臺(tái)灣職業(yè)哭喪人
crying on command isn't easy, but liu jun-lin is hired to do it every day, at funerals for people she never knew. she's taiwan's best-known professional mourner - a time-honoured tradition in her country that may be dying out.
奉命而哭不是一件容易的事情，但是每天都有人雇劉君琳(音譯)在她素不相識(shí)的人的葬禮上哭喪。她是臺(tái)灣最著名的職業(yè)哭喪人，在臺(tái)灣這是由來(lái)已久的傳統(tǒng)，而這樣的傳統(tǒng)有可能面臨消失。
crying for a living is controversial, seen by some as the commercialisation of grief, but mourners like liu say their profession has a long history in taiwan, where according to tradition the deceased needs a big, loud send-off to cross smoothly into the afterlife.
用哭喪來(lái)謀生是一件容易引起爭(zhēng)議的事情，在有些人看來(lái)這是商業(yè)化的哀傷。但是據(jù)劉君琳這樣的哭喪人說(shuō)，她們的職業(yè)在臺(tái)灣由來(lái)已久，根據(jù)臺(tái)灣傳統(tǒng)亡故之人需要用大聲的哭喪來(lái)把他們平安地送入到后世。
"when a loved one dies, you grieve so much that when it finally comes time for the funeral, you don't have any tears left," says liu."how are you going to suddenly switch your mood to show all that sorrow?" liu is there to help strike the right tone.
“當(dāng)親人亡故之后你會(huì)非常悲傷，最終到了葬禮上你已經(jīng)沒(méi)有眼淚了，”劉君琳說(shuō)，“你怎樣才能做到把你的情緒一下子調(diào)到極度悲傷?”于是劉君琳會(huì)到場(chǎng)相助，以使葬禮有合適的氣氛。
in earlier times, daughters often left home to work in other cities, and transport was limited, she explains. if someone in the family died, they often couldn't make it home in time for the funeral, so the family would hire what's known as a "filial daughter" to lead the family in mourning.
她解釋說(shuō)，從前女兒們常常會(huì)離家到其它城市里去工作。當(dāng)時(shí)交通條件有限，如果家里有人亡故，她們常常不能及時(shí)趕到家里參加葬禮，于是家人會(huì)雇傭一些被稱(chēng)為“孝女”的人在葬禮上引導(dǎo)家人。
traditional taiwanese funerals are elaborate, combining sombre mourning with louder, up-tempo entertainment to fire up grieving spirits.
傳統(tǒng)上臺(tái)灣的葬禮是精心安排過(guò)的，陰沉的哀悼與喧嘩的快節(jié)奏娛樂(lè)結(jié)合在一起以送走悲傷的亡靈。
for the entertainment portion, 30-year-old liu and her filial daughters band wear bright costumes, and perform almost-acrobatic dance numbers. they do the splits, back-bends, and somersaults. her brother, a ji, plays along on traditional stringed instruments.
在娛樂(lè)部分，30歲的劉君琳和她的孝女樂(lè)隊(duì)穿著鮮亮的服裝，表演幾乎像雜技一般的舞蹈。她們做著分叉、后彎和筋斗等動(dòng)作，她的兄弟阿吉用傳統(tǒng)的弦樂(lè)器來(lái)伴奏。
later, liu will change into a white hood and robe, and crawl to the coffin on her hands and knees. there, in time to her brother's organ playing, she performs her signature wail.
稍后劉君琳會(huì)換上白色的喪袍，戴上頭罩爬到棺材邊上，這時(shí)在他兄弟樂(lè)器的伴奏下她開(kāi)始她的招牌哭喪。
her sounds are long and drawn out, somewhere between crying and singing. at home, she demonstrates a typical wail for me. "my dear father, your daughter misses you so much!" she cries. "please, please come back!"
