Back in 1986, Hiroaki Ota, a Japanese psychiatrist, identified Paris Syndrome: a state of psychological trauma experienced by first-time Japanese visitors to the City of Light when they discovered that the French capital was far grittier than the glamorous vision they were expecting.
1986年，日本精神病专家太田广明(Hiroaki Ota)提出了“巴黎综合症”：当首次来到“光之城”（巴黎别称——译者注）的日本游客发现巴黎远非他们所期待的那么光鲜的时候，他们会经历一种心理创伤状态。
Three decades on, an even larger number of Chinese visitors to France — attracted by the same visions of fashion, romance, culture and history as Japanese tourists in the 1980s — are grappling with similar culture shock. But while some have been afflicted, the allure of France — and Paris in particular — remains extremely potent.
30年后，在同样的时尚、浪漫、文化和历史愿景吸引下，人数更多的中国游客蜂拥而至巴黎。就像上世纪80年代的日本游客那样，他们遭遇了类似的文化冲击。但是，尽管一些人感到郁闷，但法国（尤其是巴黎）依然具有强烈的吸引力。

The results of the latest large-scale annual survey of Chinese outbound tourists by China Confidential, a research service from the Financial Times, show that France remained the most popular long-haul destination among Chinese travellers and the sixth-most-popular destination overall, up from tenth in the 2014 survey. This was borne out by official tourism statistics showing that France received 2.2m Chinese visitors last year, a jump from 1.7m in 2013.
英国《金融时报》旗下研究机构《中国投资参考》(China Confidential)对中国出境游客进行的最新年度调查显示，法国依然是中国游客最向往的长途旅游目的地，而且在所有旅游目的地中排名第六，高于2014年调查中的第十位。这得到了官方旅游统计数据的佐证，后者显示，去年法国迎来220万名中国游客，高于2013年的170万人。
In fact, rising incomes, cheaper flights and easing visa restrictions are increasingly turning French holidays from a luxury commodity into a mainstream Chinese consumer experience. Almost a quarter (24.5 per cent) of 1,288 surveyed travellers (all of whom had made at least one overseas trip in their lifetimes) said they had visited France in the past. Even among lower-income travellers, about 15 per cent had visited France.
实际上，由于收入不断增长、机票价格下降以及签证条件放宽，去法国度假正从一种奢侈商品变成中国消费者的主流体验。在1288名受访游客当中（这些人至少有过一次出国旅游的经历），近四分之一（24.5%）表示，他们曾去过法国。即便在较低收入的受访游客当中，也有约15%去过法国。
This French love affair looks set to continue: 17.7 per cent of respondents said they planned to visit France this year, ranking it the most popular destination among travellers who have made previous overseas trips, ahead even of increasingly popular short-haul destinations such as Japan (17.5 per cent) and South Korea (14.7 per cent).
这种对法国的痴迷看起来还会持续下去：17.7%的受访者表示，他们今年计划去法国旅游，这让法国成为最让出境游客向往的旅游目的地，甚至领先于日本（17.5%）和韩国（14.7%）这些日益流行的短途旅游目的地。
France overwhelmingly remains the dream global destination for Chinese tourists, chosen by 31.6 per cent of respondents, well ahead of second-placed Italy (20.9 per cent) and little changed from the 32.5 per cent that cited France as their dream destination in China Confidential’s 2014 survey.
法国遥遥领先地依然是中国游客梦想的全球旅游目的地，31.6%的受访者选择法国，远高于排名第二的意大利（20.9%），与《中国投资参考》去年的调查结果没有什么变化——去年有32.5%的受访者将法国列为自己梦想的旅游目的地。
With the number of Chinese visitors to France likely to grow further in coming years, this should continue to provide a significant boost to the French economy. Even though average spending by visitors to France was slightly lower than in China Confidential’s previous surveys — in line with broader trends — it nevertheless remained far higher than spending by Chinese visitors to all other destinations, averaging Rmb44,488 ($7,175). Spending on shopping also remained far higher, averaging Rmb19,620, driven by continued strong purchases of French luxury goods, although shopping spend was down from Rmb23,779 in last year’s survey, again in line with trends seen both at home and abroad.
随着今后几年去法国旅游的中国游客数量进一步增加，法国经济应该会继续获得巨大推动。尽管中国游客去法国的平均支出为4.4488万元人民币（合7175美元），略低于《中国投资参考》前几年的调查数据（这符合中国出境游客的整体趋势），但它仍远高于中国游客在其他任何国家的旅游支出。由于中国游客大量购买法国奢侈品，他们的购物支出也比在其他国家高得多，平均为1.9620万元人民币，尽管低于去年调查的2.3779万元人民币，这同样符合国内外的趋势。
All of which points to the challenges faced by rival tourism authorities in displacing France in the imaginations of Chinese travellers. Despite making it significantly easier for Chinese visitors to get visas, the US, for example, ranked tenth in terms of most visited destinations last year and failed to make the top 10 in terms of destinations that respondents planned to visit or in terms of their dream destinations.
所有这些都表明，其他国家很难取代法国，成为中国游客梦想的旅游目的地。例如，尽管已经大幅简化了针对中国游客的签证手续，但在去年游客人数最多的旅游目的地排名中，美国依然仅列第十位，而在受访者计划旅游的目的地或者梦想旅游目的地排名中，美国未能进入前十名。
France, it seems, continues to have that special something. If only there was a way to describe it.
法国似乎依然有些特别的魅力，要是有办法描述这种吸引力就好了。