澳大利亞的中國買房團與投資2.0
The boom was on.
繁榮的大幕就此開啓了。
Little Port Hedland became one of the biggest ports in the world, handling a greater tonnage of freight each year than the ports of Los Angeles, Hong Kong or Antwerp, Belgium.
小小的黑德蘭港變成了世界上最大的港口之一，每年處理貨物的噸位比洛杉磯、香港或比利時的安特衛普還要大。
Skilled welders and electricians earned as much as $350,000 a year, drawing workers from around the country.
熟練的焊工和電工一年的工資可達35萬美元，吸引了來自全國各地的工人。
The town’s population doubled, to a peak of about 30,000, and would have increased a lot more except that a dispute over Aboriginal claims to land on the city’s outskirts blocked construction and resulted in a housing shortage.
這裏的人口已經翻番，達到約30萬的頂峯。如果不是土著人宣稱享有郊區的土地引發的爭端阻礙了施工，導致房屋短缺，這裏的人還會多很多。
Much of the high pay came from overtime, or what became known as divorce rosters or suicide rosters.
高額的報酬有許多來自加班，或是由於上了一種被戲稱爲離婚排班表或自殺排班表的班次。
Mining companies flew workers into remote camps to work 27 days with a single day off in the middle, then flew them home again.
礦業公司將工人運至偏遠的營地，讓他們連着工作27天，中間只休息一天，之後再送回。
Welders in their high-viz — reflective, high-visibility yellow mining shirts — spent months drenched in sweat as they labored outside through long summers in coastal desert heat reaching 110 degrees.
焊工身着高能見服裝——能反射光線、能見度比較高的黃色採礦作業服——數月裏一直在沿海沙漠高達110華氏度（約合43攝氏度）的高溫中汗流浹背進行戶外作業，度過一個個漫長的夏天。
All that overtime pay pushed prices to stratospheric levels.
所有這些超時工資將物價推至極高的程度。
Port Hedland’s bakery, butcher, newsstand, charter fishing operator and scuba-diving shop all closed, unable to cope with soaring rents and locals who would rather work for mining companies than the shops.
黑德蘭港的麪包店、肉攤、報攤、特許經營的魚店和水肺潛水店都關門了，因爲無力承擔不斷飆升的租金，也請不到本地人放棄礦業公司而爲之工作。
Ray Sampson, the owner of a local diner, paid $1,600 a week to rent a small house for his out-of-town cooks and waitresses.
當地一家小餐館的老闆雷•桑普森(Ray Sampson)以每週1600美元的租金租下一棟小屋，供他從市外聘來的廚師和女服務員住宿。
With his diner packed daily, he then had to rent a second small house, for $1,800 a week, to house more workers, mostly hitchhikers who drifted through town for a few weeks and were the only people willing to accept jobs as cooks and waiters.
因爲餐館每天爆滿，他又以每週1800的租金租了第二棟小屋，好容納新增的員工。他們大多是途徑這裏、短暫停留幾周的揹包客，也是唯一願意接受廚師和服務員這類工作的人。
Real estate prices and rents took off.
房地產的賣價和租金大漲。
Affluent families from elsewhere in Australia and from mainland China, Malaysia and Singapore heard about the profits from charging four-digit weekly rents and swooped in to invest.
澳大利亞別的地方、中國大陸、馬來西亞和新加坡的富裕家庭聽說了這裏的四位數週租金，感到有利可圖，於是大批涌入，進行投資。
Lorren Murphy, a convenience store owner from Perth, flew up to Port Hedland four years ago and paid almost $2 million for a two-story house.
珀斯一家便利店的老闆洛林•墨菲(Lorren Murphy)在四年前飛到黑德蘭港，花了近200萬美元買下一棟兩層樓房。
He quickly signed a two-year lease with a tenant willing to pay $4,100 a week — nearly $18,000 a month.
他很快便籤了一份爲期兩年的租約，租戶願意每週支付4100美元，也就是說每月近1.8萬美元。
He was envious of others who had even more money to invest, because it seemed like a sure bet.
他羨慕那些有更多資金進行投資的人，因爲這看起來似乎是一樁穩賺不賠的生意。
I’ve got a friend who dropped $6 million here, Mr Murphy recalled.
我有個朋友在這兒投了600萬美元，墨菲回憶道。
The town finally replaced its prefabricated hospital and added a swimming center, an air-conditioned basketball arena, a new courthouse, a skateboard park and more.
城裏最終拆掉了原有的醫院進行重建，新增了一座游泳館、一個配備空調的籃球館、一座新政府大樓、一座溜冰場，還有其他設施。
Outside Port Hedland, the state government in Perth spent on hospitals, new power lines and water systems and a $1 billion Australian football stadium.
