纪录片《世界最大的中国餐厅》大有学问




‧全球中央 2010/02/12

【撰文／Kam Williams 译／颜伶如】　

Certified by the Guinness Book as the largest Chinese restaurant in the world, West Lake Restaurant is quite a sight to behold. Located on a scenic site in the heart of Southern China, in Changsha, the capital city of Hunan Province, the mammoth establishment can seat as many as 5,000 inside its spacious pavilions.
●曾获金氏世界纪录认证为全世界规模最大的中国餐厅，西湖楼确实相当美丽壮观。座落于中国南边湖南省省会长沙市中心一处风景优美的环境，这栋宏伟的建筑物里有好几个宽敞的包厢大厅，总共可容纳高达5,000名客人。

There, customers are waited on hand and foot by attentive waiters and waitresses, most of whom, ironically, are undernourished and live nearby, a half-dozen or more to a room, in cramped, company-owned dormitories. Despite their low wages and generally dire straits, the 1,000 employees begin each day by putting on their best faces to chant enthusiastically “Work as a team! Do our best!” in unison for their boss Qin Linzi.
●在这里，彬彬有礼的男、女服务生殷实恭敬、悉心招待所有上门的顾客。但讽刺的是，这些服务生绝大多数却营养不良，他们所住的地方就在西湖楼附近，大约六个人住一个房间，大伙儿挤在狭窄的员工宿舍里。尽管工资微薄，工作环境普遍而言也相当辛苦危险，这1,000名员工每天还是要带着最亲切的笑脸，在西湖楼董事长秦灵芝的指挥之下，朝气十足地喊出「团结一致，做到最好」的口号。

The food is cooked in 5 kitchens by 300 chefs, each carefully trained in the Chinese culinary arts, and masters of an array of entrées ranging from the ordinary to the outright bizarre. While West Lake's most popular dish is goat with rice pasta, there are some which call for a strong stomach, such as the dish featuring slithering slices of fresh-killed snake and a deep-fried seafood delicacy which, when prepared correctly, arrives at the table with the head of an expiring fish still gasping for breath.
西湖楼规模吓人
菜色也不惶多让

●共计300名厨师在五个厨房合力料理各式菜肴，每一名厨师都受过严格的中式厨艺训练，每个人专精不同的菜色，从一般家常菜到顶极山珍佳肴都有。西湖楼最有名的一道菜是「粉皮羊肉」，其它有些菜色则要胆子够大才能尝试，例如有一道菜是把现杀的蛇切成一段一段，身体都还在动；另外一道鲜鱼活吃，则是必须精准掌握准备与炸的时间，送上桌时鱼嘴必须一张一合地喘息着才算合格。

Most of the menu, however, is designed to satisfy the average palate. After all, as General Manager Xiao Yezi explains, her job involves ensuring that they have a steady supply of the staples, which means he must order about 700 chickens and 2,600 pounds of pork per week. For the restaurant is routinely hired to cater to Wedding, Longevity and Baby Banquets, sumptuous feasts attended by hundreds of guests.
●不过，菜单上绝大多数餐点还是以满足一般大众的胃口为主。毕竟，西湖楼总经理萧叶子解释，他的工作职责在于确保各种食材供应充足，这表示每周他必须订购700只鸡，还有2,600磅（约1,180公斤）的猪肉，理由是经常有客人来这里办喜宴、寿宴以及满月酒，这些豪华宴席每一场出席宾客动辄都以数百人计。

But while the scale of everything connected to West Lake is certainly impressive, that is not what makes the place such a worthy subject of a documentary. Directed by Weijun Chen, The Biggest Chinese Restaurant in the World is a priceless picture which presents a captivating slice of current-day China , contradictions and all, while simultaneously celebrating many of the culture's age-old traditions.
●虽然与西湖楼有关的每样事物规模都颇为可观，但这并不是西湖楼成为纪录片拍摄主题的原因。由陈为军执导的《世界最大的中国餐厅》纪录片是一部无价之宝，呈现的当代中国日常生活剪影让人倾倒，包括各种对比与冲突，同时却也彰显了许多中国文化代代相传已久的传统。

The movie revolves mostly around owner Qin Linzi who freely admits to being a member of the Communist Party and talks with pride about having built West Lake into a flourishing enterprise worth RMB 30 million dollars. The question this immediately raises in the mind of the discerning viewer is whether her success is the result of business savvy or merely of her political connections.
最大餐厅是个人的成功？

●这部影片的叙述方式多半以餐厅负责人秦灵芝为主轴，她大方坦承自己是共产党党员，谈到一手创办西湖楼并使之蓬勃发展成为价值3,000万人民币的大型企业时，言谈中充满得意自豪。观察敏锐的观众此时不禁立刻在心中出现疑问，不知道她的成功是因为有商业洞察力的结果，或者纯粹靠她的政治关系而已。

Although much of Qin's personal story is very admirable, such as her having had the wherewithal to divorce her abusive ex-husband, one still can't help but ponder the fact that she doesn't appear to treat her staff very well, considering that 20 people quit every month on account of their low salaries. Thus, one theme constantly simmering under the surface, here, is the tension of neo-capitalism and Maoism, and the obvious existence of many unfortunate victims of the country's rush to modernism, several of whom, all struggling employees, we see interviewed briefly.
●秦灵芝个人努力的故事有许多令人敬佩之处，例如她不得不跟糟蹋她的前夫走上离婚之路，但有一点还是让人忍不住质疑，她似乎对员工并没有很好，因为平均每个月有20个人以薪资太少为由而辞职走人。因此，整部影片不断透露出一个表面上并未点破的议题，这正是新资本主义与毛泽东主义两者出现紧张对立的缩影，以及中国在迅速迈向现代化的过程中，确实因此产生了许多有不幸境遇的受害者，这部纪录片简短访问的几名努力挣钱过日子的餐厅员工就是实例。

Nonetheless, besides this economic issue, the film engages the audience in the sheer beauty of the food preparation and presentation, and in the pageantry of the accompanying stage productions, replete with singers and dancers. The movie also goes to great lengths to explain in detail the meaning of the menu for each ancient ritual.
●还有，除了经济方面的因素之外，这部影片让观众体会到料理与烹饪之美，同时也一睹餐厅里用来飨宴佳宾，载歌载舞的表演盛况场面。片中也花了颇长的篇幅一一详细说明不同菜肴所象征的历史意义。



（本文作者为美国新泽西州知名影评人）