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In a modest-looking dwelling shrouded by greenery halfway up one of the highest mountains in eastern China, a young couple have been conducting an experiment in self-sufficiency for about five years.
在中国东部一座高山的半山腰上，绿色植被掩映着一个不起眼的住处。在那里，一对年轻的夫妇开展自给自足实验已有大约五年的时间了。
On Lao Mountain, in coastal Shandong Province, Tang Guanhua, 26, whose family runs a design company, and his wife, Xing Zhen, 31, a former securities manager, have been surviving by their own wiles, producing everything from shoes to electricity.
在滨海省份山东的崂山，从做鞋子到发电，这对夫妻全靠二人之力为生。丈夫叫唐冠华，26岁，家里经营设计公司；妻子邢振31岁，曾经是证券经理。
Dressed in their homemade attire, the couple pointed to shelves loaded with bottles of home-brewed vinegar, jars of salt collected from evaporated brine and an enormous bamboo contraption leaning against the wall, held together with rope, that they use to weave clothing. One inspiration is John Seymour, a British advocate of self-sufficiency who spawned a movement half a century ago.
穿着自己缝制的衣服，夫妇二人展示了架子上一瓶瓶自家酿制的醋、一罐罐海水蒸发后采集的盐，还有倚在墙上用绳子固定起来的一个巨大的竹制织布装置。鼓舞他们的包括英国人约翰·塞默(John Seymour)。他倡导自给自足，半个世纪以前发起了这项运动。
But getting to this point has not been easy.Growing up in Qingdao, a port city that thrives on tourism and high-tech development, Mr. Tang, a self-described city boy, believed that “everything could be bought with money,” and he said he had no idea about “the difference between lettuce and rapeseed, wheat and rice.” Before he started renovating the once-shabby brick hut he rents from local farmers in 2010, Mr. Tang said he had been aware of the hardships he might face and tried to prepare as best he could.
他们的尝试走到今天这个地步并不容易。唐冠华在以旅游和高科技发展著称的港口城市青岛长大，自称是个城里孩子，以为“任何东西都可以花钱买到”，还说自己以前根本不知道“生菜和油菜之间、小麦和稻谷之间有什么区别。”2010年，唐冠华从当地农民那里租来了一座破旧的砖房。他说，翻修工作开始以前，他预料到了自己会面临困难，所以尽力做好了准备。
Yet he was still overwhelmed by unexpected difficulties. Without gas and kitchenware, Mr. Tang and several volunteers ate raw peppers for supper. Without a bathroom, they dug pits in the yard until there was no space for more.
即便如此，意料之外的种种难题仍让他措手不及。没有燃气也没有厨具，唐冠华和几名志愿者生吃菜椒当晚饭。没有卫生间，他们就在院子里挖坑，直到无处可挖为止。
“Not until then did I figure out how to cope with it,” said Mr. Tang, referring to the challenges of disposing of human waste. Within a year, he had built a bamboo septic tank, finished the renovations and begun growing vegetables like Chinese chives and lettuce.
“到了那时候我才想出办法，”提到处理人体排泄物的挑战时，唐冠华说。一年之内，他用竹子做了一座化粪池，完成了翻修工作，开始种植韭菜和生菜等蔬菜。
At first, Ms. Xing, who had gotten to know Mr. Tang before he embarked on the self-sufficiency project, was bewildered by it. But as she visited the site on Lao Mountain, she was inspired by his enthusiasm and that of the volunteers who flocked there.
在唐冠华开始自给自足实验之前，邢振就认识他。一开始，她对此很不理解。但在参观了他在崂山的这片地方后，她因为唐冠华及涌向那里的志愿者的热情而受到了鼓舞。
“They were passionate and genuine, unlike other people I had seen who easily gave up their ideas without giving them a try,” she recalled.
“他们充满激情，真心诚意，不像我见过的其他一些人，不试一下就轻易放弃了自己的理想，”她回忆道。
Unlike Mr. Tang, Ms. Xing had not previously imagined herself as a back-to-nature pioneer. After studying economics for five years, she took the 9-to-5 job that was expected of her. A slim, bespectacled woman who can frequently be found updating a blog on the couple’s work, Ms. Xing described herself as a “mainstream girl” who always followed the crowd. “I didn’t know how to think independently,” she said.