在黑德蘭港外，位於珀斯的州政府投資建設了多座醫院、新電力線和供水系統，還花10億美元修建一座澳式橄欖球場。
But 4,000 miles away, trouble was brewing.
然而，在4000英里以外，麻煩正在醞釀。
China’s debt-choked developers were starting fewer buildings.
中國負債累累的開發商開始放慢蓋新樓的速度。
Steel use fell 3 percent in 2014 and an additional 5 percent in 2015, even as more steel mills were being built in anticipation of never-ending growth.
鋼鐵消耗量在2014年減少了3%，2015年又減少了5%，儘管那裏正在修建更多鋼鐵廠，以爲會有永無止境的增長。
Manufacturers were becoming more cautious about putting up more factories.
製造商對開設更多工廠表現得更加謹慎。
The Collapse
倒塌
This is a bigger bust than anyone ever saw.
誰也沒見過泡沫爆得這麼壯觀。
Nearly 200 miles south of Port Hedland, the Iron Valley iron ore mine squats in a red desert of drought-stunted eucalyptus trees and maroon cliffs.
在黑德蘭港以南約200英里處，名爲鐵谷的鐵礦場就座落在紅色的沙漠裏，這裏有因爲乾旱而沒充分長開的桉樹，還有褐紅色的懸崖。
Kim Sheppard, the general manager until he moved to a different position last month, climbed the staircase of a three-story yellow apparatus coated with reddish-pink grime that clanged as it crushed and sorted iron ore into small pebbles.
之前擔任礦場總經理的金•謝潑德(Kim Sheppard)沿着一座三層的黃色設備的階梯往上走。他在上個月轉到了別的崗位。這個設備落了一層粉色的礦塵，在壓碎鐵礦石和將之分揀成小塊時發出鏗鏘之聲。
The highly automated operation requires only four workers and a supervisor for each work shift, as well as a few mechanics, blasting specialists and managers at an air-conditioned building nearby.
這裏的作業高度自動化，每班只需四名工人和一名監工，還有幾名技工、爆破專家和經理在旁邊一座有空調的樓內呆着。
At the peak of construction, a couple of hundred workers labored here.
在生產的高峯期，曾經有幾百名工人在這裏勞作。
The desert around the site used to be dotted with large camps of workers, building more mines.
礦場周圍的沙漠過去點綴着一些大型的工人營地，從而建成了更多礦場。
Now the desert is empty.
現如今，沙漠上卻一片空白。
There are always booms and busts, Mr Sheppard said.
總是有興有衰，謝潑德說。
But this one is different.
但這一次不同。
Port Hedland felt the pain quickly.
黑德蘭港很快感受到了這種痛楚。
Iron ore prices plummeted.
鐵礦石價格大跌。
Worried that workers might get angry and damage multimillion-dollar equipment, mining companies laid off tens of thousands of construction workers.
因爲擔心工人發怒，破壞價值數百萬美元的設備，礦業公司裁掉了數以萬計的僱員。
One day they just called in the trucks for lunch, and they said, ‘Bring in your backpacks,’ which was unheard-of, said Shannon Baker, a former power shovel operator at a mine near Iron Valley.
那天他們說是喊卡車司機進來吃午飯，結果卻說，‘拿上你們的揹包，’這在以前是沒有過的，曾在鐵谷附近一座礦場開挖土機的香農•貝克(Shannon Baker)說。
They got us together in the crew room and they said, ‘The planes are at the airport to take you out.’
他們把我們集中在員工室，然後說，‘機場有飛機會帶你們走。
Rents and housing prices have fallen by three-quarters, said Jim Henneberry, the owner of one of Port Hedland’s biggest real estate brokerage firms.
黑德蘭港一家大型房地產經紀公司的所有者吉姆•亨內伯裏(Jim Henneberry)說，房租和房價已經下降了四分之三。
A fifth of the town’s homes sit empty.
鎮上五分之一的房子處於空置狀態。
Bill Dziombak spent $1 million apiece to build luxury townhouses here, only to see rents and prices collapse.
比爾•齊奧姆巴克(Bill Dziombak)以每棟100萬美元的造價在這裏修建了聯排別墅，卻眼瞅着房租和房價崩了盤。
I never expected this to go bang the way it did, in just 12 months, he said.
無論如何也想不到，僅僅12個月裏，事情就這樣突然發生了，他說。
It was like falling off the edge of a cliff.
就好像從懸崖邊掉了下去。
Customers at Camilo Blanco’s car repair garage no longer need reservations.
