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Alibaba
阿里巴巴
Ma where he came from?
后无来者
No entrepreneur has defined China's transformation like Jack Ma. His success will be hard to repeat
没有哪个企业家像马云那样定义了中国的转型。他的成功难以复制
The most recognisable face of Chinese capitalism belongs to Jack Ma, the founder of Alibaba, an e-commerce juggernaut matched in size only by Amazon.
中国资本主义最知名的面孔当属阿里巴巴创始人马云。只有亚马逊可在规模上与他创立的电子商务巨头比肩。
Mr Ma, who launched Alibaba from a small apartment in Hangzhou in 1999, is an emblem of China’s extraordinary economic transformation.
1999年，马云在杭州一间小公寓里成立了阿里巴巴，他本人象征了中国非凡的经济转型。
This week's announcement that he will step down as the firm's chairman a year from now, to concentrate on philanthropy, was greeted with comparative calm by investors.
上周他宣布将在一年后辞去集团董事局主席的职务，专注慈善。投资者对此反应较为平静。
He stopped being chief executive in 2013;
马云自2013年起就不再担任首席执行官；
Alibaba's share price has more than doubled since its initial public offering, the world's largest-ever, in 2014.
阿里巴巴于2014年上市时，融资规模为史上最大，至今股价已翻了一倍多。
But one question presents itself: could China produce another story to match his? The answer is almost certainly not.
那么问题来了：中国还能上演一个可与他比拟的故事吗？答案是几乎肯定不能。
There are some very good reasons for that.
这么说有几个非常充分的理由。
China's own rise is an unrepeatable one.
中国的崛起本身就不可重复。
When Mr Ma, then an English-language teacher, launched Alibaba, the country was still gearing up to join the World Trade Organisation.
曾是英语老师的马云推出阿里巴巴时，中国还在为入世做准备。
Its GDP per head, in terms of purchasing-power parity, stood at under $3,000; it is now more than six times higher.
按购买力平价计算，当时的人均GDP不到3000美元，现在则高出6倍多。
The internet was still young, too.
互联网那时也才刚起步。
Less than 1% of Chinese had access to the web back then, compared with some 36% of Americans.
当时只有不到1%的中国人可以上网，而美国人约为36%。
As incomes grew and connections proliferated, Mr Ma took full advantage.
人们收入逐步增长、互联网迅速普及，马云充分利用了这样的有利条件。
Thousands of small businesses have since flourished on Alibaba's platforms.
从那时开始，成千上万的小企业在阿里巴巴的平台上蓬勃发展。
About 1m merchants trade in its virtual emporiums.
约有100万商家在其虚拟集市中开展交易。
Its services have helped push China's economy towards consumption-led growth.
阿里巴巴提供的服务帮助推动中国经济走上了消费型增长之路。
Last year it boasted sales of $25bn on Singles'Day, China's equivalent of Black Friday (when Americans spent a measly $5bn).
去年“双十一”当天其平台的销售额高达250亿美元（美国人在“黑色星期五”当天才花了50亿美元）。
It has transformed logistics and finance, as well as retailing.
除了零售业，阿里巴巴还改变了物流和金融业。
Last year Alibaba delivered an average of 55m packages a day;
去年，阿里巴巴平均每天递送5500万个包裹；
its financial offshoot, Ant Financial, accounts for more than half of China's vast mobile-payments market.
其金融业务部门蚂蚁金服在中国庞大的移动支付市场中占据了过半江山。
Its reach is so great that many startups decide to work with Alibaba rather than strike out alone.
阿里巴巴影响力巨大，许多创业公司因此决定与它合作，而不是单枪匹马出征。
But more has changed than the structure of China's economy and the clout of digital giants like Alibaba.
然而，发生了变化的不只是中国的经济结构和阿里巴巴等数字巨头的影响力。
Politics has changed, too.
政治也已不同往日。
Alibaba thrived partly thanks to Mr Ma's skilful dealings with China's ruling Communist Party, with which he cultivated both closeness and stand-offishness
阿里巴巴蓬勃发展的原因之一是马云善于经营与统治者的关系——既亲密又保持距离
("Love them, don't marry them," he once said of the government).
（他曾说：“要跟政府恋爱，但别跟政府结婚。”）
译文由可可原创，仅供学习交流使用，未经许可请勿转载。