和唐冠华不同，邢振之前从没想过自己会成为“回归自然”的先锋。在学习经济专业五年后，邢振开始了一份符合期望的朝九晚五的工作。她外形纤瘦，戴着眼镜，经常在博客上更新夫妇两人的进度。她形容自己以前是个“随大流的姑娘”，总是从众。“我不知道该怎么样独立思考，”她说。
After the couple married in 2011, Ms. Xing quit her job in Qingdao, mostly because she wanted to spend more time with her husband. But after a year living with him on Lao Mountain, she had “an awakening.”
2011年两人结婚以后，邢振放弃了在青岛的工作，主要是希望有更多时间陪在丈夫身边。不过，与唐冠华在崂山居住一年后，她“觉醒”了。
“It was like an epiphany,” said Ms. Xing. “I suddenly realized that all I did before was try to fit into a widely acknowledged value system that I didn’t even fully understand.”Having secured their shelter, the couple took the challenge to the next level. They visited scholars and handicraft masters to learn how to brew vinegar, soy sauce and beer, how to knit clothes, raise poultry and make cooking utensils and soap. They converted a bicycle into a generator and built a washing machine, a solar panel and a small wind turbine.
“好像顿悟了一样，”邢振说。“我忽然意识到自己以前所做的一切都是为了融入一个众人接受的价值体系，而我根本不理解那套东西。”有了安身之处，夫妇二人更进一步。他们拜访了学者和手工艺师傅，学习如何酿造醋、酱油和啤酒，如何纺线织布，如何饲养家禽，如何制作器皿和肥皂。他们将一辆自行车改造成了发电机，还造了一台洗衣机、一块太阳能电池板，以及一台小型风机。
With help from nearby university students, the couple spent more than two years building a second hut, two stories high, with bamboo, rocks, clay and recycled building materials.
在附近大学生的帮助下，夫妇二人花了两年多的时间用竹子、石头、泥土及二手建筑材料建成了二层楼高的第二座棚屋。
“I think the local farmers could have finished it within two weeks,” Mr. Tang said.
“我觉得当地农民的话不到两周的功夫就可以造完了，”唐冠华说。
As word of the couple’s project spread, local farmers shook their heads in disbelief, curiosity-seekers flocked to see them, and critics began piling on. During a talk show appearance on China Central Television, the state broadcaster, celebrity guests mocked them for “challenging modern civilization,” accused them of “being delusional” and ridiculed them for not being able to host their parents during holidays. Even friends were confounded.
随着夫妇俩的项目流传开来，当地农民摇头表示怀疑，好奇的人群蜂拥而至，批评浪潮也随之袭来。对此，官方媒体中央电视台的一档访谈节目还进行了报道。受邀来到节目中的名人嘲笑他们“挑战现代文明”，指责他们“痴心妄想”，讥讽他们没法在节假日招待父母。就连他们的朋友也颇为困惑。
Contrary to the critics, Mr. Tang and Ms. Xi say the purpose of their project is neither to promote an ascetic lifestyle nor to throw away the fruits of modernization. Instead, they say, it is simply to explore an alternative for those who don’t fit into modern urbanized society.
与批评声相反，唐冠华和邢振表示，他们这一项目既不是为了宣扬一种苦行的生活方式，也不是为了抛弃现代化的成果，而只是想为无法适应现代都市社会的那些人探索出另一种生活方式。
“When I first came up with the project, I hoped it would be a plan to solve the social issues I was concerned about once and for all,” Mr. Tang said.
“当我第一次提出这个计划的时候，我希望它能彻底地解决我所关心的一些社会问题，”唐冠华说。
Encouraged by his parents, Mr. Tang had come up with the idea of opening his own business while he was still in high school. After he made some money as an advertising designer and an event planner for shopping mall openings, he dropped out of high school and was taken by wanderlust.
在父母的鼓励下，唐冠华在高中时就提出了创业的想法。他当过广告设计师，为商场开业活动做过策划，从中赚了一些钱后便从高中辍学，之后迷上了旅行。
“It was the traveling that changed my perception of the world,” said Mr. Tang, a tall, lean man with straight hair and an unassuming manner.
