Why Entrepreneurship Flourishes in The Countryside | Xiaowei R. Wang | TED

翻译人员: Yee Evelyn 校对人员: Yip Yan Yeung

So what you're seeing here are pearl ponds in rural Zhejiang.

你现在看到的是 浙江农村的珍珠池。

And on the day that I visited,

在我参观的那天，

the owner of these ponds was surprised that anyone outside of her town,

这些池塘的主人很惊讶地发现， 镇外的所有人，

let alone the pearl farming business,

别说珍珠养殖了，

would want to know more about these ponds.

都想知道更多关于这些池塘的事。

70 percent of the world's pearls are cultured and produced here.

全球 70% 的珍珠 都在这里养殖和生产。

And so each of these mussels, they contain 40 to 50 pearls.

因此，这些贻贝每只都含有 40 到 50 颗珍珠。

And the higher end ones are taken out, sold as jewelry,

高端的会被作为珠宝出售，

and the lower end pearls are actually extracted,

而低端的珍珠会被提取出来，

put into smaller oysters, vacuum sealed, preserved in formaldehyde

放入较小的牡蛎中真空密封， 用福尔马林保存，

and shipped off all the way to places like rural Indiana

然后一路运往 印第安纳州的农村等地，

for online pearl parties

供在线珍珠派对使用，

where thousands of people sit

成千上万的人坐在那里

watching these oysters being cracked open in real time.

观看这些牡蛎被现场打开的过程。

Online pearl parties are truly an internet-enabled phenomena,

在线珍珠派对确实是 一种只能在互联网上的火爆现象，

growing out of platforms like Facebook and Instagram.

从 Facebook 和 Instagram 等平台 发展而来。

Because on the internet,

因为在互联网上，

no one can tell just how bad these oysters smell.

没有人能知道这些牡蛎的 气味有多难闻。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

When we think of tech, we often think of cities.

当我们想到科技时， 我们经常会想到城市。

Places like San Francisco or Shenzhen,

像旧金山或深圳这样的地方，

where tech is built and visibly part of everyday life.

科技在此诞生， 并明显地成为日常生活的一部分。

Rarely do we think of the countryside,

我们很少会想到农村，

and when we do, it's as a place that's lacking tech,

当我们想到农村时， 它会被想象成一个缺乏科技、

that's lacking digital media literacy,

缺乏数字媒体素养的地方，

and we see the rural as backward.

我们认为农村是落后的。

Yet the pearl-producing towns of Zhejiang

然而浙江的珍珠之乡

and places in rural Indiana,

和印第安纳州的农村，

where online pearl parties flourish,

在线珍珠派对蓬勃发展的地方，

they don't just exist as an afterthought,

它们并不是事后才存在的，

waiting to become cities one day.

也没有在等待 有朝一日可以变成城市。

As online pearl parties show,

正如在线珍珠派对所展示的，

rural China and rural America are connected in unexpected ways.

中国农村和美国农村正以一些 意想不到的方式被联系在一起。

And these connections need to be more than ones of economic growth.

而这些联系需要的 不仅仅在经济增长层面。

There's numerous stories like this.

这样的故事不胜枚举。

Whether it's rural families manufacturing for online lifestyle brands in the US

无论是为美国在线生活方式品牌 生产的农村家庭，

or influencers in rural China

还是中国农村的网红，

cashing in by making livestream videos of themselves pulling noodles,

他们通过视频直播拉面条、

eating chili peppers, picking tea and, my favorite, hunting bamboo rats.

吃辣椒、采茶或者 我最喜欢的打竹鼠来赚钱。

There's whole pockets of e-commerce,

有很多电子商务，

whether on Amazon or Taobao,

无论是通过亚马逊还是淘宝，

that are sourced from rural manufacturers in China,

它们的产品来自 中国农村制造商，

made by families.

由家庭制作。

So this one family workshop that I visited was fairly typical,

所以我参观的这个 家庭作坊相当典型，

with a husband and wife making Halloween costumes for export,

一对夫妻制作万圣节服装出口，

while the 90-year-old matriarch looked on,

90 岁的老太太在一旁看着，

sifting through plastic packaging for shipping.

筛选运输用塑料包装。

And across the US and China, I've seen similar dynamics:

无论在美国还是中国， 我都见过类似的场景：

rural areas becoming home to data centers,

农村地区正在成为数据中心、

e-commerce warehouses, rare earth mines.

电商仓库、稀土矿的所在地。

And ...

还有……

also top-down entrepreneurship initiatives,

还有自上而下的创业倡议，

like this free range chicken farmer that I met,

就像我遇到的这个散养养鸡户，

who is using chicken biometrics tracking and blockchain

会使用鸡生物识别跟踪和区块链

to improve supply chain transparency.

来提高供应链透明度。

At a larger scale, rural areas are connected

在更大的范围内，农村地区

through global market forces.

正通过全球市场的力量相互联系。

Whether it's soybeans grown in Brazil,

无论是在巴西种植的大豆，

shipped all the way to industrial hog farms in southern China

被一路运往 中国南方的工业养猪场，

or America's biggest pork player, Smithfield,

或是美国最大的猪肉生产商 史密斯菲尔德（Smithfield）

being acquired by a Chinese pork company.

被一家中国猪肉公司收购。

And even the process of hog farming itself is becoming high tech.

甚至养猪的过程本身 也正在变得高科技。

NetEase, one of the world's largest online gaming companies,

网易，全球最大的 网络游戏公司之一，

now has its own hog farms,

现在有自己的养猪场，

and Alibaba, the internet giant,

互联网巨头阿里巴巴

is now partnering with farms to use AI and computer vision

现在正在与农场合作 使用人工智能（AI）和计算机视觉

in order to create a highly optimized pig.

