Consumers have turned out to be the real winners in recent days, as a war between milk tea brands in Suzhou’s top mall brought chaos, pandemonium and more than a few bargains to the throngs drawn in by the lowest common denominator that is saving money.
最近几天，消费者成了真正的赢家，苏州顶级购物中心的奶茶品牌之间的战争给那些被省钱这一最低共同点吸引进来的人群带来了混乱、混乱和不少讨价还价的机会。
Not long after opening, Suzhou Centre Mall won a MAPIC Award for “Best New Shopping Centre”, in recognition of its innovation and quality in global retail real estate. But that quality has recently been thrown in to doubt with the outbreak of that being termed “tea wars”.
开业不久，苏州中心购物中心荣获 MAPIC 奖“最佳新购物中心”奖，以表彰其在全球零售地产领域的创新和品质。但最近，随着所谓“茶战”的爆发，这种质量受到了质疑。
It was then that brands such as Hey Tea, Baifen Tea, 7 Fen Tian and Moji Tea successively launched low-price promotions to grab business from the summer crowds.
随后，喜茶、百分茶、七分甜、墨记茶等品牌纷纷推出低价促销，抢夺夏季人群的生意。
And grab they indeed did, literally, as some brands mobilised staff to accost potential passing customers.
事实上，他们确实做到了，因为一些品牌动员员工去招呼潜在的路过顾客。
The questionable tactics led some to joke that it had been a long time since they had seen such a down-to-earth ways of soliciting customers. “High-end business wars are often presented in the simplest way”, said one, reports QQ News.
这种令人质疑的做法让一些人开玩笑说，他们已经很久没有见过如此接地气的招揽顾客的方式了。据QQ新闻报道，一位人士表示，“高端商战往往以最简单的方式呈现”。
Taking Suzhou Centre Mall as an example, there are 11 tea shops, including Hey Tea, Lele Tea, Baifen Tea, 7 Fen Tian, Moji and CoCo on the first basement-level floor, and many are adjacent to each other.
以苏州中心商场为例，地下一层共有喜茶、乐乐茶、百分茶、七分甜、墨记、CoCo等11家茶饮店，且不少是相邻的。
Such proximity inevitably turned the war vocal. “Is there anyone who wants to play games and get a chance to drink milk tea for free?!”, shouted staff out front of Baifen Tea.
如此接近不可避免地导致战争爆发。 “有谁想玩游戏还有免费喝奶茶的机会吗？！”百分茶门口的工作人员喊道。
Not to be outdone, a staff member from Hey Tea held up a billboard and yelled loudly, “The new store of Hey Tea is open; just ¥9 yuan for everyone!”, with his voice heard to be a little hoarse.
喜茶的工作人员也不甘示弱，举着广告牌，大声喊道：“喜茶新店开业，一人9元！”，声音有些沙哑。
Meanwhile, the staff of Baifen Tea held up billboards, while others paraded through the crowds thrusting advertisements into shoppers’ hands.
与此同时，百分茶的工作人员举着广告牌，其他人则在人群中游行，将广告塞到购物者手中。
“At that time, the scene looked like a vegetable market.”
“当时的场景就像一个菜市场。”
Finally though, Suzhou Centre Mall had had enough, declaring the scene too “lively”, confiscating the billboards and silencing the vocal sales people in order to maintain order.
不过，苏州中心商场最终还是忍无可忍，宣称现场太“热闹”，没收了广告牌，并让大声喧哗的销售人员噤声，以维持秩序。
That the tea wars have now come to an end, for the moment, is also an indicator that the new-tea drink market in first-tier and new first-tier cities is close to saturation. Last year, the milk tea market in China racked up a respectable ¥136.1 billion, but that itself was a year-on-year decrease of 4.1 percent.
茶战暂时告一段落，也预示着一线及新一线城市的新茶饮市场已接近饱和。去年，中国奶茶市场规模达到1361亿元人民币，但同比下降了4.1%。
