內地網民大多對幼童當街便溺表示理解

If you've ever wondered why there are so many young children who urinate freely on the streets of Chinese cities, wonder no more. Apparently it's because their countrymen really don't mind.

你是否曾經疑惑爲何在中國街道上有那麼多小孩光天化日之下撒尿？現在不用疑惑了，很顯然是因爲人們對此真不介意。

According to a poll, some 64% of users said they can understand the need for children to pee on the streets in certain situations. Another 24% said they it didn't mind the phenomenon. Only 11% of respondents, which as of early Wednesday afternoon totaled 128,000, said they objected to the sight.

根據新浪網()的調查顯示，大約有64%的網友說，在某些特殊情況下可以理解小孩子在街頭小便；另有24%表示能接受這種現象。只有11%的受調查者說不能接受。截至週三午後，受訪者人數總共有12.8萬人。

Why is Sina polling people about children urinating in the first place?

新浪網爲何要調查人們對小孩子在街頭小便的看法呢？

A quick scan of the top Chinese headlines offers a hint. For the past couple days, virtually every news portal in the country has devoted top real estate to the story of yet another fight in Hong Kong over a child from the mainland evacuating his bladder in is Sina polling people about children urinating in the first place?

看看最近各大媒體頭條就明白了。過去幾天裏，中國幾乎所有的新聞門戶網站都讓同一條消息佔據了頭版頭條：內地幼童當街小便，香港和內地遊客再起衝突。

According to police, the fracas began on April 15, when a mainland couple allowed their two-year-old son to urinate on a street in Mongkok. A 29-year-old man surnamed Wong, disgusted at the tableau, began taking photographing the scene, which in turn enraged the father, who snatched his cell phone. When someone tried to come to Mr. Wong's aid, the boy's mother subsequently sprang into action, ramming their stroller into the interceder and scratching his hand.

香港警方說，這起事件發生在4月15日，一對內地夫婦在旺角(Mongkok)讓年僅兩歲的幼童在街上小便，一名29歲的王（音）姓男子由於嫌惡而拿起相機猛拍幼童。但此舉惹怒了孩子父親，憤怒之餘奪過其手機。當另一人試圖聲援這個王姓男子時，孩子的母親終於按捺不住氣憤而爆發，用嬰兒車衝撞了這個聲援者，並打了他緊抓嬰兒車不放的手一下。按照警方的說法，涉事幼童是男童。

Both mainland parents were arrested on charges of theft and assault, respectively, Hong Kong police said. The mother is due to report back to court next month.

香港警方說，這名內地夫婦分別以涉嫌盜竊、襲擊罪名被逮捕，孩子母親還需要下個月再去香港跟警方報到。

Bits of the altercation were captured on video and naturally shortly thereafter went viral. ('Do you have a child? What should I do? What do you want me to do?' shouted the mother, over the sounds of her child's wails.)

這番爭執場面被人用攝像機拍攝了下來，之後被立刻瘋傳。視頻中，孩子的母親聲嘶力竭地質問道：你有孩子嗎？我應該怎麼做？你讓我怎麼辦呢？兩歲的孩子在一旁嚇得哇哇大哭。

The topic was a top-trending item on Weibo this week, prompting plenty of discussion on mainland portals--as well as controversy, as one well-known TV journalist who weighed into the conversation found. 'Not exposing a child's body in public places is common sense for parents. If you can't find a bathroom, find a corner to go discreetly in,' wrote Rose Luqiu Luwei on her verified Weibo account yesterday. By Wednesday, her remark had already triggered more than 175,000 replies, many furious with her condemnation of the mainland parents, with some calling the journalist a 'Hong Kong dog.' (Though Ms. Luqiu was raised in Shanghai, she moved to Hong Kong several decades ago.)

