澳大利亚的中国买房团与投资2.0
The boom was on.
繁荣的大幕就此开启了。
Little Port Hedland became one of the biggest ports in the world, handling a greater tonnage of freight each year than the ports of Los Angeles, Hong Kong or Antwerp, Belgium.
小小的黑德兰港变成了世界上最大的港口之一，每年处理货物的吨位比洛杉矶、香港或比利时的安特卫普还要大。
Skilled welders and electricians earned as much as $350,000 a year, drawing workers from around the country.
熟练的焊工和电工一年的工资可达35万美元，吸引了来自全国各地的工人。
The town’s population doubled, to a peak of about 30,000, and would have increased a lot more except that a dispute over Aboriginal claims to land on the city’s outskirts blocked construction and resulted in a housing shortage.
这里的人口已经翻番，达到约30万的顶峰。如果不是土著人宣称享有郊区的土地引发的争端阻碍了施工，导致房屋短缺，这里的人还会多很多。
Much of the high pay came from overtime, or what became known as divorce rosters or suicide rosters.
高额的报酬有许多来自加班，或是由于上了一种被戏称为离婚排班表或自杀排班表的班次。
Mining companies flew workers into remote camps to work 27 days with a single day off in the middle, then flew them home again.
矿业公司将工人运至偏远的营地，让他们连着工作27天，中间只休息一天，之后再送回。
Welders in their high-viz — reflective, high-visibility yellow mining shirts — spent months drenched in sweat as they labored outside through long summers in coastal desert heat reaching 110 degrees.
焊工身着高能见服装——能反射光线、能见度比较高的黄色采矿作业服——数月里一直在沿海沙漠高达110华氏度（约合43摄氏度）的高温中汗流浃背进行户外作业，度过一个个漫长的夏天。
All that overtime pay pushed prices to stratospheric levels.
所有这些超时工资将物价推至极高的程度。
Port Hedland’s bakery, butcher, newsstand, charter fishing operator and scuba-diving shop all closed, unable to cope with soaring rents and locals who would rather work for mining companies than the shops.
黑德兰港的面包店、肉摊、报摊、特许经营的鱼店和水肺潜水店都关门了，因为无力承担不断飙升的租金，也请不到本地人放弃矿业公司而为之工作。
Ray Sampson, the owner of a local diner, paid $1,600 a week to rent a small house for his out-of-town cooks and waitresses.
当地一家小餐馆的老板雷•桑普森(Ray Sampson)以每周1600美元的租金租下一栋小屋，供他从市外聘来的厨师和女服务员住宿。
With his diner packed daily, he then had to rent a second small house, for $1,800 a week, to house more workers, mostly hitchhikers who drifted through town for a few weeks and were the only people willing to accept jobs as cooks and waiters.
因为餐馆每天爆满，他又以每周1800的租金租了第二栋小屋，好容纳新增的员工。他们大多是途径这里、短暂停留几周的背包客，也是唯一愿意接受厨师和服务员这类工作的人。
Real estate prices and rents took off.
房地产的卖价和租金大涨。
Affluent families from elsewhere in Australia and from mainland China, Malaysia and Singapore heard about the profits from charging four-digit weekly rents and swooped in to invest.
澳大利亚别的地方、中国大陆、马来西亚和新加坡的富裕家庭听说了这里的四位数周租金，感到有利可图，于是大批涌入，进行投资。
Lorren Murphy, a convenience store owner from Perth, flew up to Port Hedland four years ago and paid almost $2 million for a two-story house.
珀斯一家便利店的老板洛林•墨菲(Lorren Murphy)在四年前飞到黑德兰港，花了近200万美元买下一栋两层楼房。
He quickly signed a two-year lease with a tenant willing to pay $4,100 a week — nearly $18,000 a month.
他很快便签了一份为期两年的租约，租户愿意每周支付4100美元，也就是说每月近1.8万美元。
He was envious of others who had even more money to invest, because it seemed like a sure bet.
他羡慕那些有更多资金进行投资的人，因为这看起来似乎是一桩稳赚不赔的生意。
I’ve got a friend who dropped $6 million here, Mr Murphy recalled.
我有个朋友在这儿投了600万美元，墨菲回忆道。
The town finally replaced its prefabricated hospital and added a swimming center, an air-conditioned basketball arena, a new courthouse, a skateboard park and more.
城里最终拆掉了原有的医院进行重建，新增了一座游泳馆、一个配备空调的篮球馆、一座新政府大楼、一座溜冰场，还有其他设施。
Outside Port Hedland, the state government in Perth spent on hospitals, new power lines and water systems and a $1 Billion Australian football stadium.
