Privacy is something of a luxury in China, a land with a population of 1.4
billion. Personal space is not a concept that ordinary Chinese are familiar
with. Pushing and shoving is a basic survival skill in cities. If you fail to
push with fellow commuters to get on a packed underground train, you’ll be met
with impatient stares.
隐私在中国算得上是一种奢侈品，因为这是一块拥有14亿人口的土地。个人空间不是普通中国人所熟悉的概念。推挤是城市的基本生存技能。如果你没有和其他上班族一样推挤着上地铁，你会被投以不耐烦的目光。
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Privacy is also political: the concept of “private property” or “private
space” was castigated in the Mao era as an evil of the bourgeois class – and
this communist ideal is very much alive today. Throughout China, people are
happy to lie down for a nap just about anywhere: in an office pantry, on a park
bench, even in a museum or concert hall foyer, looking as comfortable as if the
public space were their own living room.
隐私也是政治性的：“私有财产”或“私人空间”的概念在毛泽东时代被视为资产阶级的邪恶——而这种共产主义理想在今天仍非常活跃。在整个中国，人们很乐意在任何地方躺下来小睡：如在办公室储藏室，公园长椅，甚至在博物馆或音乐厅门厅前，这些小睡的人看起来很舒适，好像公共空间是他们自己的起居室一样。
So it is a surprise to see Matti, a socially awkward Finnish cartoon
character in the Finnish Nightmares comic series become something of a celebrity
in China’s cyberspace. A new term in Mandarin has even been coined to describe
people who are like the hero: jingfen, or “spiritually Finnish”. According to a
widely distributed definition on social media, jingfen broadly refers to people
who dislike socialising – like the Finns, apparently – and take their personal
space “extremely seriously”.
因此，看到马蒂(Matti)这位来自《芬兰人的噩梦》漫画系列中一个社交尴尬的芬兰卡通人物在中国网络空间上爆红简直是个惊喜。甚至有人创造了普通话新术语来描述这样的英雄般的人：“精芬”，或“精神上的芬兰人”。根据社交媒体上广泛流传的解释，“精芬”广义上指那些不喜欢社交的人，
这显然是芬兰人，这些人对待他们的个人空间非常认真。
Matti’s fear of crowds and small talk and his tendency to be easily
embarrassed has struck a chord with many Chinese readers, who seem relieved that
their longing for privacy has finally been voiced – via the medium of a stick
figure from a faraway country. But it’s Finnish culture itself – of which
privacy and personal space have long been part – that has also struck a
chord.
马蒂对人群和闲聊的恐惧以及他容易尴尬的倾向引起了许多中国读者的共鸣，他们似乎对自己对隐私的渴望得到了来自一个遥远国家的简笔画形象的认可松了一口气。但是，芬兰文化本身的隐私和个人空间的长期存在也引起了中国人的共鸣。
“Finland is a paradise for people with social anxiety disorder,” wrote
WeChat user Zhang Yanmei in a post. “I am a jingfen, please do not disturb me
unnecessarily!” wrote an anonymous user in the title of his essay on the website
Douban. “Can you see yourself in Matti?” he asked. “He is shy and introspective
and the trials and tribulations of life are not just Matti’s nightmare. We’re
all afraid of loneliness, but we crave even more for our personal space and
privacy to be respected.” It is a sentiment that will ring true for many people
in China.
“芬兰是社交焦虑症患者的天堂，”微信用户张艳梅(音译)在一篇文章中写道。 “我是一个精芬，没事请不要打扰我!”豆瓣网站上的一个匿名用户这样写道。
“你在马蒂身上能看到自己的影子吗?”他这样问道。
“他害羞而内省，生活的考验和磨难不只是马蒂的噩梦。我们都害怕孤独，但我们更渴望个人空间和隐私受到尊重。”对于中国的许多人来说，这一种情感是真真切切的。 | 
发表于 2018-8-9 23:18:27