卡米洛•布蘭科(Camilo Blanco)經營的汽車修理廠的顧客不再需要預約。
I’ve had customers coming in and saying, ‘This is the last time I’ll see you, because I have to leave town,’ said Mr Blanco, who is also Port Hedland’s acting mayor.
曾有顧客走進來說，‘這是最後一次見面了，因爲我不得不離開這裏，’兼任黑德蘭港代理市長的布蘭科說。
Departing miners have sold so many used power boats, muscle cars and dune buggies that the local market is glutted.
礦工們臨走前賣掉了太多舊機動船、肌肉車和沙漠越野車，當地市場充斥着這些東西。
Mr Blanco was recently offered an options-laden $14,000 Rhino dune buggy for half that price, and he still bargained: I said, ‘I’ll pay you five grand for it,’ and it’s sitting in my yard now.
不久前，有人要把一輛帶有諸多選配裝置、原價1.4萬美元的Rhino沙灘車以半價賣給布蘭科，而他還是要討價還價：我說，‘我願意出價五千’，而現在它就停在我家院子裏。
Local leaders who spent heavily during the boom times are now under pressure to cut real estate taxes, which in many cases are still based on eye-wateringly high property values.
當地領導人在繁榮時期有大把的錢可花，如今卻面臨着削減房地產稅的壓力——相關稅率的設定在很大程度上仍然以極高的房地產價值爲依據。
Simply operating Port Hedland’s new basketball arena costs $2 million a year, or 3 percent of the city’s annual budget.
單是運營黑德蘭港的新籃球館，每年就要花掉200萬美元，相當於當地年度預算的3%。
It’s like surfing, said Colin Barnett, the premier of Western Australia state, in an interview in Perth.
這就像衝浪，西澳大利亞州州長科林•巴尼特(Colin Barnett)在珀斯接受採訪時說。
When the wave comes, you’ve got to catch it and you’ve got to ride it hard and get everything out of it.
浪來了，你得把握住機會，奮力乘浪而行，利用好它帶給你的一切。
When the wave’s not there, you’ve got to paddle hard, and we’re paddling hard at the moment.
浪走了，你就得奮力划水，我們當下就是在奮力划水。
Chinese Investment 2.0
中國投資2.0
Even in the middle of the worst of the mining slump, Australia has found a potential source of strength, again from China: people like Ike Wang.
即便採礦業出現了最嚴重的滑坡，澳大利亞還是發現了經濟增長的潛在源泉，這次依然來自中國那裏，也就是艾克•王(Ike Wang)這類人。
Mr Wang, 24, graduated last year from Murdoch University in Perth, where he was one of hundreds of students from mainland China.
現年24歲的艾克•王去年畢業於珀斯的莫道克大學(Murdoch University)，該校有成百上千名像他這樣來自中國大陸的學生。
He is looking for a full-time job in marketing and, despite Western Australia’s slowdown, he has an advantage: His family back in Tianjin, China, paid $370,000 at the start of this year to buy him a two-bedroom apartment.
他正尋找市場營銷方面的全職工作，儘管西澳大利亞州經濟增長放緩，但他有一個優勢：他在中國天津的家人於今年年初花37萬美元爲他買下了一套帶有兩間臥室的公寓。
The 13th-floor apartment, with white walls and a white carpet, is nearly empty of furniture.
這套公寓位於13樓，牆壁刷成了白色，地上鋪着白地毯，屋內幾乎沒有任何傢俱。
But it has a good view over the city and what seems like solid workmanship.
但它擁有可以俯瞰這座城市良好視野，施工工藝看上去也很過硬。
(Coincidentally, Mr Meadowcroft did some of the plumbing for the complex.)
（巧合的是，這棟公寓樓的部分給排水管道是由梅多克羅夫特安裝的。）
The apartment gives Mr Wang a free place to live while he decides his next move.
在艾克•王盤算下一步該怎麼辦的時候，這套公寓讓他有了免費的住處。
I like that it’s a new apartment, he said.
這是一套新公寓，我很喜歡，他說。
Everything is new and clean.
哪兒都是嶄新而又幹淨的。
Real estate developers say that they see a lot of Chinese families eager to buy homes in Australia.
房地產開發商稱，他們發現很多中國家庭急於在澳大利亞買房。
I think the investment return is the No. 2 concern — it’s about getting money somewhere that is stable and safe, it’s about getting the money out of China, said Paul Blackburne, a developer of numerous Perth apartment complexes.
