“對於那些厭倦了這個癡迷年輕、新奇、教育、名聲、財富和美貌的國家中，攀爬社交和經濟階梯的人來說，沈巍成爲了一個反英雄。”

《華盛頓郵報》記錄了沈先生“走紅”之路（以下文章編譯自《華盛頓郵報》）：

人們最後一次見到52歲的沈巍時，他骨瘦如柴，坐在一輛白色梅賽德斯的奔馳車裏，由一位身穿橙色夾克的中年男子護送。

當被問及要去哪裏時，沈說:“去避難。”

在上車之前，一個20多歲的男人跑過來要簽名，沈轉身在他的筆記本上簽名。

（圖源：華盛頓郵報）

中國最新的網絡紅人並不是一位富有的商人愛撫着他那價值數千美元的寵物鴨子（暗指王思聰），也不是一個兒童合唱團爲科技巨頭華爲獻上一整首歌。

他是個流浪漢，沒有社交媒體賬號，也沒有智能手機；他不墨守成規，受過良好的教育，口才好，能養活自己。

他在中國網絡上被稱爲“流浪大師”或“沈大師”，他的每一個字都被直播者錄下來，在社交媒體上以15到30秒的視頻形式分享，被數百萬人密切關注和分析。

當了三個月的網紅後，他受夠了。

3月22日，在他的名氣達到頂峯時，沈巍曾對媒體說：

“我不怪任何人，但是我討厭網絡，互聯網帶給我的只有麻煩。”

當他引用亞里士多德、孔子和但丁的片段開始出現在短視頻平臺抖音上時，這位原本不可能走紅的人被社交媒體關注。

令許多人吃驚的是，這個流浪漢——頭髮沒梳，衣服沒洗，鬍子沒洗，竟然精通文學和哲學。

抖音上的一條評論代表了很多人對他的看法:

“一頭道士般的秀髮，一雙炯炯有神的眼睛，一副紳士的派頭，這纔是真正的大師應該有的樣子。”

對於那些厭倦了這個癡迷年輕、新奇、教育、名聲、財富和美貌的國家中，攀爬社交和經濟階梯的人來說，沈巍成爲了一個“反英雄”。

（圖源：華盛頓郵報）

但在3月中旬，沈巍的名氣實在是大得嚇人：

在一段視頻中，大量遊客紛紛涌入上海浦東一個不起眼的社區裏，順着路標指向的位置，尋找沈巍。

這些朝聖者中，甚至不乏小有名氣的電子商務人士，他承諾以六位數的報酬換取商業代言，好奇的觀衆也渴望一睹這位名人的真身。

（圖源：華盛頓郵報）

在接下來的幾天裏，“流浪大師”這個名稱開始在微博上流行起來，他的視頻在短短几個小時內，就在短視頻平臺獲得了千萬的點擊量。

從3月17日開始，人們逐漸知道了他的真名——“沈巍”。

這個名字在中國搜索引擎百度上的搜索量慢慢超過了“流浪大師”，與“流浪大師”相關的帖子被閱讀了千萬次。

（沈巍的避難所，已經被到訪的遊客擠到水泄不通）

然而，他的平靜的生活卻被徹底破壞了。

每天早晨，當這個流浪漢打開大門時，他會發現幾十人，甚至幾百人，已經在他的臨時避難所——一個廢棄的辦公室儲藏室門口等着他。

每次他一張嘴，就會有幾十個電話和相機隨時準備記錄下來。

他剛說完一個“金句”，無論有無道理，人們都會報以雷鳴般的掌聲和歡呼。

（圖源：華盛頓郵報）

沈巍很快意識到——他被以另一種形式，剝削了。

3月19日，沈巍在一段25秒的視頻憤怒而無可奈何地說:

“我知道你們把我當猴子看待，沒有人帶着一顆真誠的心來看我，你們就是爲了錢。”

的確，和沈巍的相關的周邊都被炒了起來:

一位自稱是沈巍女友的女士，在開通抖音賬號後，四天就成功吸引了40萬粉絲；

一個身穿紅色外套的失業青年，自稱是沈巍的孩子，一舉成爲熱門直播頻道的常客；

就連沈巍在一張廢紙上寫着的10個字，都在網上以1.3萬多美元的價格售出。

（沈巍的書法，被一衆網友吹捧爲王羲之再世）

在過去的26年裏，沈巍一直將這個狹小的空間當作自己的家。

據《成都經濟日報》報道，沈出生於成都一個相對富裕的家庭，在上海長大，是文革後第一代考上大學的中國人。

徐匯市審計局也證實，大學畢業後，他在上海的一個區政府辦公室擔任審計員。

但好景不長，1993年，他因爲“不正常的行爲”被迫提前退休，包括從辦公室垃圾桶裏撿廢紙和整理只有“乞丐”纔會碰的可回收垃圾。

之後，他曾兩次住院。

1995年，他決定做一名全職清潔工，沈巍在接受媒體採訪時表示:

