As the rough equivalent of the Gatsbies of the West, the Chinese term, “Phoenix Man”, usually refers to Chinese men who were born into poor families, but worked extremely hard in school and went to university, then stayed in the city for work and life after graduation. Their lives later pan out exactly as they had imagined, with a few minor disappointments, to usually attain the dream of marrying a pretty girl from the city, and acquiring a large family home.
中文术语“Phoenix Man”大致等同于西方的Gatsbies，通常指出生在贫困家庭，但在学校非常努力地工作，上了大学，毕业后留在城市工作和生活。 他们的生活后来和他们想象的一模一样，但有一些小小的失望，通常实现了与城市里的漂亮女孩结婚的梦想，并获得一个大家庭住宅。
These are the Gatsbies of China, the “new money” business tycoons who grew up in small, cannot-be-found-on-Baidu, countryside villages in China, and now reside in the mansions of big, metropolitan cities. One of my mother’s favourite stories to tell my brother and I is the one of how my dad, who grew up in Tangshan in the countryside of Nanjing, often sat on a small stool on the porch steps of his house in the scorching summer during the 1970s, dreaming of marrying a city girl in the future. Then after he graduated from Nanjing Normal University and acquired a job writing speech drafts for various leaders of the Chinese Communist Party, he met and married my mother, the beautiful daughter of two combat medics who served in the People’s Liberation Army. In simpler words, my mother and father were universes apart, in terms of the classes into which they were birthed during the Cultural Revolution era of China.
这些是中国的Gatsbies，他们是“新赚钱”的商业大亨，他们在中国白都找不到的小乡村长大，现在居住在大都市的豪宅里。 我母亲最喜欢给我和我哥哥讲的故事之一是，在南京农村的唐山长大的爸爸，在20世纪70年代炎热的夏天，经常坐在他家门廊台阶上的小凳子上，梦想着将来嫁给一个城市女孩。 然后，当他从南京师范大学毕业，找到一份为中国共产党各领导人写演讲稿的工作后，他遇到了我的母亲并娶了她，我的母亲是两名在人民解放军服役的作战医务人员的漂亮女儿。 简单地说，就中国文化大革命时期他们出生的阶级而言，我的母亲和父亲是不同的宇宙。
This was how I first heard the term “凤凰男”, or directly translated to English, the “Phoenix Man”. Everything they do in their early lives is geared towards constructing a magnificent new image; they are ready to emerge from the ashes anew, and take on the world in their glorious new armour.
我第一次听到“凤凰男”一词，或直接翻译成英语，即“凤凰人”。 他们早年所做的一切都是为了构建一个宏伟的新形象；他们准备从灰秽中重新崛起，穿着光荣的新盔甲迎接世界。
The children of these Phoenix Men are dubbed the #RichKidsofChina, the “teenage hypebeasts” born with a silver spoon in their mouths, served along with a generous side of self-entitlement. Their powdered formula milk was imported from Japan, their pristine butts sat on the most expensive of toilets since potty-training age, and they were pampered by at least three nannies, daily. Their choice of school transportation is a Rolls Royce or Bentley. Their lifestyles, glitzy and gaudy, put the crazy parties thrown by Jay Gatsby to shame. And all this is meticulously displayed on their flashy, guilty-pleasure Instagram feeds. When they reach elementary school age, they attend private schools; then the useless ones have their Gatsby fathers buy them a one-way ticket into UCLA or some other “almost-Ivy” that will appreciate a sizeable donation. These rich kids fly private, and their wardrobes consist of only streetwear brands such as Supreme and Stüssy, and their vocabulary boasts the most creative string of profanity.
这些凤凰人的孩子被称为#RichKidsofChina，出生时嘴里含着银勺子的“青少年炒作野兽”，伴随着慷慨的自我权利。 他们的奶粉是从日本进口的，自从便盆训练年龄以来，他们原始的屁股就坐在最昂贵的马桶上，他们每天至少被三个保姆宠爱。 他们选择的学校交通工具是劳斯莱斯或宾利。 他们的生活方式，华丽而华而不华，让杰伊·盖茨比举办的疯狂派对感到羞愧。 所有这些都在他们华而不實的、有罪恶感的Instagram提要上一丝不苟地展示。 当他们到了小学年龄时，他们就读于私立学校；然后那些没用的学校让他们的盖茨比父亲给他们买了一张去加州大学洛杉矶分校或其他一些“几乎常春藤”的单程票，这些门票将感谢一笔可观的捐款。 这些有钱的孩子私下飞行，他们的衣柜里只有Supreme和Stüssy等街头服装品牌，他们的词汇量拥有最有创意的脏话。
The way my brother and I were raised deviated slightly from the standard rearing of #RichKidofChina. We were given an incredibly privileged upbringing, but it was one imbued with high academic expectations, moral integrity and just a dash of the traditional, Chinese “anti-self-esteem-building” that is always having to prove your own worth.