在珀斯開發了大量公寓樓的保羅•布萊克本(Paul Blackburne)說，我認爲投資回報是次要關注點——他們的首要目標是把錢放在某個穩定安全的地方，是把錢轉出中國。
As in the United States, low interest rates have also fanned demand for houses and apartments from local buyers.
與美國的情況類似，低利率也增進了買家對房屋和公寓的需求。
Australian government data shows that it approved $18.2 billion in Chinese real estate investments in the year that ended June 30, 2015, twice as much as the year before, and more than triple the total last year for the United States, which was the second-largest overseas investor.
澳大利亞政府的數據顯示，在截至2015年6月30日的財年裏，得到其許可的來自中國的房地產投資爲182億美元，爲前一財年的兩倍，比上一財年來自美國的投資總額多出兩倍還多——美國是澳大利亞的第二大海外投資者。
And developers say that a lot more Chinese money is quietly flowing into Australian real estate without government approvals.
一些開發商表示，更多來自中國的資金在沒有得到澳大利亞政府許可的情況下，悄悄流進了房地產市場。
Port Hedland and the entire state of Western Australia face budget problems.
黑德蘭港乃至整個西澳大利亞州都面臨着預算問題。
The state has begun moving to sell a 50-year lease on the Utah Point berth, possibly to a Chinese buyer, despite objections from smaller companies like Mineral Resources, which owns the low-cost Iron Valley mine and cannot use the other docks because they are controlled by giant rivals like BHP.
該州已經着手出售爲期50年的猶他點泊位租約，買家有可能來自中國，儘管礦產資源(Mineral Resources)等規模較小的公司紛紛表示反對。該公司擁有成本低廉的鐵谷鐵礦場，卻不能使用其他碼頭，因爲它們都受控於必和必拓等規模龐大的競爭對手。
(Mr Meadowcroft coincidentally helped build the Utah Point berth as well.)
（梅多克羅夫特恰巧也參與修建了猶他點泊位。）
But unemployment has barely risen in Port Hedland or in Western Australia over all.
但總體而言，黑德蘭港或者西澳大利亞州的失業率基本沒有上升。
Some, like Mr Meadowcroft, found jobs in Perth.
一些人，比如梅多克羅夫特，在珀斯找到了工作。
Many moved east to Sydney and Melbourne to work in the construction sector there.
許多人搬到了東邊的悉尼和墨爾本，投身於那裏的建築行業。
One worry in Australia is whether the country is now on an economic trajectory similar to that of the United States a decade earlier.
讓一些澳大利亞人感到擔心的是：這個國家眼下所處的經濟軌道是否和10年前的美國類似？澳大利亞央行在4月份警告稱，
Australia’s central bank warned in April that if Chinese demand faltered, Australia’s real estate market could suffer and the country’s banking system, heavily exposed to home mortgages, could be harmed.
如果來自中國的需求下降，澳大利亞的房地產市場可能遭受挫折，該國有着大量住房抵押貸款業務的銀行系統可能受到損害。
But for now, Chinese money is still flowing.
但截至目前，中國人的資金仍在流入。
Many miners who squandered their earnings during the iron ore boom are now trying to catch up in construction jobs.
在鐵礦石熱潮中拿賺到的錢大肆揮霍的很多礦工，如今正竭力適應建築業的工作。
But many others socked away their money from the boom and have used those savings to buy homes or start small businesses.
但也有很多礦工當初存了錢，已經用積蓄買了房或創辦了小企業。
They were micro-entrepreneurs, said Tom Barratt, a University of Western Australia doctoral student who is doing his thesis on labor markets in the Pilbara hills.
他們是小微創業者，西澳大學的博士生湯姆•巴勒特(Tom Barratt)說。他在寫一篇關於皮爾巴拉(Pilbara)山丘地區勞動力市場的論文。
Mr Meadowcroft is among those savers.
梅多克羅夫特就是存了錢的人之一。
He bought a house and soon paid off most of the mortgage.
他買了一棟房子，很快就付清了大部分抵押貸款。
He also married his longtime girlfriend after years of commuting to far-flung mines and ports, and is now raising two children as he learns to be a plumber.
另外，在過了許多年往返於居住地和遙遠的礦山、港口之間的日子以後，他和相戀已久的女友結了婚，目前一邊養育兩個孩子，一邊學着成爲一名水管工。
Although his savings account is much smaller now, he has no regrets about the boom years.
儘管銀行儲蓄賬戶裏的錢現在少了許多，但談起那個繁榮的時代，他說自己無怨無悔。
That was 12 years of really hard work, he said, to achieve what a lot of people don’t achieve in their whole lives.
我結結實實地辛苦勞作了12年，他說，去實現許多人終其一生也無法達到的目標。