在黑德兰港外，位于珀斯的州政府投资建设了多座医院、新电力线和供水系统，还花10亿美元修建一座澳式橄榄球场。
But 4,000 miles away, trouble was brewing.
然而，在4000英里以外，麻烦正在酝酿。
China’s debt-choked developers were starting fewer buildings.
中国负债累累的开发商开始放慢盖新楼的速度。
Steel use fell 3 percent in 2014 and an additional 5 percent in 2015, even as more steel mills were being built in anticipation of never-ending growth.
钢铁消耗量在2014年减少了3%，2015年又减少了5%，尽管那里正在修建更多钢铁厂，以为会有永无止境的增长。
Manufacturers were becoming more cautious about putting up more factories.
制造商对开设更多工厂表现得更加谨慎。
The Collapse
倒塌
This is a bigger bust than anyone ever saw.
谁也没见过泡沫爆得这么壮观。
Nearly 200 miles south of Port Hedland, the Iron Valley iron ore mine squats in a red desert of drought-stunted eucalyptus trees and maroon cliffs.
在黑德兰港以南约200英里处，名为铁谷的铁矿场就座落在红色的沙漠里，这里有因为干旱而没充分长开的桉树，还有褐红色的悬崖。
Kim Sheppard, the general manager until he moved to a different position last month, climbed the staircase of a three-story yellow apparatus coated with reddish-pink grime that clanged as it crushed and sorted iron ore into small pebbles.
之前担任矿场总经理的金•谢泼德(Kim Sheppard)沿着一座三层的黄色设备的阶梯往上走。他在上个月转到了别的岗位。这个设备落了一层粉色的矿尘，在压碎铁矿石和将之分拣成小块时发出铿锵之声。
The highly automated operation requires only four workers and a supervisor for each work shift, as well as a few mechanics, blasting specialists and managers at an air-conditioned building nearby.
这里的作业高度自动化，每班只需四名工人和一名监工，还有几名技工、爆破专家和经理在旁边一座有空调的楼内呆着。
At the peak of construction, a couple of hundred workers labored here.
在生产的高峰期，曾经有几百名工人在这里劳作。
The desert around the site used to be dotted with large camps of workers, building more mines.
矿场周围的沙漠过去点缀着一些大型的工人营地，从而建成了更多矿场。
Now the desert is empty.
现如今，沙漠上却一片空白。
There are always booms and busts, Mr Sheppard said.
总是有兴有衰，谢泼德说。
But this one is different.
但这一次不同。
Port Hedland felt the pain quickly.
黑德兰港很快感受到了这种痛楚。
Iron ore prices plummeted.
铁矿石价格大跌。
Worried that workers might get angry and damage multimillion-dollar equipment, mining companies laid off tens of thousands of construction workers.
因为担心工人发怒，破坏价值数百万美元的设备，矿业公司裁掉了数以万计的雇员。
One day they just called in the trucks for lunch, and they said, ‘Bring in your backpacks,’ which was unheard-of, said Shannon Baker, a former power shovel operator at a mine near Iron Valley.
那天他们说是喊卡车司机进来吃午饭，结果却说，‘拿上你们的背包，’这在以前是没有过的，曾在铁谷附近一座矿场开挖土机的香农•贝克(Shannon Baker)说。
They got us together in the crew room and they said, ‘The planes are at the airport to take you out.’
他们把我们集中在员工室，然后说，‘机场有飞机会带你们走。
Rents and housing prices have fallen by three-quarters, said Jim Henneberry, the owner of one of Port Hedland’s biggest real estate brokerage firms.
黑德兰港一家大型房地产经纪公司的所有者吉姆•亨内伯里(Jim Henneberry)说，房租和房价已经下降了四分之三。
A fifth of the town’s homes sit empty.
镇上五分之一的房子处于空置状态。
Bill Dziombak spent $1 million apiece to build luxury townhouses here, only to see rents and prices collapse.
比尔•齐奥姆巴克(Bill Dziombak)以每栋100万美元的造价在这里修建了联排别墅，却眼瞅着房租和房价崩了盘。
I never expected this to go bang the way it did, in just 12 months, he said.
无论如何也想不到，仅仅12个月里，事情就这样突然发生了，他说。
It was like falling off the edge of a cliff.
就好像从悬崖边掉了下去。
Customers at Camilo Blanco’s car repair garage no longer need reservations.
