劉強東與中國鍍金時代的“搖滾明星”

Richard Liu, the Chinese technology executive arrested in the United States on suspicion of sexual misconduct, has returned to China — where he is the No. 1 topic of conversation.

由于涉嫌性行為不端在美國被捕的中國科技企業(yè)高管劉強東已經(jīng)回到中國，眼下他是那里的頭號話題。

Chinese news outlets and social media users were consumed on Monday by details of Mr. Liu’s arrest. His mug shot, taken by law enforcement officials in Minnesota, was everywhere online. Chinese netizens speculated about how his wife — a celebrity in her own right, known as Sister Milk Tea — might respond, and parsed unfamiliar legal terms.

周一，中國新聞媒體和社交媒體用戶都在關注劉強東被捕的細節(jié)。他被明尼蘇達州執(zhí)法官員拍下的嫌犯大頭照在網(wǎng)上到處都是。中國網(wǎng)民猜測他的妻子——她也是名人，被稱為奶茶妹妹——會做出怎樣的回應，他們還詳細分析那些陌生的法律條款。

The intense reactions to Mr. Liu’s legal troubles reflect the public’s fascination with China’s self-made tech tycoons, who have become symbols of the country’s rise as a global power and its upward social mobility. Their books are best sellers. Their private lives are tabloid fodder. Their speeches on success and entrepreneurship are perpetually running on TV screens at airports.

對劉強東陷入法律麻煩的強烈反應，說明了公眾對本土白手起家的科技巨頭的迷戀，他們已成為中國崛起為全球大國，以及中國社會地位向上流動的象征。他們的書成了暢銷書。他們的私人生活成了小報的素材。他們關于成功和創(chuàng)業(yè)的演講在機場的電視屏幕上滾動播出。

In effect, they are the rock stars of China’s Gilded Age, and Mr. Liu is one of the brightest. His company, JD.com, courts the country’s growing middle class with quality brand products instead of the shoddy copycats that are common on the Chinese internet. Today, its shares trade on the Nasdaq at a market value of about $50 billion.

事實上，他們是中國鍍金時代的搖滾明星，劉強東是他們當中最聰明的之一。他的公司京東用優(yōu)質(zhì)的品牌產(chǎn)品來討好這個國家不斷壯大的中產(chǎn)階級，而不是出售中國互聯(lián)網(wǎng)上常見的假冒偽劣產(chǎn)品。如今，京東的股票在納斯達克交易，市值約為500億美元。

On Friday, Mr. Liu — whose Chinese name is Liu Qiangdong but who goes by Richard in the English-speaking world — was arrested over allegations of sexual misconduct. Police officials in Minneapolis said they were treating the case as an active investigation. In Minnesota, the term “criminal sexual conduct” covers a range of nonconsensual sexual contact.

上周五，劉強東——英文名理查德(Richard)——因涉嫌性行為不端而被捕。明尼阿波利斯的警方表示，他們正在積極調(diào)查此案。在明尼蘇達州，“刑事性行為”一詞包括一系列非合意性接觸。

JD.com has maintained that Mr. Liu was falsely accused, and on Monday said he had been released without being charged and without having to post bail. The executive has hired lawyers but has returned to work in China, the company said, without saying when he arrived in the country.

京東一直聲稱，劉強東受到不實指控，并且于周一表示，他已被釋放，沒有被起訴，而且不需要保釋。該公司稱，這位高管聘請了律師，但已經(jīng)回到中國工作，不過沒有說他的回國時間。

John Elder, a spokesman for the Minneapolis Police Department, said Monday that the investigation was “really in its infancy.”

明尼阿波利斯警察局發(fā)言人約翰·埃爾德(John Elder)于周一表示，調(diào)查“確實處在起步階段”。

“We are trying to ensure his rights while respecting the rights of the person who made the complaint,” he said of Mr. Liu. Mr. Elder said the police had no legal authority to keep Mr. Liu from leaving the country as the investigation continued, but he expressed a “very strong belief we will be able to connect with him later.”

“我們努力確保他的權(quán)利，同時尊重申訴者的權(quán)利，”他談起劉強東一案時說。埃爾德還表示，隨著調(diào)查繼續(xù)，警方?jīng)]有合法權(quán)力讓劉強東不能離開美國，但他表示“堅信我們以后能和他聯(lián)系上”。

Chinese internet users have obsessed over the minutiae of the case, many of them getting a crash course in the American legal system in the process.