“正是四处行走改变了我对世界的看法，”唐冠华说。他身材高瘦，留着直发，为人谦逊。
In places like Macau, Mr. Tang witnessed the booming of commerce and entertainment, but also human greed and hypocrisy. “It got me wondering about the purpose of my life and if I’d like to be someone like that,” he mused.
在澳门这样的地方，唐冠华目睹了商业和娱乐业的蓬勃发展，但是也看到了人性中的贪婪和伪善。“这促使我思考自己人生的意义，考虑自己是否想要成为那样的人，”他若有所思地说。
At 18, Mr. Tang was influenced by an artist friend and started expressing his societal concerns through street art and photography. But after realizing that none of these efforts had a lasting effect on other people’s awareness, Mr. Tang, with the help of friends, came up with the idea of building a self-sufficient community. To cover some of the expenses, he set up a nongovernmental organization to accept donations, though contributions from individuals must be no more than 1,000 renminbi, about $160.
18岁的时候，唐冠华受到一名艺术家朋友的影响，开始通过街头艺术和摄影来表达自己对社会问题的关切。但是后来，他意识到这些努力对他人观念方面的影响并不持久。因此，在朋友的帮助下，唐冠华提出了建立一个自给自足社区的想法。为了垫付一部分开支，他成立了一家接受捐助的非政府组织，但是规定个人的捐助额不得超过1000元人民币。
“This is not a project built up by money,” Mr. Tang said. “If you have the ability to donate that much money, we prefer you to donate real things, like building materials and recyclable things, or come join us to experience the project yourself.”
“这不是一个靠金钱支撑起来的项目，”唐冠华说。“如果你有能力捐很多钱，那么我更希望你能捐一些实物，比如说建筑材料、可回收利用的物品，或者是和我们一起来亲身感受这个项目。”
He later named the experiment Project AnotherLand and set out a number of steps for achieving his goals.
后来，他把这项尝试命名为“家园计划”，并为实现自己的目标设定了一系列的步骤。
The first, to determine whether it was possible to live self-sufficiently, appears to have been largely achieved by his experiment on Lao Mountain. The second, to expand the project’s scale with more people, will come later this year when the couple build a larger community in Fuzhou, the capital of Fujian Province. Other steps include sharing their experiences with urban dwellers and publishing a self-sufficiency guidebook, which is in the works.
第一步是要确定自给自足是否可行。通过他在崂山的实践，这一点似乎基本实现了。第二步则是扩展项目规模，吸引更多人参与其中。这一步将会在今年晚些时候进行，夫妇二人届时会在福建省会福州市建立一个更大的社区。其他的步骤则包括，与都市居民分享他们的经验，以及出版一本自给自足指导手册。这本手册目前正在撰写中。
An increasing number of people are already paying attention. Yang Haitao, a student at Ocean University of China in Qingdao, is one of thousands of volunteers who have come through in recent years. During a recent visit, he said he had learned to make soap from waste oil, grow vegetables and knit shoes.
有越来越多的人已经开始关注到他们的项目。在位于青岛的中国海洋大学读书的学生杨海涛（音），就是近些年里参与到该项目当中的上千名志愿者之一。近期来到这里的时候，他谈到自己学会了如何利用废油制作肥皂，如何种菜和纳鞋。
“If there is a larger community like this in the future, I think I’ll sign up for it,” Mr. Yang said.
“如果未来能有一个类似的更大规模的社区，我想我是会参加的，”杨海涛表示。
More than just build a community for his peers, Mr. Tang said his goal was to help future generations decide whether they want to live off the grid.
唐冠华表示，他的目标不只是为同龄人建立一个社区而已，他还想要帮助后代决定，他们是否想要过上不依赖现代设施的生活。
“I won’t have kids until I have built a self-sufficient community,” Mr. Tang said. “Maybe my kids will prefer to live in the city. But at least I want to offer them another option to choose from.”
“在建好一个自给自足的社区之前，我是不会要小孩的，”唐冠华说。“或许我的孩子会更喜欢住在城市里，但是至少我想要给他们提供另一种可选的方式。”
