‘Punk_Health’_Foods_Are_Popular_with_China’s_Youth

26 中国故事

‘Punk Health’ Foods Are

Popular with China’s Youth

中国青年热衷“朋克养生”

有时，叛逆就是在啤酒里加枸杞。

文／魏丽莎 译／叶子

Sometimes, rebellion means goji berries in your beer.

By Clarissa Wei

oji berries in beer. Chinese medicinal

herbs infused in coffee. Stay-

ing up all night, but eating a bowl of

bird’s nest soup to feel better. You get

the gist.

2

For the last couple of years, a seem-

ingly oxymoronic concept has been

adopted by a broad cross-section of

young, urban people in China. “Punk

health,” or péngkè yǎngshēng, means

pairing a vice with a seemingly healthy

ingredient.

3

“People born in the 80s and 90s are

almost in their 40s and 30s now, but

they also don’t want to follow the same

conventional health advice as their par-

ents, like drinking hot beverages or just

eating goji berries,” explains Chen Bai-

ling, a Chinese fitness blogger who has

written about the concept before. “But

they’re also realizing that they have to

2024·01 英语世界

G

往

2

啤酒里加枸杞；用咖啡

冲泡中草药；熬个大通

宵，再用一碗燕窝汤来恢复状

态；这种操作的要点，你懂的。

近几年来，一种看似矛盾

的理念为中国各个阶层的广大

城市青年所接受。“朋克养生”

就是将不良的生活方式与看似

健康的饮食搭配到一起。

3

“80后和90后现在也都

三四十岁了，他们不想像父母

那样遵循老一套的养生理念，

比如喝热饮，或者只是吃枸

杞。”曾写文介绍“朋克养生”

的中国健身博主陈柏龄解释

说，“他们也意识到了必须照

顾好自己的身体，所以这是他

们妥协的方式。”

4

“朋克养生”一词于2017

中国故事 27

take care of their body, so this is their

form of compromise.”

4

The term “punk health” first ap-

peared on the Chinese internet in 2017

and reached its apex in 2019, with a

slew of

1

articles and videos describing

the phenomenon. One news report, for

example, featured a 22-year-old girl in

China who slept at every night,

but put on five face masks every day

to help soothe her increasingly tired

skin.“It’s not only self-deprecating,

but also a trendy attitude towards life,”

writes one article.

5

Brands have been quick to cash in

on

2

the concept. Several wellness com-

panies received an influx of financing

from venture capital firms to jump on

the punk-health bandwagon

3

. The goal

is to create a product to give customers

a shortcut to an otherwise healthy and

balanced lifestyle.

6

And it has proven to be wildly lucra-

tive. One granola bar that was marketed

as a meal (similar to Soylent, but solid

form) made $3 million USD in monthly

sales only half a year after it launched.

4

7

Many such products take cues from

traditional Chinese medicine, but add a

rebellious twist. There are energy drinks

infused with dates or hawthorn, coffee

with donkey gelatin (thought to help

年首次出现在中国互联网上，

其热度在2019年达到鼎盛，

当时有大量文章和视频介绍这

一现象。例如，一篇新闻报道

介绍了一名22岁的中国女孩，

她每天凌晨3点钟睡觉，但每

天敷5张面膜来补救她日显疲

态的肌肤。“这不仅是自嘲，

也是一种时尚的生活态度。”

一篇文章写道。

5

各品牌迅速从这个理念中

寻到商机。风险投资公司给保

健品公司投钱，是为了让他们

能赶上“朋克养生”这股潮流。

他们的目标是研发一种产品，

为顾客提供一条可以达成另一

种健康均衡生活方式的捷径。

6

事实证明，这种做法的利

润极其丰厚。一款作为正餐销

售的格兰诺拉燕麦棒（类似索

伦特营养公司的代餐饮料，只

是采用了固体形态），上市仅

半年，月销售额就达到300万

美元。

7

许多“朋克养生”产品模

仿中药，但添加了叛逆的新元

素。有的功能饮料中泡着红枣

或者山楂；有的咖啡中加入了

阿胶（据信可补气血）；有的

1 a slew of许多；大量。 2 cash in (on sth)〈习语〉从中牟利；捞到好处。 3 jump on

the bandwagon〈习语〉赶时髦；追随潮流。 4 take cues from sb/sth〈习语〉模仿……

的样子做；学……的样。

英语世界 2024·01

28 中国故事

nourish the blood), and candy infused

with

sleep. While many of these foods aren’t

melatonin to help insomniacs

necessarily new or novel, they embody

the concept in their marketing and sleek

branding. The goal is to offset “bad be

havior” by consuming something virtu

-

ously healthful.

-

8

is Ye Yu Cha, or Night with Tea. These

One current commercial frontrunner

are tea blends specially designed es

pecially for hard-partying night owls.

-

The tea bags come filled with healthful-

sounding ingredients like ginseng, goji,

tangerine peel, sea buckthorn, and licorice.

The idea is that you drink the concoc

tion after a long night out to

-

out

5

balance

too long. However, on top of each tea

the effects of staying awake for

package, underneath the brand name, is

advice to “sleep earlier tomorrow.”

9

products, punk health is a state of mind.