“我命中註定是要成爲一名拾荒者，我欽佩聖雄甘地，想要像他一樣過一種苦行的生活。”

微博上一張廣爲流傳的照片顯示，一羣年輕人拿着智能手機圍在他身邊，在美國人看來就好比是耶穌在山上的佈道。

在長達一個多月的圍觀中，沈巍最終採取了極端措施。

他洗了個澡，剪了頭髮，他蓄着修剪過的小鬍子，梳着齊肩長髮，穿着一件嶄新的黑色西裝出現在多個直播網站上，雖然僅僅是幾個鏡頭。

到了週一，他經常蹲着的地方上出現了一張紙條，上面寫着:“沈先生身心俱疲，要離開一段時間，謝謝大家！”

誰也不知道他究竟去了哪裏，就好像他從來沒有來過。

電影《楚門的世界》中，楚門自小被設計在一場大型的真人秀中，所有的觀衆都可以通過直播24小時窺探。

在楚門歷經了人造的風暴、雷電、巨浪的考驗後，承載着他走向真相的船，無情地撞破了那個藍得刺眼的美麗但卻虛假的天空。

在那一剎那，一個神話結束了，一個陰謀被置於陽光之下。

（圖源：豆瓣）

如今，“流浪大師”沈巍像是楚門一樣被所有人觀看，到底什麼纔是真實？什麼纔是虛假？

現實的悲劇性在於——在這個媒介無處遁形的時代，誰都難以逃脫楚門的命運，誰也沒有十足的底氣說自己與楚門無關。

在各種形式的真人秀節中，難道我們不會見到楚門的影子嗎？

在大家在爲“流浪大師”狂熱呼喊的時候，難道我們不會在自己的身上看到那些抱着電視與楚門廝守的觀衆的影子嗎？

在經濟利益驅動一切的今天，商業邏輯的泛濫，已經逼迫我們不得不把自己玩弄於股掌之間。

我們只有自娛自樂，並在狂歡的剎那間，出賣我們的金錢、隱私、自由，乃至生命。

來源：

《華盛頓郵報》:

《中國互聯網爲這個引經據典的流浪漢瘋狂，

現在，他從名聲中逃遁了》

翻譯：北美留學生日報。真實獨立有味道的留學生媒體，歡迎關注！

原文：

Asia & Pacific

The Internet was obsessed with this philosophy-quoting homeless man in China. Now he’s fled the fame.

Shen Wei, or “Master Shen,” during a “fanmeeting” in Shanghai last month. (Zhuang Fang/Bonfire)

By Lyric Li

April 2

BEIJING — The “Vagrant Master” has beenoffline for more than a week.

The last time people saw him, the scrawny52-year-old known as Shen Wei was being escorted into a white Mercedes-Benz bya middle-aged man in an orange jacket.

When asked where he was going, Shenreplied, “To seek refuge.”

But even before he could get into the car,a man in his 20s ran up to ask for an autograph. Shen turned to sign the fan’snotebook.

China’s latest Internet sensation isn’t awildcat locked in a staring contest with her zookeeper, a wealthy businessmancaressing his thousand-dollar pet ducks or a children’s choir dedicating awhole song to tech giant Huawei.

He is a vagabond who doesn’t have a social mediaaccount and doesn’t own a smartphone. He defied stereotypes: Shen is educatedand eloquent, and he provides for himself. He is dubbed the Vagrant Master orMaster Shen on the Chinese Internet, and his every word has been recorded bylive-streamers, shared across social media in the form of 15-to-30-secondvideos and closely watched and analyzed by millions.

After three months of stardom, he’d hadenough.

“I blame no one, but I hate the Internet,”Shen told Chinese newspapers on March 22, at the height of his fame. “TheInternet has brought me nothing but trouble.”

This unlikely viral star was discovered bysocial media when clips of him quoting Aristotle, Confucius and Dante began tosurface on Douyin, a short-video platform. To the surprise of many, thishomeless man — with uncombed hair, soiled clothes and unwashed beard — turnedout to be well versed in literature and philosophy.

YouTube

Viewers were intrigued.

