑到电轮椅再到高尔夫球杆杆头都是如此。

After building its economy on small-scale, low-margin manufacturers and efficient supply chains that revolutionized global pricing for a host of manufactured products, Taiwan has seen most of the profits flow elsewhere. Taiwan President Ma Ying-jeou and other politicians have called repeatedly for 'structural reform' to solve the predicament, but have yet to produce solutions.

台湾将经济建立在规模小、利润率低的生产和高效供应链之上，以这种模式生产的一系列产品改变了全球定价格局，也导致利润大多流向了世界其他地区。台湾总统马英九和其他政治家多次呼吁通过“结构性改革”来解决这一困局，但迄今尚未找到解决方案。

'Taiwan's orchid growers can't do much except keep trying to cut costs lower to stay ahead,' said Ting-Fang Hsieh, director of Taiwan's government-run Floriculture Research Center.

台湾政府运营的花卉研究中心(Floriculture Research Center)主任谢廷芳表示：“台湾的兰花种植商要保持领先只能不断努力削减成本，除此之外他们也无能为力。”

Taiwanese growers bemoan that they ship more orchids than the Netherlands, but the Dutch manage to make more money off orchids. A major Dutch competitor, Floricultura BV, has built its own greenhouses in the U.S., which means it can control the more lucrative sales to retailers.

台湾种植者抱怨称，他们的兰花发货量比荷兰大，但荷兰从兰花种植中获得了更多利润。荷兰一家主要竞争对手Floricultura BV在美国建立了自己的温室，这就意味着该公司能够控制面向零售商的销售这一利润更高的环节。

Though Taiwan has some industrial-scale production, most of the business is dominated by small family-run shops that focus on a single step. That, to some, is sapping profitability.

尽管台湾的兰花种植有一些达到了工业生产规模，但该行业主要是由专注于单一环节的小型家庭作坊一统天下。一些人认为这种模式会削弱盈利能力。

While generally it takes one to two years to grow an orchid, 'most Taiwanese orchid growers keep the plants for only a six-month segment,' said Mr. Wu, the Wushu Village grower. The strategy, he says, limits investment risk but also means Taiwanese growers don't control sales overseas.

乌树村(Wushu Village)的种植商吴波洪说，栽培兰花一般需要一到两年，但台湾多数兰花种植者只栽培六个月的时间。他说，这一策略抑制了投资风险，但也意味着台湾种植者无法控制海外销售。

Some growers are experimenting. Nadison Hsu, the 43-year-old chairman of Taiwan's largest orchid-growing collective and an ex-government official who favors pink and green Hawaiian shirts, said the industry needs to consolidate and innovate to succeed.

一些种植商正在进行试验。43岁的许能舜是台湾最大的兰花种植集团公司董事长，也是一位前政府官员，他喜欢粉色和绿色的夏威夷衫，他说，兰花种植业要靠整合和创新来取得成功。

His company, Taiwan Orchid Professionals, began selling a brand of orchid-infused beauty products in Asia. It is also selling gold-coated orchids as a gimmick to build the brand. The company became the first horticultural company to list on Taiwan's over-the-counter Gre Tai Securities Market this year, a precursor step to listing on the Taiwan Stock Exchange.

他麾下的台湾兰业股份有限公司(Taiwan Orchid Professionals)开始在亚洲销售一个加入兰花成分的美容产品品牌。该公司还出售包金兰花，作为品牌建设的噱头。该公司今年成为首家在台湾场外交易平台──证券柜台买卖中心(Gre Tai Securities Market)──上市的园艺公司，这是在台湾证交所上市的前奏。

Showing off a large orchid plant with seven spotless white blooms cascading down a central stem, Mr. Hsu pointed to the four pairs of leathery green leaves, which show that the plant had taken four years to reach that size.

许能舜向笔者展示了一株大兰花，七朵洁白无瑕的花朵环绕着主干款款垂下。许能舜指着四对坚韧的叶子，这些叶子表明这株兰花长这么大用了四年时间。

'How much do you think we can sell this for?' he says. 'Just 250 New Taiwan dollars'--$8.30.

他说：“你猜猜我们能卖多少钱？只能卖到新台币250元。”──也就是8.30美元。