文/托拜厄斯·巴克 译/张宵 魏家海

西班牙经济寒冬中华商生意兴隆

文/托拜厄斯·巴克 译/张宵 魏家海

From his fi rst- fl oor of fi ce in an industrial estate south of Madrid, Chen Maodong can track the steady flow of bright orange delivery trucks passing through the gates of his sprawling warehouse complex1complex类型相似的建筑群。.

[2] Laden2laden装满的。with beer, liquor, soft drinks and snacks, the trucks are on their way to restock3restock补充（货源）。the thousands of Chinese-run corner shops and convenience stores that dot4dot遍布于。the Spanish capital. Business is good. It always has been, even in the worst moments of Spain’s economic crisis. Since 2008,the country has been through a housing bust, a banking crisis and a double-dip5double-dip双底衰退，指在一个经济周期内，经济出现两次衰退。recession. But Don Pin, the wholesale company founded by Mr Chen, managed to triple6triple成为三倍。its sales over the same time period.

[3] Only 34 years old, Mr Chen has emerged as one of the most recognisable faces of the Chinese community in Spain—and as a symbol of its commercial clout7clout〈非正式〉影响力。and remarkable ability to withstand economic adversity8adversity困境；逆境。. His story finds parallels across the crisisscarred countries in southern Europe,which have seen a burst in Chinese migrant arrivals—and in Chinese economic activity—despite the brutal9brutal残暴的。recession of recent years.

[4] Over the past decade, the number of Chinese arrivals in countries such as Spain, Italy and Portugal has soared.According to official data, there are now more than 180,000 Chinese nationals living in Spain, three times more than in 2003. Add in students and those who have become naturalised10naturalised入籍的。Spaniards, and the fi gure leaps to more than 200,000, the fi fth-largest minority in the country.

[5] Chinese migration to Spain continued to rise even after the start of the crisis, highlighting how well the community has been able to weather111 weather〈比喻〉度过,挨过。the economic storm. In a country where one-in-four workers is out of a job,unemployment is virtually unknown among the Chinese. Furthermore, they account for12account for（数量、比例上）占。a vastly disproportionate13disproportionate不成比例的。share of business start-ups: there are now more than 40,000 self-employed Chinese on Spain’s commercial register,twice as many as before the crisis.

[6] At the same time, there are growing signs that the Chinese are starting to work their way up14work one’s way up使自己地位逐步上升。the economic value chain. Gone are the days when Chinese economic activity in Spain was confi ned to15confined to只限于。serving uprollitos de primavera(spring rolls) or selling trinkets16trinket（价值不高的）小首饰。in dusty 100-pesetas177 peseta比塞塔（西班牙基本货币单位）。shops. Today there are Chinese-owned fashion chains,import-export businesses, media groups and law fi rms.

[7] Dressed in a smartly cut black suit, white shirt and black tie, Mr Chen looks every inch the successful businessman. A native of Qingtian, an impoverished18impoverished贫困的。rural county in the coastal Chinese province of Zhejiang, he arrived in Madrid in 1998. Like most Chinese migrants in those years, he came without money and spoke no Spanish.Just 18, he earned his first cash waiting tables in a Chinese restaurant and selling plastic toys and cheap clothes at funfairs19funfair游乐场。in villages across Spain. The only Spanish words he knew at the time were numbers (to haggle20haggle争论（尤指讨价还价）。over prices)along withhola, gracias and adiós211 hola, gracias and adiós西班牙语的“你好”“谢谢”和“再见”。.

[8] Determined to scrimp22scrimp省吃俭用，节衣缩食（尤指为了攒钱）。and save as much as possible, Mr Chen shared a single room with his brother, who had left the family home a few years earlier.Four years after he arrived, Mr Chen joined forces with his brother and uncle to set up their own business. His partners had savings but they had to ask for loans from two other family members to reach the €20,000 they needed to buy their delivery van. “We worked every day from 8am in the morning to midnight. Once, I made a whole round trip just to take a kilo of peanuts to one of our customers,” he says.

[9] The hard work paid off. As the number of Chinese-owned shops soared,so did the business of supplying them.Don Pin reported sales of €220,000 in its first year. Today it turns over more than €60m, boasts a fleet of 35 trucks and employs 110 workers.

[10] The Chinese community in Spain kept growing long after the economic collapse—and even as other migrant groups began to return to their home countries. Newcomers say that the more recent wave of Chinese migrants is different from Mr Chen’s generation. Many arrive by choice, not out of economic necessity. They come to see something of the world, improve their skills, but they are also a little less driven than the early entrepreneurs.

[11] Work visas are harder to come by and—after decades of relentless economic growth in China—the eeccoo--nomic gain of moving to Europe is not as clear-cut as previously. Some data suggest that the number of new arrivals from China is finally dropping off:migrants are still coming, but there are fewer, they are better educated, and often come for a speci fi c job or to study a particular course.

[12] Yet just as the wave of migrants has crested23crest到达山顶；达到顶点。, a new wave is building—this time bringing money and investment from China rather than workers and entrepreneurs. David Höhn, a partner at KPMG in Madrid, has watched it gather in strength since he began heading the accounting fi rm’s China desk in the Spanish capital. What the Chinese are looking for is, above all else, expertise. Mr Höhn points out that most transactions involve Chinese groups buying minority stakes in Spanish companies, with the aim of launching joint ventures either in third markets or back in China itself.

[13] Chinese companies have shown interest in sectors where Spain enjoys a strong record, such as tourism, food,infrastructure and construction. Over the past year, for example, Chinese investors have bought large stakes in NH,the Spanish hotel chain; in Campofrio, a maker of sausages, ham and other pork products; and in Osborne, the sherry group.

[14] It is an approach that mirrors the one taken by Chinese companies in Germany, where they have bought into the machinery and equipment sector, and in Italy, which has seen a string of deals in textiles and fashion. “What they want is access to speci fi c expertise and to technology,” says Mr Höhn.

[15] Mr Chen says there are countless things he likes about life in his adopted country. But he, for one, has no desire to grow old in Madrid. “When I die, I want to die in my village. I arrived here when I was 18 but I still feel my roots very strongly. But it is different for the children. My children will be Madrilians.” ■

马德里南部的一座工业建筑里，老板陈茂东（音译）在他的一楼办公室就可以监测一辆辆橘色铮亮的送货车井然有序地进出一个个仓库。

[2]这些货车满载着啤酒、烈酒、饮料和各种点心，为华人开办的街角小店和便利店补货，这些成千上万的小店星罗棋布地散布在西班牙首都马德里。陈先生的生意一直不错，即使在西班牙经济危机最严重的时刻亦如此。2008年以来，这个国家接连遭遇了房地产泡沫破裂、银行倒闭和双底衰退的打击。但陈先生创办的唐平批发公司的销售额竟在此期间增长了两倍。

[3]年轻有为的陈先生，34岁便成为西班牙华人社群中响当当的人物，象征着这一社群的商业影响力以及抵御经济危机的非凡能力。在危机深重而又千疮百孔的南欧国家中，他的故事并非独一无二。尽管这些国家近些年来遭遇了近乎残酷的经济衰退，但这并不能阻挡来自中国的移民大量涌入以及随之而来的经济活动大规模涌现。……