But more than a collection of sleek

“Another example is that you constantly

stay up all night, but buy the most ex

pensive

Chen says. Or exercise during the day,

eye cream to compensate,”

-

yet binge on fried chicken right after

wards. Spend all day looking at your

-

phone and feel bad about it, but then

change the screen background to a for

est to feel a little bit better. Eat a large

-

serving of spicy hot pot, and drink a cup

5 balance out相抵；抵消。

2024·01 英语世界

糖果中含有褪黑素，能帮助失

眠症患者入睡。这类食品中的

大多数并不一定是新上市或者

新研发出来的，但品牌在营销

和打造自身时尚形象时，都会

赋予这类食品“朋克养生”的

概念。此举旨在以食用合乎养

生之道的食物抵消“不良生活

习惯”对健康造成的伤害。

8

目前“朋克养生”领域的

一个商业领跑者是“夜与茶”。

该品牌的调制茶专为狂欢作乐

的夜猫子调配。茶包里装满了

人参、枸杞、陈皮、沙棘、甘

草等听起来很健康的成分。产

品理念是让你在熬完大夜后喝

下调制茶，抵消长时间不睡觉

对身体的伤害。然而，每盒茶

的外包装上面，就在品牌名称

的下方，都标注着“明天早一

点睡”的建议。

9

“朋克养生”不仅仅是一

系列时尚的产品，更是一种心

态。“另外一个例子是，你经

常熬夜，但买最贵的眼霜来补

救。”陈柏龄说。还有很多例子，

比如：白天辛苦锻炼，之后狂

吃炸鸡；整天盯着手机，心里

过意不去，但把屏幕背景设置

成森林就稍感舒心；吃一大份

麻辣火锅，再喝一杯菊花茶来

缓解对胃的刺激。“这类行为

of chrysanthemum tea to ease the stom

ach. “There’s a contradiction to it, but it

-

represents the type of contradiction that

young people feel about their lives,”

Chen says.

10

hearted attempt by young people to get

Punk health is ultimately a half-

a grasp on their health. It’s an achiev

able, relatable regimen for millennials

-

and Gen Zers in China who aren’t old

enough to seriously feel the effects of

aging yet, but feel like they should start

thinking

ously, it’s also a reaction to the “996”

about it soon. More insidi-

work culture, in which employees are

required

6 days a week. Younger workers are

to work from 9am to 9pm,

facing burnout and anxiety, and punk

health is their way of dealing with it.

11

but they can’t escape the pressure from

“Young people are afraid of death,

work,” an interviewee told China In

vestment Network, who conducted a

-

survey on the trend. “Since they can’t

restrain the urge to eat junk food, they

indulge in punk health.”

12

to be

The term punk health is intended

points out that its defiant appeal is fad

tongue-in-cheek

6

, though Chen

ing. Instead of bolstering themselves

-

with purchased punk-health remedies,

young

scribing

people

themselves

are increasingly

as “salted fish”

de-

6 tongue

-

in

-

cheek随便说说的；开玩笑的。

中国故事 29

中存在一种矛盾，而这正体现

了年轻人对生活抱有的那种矛

盾之感。”陈柏龄解释道。

10

“朋克养生”归根到底是

年轻人为维持身体健康所作的

漫不经心的尝试。中国的千禧

一代和Z世代还年轻，尚不

能真正感受到衰老对他们的影

响，但他们觉得自己应该尽快

着手考虑这个问题。“朋克养

生”对他们而言是一个可实现、

能认同的养生方案。从更隐秘

的层面来说，“朋克养生”是

对“996”的回应。这种工作

文化要求员工从早上九点工作

到晚上九点，一周六天。年轻

的员工们精疲力尽、焦虑不安，

式。

11

“年轻人怕死，但又没法

摆脱工作压力。”一位受访者

告诉中国投资网（该网站对

风潮进行了调查），

冲动，他们干脆沉溺于‘朋克

养生’。”

12

“朋克养生”一词意在调

侃，但陈柏龄指出，这个概念

因具有反叛意味而吸引人，但

这份吸引力如今已渐渐消退。

年轻人不是用购买的“朋克养

英语世界 2024·01

“朋克养生”是他们的应对方

“朋克养生”

“既然无法克制吃垃圾食品的

30 中国故事

and “buddha youth”. The former is a

metaphor for a dead fish, referring to a

person with no ambitions. And the lat-

ter describes a disinterested generation

that’s unfazed by worldly obligations.

13

“They see their parents’ generation,

who worked hard for many decades to

earn money. But when they retire, they

have all sorts of health problems that

can’t be solved with money,” says Chen.

Taking life more casually and acknow-

ledging the human body’s physical lim-

its, then, may be the biggest rebellion of

all.

■

生”产品来增强自己的体质，

而是越来越多地自嘲为“咸鱼”

和“佛系青年”。前者是死鱼

的隐喻，指没有抱负的人。后

者描述的是没有欲望、不受世

事所扰的一代人。

13

“他们看到父母那代人几

十年来辛辛苦苦地赚钱，退休

之后却出现各种用钱解决不了

的健康问题。”陈柏龄说。因此，

更随性地对待生活，坦然承认

人体的生理局限，可能就是最

大的叛逆。

□

2024·01 英语世界