“Extraordinary hair worthy of a Taoistpriest, eyes brimming with radiating vigor, and the deportment of a realgentleman,” read a top comment on Douyin. “This is what a true master shouldlook like!”

Shen quickly became an antihero for thosetired of trying to climb social and economic laddersin a country obsessed withyouth, novelty, education, fame, wealth and good looks.

But Shen’s virtual fame became all too realin mid-March.

One video showed a road sign pinpointingShen’s location, and visitors soon started flooding

into the otherwise unremarkableneighborhood in Shanghai’s suburban Pudong district.

Among the pilgrims were e-commerceguruswho promised him a six-digit payment in exchange for commercial endorsements,curious spectators eager to catch a glimpse of the celebrity in person, andInternet-fame wannabes fighting for the best camera position to get up closewith the master.

“I know people are treating me like amonkey,” Shen says in one video. (Zhuang Fang/Bonfire)

Over the following days, “Liu Lang Da Shi”(literally “the Vagrant Grand Master”) began trending on Weibo, a microbloggingsite like Twitter, and clips of the erudite vagabond easily got hundreds ofthousands of views within hours on short-video platforms.

Short videos are huge in the world’ssecond-largest economy. China has nearly 830 million Internet users, and morethan 70 percent of them now use short-video or live-streaming applications,according to the state-run China Internet Network Information Center. By 2020,the short-video sector is expected to exceed $5 billion in market value.

To attract more traffic, established mediaapps such as TikTok, Kuaishou and Vigo Video seek out pop stars, artists andbig names from other social media sites.

Starting on March 17, the name “Shen Wei”topped searches on the Chinese search engine Baidu, and Weibo posts related to#Vagrant Master were read by tens of millions.

Every morning when the vagabond opened hisdoor, he would find dozens, or even hundreds, of people already waiting at thedoorstep of his temporary shelter — a deserted office storeroom. Each time heopened his mouth, dozens of phones and cameras were ready to record. As soon ashe finished a memorable quote, people would respond with thunderous applauseand cheers.

Shen quickly came to think he was beingexploited.

“I know people are treating me like amonkey,” Shen said in a 25-second video on March 19, more to himself than to afull room of smartphone-wielding spectators. “Nobody came to see me with a pureheart. You did this for money.”

People who hung around Shen sought variousrewards: A woman in a leather jacket who claimed to be Shen’s girlfriendattracted 400,000 followers within four days after setting up a TikTok account.A jobless young man in a red coat, purporting to be Shen’s child, became aregular guest on popular live-streaming channels. A 10-word piece ofcalligraphy Shen wrote on a piece of scrap paper was reported to have sold formore than $13,000 at an online auction.

Smartphones are trained on Shen Wei as hecollects items from a recycling bin. (Zhuang Fang/Bonfire)

Mainstream media took notice, too. Led bythe Red Star News, newspapers and TV crews began arriving at the modest spacethat Shen had called home for the past 26 years.

Soon, everyone wanted to know themysterious man’s life story.

Born into a relatively well-off family inthe southwest city of Chengdu and raised in Shanghai, Shen was among the firstgeneration of Chinese after the Cultural Revolution to attend college,according to the Chengdu Economic Daily. After graduation, he worked as auditorat a district government office in Shanghai, the Audit Bureau of Xuhuiconfirmed.

In 1993, he was forced into earlyretirement for his “abnormal behavior,” including salvaging waste paper fromoffice trash cans and sorting recyclable garbage that only “beggars” wouldtouch, Shen told the Meiri Renwu newsmagazine.

After that, he was hospitalized twice. In1995, he decided to live as a full-time garbage man, local newspapers reported.

“I was destined to be a trash collector,”Shen told the Red Star News. “I admire Gandhi and want to live an ascetic lifelike him.”

By March 19, Shen’s cult following onsocial media had a cult following on social media. A widely shared photo onWeibo shows smartphone-wielding young people surrounding him, drawingcomparisons to Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount.

Citing safety hazards and the disturbanceto neighbors, police cordoned off the area around Shen’s squatting space andset up meter-high wood fences. But his fans remained undeterred, with somegathering before 7 a.m.

Shen took extreme measures.

He showered and got his hair cut. Ofcourse, videos of him with a trimmed mustache, combed shoulder-length hair anda brand-new black blazer appeared on multiple live-streaming sites withinminutes.

By Monday, there was a note on his squatthat read: “Mr. Shen is exhausted, both mentally and physically, and will beaway for a while. Thank you!”

本文轉自《華盛頓郵報》文章，編譯：北美留學生日報。

侵刪。

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