中國互聯(lián)網(wǎng)用戶癡迷于案件的各種細枝末節(jié)，很多人在這個過程中上了一堂美國法律體系的速成課。

“This photo of Liu Qiangdong is called a mug shot,” a blogger and journalist who goes by the name Michael Anti wrote on WeChat, the ubiquitous Chinese messaging and social media platform. He went on to explain that mug shots were considered public information in the United States, and can be released to the media.

“劉強東的這個照片叫mug shot，一位名叫安替的博主和記者在微信上寫道，微信是一個無處不在的中文短信和社交媒體平臺。他還解釋說，在美國，嫌犯大頭照被認為是公共信息，可以向媒體發(fā)布。

Descriptions of “probable cause” and “released pending complaint” were also widespread. There were even photographs and audio recordings of Mr. Elder.

對此案有“合理根據(jù)”和“取保等候正式起訴”的描述也廣泛流傳開來。甚至還有埃爾德的照片和錄音。

Others speculated over Mr. Liu’s marriage to Zhang Zetian, who rose to fame as a student when a photo of her holding a cup of milk tea was widely shared on social media. Nicknamed “Sister Milk Tea,” Ms. Zhang met Mr. Liu while she was studying in the United States, and they married in 2015. The couple have been both praised and criticized in China for cataloging online the intimate details of their lives, including their wedding and Ms. Zhang’s pregnancy.

還有人對劉強東與章澤天的婚姻做出猜測，后者在學生時代成名，她有一張拿著奶茶的照片在社交媒體上廣為流傳，綽號“奶茶妹妹”。章澤天在美國留學期間遇到了劉強東，他們于2015年結(jié)婚。這對夫婦在網(wǎng)上分享日常生活中的親密細節(jié)，包括他們的婚禮和章澤天的懷孕，因此在中國既受到稱贊，也受到批評。

Mr. Liu’s arrest also prompted derision. In a previous video interview, he had insisted he had not married Ms. Zhang for her looks. “I am face blind,” he said. “I can’t tell who is pretty and who is not.”

劉強東的被捕也引發(fā)了嘲笑。在之前的一次視頻采訪中，他堅稱自己和章澤天結(jié)婚不是因為她的外表。“我這人臉盲，”他說。“就是說根本分不清楚誰漂亮不漂亮。”

Referring to those remarks, one online user joked, “Maybe he mistook the other woman as Sister Milk Tea. He is face blind, after all.”

一名網(wǎng)友開玩笑時談到這些言論，“也許他把另一個女人當成了奶茶妹妹。他畢竟臉盲。”

Beyond online comments, the case also put a spotlight on JD.com’s fierce rivalry with the Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba, and in particular the clash of personalities between the companies’ founders.

除了網(wǎng)上的評論，這個案子也讓人們關注到京東與中國電商巨頭阿里巴巴的激烈競爭，尤其是兩家公司創(chuàng)始人之間的個性沖突。

If the most intense reality show in the United States is national politics, business feuds take top billing in China. The workings of the government are carried out in a black box, off limits to media scrutiny and public discussion, but antagonism in the business world is carried out in the open. Among the business tycoons, the heads of China’s internet companies are the hottest stars, the leaders of JD.com and Alibaba chief among them.

如果說美國最激烈的真人秀是國家政治，那么商場上的不和在中國則是最熱門的話題。政府的運作是在黑箱中進行的，不允許媒體審查和公眾討論，但商界的敵對情緒是公開的。在商業(yè)大亨中，中國互聯(lián)網(wǎng)企業(yè)的掌門人是最炙手可熱的明星，其中包括京東和阿里巴巴的掌門人。

Where Mr. Liu is like an aggressive boxer — a straight talker and a formidable disciplinarian — Alibaba’s executive chairman, Jack Ma, is more of a tai chi master, skillful at gentle maneuvering. Even before his arrest in Minnesota, Mr. Liu was in the news a lot with a colorful private life and blunt speaking style.

