There is a saying that time is so precious that even gold couldn't be exchanged for it. But a 26-year-old girl named Chen Xiao in Beijing is willing to sell her time at different prices through taobao.com, a popular e-commerce internet portal in China, the Beijing Evening News reports.
有句老話說“千金難買寸光陰”,但一個來自北京的名叫陳瀟的26歲女孩卻在淘寶上做起了出賣自己時間的生意。
By inputting 'Chen Xiao's online store of remaining life' on taobao.com, potential customers are greeted with impressive shots of beautiful Chen Xiao. Beneath the photos are price tags covering the range of prices: eight minutes, one hour and one day with the prices of 8 yuan, 20 yuan and 100 yuan respectively.
在淘寶上搜索“陳瀟的剩余人生店”,就能看到陳瀟一張張漂亮的照片。在照片下面是根據(jù)時間長短定下的價格:8分鐘賣8元,一小時賣20元,一天賣100元。
The advertisement on the online store features a promise from Chen Xiao telling buyers that she will serve any purpose except for those involving crime, violence or pornography.
陳瀟在店鋪廣告中寫到,可以幫助買家達成任何愿望,犯罪、暴力、色情除外。
Though it only opened two months ago, the online store has attracted many customers, who battled at auction to win her time and assigned various tasks to her, such as attending friends' birthday parties, offering coffee to clients, buying railway tickets and so on.
盡管開店只有兩個月,陳瀟的店鋪卻吸引了很多顧客,他們競相拍下陳瀟的時間,要她去完成不同的任務(wù)。有的叫她幫朋友過生日,有的叫她給客人倒咖啡,有的叫她去買火車票,等等。
Up to now, more than 100 people have bought her time, generating a net income of 3,000 yuan for her.
至今為止,已有100多人購買過陳瀟的時間,她因此獲得3000元的收入。
On the recent Valentine's Day, a gentleman spent 500 yuan buying her time for a whole day. She was later asked to come up with an innovative design idea for a gift and deliver it to his girlfriend on February 14th.
在剛剛過去的情人節(jié)里,一名男子花500元購買了她的一整天,請她幫忙出謀劃策,為他的女朋友挑選一個有新意的情人節(jié)禮物。
A mother buyer wanted Chen Xiao to call in on her young daughter disguised as a panda, and encourage her to study harder, after becoming concerned by her failure of an exam.
一名母親買下陳瀟的時間,要她扮成熊貓打電話安慰考試失利的女兒。
Currently, there are around 30 online stores similar to Chen Xiao's. The owners come from across the country and even the U.S. and Australia, most of whom say they have learnt of Chen Xiao's idea and decided to use it to increase the popularity of their own online stores.
近來網(wǎng)上出現(xiàn)了30名類似的賣家。他們來自中國各地甚至美國、澳大利亞,大多數(shù)稱聽說了陳瀟的創(chuàng)意,想用在自己的店鋪上。
Chen Xiao's move has triggered controversy among netizens.
陳瀟的行為引起了網(wǎng)友的熱議。
A netizen called 'xiao han' said that life belonged to oneself, so a person would become lost by putting it up for sale. Another netizen disagreed, saying this was a sort of creative industry and was merely a different type of start-up for the young.
網(wǎng)友笑寒評價說,人生是自己的,用來出售只能迷失自我。也有人反駁稱這屬于創(chuàng)意產(chǎn)業(yè)的一種,是年輕人創(chuàng)業(yè)的新思路。
A marketing teacher with University of International Business and Economy said by selling time as a stunt, Chen Xiao had actually stirred up the public's curiosity and then provided them with any services within her ability.
對外經(jīng)濟貿(mào)易大學市場營銷學的一位老師分析說,出售時間只是噱頭,陳瀟實際上是在調(diào)動了網(wǎng)民的好奇心之后,然后提供各種力所能及的服務(wù)。
Xia Xueluan, a sociology professor with Peking University, said in the shrinking job market, Chen Xiao's act deserved promotion. He added that Chen Xiao took the advantage of the low-cost internet to start her own service business.
北京大學社會學教授夏學鑾認為,在目前嚴峻的就業(yè)形勢下,陳瀟的這種做法是值得學習和借鑒的。他覺得陳瀟實際也是在做一種服務(wù)性的工作,只不過是借助了網(wǎng)絡(luò)這個平臺。