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Women in China are taking advantage of the strides they’ve made in society, and many flock to universities to pursue education. Empowered with their diplomas in hand, graduates are set to head off into the workforce. And what do these young, modern women wear to commemorate their professional achievement? Wedding dresses of course.
中国的女性正在利用她们在社会上取得的进步，有很多进入了大学追求教育。手握大学毕业证书，她们便可以开始进入工作。那么这些年轻现代的女性在庆祝她们的专业成就时会穿什么呢？当然是婚纱了。
No, they aren’t getting married. Rather, many Chinese women are renting wedding dresses simply for their graduation pictures. And yes, this is disturbing on various levels.
不，她们没有结婚。确切地说，很多中国女性租用婚纱仅仅是为了毕业照。是，这在很多层面令人担忧。
That Bridal Glow
新娘的光芒
Here’s how some graduates have explained their decision to spurn caps and gowns to opt for the blushing bride look:
这是一些毕业生的解释，关于她们抛弃学位帽和学位衣而选择娇美的新娘装的决定：
It’s just about creating a memory. After all, we all want to preserve images of our most beautiful selves.# Yes, and this way they will have multiple occasions on which to preserve images of their most beautiful, wedding selves.
这只是为了留下记忆。毕竟，我们都想保存我们最美丽自我的照片。#是的，这样他们就能有多个机会保存她们最美丽的、婚礼自我。
The wedding dress makes things feel more meaningful.
婚纱让事物变得更有意义。
[The wedding dress] represents that our youth is fading.
[婚纱]代表着我们的青春正在褪色。
Yikes. I assume this is in reference to the post-school stress many young adults face in China. A little reality-check yin to the happy graduation yang?
哎呀。我猜想这涉及到很多中国年轻人面临的离开学校之后的许多压力[1]。这是面前的现实和开心毕业季之间的阴阳调节？
Something Old, Something New
一些旧事物，一些新事物
You might wonder how this creepy bride clone phenomenon sprung up at university graduations. It turns out that Chinese graduation ceremonies haven’t been big deals historically. Schools don’t line up big-name figures to speak, parents rarely bother showing up and the whole thing is a generally dry and perfunctory affair.
你可能想知道这种吓人的新娘装现象是如何在大学毕业中涌现的。实际上中国的毕业典礼一直都不是什么重大事件。学校并不邀请名人来出席演讲，家长也不会到场，整个事情基本就是一个枯燥的敷衍了事。
So in the absence of fulfilling tradition, young students have taken matters into their own hands with novel trends—starting with photo shoots that allow graduates to upload their self-images to social media and compete with their peers for the hottest looks. But wedding dresses specifically?
所以，在没有令人满意的传统时，年轻的学生们开始用新奇的方法解决这一问题——拍一些毕业照上传到社交媒体上与同辈比比谁的照片最靓。但为什么偏偏选择婚礼服呢？
Perhaps since the wear of western-style white dresses for a wedding is a relatively recent occurrence in China, the population doesn’t have such a firm association with these dresses serving only the function of exchanging vows (or posing for the red carpet). In fact, in China white is traditionally a color for mourning, associated with death. But many young people are so over the white taboo. Said one happy graduate, “The feeling of wearing white is very elegant, like a nymph.”
或许是因为在中国婚礼上穿西式白礼服还是一个相对近期才出现的现象，中国人还不是很习惯这些服装仅仅是在交换誓言（或者是在走红毯时）才使用。实际上，白色在中国传统中是一个哀悼的颜色，常和死亡联系起来。但很多年轻人并不在意这种白色禁忌。一位开心的毕业生说，“穿白色的感觉非常高雅，像是女神。”
Undeniable Creep Factor
不可否认的古怪
The wedding dress as graduation gown is so ubiquitous that some male students jokingly take photos clad in bride-esque get-ups themselves. Some of the female graduates also inject some humor into wedding-style shoots by using props like fake mustaches or soccer balls.
婚礼服作为毕业礼服是如此普遍，以致于一些男学生也开玩笑地穿上新娘装拍照片。一些女同学还使用假胡子或者足球等道具给这些婚纱照注入了幽默元素。
But others simply double-down on the Miss Havisham routine, posing with tiaras or veils, renting dresses with lacy trains and even tossing bouquets in the air for the camera. Now that’s truly going the extra mile in feminine creep.
但是一些更甚者却是在郝薇香小姐(狄更斯《远大前程》中的人物，一个疯狂玻璃心病患者)路线上走得越发离谱，戴上皇冠、面纱，租镶有花边的礼服，甚至玩起了新娘抛花束并录制下来。这样就显得病态过头了。
All of which makes it appear that a component of this craze simply involves extending the wedding day fetish to other achievements in life, which is hard not to see as flat-out weird. From Western eyes, it seems to project the idea that a woman’s personal achievements should be celebrated simply as mimicry of the only true success: landing a man.
所有的一切表现出，这种疯狂行径的一部分原因是女性们将对婚姻的迷恋扩展至人生中的其他成就，这难不以让人感到非常古怪。从西方角度来看，这似乎反映出这样一种观点，庆祝一个女人的个人成就应当模仿人生中唯一一个真正的成功：嫁一个男人。
The Chinese Way of Life
中国式生活方式
But there is likely more to this story of matrimonial play-pretend. China has a more traumatic history of marriage commemoration than exists in the Western experience. Traditionally, brides were often hardily hazed on the day of their weddings, and many mourned being forced to leave their parents’ home to take up with a virtual stranger—and his critical mother. This history may inform the sentiment conveyed by one group of female graduates who had been together for all seven years of their higher education. When asked about wearing wedding dresses to commemorate their graduation, they said they couldn’t help but weep since they felt like they were “leaving home and getting married.”
但是这场婚礼过家家还有着更深层的含义。比起西方，中国的结婚仪式有着更悠久的历史与含义。在中国传统结婚仪式中，新娘会在结婚那天表现得像被人欺侮一 样，哭喊着、似乎是被强迫地带离娘家，嫁到陌生挑剔的婆婆家。这种悠久历史由这些相处了四年大学生活的毕业生重新呈现了出来。当被问及穿着结婚礼服来纪念毕业季有何感觉时，她们说，会让人情不自禁地哭出来，感觉就像“离家出嫁一样。”
Indeed, a more charitable view at the phenomenon has to acknowledge that the Chinese educational system puts intensive pressure on students, without much in the way of accolades for their achievements. And then comes the often-harsh reality of working life: major competition for jobs, crowding into tiny apartments with roommates to save money, and the typical single-child onus of providing for aging parents.
的确，仁慈的来看，这种现象确实折射出中国教育系统带给学生的过多压力，而对他们的毕业成就完全没能给予足够的重视与赞誉。紧接而来的无情工作生涯：有激烈的就业竞争，为了省钱合租在小小的公寓里，还有那典型的照顾双亲的独生子女义务。
So if students turn to wacky means to celebrate it themselves, at least they are recognizing their own work and embracing levity (and cathartic mourning!) in what can be a hyper-competitive and draining work environment.
所以如果有同学来一场疯癫的毕业庆典，最起码他们要意识到自己在做什么，悼念亦或拥抱即将到来的激烈竞争与糟透的工作环境。