劉強東就像一個好斗的拳擊手——一個直言不諱、厲行紀律的人;阿里巴巴董事局主席馬云更像是一個太極大師，擅長溫和的策略。早在他于明尼蘇達州被捕之前，劉強東就因其豐富多彩的私人生活和直言不諱的講話方式而成為新聞人物。

In July, a judge in Australia rejected his request to prevent the release of his name in connection with a case in which a sexual assault was said to have taken place after a 2015 party at his Sydney penthouse. That case has not generated as much online attention as the recent arrest, largely because Mr. Liu was not charged with a crime or accused of any wrongdoing. Still, at the time, JD.com reposted a lawyer’s statement on Chinese social media platforms that aimed to quell any rumors tied to the Sydney case.

今年7月，澳大利亞一名法官駁回了劉強東的請求，他申請在一起性侵案件中不公布他的名字，這起案件據(jù)稱發(fā)生在2015年劉強東在他悉尼頂層豪華公寓舉辦的一個派對之后。此案在網(wǎng)上引起的關注沒有最近的逮捕那么多，主要是因為劉強東當時沒有被控犯罪或任何不當行為。不過，當時京東在中國社交媒體平臺上轉(zhuǎn)發(fā)了一份律師聲明，來平息與悉尼案件有關的任何謠言。

Born in a poor part of the eastern province of Jiangsu, Mr. Liu has made much of his Everyman credentials. Able to afford meat only once or twice a year, his family typically ate sweet potatoes and corn as dinner staples. Until recently, he would put on a helmet and JD.com’s red uniform to make deliveries on a three-wheeled electric bike. He calls the 100,000-odd deliverymen who work for JD.com his “brothers,” and often trumpets how much better they are paid than those employed by competitors.

劉強東出生在中國東部省份江蘇的一個貧困地區(qū)，愛強調(diào)自己的“普通人”身份。他的家人一年只能吃一兩次肉，平時只有紅薯和玉米可吃。直到最近，他還會戴上頭盔，穿上京東的紅色制服，騎著電動三輪車送貨。他把為京東工作的10萬多名快遞員稱為自己的兄弟，并經(jīng)常吹噓他們的薪酬比被競爭對手雇傭的快遞員高得多。

As it has grown, JD.com has become a serious competitor to Alibaba and, increasingly in recent years, the two are going head to head, vying for the attentions of growing numbers of affluent online shoppers in China.

隨著京東的發(fā)展，它已成為阿里巴巴的一個重要競爭對手。近年來，雙方的正面交鋒越來越激烈，爭奪中國越來越多富裕在線購物者的關注。

Both companies have tried to lure popular brands to open virtual stores on their sales platform, a battle playing out most aggressively in fashion, traditionally Alibaba’s stronghold. Mr. Ma’s company scored a major victory in 2015 when Uniqlo, the Japanese casual wear company, quit JD.com to sell its wares on Alibaba’s platform. Last year, a group of apparel merchants also made the jump, a move that JD.com’s chief financial officer said on a recent earnings call that the company was still recovering from. (Alibaba has denied it pressured any brands into exclusive arrangements.)

這兩家公司都試圖吸引流行品牌在其銷售平臺上開設網(wǎng)店，這場爭斗在時尚界展開得最為激烈——傳統(tǒng)上這一塊是阿里巴巴的大本營。2015年，日本休閑服飾品牌優(yōu)衣庫(Uniqlo)退出京東，加入阿里巴巴的銷售平臺，馬云的公司取得了重大勝利。去年，一批服裝商家也從京東跳到淘寶。京東首席財務官在最近的財報電話會議上表示，該公司仍在從此事中恢復。(阿里巴巴否認曾向任何品牌施壓來簽訂排他協(xié)議。)

There is no love lost between the two men, either. Mr. Ma famously once said that JD.com would eventually end as a “tragedy,” because its business model was excessively labor and capital intensive. Mr. Liu, for his part, has accused Alibaba of not doing enough to fight fakes on its platform, a charge Mr. Ma has denied.

馬云和劉強東并不喜歡對方。眾所周知，馬云曾說京東將來會成為“悲劇”，因為它的商業(yè)模式過于勞動和資本密集型。劉強東則指責阿里巴巴在其平臺上打擊假貨方面做得不夠，馬云對此予以否認。

It is little wonder, then, that many Chinese internet users responded to the news of Mr. Liu’s arrest by posting photographs of Mr. Ma laughing.

因此，許多中國網(wǎng)民以發(fā)布了馬云大笑的照片來回應劉強東被捕的消息，也就不足為奇了。