中国消费者不再"贪便宜"

When they are not testing TV remotes, middle-class Chinese are squinting at the labels of the foods they feed their children. Quality has become an obsession since the tainted milk crisis of 2008, which sickened hundreds of thousands of infants.

在不测试电视遥控器的时候，中国的中产阶级就会盯着给孩子吃的食品的标签。自从2008年导致数十万婴儿中毒的毒奶粉事件之后，食品质量已成为困扰中国人的一个问题。

Not surprisingly, consumers were annoyed when Walmart was recently accused of labelling common-or-garden pork as organic. They expect that kind of thing from domestic companies but not from foreign multinationals.

毫不令人意外的是，当沃尔玛最近被曝光用普通猪肉冒充绿色猪肉后，消费者会感到愤怒。他们本以为这种事只会出现在国内企业身上，没有想到外国跨国企业也会这样做。

Now that China is getting into the habit of exercising the basic human right to buy non-toxic foods, it is a short step to demanding shoes that do not fall apart in the first week and home appliances that last at least until the next house renovation.

既然中国正在养成行使基本人权购买无毒食品的习惯，那么要求鞋子不会在购买一周内开胶、家用电器至少能坚持到下一次房屋装修，都只是一小步。

Tesco, the UK retailer, says the Chinese middle class is "becoming increasingly sophisticated in the quality of products they purchase", including buying more foreign and high-end brands, not just safer food.

英国零售商特易购(Tesco)表示，中国中产阶级“在产品质量的问题上正变得越来越老练”，包括购买更多国外和高端品牌，而不仅仅是更安全的食品。

Everyone is jumping on the safety bandwagon. Malls and real estate developers are trying to brand themselves as safe by asking impartial international quality inspection companies to verify that their lifts will not plunge or their walls fall down on shoppers.

所有人都加入了安全这个大潮。购物中心和房地产开发商正努力给自己打上安全的钢印，它们邀请中立的国际质检公司来证明它们的电梯不会坠落，或它们的墙不会倒塌砸到消费者。

"From fruit to paint, Chinese are willing to pay for something with a safety seal," says Shaun Rein, author of The End of Cheap China.

《即将消失的廉价中国货》(The End of Cheap China)一书作者雷小山(Shaun Rein)表示：“从水果到涂料，中国人都愿意为有安全标签的商品买单。”

That may sound like good news for multinational brands, because they — rightly or wrongly — are perceived as having the edge on quality.

对于跨国品牌而言，这听上去或许是一个好消息，因为它们——不管这么想是对还是错——向来被视为质量更好一些。

But there is no room for complacency. Chinese consumers are no longer willing to spend blindly on anything foreign for the sake of it.

但它们没有理由自满。中国消费者不再愿意因为这点而盲目地购买外国商品。

The Chinese shopper has come of age, not just in the world's premier shopping destinations but in the malls and high streets back home. "Made in China" will never be the same again.

中国消费者已成熟起来，这不仅仅体现在全球最热门的购物目的地，在中国国内的购物中心和商业区也是如此。“中国制造”再也不会是以前的模样。

Patti Waldmeir is the FT's Shanghai Bureau Chief

本文作者是英国《金融时报》驻上海首席记者

译者:梁艳裳