她的聲音綿長(zhǎng)而竭力，有時(shí)游走在哭泣和歌唱之間。她在家里為我表演了一種典型的哭泣：“我親愛(ài)的爹爹啊，你女兒多么想念你，”她哭喊道，“請(qǐng)你，請(qǐng)你回來(lái)吧!”
i ask liu how she manages to manufacture tears at will. but she insists all her crying is real. "every funeral you go to, you have to feel this family is your own family, so you have to put your own feelings in it," she says. "when i see so many people grieving, i get even sadder."
我問(wèn)劉君琳她是怎樣做到制造眼淚的，她堅(jiān)持說(shuō)她所有的哭泣都是真實(shí)的。“你去到每一個(gè)葬禮上，你會(huì)感到這家人家就是你自己的家人，所以你就會(huì)把自己的感情放進(jìn)去，”她說(shuō)，“當(dāng)我看見(jiàn)有這樣多的人都很傷心，我就更傷心了。”
with her long eyelashes, dimples, and sing-song voice, liu seems much younger than her 30 years. at home, she wears an orange jogging suit and sparkly nail polish. i'd sooner believe she was a nursery school teacher than a professional in the grief business.
劉君琳長(zhǎng)著長(zhǎng)長(zhǎng)的睫毛，臉上帶著酒窩，有著歌唱般的嗓音，她看上去比實(shí)際年齡30歲年輕得多。在家里的時(shí)候她身穿著一套橘紅色的運(yùn)動(dòng)裝，涂著鮮亮的指甲油，我很快就覺(jué)得她像是一位幼兒園老師而不是職業(yè)的哭喪人。
funeral director lin zhenzhang, who has worked alongside liu for years, says that's a big part of her appeal.
葬禮導(dǎo)演林正章(音譯)與劉君琳一起工作有許多年了，他說(shuō)這正是她的引人之處。
"traditionally, we think of this as a job for women a generation older," he says. "but jun-lin is so young and beautiful. that contrast makes people very curious."
“傳統(tǒng)上我們認(rèn)為做這樣的工作都是上一代的婦女，”他說(shuō)，“但是君琳卻是如此年輕美貌，這樣一種反差使人們感覺(jué)很詫異。”
liu's grandmother and mother were both professional mourners. as a young child, she would play outside the funeral homes while her mother worked. at home, she mimicked her mother and older sister as they rehearsed.
劉君琳的祖母和母親都是職業(yè)哭喪人。在她的孩提時(shí)代，當(dāng)她的母親在工作時(shí)她會(huì)在喪家門(mén)外玩耍。在家里時(shí)，當(dāng)她的母親和姐姐在排演時(shí)她會(huì)跟著模仿。
"i'd grab any object and pretend it was a microphone," she says. "then i'd pretend there was a coffin and crawl to it."
“我會(huì)抓起任何一樣?xùn)|西把它當(dāng)做麥克風(fēng)，”她說(shuō)，“然后我假裝前面有一個(gè)棺材，我就爬過(guò)去。”
both of liu's parents died when she was young, leaving her grandmother with three children to bring up, and a heavy burden of debt. so the grandmother pulled liu and her older brother into the family trade. liu was just 11 years old.
劉君琳的父母在她年幼時(shí)就過(guò)世了，留下了她的祖母和三個(gè)需要撫養(yǎng)的孩子，還有一屁股的債務(wù)。于是祖母把劉君琳和她的哥哥帶進(jìn)了家族的生意里，那時(shí)劉君琳只有11歲。
she had to get up before dawn each morning to rehearse, and often had to miss school for work. when she did go to class, other children would make fun of her job and the strange costumes she wore.
每天早上她在天亮前就要起床排練，為了外出干活還常常逃課。當(dāng)她去上課的時(shí)候，其他孩子會(huì)嘲笑她的工作和所穿戴的服裝。
"they'd say, that's so weird, so ugly, you look so stupid!" she says. "i felt really inferior and thought other kids didn't like me."
“他們會(huì)說(shuō)，你做的事情多么可怕，多么難看，你看上去多蠢!”她說(shuō)，“我真的感到很自卑，我想別的孩子不會(huì)喜歡我。”
performing wasn't much easier. stigmas around death make many people look down on mourners. "sometimes before we'd start the performance, the grieving family would be very sour when they talked to us," says liu. "but after we performed, they'd cry and say thank you, thank you, thank you!"
