Monday, December 07, 2009

40 Million Views of Sitcom "Housing for a Snail"

蜗居: Housing for a Snail

As of today, December 7, 2009, the Chinese sitcom “Wo ju” or “snail-house” has been viewed 41.98 million times, up from just under 30 million yesterday, on Youku--one of the top streaming video sites in China. (Source: Youku website, www.youku.com, videos/sitcoms; the awkward translation into English is “Dwelling Narrowness”).

The popularity of the sitcom arises from its topicality, that is, the toils and troubles of buying a house for ordinary people in China today. Depending on statistics that are used to calculate, the average ratio of yearly income to housing price is somewhere around 40 to 1.

Wo Ju is based on a novel by the author Liu Liu published in 2007. The story is of two sisters, one of whom purchases a house with money borrowed from relatives and loans. In order to pay back the debt, the younger sister has an affair with a government official who pays off some of the money.

As with all television programs, it is flattering and appealing to its audience, which is why it is so popular with white-collar workers who are more likely to be on the Internet and watching Youku in the first place.

Yet the phenomenon of house slaves “fangnu” or 房奴 is alive and well in China today. The introduction of economy housing in Shanghai will have an effect, but given the large size and ability of consumers and investors to “play” the market, these will end up as investment and speculation targets without doubt.

Would be worthwhile to put the series into English, but there are no resources at the moment. Below I am pasting the summary in Chinese from Youku (http://www.youku.com/show_page/id_zcc16fae6962411de83b1.html):


蜗居
33 集全

简介: 郭海萍自从大学毕业留在上海生活便打定主意存够付首期的钱就买房子。但看来看去那些房子总不能令她称心如意,海萍就这样和丈夫苏淳在一间租住的只有十几平米大的小房子里生活了五年,两个人从恋爱结婚到女儿冉冉出世都是在这间小房子里度过。突然出生的孩子已经让夫妻俩手忙脚乱,再加上来帮忙的外婆这空间就显得更加拥挤,海萍只好让她妈把冉冉带回老... 郭海萍自从大学毕业留在上海生活便打定主意存够付首期的钱就买房子。但看来看去那些房子总不能令她称心如意,海萍就这样和丈夫苏淳在一间租住的只有十几平米大的小房子里生活了五年,两个人从恋爱结婚到女儿冉冉出世都是在这间小房子里度过。突然出生的孩子已经让夫妻俩手忙脚乱,再加上来帮忙的外婆这空间就显得更加拥挤,海萍只好让她妈把冉冉带回老家照顾,自己立刻回去上班,继续存钱准备买房子。女儿毕竟是自己身上掉下来的肉,海萍对冉冉的思念与日俱增。为了省钱存钱,她节衣缩食,甚至限制自己打长途电话的时间和回老家次数,但心里的那份记挂是怎样也限制不了的。与冉冉相隔千里的日子郭海萍熬了将近三年,这三年海萍省吃俭用过得很艰难。

  终于,郭海萍等不下去了,因为冉冉已经快要不认识她了。为了把女儿接回身边,海萍决定要立刻买房子。可今时不同往日,上海的房价已经在日日攀高,他们两口子的存款离首付还有太大的距离。除了存款,海萍打算她和苏淳都再问各自的父母拿一部分钱,最后还差两万块她只好向妹妹郭海藻开口。比她小七岁的妹妹郭海藻与海萍一直相依为命不分你我,姐姐缺钱,海藻二话不说就把自己仅有八千块存款都给了她,不够的又问男朋友小贝把他们存着准备结婚用的钱也拿了出来。郭海萍选好了一套全新的房子,只等苏淳家里的那笔钱一到,首付就能交上了。苏淳心里很矛盾,他一面觉得家里条件不好存钱不容易,自己没尽到孝道不说还要再伸手向父母要钱,实在开不了口。可另一面又是老婆几次三番的催促,付了首付就能让他们从房子的困境中解脱出来。终究苏淳还是没有向家里要钱,向来老实本分的他选择了从朋友手里高息借贷,还瞒下了海萍钱的来历。苏淳如何也想不到自己情迫无奈借下的这笔钱,会给这个家给周围的亲人带来了多大的变化。当郭海萍知道已经交了房款首付的钱里有六万块是丈夫借来的高利贷时,她几乎要发疯了,绝望的海萍要与苏淳离婚。从小到大都是海萍在妹妹前面遮风挡雨,现在她彻底被房款的事弄得接近崩溃,海藻认为这次她必须站出来扶住姐姐不让她倒下。可小贝却不那么想,他没有同意再拿钱给海萍,还说这是海萍虚荣的代价。小贝不能理解海藻心里的感觉,从父母意外的背上违反计划生育的负累将她带到这个世界开始,郭海藻就是多余出的一条命,是因为姐姐才留下了她这条命,也是姐姐悉心照顾了她这二十五年,总之这份感情是让海藻为了姐姐去死她都愿意的。心急加上气愤的海藻咬着牙去找了宋思明借钱,其实她和这位宋先生只在应酬的场合中见过几次,但海藻一开口宋思明就爽快的答应了。这难住了郭家姐妹的六万块钱对于宋思明来说,根本不放会在眼里。此刻,他眼里只有郭海藻,这个令他魂牵梦萦的小女人,不过海藻并不知道这些。当时海藻只知道为了能帮姐姐解困,她不惜一切。

  高利贷的钱虽然还了回去,但海萍心里的怨气并没有减退,苏淳也自知理亏。婚倒是没有离,但两口子陷入了从没有过的长期冷战。夫妻感情并没有影响到海萍工作的热情,宋思明有个叫MARK的外国朋友想找家教学中文,海萍想着尽快存钱还款便硬着头皮接下了这个差事。在海萍的努力付出下,MARK的中文水平有了很大突破,也排除了当初对海萍教学能力的疑虑,这令海萍大受鼓舞。可还没有时间喘口气,麻烦又来了,郭海萍租住的房子要被强制拆迁,必须得立刻找地方搬走。宋思明给了海藻一套空着的房子让海萍暂时住进去,正好也离MARK家比较近,方便她去上课。海萍和苏淳抱着重重的疑虑还是搬进了这套对他们来说富丽堂皇的公寓,一时间好像什么麻烦都没有了。海萍卯足力气开始她的新生活,工作兼职两不误。但与此同时,海藻也开始了一种她从未体验过的日子。在与宋思明意外的共度一夜之后,两人的交往从舒适变为尴尬。而现实中宋思明像是一个巨大的隐形人在后面结结实实的撑着她,海藻感受到了小贝如何也给不了她的那份支撑,这个沉稳又浪漫的男人已经在渐渐征服她的心。

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