我和我哥哥的成长方式与#RichKidofChina的标准成长略有偏差。 我们被赋予了令人难以置信的特权成长，但它被灌发着高学术期望、道德操守和传统的中国“反自尊建设”的一点，总是要证明自己的价值。
This idea of self-invention for a greater purpose manifested in Gatsby is reminiscent of the characteristics of the Chinese “Phoenix Man”, whereby our protagonist undergoes a total makeover and personality overhaul in order to get out of the poor town and reclaim his personal Siren.
这种在《盖茨比》中表现出的自我发明的想法让人联想到中国“凤凰人”的特点，即我们的主人公经历了彻底的改造和个性大修，以摆脱贫穷的小镇，夺回他的个人警笛。
She is the real nightmare dressed as a daydream. However, despite the human disappointments that arise, more often than not, from the current generation of #RichKidsofChina, it is worth acknowledging that this young, elite group of Chinese citizens do possess more substance than their stereotype of being ignorant, lazy and entitled teenagers. In the “Great Gatsby”, we come to understand is that which makes Gatsby “great” is not his extravagant lifestyle and the fascinating allure of his wealth, but that, in the deepest chambers of Gatsby’s heart, he does not covet materialistic gains or social status, nor is he plagued by petty shallow things, such as his iconic suits. Instead, the soft, surprise centre of his enigmatic hard shell nurses the most human and overpowering of emotions; love. Is the ability to love (even foolishly) enough to be the ultimate redeeming quality? As humans, is not our only true obligation to love? Even if you are a self-made billionaire like Gatsby, built out of nothing but lies; if you have loved, truly, painfully, desperately, at least once in your life, you are a human.
她是真正的噩梦，打扮成白日梦。 然而，尽管当代#RichKidsofChina经常产生人类的失望，但值得承认的是，这群年轻的精英中国公民确实比他们无知、懒惰和有权利的青少年的刻板印象更有内涵。 在《了不起的盖茨比》中，我们了解到，让盖茨比“伟大”的不是他奢侈的生活方式和他财富的迷人魅力，而是在盖茨比内心深处的房间里，他不��覦��物质利益或社会地位，他也不会被琐碎的浅薄事物所困扰，比如他的标志性西装。 相反，他神秘的硬壳的柔软、令人惊讶的中心照顾着最人性化和压倒性的情绪；爱。 爱的能力（即使是愚蠢地）足以成为最终的救赎品质吗？ 作为人类，这不是我们唯一的真正义务去爱吗？ 即使你像Gatsby一样是一个自创的亿万富翁，只靠谎言而建；如果你一生中至少爱过一次，真正、痛苦地、绝望地爱过一次，你就是一个人。
Beyond the glossy pictures of ridiculously expensive champagne, brand-name clothing and VIP nightclubs, there is an organ behind those ribcages that does a little more than just pump blood and keep #RichKidofChina alive. It guards insecurities, fears and unspeakable chapters in their personal history. Things there is no room to feel, so they’re packaged in little boxes, locked in the back of memory banks.
除了昂贵的香槟、名牌服装和VIP夜总会的光鲜亮丽照片外，这些胸腔背后还有一个器官，它的作用不仅仅是抽血和保持#RichKidofChina的活力。 它保护着他们个人历史中的不安全感、恐惧和难以言喻的篇章。 没有空间去感受的东西，所以它们被包装在小盒子里，锁在记忆库的后面。
Unless salvaging their soul is a complete lost cause, and blindly searching for the good in someone be absolutely futile, it is always worthwhile to look for the humanity therein. The idea of being pure, unadulterated “light” is laughable and unattainable. No one can live in the light all the time. We need to work with an awful lot of grey, as we break down their #RichKidofChina façade, lest we judge them with the scrutiny and insensitivity we are so accustomed to doing subconsciously.
除非拯救他们的灵魂是一个完全失败的事业，盲目地寻找某人身上的美好是绝对徒劳的，否则在其中寻找人性总是值得的。 纯粹、纯正的“光”的想法既可笑又无法实现。 没有人能一直生活在光明中。 当我们打破他们的#RichKidofChina的外表时，我们需要处理大量的灰色，以免我们用我们潜意识中习惯的审查和不敏感来评判他们。
Nowadays, consider it a compliment when someone calls you a human being. Love is the only thing that keeps us from falling over the edge, down the cliff, into the cold, unforgiving and irreversible unknown of the plastic world. No one is exempt from life’s inclemencies. Yet, all of us have that one motivation, one drive, one purpose for everything for which we fight that remains in the fourth chamber of our hearts and stays there, in eternal pirouettes.
如今，当有人称你为人类时，将其视为一种赞美。 愛是唯一能讓我們不至於跌落到邊緣，跌落懸崖，進入塑膠世界的寒冷、無情和不可逆轉的未知。 没有人可以免于生活中的不幸。 然而，我们所有人都有一个动机，一个动力，一个目标，我们为之奋斗的一切，它留在我们心灵的第四室里，并留在那里，在永恒的旋转中。
We are all, at the end of the day, human on the inside.
归根结底，我们内心都是人。