中國的方便麪銷量下降？原因你絕對猜不到！

Easy to make and cheap to buy, instant noodles have long been China's ultimate convenience food.
方便麪既容易做又能便宜買到，所以一直是中國最便利的食品。

Be it a snack for students, a meal on the train, or just the go-to choice for hungry workers, more than 46.2 billion packets were sold in China in 2013.
它是學生們的零食、火車上的一餐，或者只是飢餓的工人們的首選。2013年方便麪在中國的銷量逾462億包。

But by 2016 those sales had tumbled to 38.5 billion packets, according to the World Instant Noodle Association. That's a drop of almost 17%.
然而，世界方便麪協會表示，到2016年，方便麪的銷量已驟降至385億包，跌幅近17%。

Given most other instant noodle markets have remained fairly steady over the past few years - it is an unusual pattern.
考慮到在過去的幾年裏，方便麪在其他多數市場上依然保持着相當穩定的銷量，而中國市場則是一個罕見的範例。

So what's going on? Well here are some theories - which suggest instant noodles could be, in many ways, a great indicator of how China is changing.
那麼發生了什麼呢？以下是幾種推測，這也說明，從很多方面來講，方便麪可能是中國正如何做出改變的一個有力的指示器。

Aspiration: Customers want better food
渴望：顧客想要更好的食品

The recipe for instant noodles is fairly straight forward: Just add boiling water, a sachet of sauce, and some small packets of dehydrated vegetables and meat.
方便麪的做法十分直截了當：你只需要往面里加入沸水、一包醬料以及幾小袋脫水蔬菜和肉的調料包即可。

As appetising as that sounds, one factor in the slump could well be that some Chinese consumers are upping their expectations in the dining department.
方便麪就像它聽起來那樣讓人很有食慾，但其銷量驟降的一個因素可能是一些中國消費者提高了自己對飲食的期望。

The decline of instant noodle sales shows a shift in China's consumption patterns. Consumers are more interested in life quality than just filling their bellies these days.
方便麪銷量的下降也說明了中國消費模式的轉變。如今，與只是填飽肚子相比，消費者更注重生活質量。

Population shift: Rural workers are going home
人口遷移：農民工返鄉

One of the big consumers of instant noodles - the theory goes - are migrant workers. They are away from home, often living in cramped conditions with limited cooking facilities, and keen to save as much money as they can to send back to their families.
從理論上講，方便麪最大的消費者羣體之一是農民工。他們離開了家鄉，往往生活在烹飪條件有限且擁擠的環境中，而且他們渴望儘可能多地省下一些錢寄回家裏去。

Until 2014 the number of rural Chinese who had moved to cities had been on the rise.
直到2014年，中國涌向城市的農民工的數量還在上漲。

But that trend has now reversed for two consecutive years.
然而，這種趨勢如今已經連續兩年朝相反的方向發展了。

Travel: Infrastructure improving, habits changing
旅行：基礎設施的改善和生活習慣的改變

Travelling in China 20 years ago, I filled my stomach (and time) by eating pot after pot of instant noodles during cross-country train journeys, which sometimes lasted three days or more.
20年前去中國旅行，在跨越全國的火車之旅中，我會一碗接一碗地吃着方便麪來填飽肚子（並打發時間），有時候這種旅程會持續3天或更久。

But Chinese trains and stations have improved. Journeys are quicker, and the range of food options are far more international - meaning noodle sales on the railways have fallen.
然而，中國的火車和車站已經改進了。旅程變得更快了，而且食品選擇的範圍也更國際化了，這意味着方便麪在鐵路系統的銷量下降了。

And then there is the boom in aviation as middle class Chinese people spend billions flying on holidays instead of using trains.
另外，中國的航空業也在迅速發展，因爲中國的中產階級花費了上億元乘飛機度假，而不是通過火車。

Smartphones and the internet: There's another form of 'quick food'
智能手機和互聯網：中國有了另外一種“快餐”

About 730 million people in China now have access to the internet. And about 95% of those are using smartphones to connect.
如今中國有約7.3億人可以上網，而且其中95%的人在使用智能手機上網。

And apps that offer food delivery to your home, office or wherever you happen to be are a real boom industry.
手機上的應用軟件可以提供外賣服務，而且可以把食品配送到你的家裏、辦公室或你所在的任何地方，而這也成爲了一個真正繁榮的行業。

Their menus are undoubtedly more expensive than a pot of instant noodles. But these meals can still be inexpensive. And arguably more tasty.
外賣的飯菜無疑比一碗方便麪要貴，但它們還是便宜的，而且可能更美味。

Optimism
樂觀主義

But put in the global context China is still the biggest market for instant noodles as this chart shows:
但是放眼全球，中國依然是方便麪最大的市場，如圖所示：

Almost three times as many packets were sold in 2016 than in Indonesia.
2016年方便麪在中國的銷量幾乎是印度尼西亞的三倍。

In fact China's total was roughly the equivalent of Indonesia, Japan, Vietnam, India, the US, South Korea and the Philippines combined.
事實上，中國的方便麪銷售總量差不多相當於印度尼西亞、日本、越南、印度、美國、韓國和菲律賓等國家的銷量總和。

And that means global noodle manufacturers are unlikely to turn away from the Chinese market.
這意味着全球的方便麪生產商不可能放棄中國市場。

"Some consumers stopped consuming instant noodles, but most consumers want to increase the quality (of food they consume)," chief executive Kiyotaka Ando, Japan's instant noodle business Nissin Foods, said.
“一些消費者不再購買方便麪了，但多數消費者想要提高（自己所購買的食品的）質量，”日本方便麪廠商日清食品總裁安藤清隆說道。

"We can supply high-quality products so we have more possibility to develop our business."
“我們可以提供高質量的產品，所以我們還有更多機會來拓展我們的業務。”