If everything had gone to plan Estelle would be about to embark on a flight from her Beijing home to England for her honeymoon. “We thought September was good because after that it gets really cold and rainy,” she says.

　　如果一切按照按計劃進行，28歲的品牌經(jīng)理Estelle原本即將從北京飛往英國度蜜月。她說道：“我們覺得9月份這個時間不錯，因為這以后，英國會變得非常寒冷和多雨。”

　　But now the honeymoon is off. When Estelle and her boyfriend started arranging the wedding, her mother demanded – as is common in China – that the groom buy the couple an apartment first. With sky-high property prices , that was out of reach. “Now we’ve put everything on hold and are reviewing our options,” says Estelle. “Maybe we should just get married anyway – you have to give love a chance.”

　　但如今蜜月已被取消。當(dāng)Estelle和男友開始籌辦婚事時，她媽媽提出了要求:男方必須先購買一套住房——這種情況在中國十分普遍。在房價極高的情況下，這成了一項無法完成的任務(wù)。“現(xiàn)在我們把所有事情都停了下來，正在考慮各種選擇，”Estelle表示。“或許，我們應(yīng)該不顧一切地結(jié)婚——你必須給愛情一個機會。”

　　The conundrum confronting the 28-year-old brand manager is one many young Chinese are now facing. The present-day interpretation of Confucian traditions, which treat marriage as a union of two families rather than individuals, may require parents to demand a price for their offspring. But with the price of entry rising beyond reach many young Chinese are starting to opt for “naked weddings” instead, embarking on a life of matrimonial bliss without the usual materialistic trappings.

　　中國的許多年輕人，如今正面臨著與Estelle一樣的難題。按照儒家的傳統(tǒng)，婚姻是兩個家庭、而不單純是兩個人的結(jié)合，而時下對這種傳統(tǒng)的解讀，或許會讓父母為子女要求一個“價格”。但由于“價格”門檻越來越高不可攀，中國很多年輕人開始轉(zhuǎn)而選擇“裸婚”(naked weddings)，即在沒有通常的物質(zhì)準(zhǔn)備的情況下，開始步入婚姻殿堂。

　　The phenomenon has even spawned a hit television soap opera, also called Naked Weddings, which follows a young couple who opt to marry despite parental opposition and without the usual financial accoutrements. It topped the ratings earlier this year when it ran on CCTV, the main state broadcaster, and is the most popular TV series ever on Youku, China’s biggest online video site.

　　這種現(xiàn)象甚至催生了一部名字就叫作《裸婚》的熱門電視劇，講述的是一對年輕夫婦不顧父母反對，選擇在沒房沒車沒婚禮的情況下結(jié)婚。今年早些時候，這部電視劇在中國央視播出時，創(chuàng)下了收視第一的佳績，在中國最大的在線視頻網(wǎng)站優(yōu)酷(Youku)上，它也是最受歡迎的一部電視劇。

　　For Estelle a naked wedding seems like a refreshingly simple option. “Chinese society is so materialistic and there is no trust between people,” she complains.

　　對于Estelle而言，裸婚似乎像是一個令人振奮的簡單選擇。她抱怨稱：“中國社會太物質(zhì)化了，人們之間沒有信任。”

　　Behind what looks like a romantic revolution are some very real social dynamics. “Increasing migration, higher education levels for women and, most importantly, soaring real estate prices have made marriage impossible for many if they want to conform with the requirements of tradition,” says Zhang Yi, a marriage expert at the Chinese academy of social sciences.

　　在看似一場浪漫革命的背后，潛藏著一些非常真實的社會動因。中國社科院的婚姻專家張翼表示：“越來越多的移民、女性受教育程度的提高以及（最為重要的是）不斷飆升的房價，讓結(jié)婚成為許多希望遵從傳統(tǒng)要求的人所無法辦到的事情。”

　　After dropping in the late 1990s, in line with the typical trend in modernising societies, China’s marriage rate has also started rising again. After bottoming at 6.1 couples per 1,000 citizens in 2002, it bounced back to 9.1 couples per 1,000 citizens in 2009.

　　在上世紀(jì)90年代末出現(xiàn)下降后，與社會現(xiàn)代化的典型趨勢一致，中國的結(jié)婚率也開始再度上升。在2002年達(dá)到每1000人新增6.1對夫婦的最低點后，2009年反彈至新增9.1對。

　　“The huge amount of labour migration across China means we have tens of millions of young people far away from home. They get used to making decisions without their parents and they fall in love,” says Professor Zhang. “In addition, people are choosing naked marriages in scores now because so many have waited for so long that they have reached an age where if they wait any longer, they will be left unmarried for life.”

　　“中國大量的外來務(wù)工人員，意味著我們有數(shù)千萬年輕人遠(yuǎn)離家鄉(xiāng)。他們習(xí)慣了在父母不在的情況下做決定，他們墜入了愛河，”張翼說道，“另外，現(xiàn)在很多人選擇裸婚的原因是，很多人已經(jīng)等待了很久，如果再等下去，他們將一輩子單身。”

　　A recent supreme court ruling that a house bought by one spouse prior to the wedding remained that spouse’s personal property – intended to clarify things in case of a divorce – has only added to young people’s feelings of desperation about such materialism and the lack of romance.

　　最高法院最近的一項裁決規(guī)定，夫妻中一方在婚前購買的住房，將被認(rèn)定為一方的個人財產(chǎn)——此規(guī)定旨在明確一旦離婚時的財產(chǎn)事宜。這一新規(guī)只是加深了年輕人對于這種物質(zhì)主義和缺乏浪漫的極度失望感。

　　For many young Chinese even the prospect of a naked wedding presents complications.

　　對于中國的很多年輕人而言，即便是裸婚的前景也是問題重重。

　　Zhou Shengwang, a 31-year-old sales agent in Beijing, earns more than Rmb10,000 ($1,568) a month, a salary that places him firmly in the middle class. But he does not feel affluent and still frets about whether he will ever marry at all. “I’m really worried about taking on even more financial responsibility,” he says.

　　31歲的北京銷售代理周盛旺（音譯）每月工資超過1萬元人民幣（合1568美元），這使他穩(wěn)穩(wěn)處于中產(chǎn)階層。但他覺得自己并不富有，對于是否會結(jié)婚仍心存顧慮。他表示：“我確實對于承擔(dān)更多的財務(wù)責(zé)任感到擔(dān)憂。”

　　Complicating matters, his girlfriend of seven years has bent the truth and told her parents that he already owns a flat, to make him more acceptable in their eyes.

　　讓情況更復(fù)雜的是，他交往7年的女友對自己父母謊稱他已有房，這是為了讓他更容易被她的父母所接受。

　　“If we were to marry, they would demand to see the property certificate. But I missed the moment for buying a flat when prices were still lower, and now it’s far beyond my means – so we can’t ever get married,” he says.

　　他表示：“如果我們要結(jié)婚，他們會提出看房產(chǎn)證。但我已經(jīng)錯過了在房價較低時購房的機會，如今，房價已遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)超出了我的承受能力——因此我們根本沒法結(jié)婚。”