卡米洛•布兰科(Camilo Blanco)经营的汽车修理厂的顾客不再需要预约。
I’ve had customers coming in and saying, ‘This is the last time I’ll see you, because I have to leave town,’ said Mr Blanco, who is also Port Hedland’s acting mayor.
曾有顾客走进来说，‘这是最后一次见面了，因为我不得不离开这里，’兼任黑德兰港代理市长的布兰科说。
Departing miners have sold so many used power boats, muscle cars and dune buggies that the local market is glutted.
矿工们临走前卖掉了太多旧机动船、肌肉车和沙漠越野车，当地市场充斥着这些东西。
Mr Blanco was recently offered an options-laden $14,000 Rhino dune buggy for half that price, and he still bargained: I said, ‘I’ll pay you five grand for it,’ and it’s sitting in my yard now.
不久前，有人要把一辆带有诸多选配装置、原价1.4万美元的Rhino沙滩车以半价卖给布兰科，而他还是要讨价还价：我说，‘我愿意出价五千’，而现在它就停在我家院子里。
Local leaders who spent heavily during the boom times are now under pressure to cut real estate taxes, which in many cases are still based on eye-wateringly high property values.
当地领导人在繁荣时期有大把的钱可花，如今却面临着削减房地产税的压力——相关税率的设定在很大程度上仍然以极高的房地产价值为依据。
Simply operating Port Hedland’s new basketball arena costs $2 million a year, or 3 percent of the city’s annual budget.
单是运营黑德兰港的新篮球馆，每年就要花掉200万美元，相当于当地年度预算的3%。
It’s like surfing, said Colin Barnett, the premier of Western Australia state, in an interview in Perth.
这就像冲浪，西澳大利亚州州长科林•巴尼特(Colin Barnett)在珀斯接受采访时说。
When the wave comes, you’ve got to catch it and you’ve got to ride it hard and get everything out of it.
浪来了，你得把握住机会，奋力乘浪而行，利用好它带给你的一切。
When the wave’s not there, you’ve got to paddle hard, and we’re paddling hard at the moment.
浪走了，你就得奋力划水，我们当下就是在奋力划水。
Chinese Investment 2.0
中国投资2.0
Even in the middle of the worst of the mining slump, Australia has found a potential source of strength, again from China: people like Ike Wang.
即便采矿业出现了最严重的滑坡，澳大利亚还是发现了经济增长的潜在源泉，这次依然来自中国那里，也就是艾克•王(Ike Wang)这类人。
Mr Wang, 24, graduated last year from Murdoch University in Perth, where he was one of hundreds of students from mainland China.
现年24岁的艾克•王去年毕业于珀斯的莫道克大学(Murdoch University)，该校有成百上千名像他这样来自中国大陆的学生。
He is looking for a full-time job in marketing and, despite Western Australia’s slowdown, he has an advantage: His family back in Tianjin, China, paid $370,000 at the start of this year to buy him a two-bedroom apartment.
他正寻找市场营销方面的全职工作，尽管西澳大利亚州经济增长放缓，但他有一个优势：他在中国天津的家人于今年年初花37万美元为他买下了一套带有两间卧室的公寓。
The 13th-floor apartment, with white walls and a white carpet, is nearly empty of furniture.
这套公寓位于13楼，墙壁刷成了白色，地上铺着白地毯，屋内几乎没有任何家具。
But it has a good view over the city and what seems like solid workmanship.
但它拥有可以俯瞰这座城市良好视野，施工工艺看上去也很过硬。
(Coincidentally, Mr Meadowcroft did some of the plumbing for the complex.)
（巧合的是，这栋公寓楼的部分给排水管道是由梅多克罗夫特安装的。）
The apartment gives Mr Wang a free place to live while he decides his next move.
在艾克•王盘算下一步该怎么办的时候，这套公寓让他有了免费的住处。
I like that it’s a new apartment, he said.
这是一套新公寓，我很喜欢，他说。
Everything is new and clean.
哪儿都是崭新而又干净的。
Real estate developers say that they see a lot of Chinese families eager to buy homes in Australia.
房地产开发商称，他们发现很多中国家庭急于在澳大利亚买房。
I think the investment return is the No. 2 concern — it’s about getting money somewhere that is stable and safe, it’s about getting the money out of China, said Paul Blackburne, a developer of numerous Perth apartment complexes.