表演也并非容易，對(duì)于死亡的不齒使許多人看不起哭喪人。“有時(shí)在我們開(kāi)始表演前喪家對(duì)我們說(shuō)話(huà)很刻薄，”劉君琳說(shuō)，“但是在我們表演之后他們也會(huì)哭泣，并且一再對(duì)我們說(shuō)謝謝，謝謝，謝謝!”
that's when liu realised the real purpose of her job. "this work can really help people release their anger, or help them say the things they're afraid to say out loud," she says. "for people who are afraid to cry, it helps too, because everyone cries together."
這使劉君琳認(rèn)識(shí)到了她工作的.真正意義。“我的工作能幫助人們真正認(rèn)識(shí)到他們的憤懣，或者幫助他們說(shuō)出他們不敢大聲說(shuō)出來(lái)的東西，”她說(shuō)，“對(duì)于害怕哭泣的人們來(lái)說(shuō)也有幫助，因?yàn)槊總�(gè)人都在一起哭泣。”
mentored by her grandmother, a tiny woman in wire-framed glasses and a tight perm, liu trained rigorously as a performer, and developed the shrewd business skills that have lifted her family from poverty to prosperity. liu and her siblings each have their own house, and their company charges up to $600 (￡380) for a performance.
劉君琳的祖母是一個(gè)戴著金絲邊眼鏡燙著頭發(fā)的小婦人，在祖母的嚴(yán)厲指導(dǎo)下她成了一個(gè)哭喪人，并學(xué)會(huì)了精明的生意經(jīng)，使她的家庭脫貧致了富。劉君琳和她的兄弟姐妹們都擁有自己的房屋，她們的公司對(duì)每次出演的收費(fèi)為600美元。
but it's a business in decline, says lin zhenzhang, as the economic downturn and simpler modern tastes turn people away from lavish traditional funerals,
但是林正章說(shuō)這是一個(gè)正在衰退行業(yè)，由于經(jīng)濟(jì)的不景氣和現(xiàn)代人簡(jiǎn)潔的品味使許多人不再舉辦奢華靡費(fèi)的傳統(tǒng)葬禮。
"the tradition of professional mourners is going to slowly be eliminated," he says. "so people like jun-lin are going to have to find a way to reinvent their profession, or find new sources of revenue."
“傳統(tǒng)的哭喪人正在慢慢的消失，”他說(shuō)，“所以像劉君琳這樣的人要設(shè)法找到一個(gè)重新創(chuàng)造這個(gè)行業(yè)的方法，或者找到新的收入來(lái)源。”
this hasn't escaped liu. that's why she has recruited some 20 female assistants. they're young, good-looking women in black and white uniforms, who help funeral directors with embalming and memorial services, and they've brought liu a lot of attention.
劉君琳也難逃這一關(guān)，這就是為什么她招聘了二十來(lái)個(gè)女助理。她們是都是年輕漂亮的女性，身穿黑白兩色的制服，她們?cè)谠岫Y服務(wù)上幫助葬禮導(dǎo)演，她們讓劉君琳操了很多心。
"there was no-one else doing this in northern taiwan, and it ended up being more successful than i'd thought," says liu. "within this industry, i know i need to find niches that no-one else is exploring."
“在臺(tái)灣北部沒(méi)有別人做這一行，結(jié)果比我想象的要更成功，”劉君琳說(shuō)，“在這樣一個(gè)行業(yè)里，我知道我需要去找到別人沒(méi)有嘗試過(guò)的東西。”
no matter what, liu says, she won't ever leave the family trade. "this is something my grandmother struggled to build up from the ground," she says."i have to teach others what she taught me, and carry on her tradition."
不管怎樣，劉君琳說(shuō)她不會(huì)放棄她的家族生意。“這是我祖母從無(wú)到有艱苦創(chuàng)建起來(lái)的生意，”她說(shuō)，“我要把她教我的東西教給別人，把她的傳統(tǒng)繼承下去。”
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