内地网民大多对幼童当街便溺表示理解

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.

你是否曾经疑惑为何在中国街道上有那么多小孩光天化日之下撒尿？现在不用疑惑了，很显然是因为人们对此真不介意。

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.

根据新浪网()的调查显示，大约有64%的网友说，在某些特殊情况下可以理解小孩子在街头小便；另有24%表示能接受这种现象。只有11%的受调查者说不能接受。截至周三午后，受访者人数总共有12.8万人。

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

新浪网为何要调查人们对小孩子在街头小便的看法呢？

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?

看看最近各大媒体头条就明白了。过去几天里，中国几乎所有的新闻门户网站都让同一条消息占据了头版头条：内地幼童当街小便，香港和内地游客再起冲突。

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.

香港警方说，这起事件发生在4月15日，一对内地夫妇在旺角(Mongkok)让年仅两岁的幼童在街上小便，一名29岁的王（音）姓男子由于嫌恶而拿起相机猛拍幼童。但此举惹怒了孩子父亲，愤怒之余夺过其手机。当另一人试图声援这个王姓男子时，孩子的母亲终于按捺不住气愤而爆发，用婴儿车冲撞了这个声援者，并打了他紧抓婴儿车不放的手一下。按照警方的说法，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.

香港警方说，这名内地夫妇分别以涉嫌盗窃、袭击罪名被逮捕，孩子母亲还需要下个月再去香港跟警方报到。

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.)

这番争执场面被人用摄像机拍摄了下来，之后被立刻疯传。视频中，孩子的母亲声嘶力竭地质问道：你有孩子吗？我应该怎么做？你让我怎么办呢？两岁的孩子在一旁吓得哇哇大哭。

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.)

这一事件成为本周微博上的最热门话题，在中国大陆的各大门户网站上引发了诸多讨论，同时也引发了争论。一位知名电视记者的表态就引发了陈枪舌战。闾丘露薇(Rose Luqiu Luwei)昨天在其经过身份验证的微博上写道：不要在公开场合暴露孩子身体是做父母常识，找不到厕所，找个角落避一避。截至周三，她的上述言论已获得了超过17.5万条回复，许多人对于她谴责这对来自中国大陆的父母感到愤怒，一些人还将闾丘露薇称作“香港狗”。（闾丘露薇在上海长大，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.

中国官方媒体《环球时报》周三也加入其中，该报援引多位教授的话称，香港本地民众太歇斯底里。中央社会主义学院教授朱世海对该报表示，在这个事件中，香港民众有些过激。

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.

令中国大陆民众感到愤怒的部分原因是这样一个事实：这对父母在孩子小便时的确是在用尿布接。有人争辩说，这对父母是在情急之下，母亲别无选择，至少她还在努力保持卫生。

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).

不管怎么说，身体机能问题经常是中国大陆民众与香港民众之间的导火索。在1997年回归中国的香港仍保持单独的政治和经济体制以及自己独特的文化内容（其中包括避免在公共场合小便）。

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，两地民众也发生过类似的纠纷。其中之一是一家人在香港翠华餐厅(Tsui Wah)用餐时允许儿子用一个塑料瓶小便，从而引发众怒。其他各式各样的事件还包括孩子在通常是一尘不染的香港地铁上排便。

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).

更不用提近些年来使中国大陆与香港之间的关系经受考验的其他问题，包括围绕中国大陆民众抢购香港奶粉的矛盾、有关大陆孕妇赴港产子的论战以及对充斥香港街道的大陆游客的不满（去年赴港大陆游客约为4,100万人次）。

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.

不过，即便中国大陆民众基本上不介意看到有人在街上小便（毕竟许多街道在不久前还是乡村），至少政府可能正在推动一种转变。一款由政府支持的手机软件本周已在北京上线，该软件旨在帮助人们找到最近的公共厕所。如果这不能解决问题，那么或许通过大规模修建厕所可以解决。中国官方媒体称，到2015年之前，北京将增建2,000个公共厕所。

Te-Ping Chen

Te-Ping Chen