這一事件成爲本週微博上的最熱門話題，在中國大陸的各大門戶網站上引發了諸多討論，同時也引發了爭論。一位知名電視記者的表態就引發了陳槍舌戰。閭丘露薇(Rose Luqiu Luwei)昨天在其經過身份驗證的微博上寫道：不要在公開場合暴露孩子身體是做父母常識，找不到廁所，找個角落避一避。截至週三，她的上述言論已獲得了超過17.5萬條回覆，許多人對於她譴責這對來自中國大陸的父母感到憤怒，一些人還將閭丘露薇稱作“香港狗”。（閭丘露薇在上海長大，很多年前移居香港。）

On Wednesday, the state-run Global Times also weighed in, citing multiple professors who said Hong Kong locals were too hysterical. Hong Kong people were 'overdramatic in this case,' Zhu Shihai, professor at the Central Institute of Socialism, told the paper.

中國官方媒體《環球時報》週三也加入其中，該報援引多位教授的話稱，香港本地民衆太歇斯底里。中央社會主義學院教授朱世海對該報表示，在這個事件中，香港民衆有些過激。

Part of the anger in mainland China stems from the fact that the couple actually held a diaper beneath their child as he relieved himself. They were desperate, the argument goes--the mother had no choice, and at least she tried to be sanitary about it.

令中國大陸民衆感到憤怒的部分原因是這樣一個事實：這對父母在孩子小便時的確是在用尿布接。有人爭辯說，這對父母是在情急之下，母親別無選擇，至少她還在努力保持衛生。

Be as that may, bodily functions are often a flashpoint in relations between mainland Chinese and residents of the former British colony, which returned to Chinese rule in 1997 but continues to maintain its own separate political and economic systems, as well as its own distinct cultural identity (including an aversion to public urination).

不管怎麼說，身體機能問題經常是中國大陸民衆與香港民衆之間的導火索。在1997年迴歸中國的香港仍保持單獨的政治和經濟體制以及自己獨特的文化內容（其中包括避免在公共場合小便）。

Previous mainland China-Hong Kong potty wars have included a family who allowed their son to pee in a plastic bottle while dining at local restaurant chain Tsui Wah, sparking outrage, as well as sundry incidents involving children answering the call of nature while riding Hong Kong's usually spotless subway system.

此前，兩地民衆也發生過類似的糾紛。其中之一是一家人在香港翠華餐廳(Tsui Wah)用餐時允許兒子用一個塑料瓶小便，從而引發衆怒。其他各式各樣的事件還包括孩子在通常是一塵不染的香港地鐵上排便。

And that's not even getting into the other issues that have tested mainland-Hong Kong relations in recent years, including fights over mainland Chinese buying up Hong Kong's milk powder, spars over their ability to give birth in Hong Kong's hospitals, and anger over the millions of mainland tourists who regularly swamp the streets (some 41 million visited last year).

更不用提近些年來使中國大陸與香港之間的關係經受考驗的其他問題，包括圍繞中國大陸民衆搶購香港奶粉的矛盾、有關大陸孕婦赴港產子的論戰以及對充斥香港街道的大陸游客的不滿（去年赴港大陸游客約爲4,100萬人次）。

But if Chinese citizens don't generally mind seeing someone relieve themselves on the street--after all, many of those streets were countryside not too long ago--their government, at least, may be helping encourage a change. This week in Beijing, a government-backed app designed to help people find the nearest public toilet went live. And if that doesn't do the trick, perhaps a toilet boom will: state media says another 2,000 public toilets are slated for construction by 2015.

不過，即便中國大陸民衆基本上不介意看到有人在街上小便（畢竟許多街道在不久前還是鄉村），至少政府可能正在推動一種轉變。一款由政府支持的手機軟件本週已在北京上線，該軟件旨在幫助人們找到最近的公共廁所。如果這不能解決問題，那麼或許通過大規模修建廁所可以解決。中國官方媒體稱，到2015年之前，北京將增建2,000個公共廁所。

Te-Ping Chen

Te-Ping Chen