在珀斯开发了大量公寓楼的保罗•布莱克本(Paul Blackburne)说，我认为投资回报是次要关注点——他们的首要目标是把钱放在某个稳定安全的地方，是把钱转出中国。
As in the United States, low interest rates have also fanned demand for houses and apartments from local buyers.
与美国的情况类似，低利率也增进了买家对房屋和公寓的需求。
Australian government data shows that it approved $18.2 billion in Chinese real estate investments in the year that ended June 30, 2015, twice as much as the year before, and more than triple the total last year for the United States, which was the second-largest overseas investor.
澳大利亚政府的数据显示，在截至2015年6月30日的财年里，得到其许可的来自中国的房地产投资为182亿美元，为前一财年的两倍，比上一财年来自美国的投资总额多出两倍还多——美国是澳大利亚的第二大海外投资者。
And developers say that a lot more Chinese money is quietly flowing into Australian real estate without government approvals.
一些开发商表示，更多来自中国的资金在没有得到澳大利亚政府许可的情况下，悄悄流进了房地产市场。
Port Hedland and the entire state of Western Australia face budget problems.
黑德兰港乃至整个西澳大利亚州都面临着预算问题。
The state has begun moving to sell a 50-year lease on the Utah Point berth, possibly to a Chinese buyer, despite objections from smaller companies like Mineral Resources, which owns the low-cost Iron Valley mine and cannot use the other docks because they are controlled by giant rivals like BHP.
该州已经着手出售为期50年的犹他点泊位租约，买家有可能来自中国，尽管矿产资源(Mineral Resources)等规模较小的公司纷纷表示反对。该公司拥有成本低廉的铁谷铁矿场，却不能使用其他码头，因为它们都受控于必和必拓等规模庞大的竞争对手。
(Mr Meadowcroft coincidentally helped build the Utah Point berth as well.)
（梅多克罗夫特恰巧也参与修建了犹他点泊位。）
But unemployment has barely risen in Port Hedland or in Western Australia over all.
但总体而言，黑德兰港或者西澳大利亚州的失业率基本没有上升。
Some, like Mr Meadowcroft, found jobs in Perth.
一些人，比如梅多克罗夫特，在珀斯找到了工作。
Many moved east to Sydney and Melbourne to work in the construction sector there.
许多人搬到了东边的悉尼和墨尔本，投身于那里的建筑行业。
One worry in Australia is whether the country is now on an economic trajectory similar to that of the United States a decade earlier.
让一些澳大利亚人感到担心的是：这个国家眼下所处的经济轨道是否和10年前的美国类似？澳大利亚央行在4月份警告称，
Australia’s central bank warned in April that if Chinese demand faltered, Australia’s real estate market could suffer and the country’s banking system, heavily exposed to home mortgages, could be harmed.
如果来自中国的需求下降，澳大利亚的房地产市场可能遭受挫折，该国有着大量住房抵押贷款业务的银行系统可能受到损害。
But for now, Chinese money is still flowing.
但截至目前，中国人的资金仍在流入。
Many miners who squandered their earnings during the iron ore boom are now trying to catch up in construction jobs.
在铁矿石热潮中拿赚到的钱大肆挥霍的很多矿工，如今正竭力适应建筑业的工作。
But many others socked away their money from the boom and have used those savings to buy homes or start small businesses.
但也有很多矿工当初存了钱，已经用积蓄买了房或创办了小企业。
They were micro-entrepreneurs, said Tom Barratt, a University of Western Australia doctoral student who is doing his thesis on labor markets in the Pilbara hills.
他们是小微创业者，西澳大学的博士生汤姆•巴勒特(Tom Barratt)说。他在写一篇关于皮尔巴拉(Pilbara)山丘地区劳动力市场的论文。
Mr Meadowcroft is among those savers.
梅多克罗夫特就是存了钱的人之一。
He bought a house and soon paid off most of the mortgage.
他买了一栋房子，很快就付清了大部分抵押贷款。
He also married his longtime girlfriend after years of commuting to far-flung mines and ports, and is now raising two children as he learns to be a plumber.
另外，在过了许多年往返于居住地和遥远的矿山、港口之间的日子以后，他和相恋已久的女友结了婚，目前一边养育两个孩子，一边学着成为一名水管工。
Although his savings account is much smaller now, he has no regrets about the boom years.
尽管银行储蓄账户里的钱现在少了许多，但谈起那个繁荣的时代，他说自己无怨无悔。
That was 12 years of really hard work, he said, to achieve what a lot of people don’t achieve in their whole lives.
我结结实实地辛苦劳作了12年，他说，去实现许多人终其一生也无法达到的目标。