养殖高度优化的猪。

Because the idea being,

因为这个想法是，

AI and computer vision will help scale up pork production to an unprecedented level,

人工智能和计算机视觉将有助于

将猪肉生产规模 扩大到前所未有的水平，

meeting the demands of a rising middle class.

满足不断崛起的中产阶级的需求。

So what happens when tech and the countryside intersect?

那么，当科技与乡村 互相交叉时会发生什么呢？

Well, in my travels, I’ve talked to owners of large farms

嗯，在我的旅途中， 我和大型农场的主人交谈过，

who see their work as one of inputs, outputs, land value and land ownership.

他们将自己的工作视为投入、产出、 土地价值和土地所有权的其中之一 。

I've also talked to small farmers

我也和小农谈过，

who frame their work as one of ecology and stewardship.

他们将自己的工作 定义为生态和管理。

That their land is a place of relations.

他们的土地是一个 充满“关系”的地方。

It's exactly this ecological framing

正是这种生态框架

that reminds us that to see and understand the countryside

提醒着我们，看到和了解乡村

is a crucial part of moving towards a more livable future for everyone.

是走向更宜居的未来的关键部分。

Because the tech that we imagine as urbanites to be solutions,

因为我们这些城里人 自认为是解决方案的科技，

things like online coding classes for farmers

比如农民的在线编码课程，

or, you know, factory work in cities,

或者，你知道的， 在城市里进行工厂工作，

all of these are still framed as one-way relationships,

所有这些仍然是单向关系，

with tech supposedly benefiting rural areas.

一厢情愿地认为 这些科技会让农村受益。

But when we think of something

但是当我们想到某事，

like AI farming pigs at an unprecedented scale

比如以前所未有的规模 进行 AI 养猪，

or small farmers turning their land into pearl ponds,

或者小农把 他们的土地改建成珍珠池，

it's not because tech has found a solution.

这些并不是因为 技术找到了解决方案。

These small farmers turn their land into pearl ponds

这些小农把他们的土地 改建成珍珠池

because they can't compete at a global scale against industrial farms

是因为他们无法在全球范围内 与工业化农场竞争，

who are using automation, chemicals and pesticides.

工业化农场会使用自动化流程、 化学品和杀虫剂。

So tracing these moments in rural tech

因此，在农村科技中追踪这些时刻，

reveals how so much of the technology we do build

揭示了我们所创造的多少技术

centers our consumption and our entertainment in cities.

都是以城市中的消费 和娱乐为中心设计的。

Besides,

此外，

some of the most thoughtful, careful innovation

一些最深思熟虑的精心创新

is not happening in a place like Silicon Valley or San Francisco,

不会发生在像硅谷或 旧金山这样的地方，

but in places outside of them.

而是在它们之外的地方。

Like Yangguang, a rice farming village four hours outside of Guangzhou.

就像杨广镇，一个离广州 四小时车程的稻田村。

For years, the local agricultural bureau had worked with farmers

多年来，当地农业局 一直与农民合作

to implement chemical fertilizers,

施用化肥、

chemical pesticides, industrial farm machinery.

化学农药、工业农机。

And so they did this, and they noticed a decline in their soil quality

他们这样做了之后，注意到 由于这些现代的手段，

under these modern protocols.

他们的土壤质量下降了。

So the villagers took things into their own hands.

于是村民们自己动手了。

So they do rice farming, and rice farming is mountain terraced.

他们开始种植水稻， 水稻种植是山地梯田。

So it’s a form of natural irrigation, with water flowing from top to bottom.

这是一种自然灌溉的方式， 水从上到下流动。

The village changed their governance structure

村庄改变了他们的治理结构，

so that stewardship of the rice paddies would change every few years

这样，稻田的管理划分 每隔几年就会通过抽奖系统

via a lottery system,

发生变化，

which also meant you wouldn't have contiguous paddies.

这也意味着你不会有相邻的稻田。

So if you sprayed pesticides or dammed off water at the top,

所以如果你在顶部喷洒 杀虫剂或堵住水流，

you might be affecting yours or your neighbor's paddy lower down.

你可能会影响你自己 或你邻居的稻田。

They also started practicing organic farming

他们也开始从事有机农业，

and building their own farm machinery with the help of local blacksmiths.

在当地铁匠的帮助下 建造自己的农业机械。

They also started selling their rice online.

他们还开始在网上销售大米。

And while tech helped this village steward their land,

虽然科技帮助这个村庄 管理他们的土地，

it was really people, not tech, at the helm of decision-making.

但是真正掌管决策的是人， 而不是技术。

And so it's exactly this approach,

正是这种方法，

without boundaries, without ambitions to scale,

没有界限，没有扩张的野心，

that reminds us of the humility and innovation,

让我们想起了谦逊和创新，

its ability to change political and social structures.

和它们改变政治 和社会结构的能力。

We have to see the tech that we build as affecting a set of relations,

我们必须要能看到我们 创造的技术能够影响一系列关系、

ecologies and environments.

生态和环境。

Because innovation in this village is literally an ecosystem,

由于这个村庄的创新 实际上是一个生态系统，

one that doesn’t scale across thousands of users

一个不能扩展到 数千个用户、

but across the spectrum of time,

但能跨越时间的系统，

regenerating the soil and community ties from one planting season to the next.

才能反复产生连接起 一季又一季的土壤和社群。

And for that, you don't need a legion of engineers,

为此，你不需要一大批工程师，

millions of users or VC funding.

数百万用户或风投资金。

Thank you.

谢谢你。

(Applause)

（掌声）