Chen Hao is back from his home town: three shops open in the whole street, and new blocks almost dark at night.
Chen Hao
我上周回了趟老家，整条街就三家店还开着。
Wǒ shàng zhōu huí le tāng lǎojiā, zhěng tiáo jiē jiù sān jiā diàn hái kāi zhe.
I went home last week: in the whole street only three shops still open.
Xiaoyu
你们那儿不是前几年还在盖新楼吗？当时还说要建高铁站。
Nǐmen nàr bùshì qián jǐ nián hái zài gài xīn lóu ma ? Dāngshí hái shuō yào jiàn gāotiě zhàn.
Were they not still putting up new blocks there a few years ago? They were even talking about a high-speed rail station.
Chen Hao
盖了。盖完没人住，晚上一栋楼亮三盏灯。
Gài le. Gài wán méi rén zhù, wǎnshang yī dòng lóu liàng sān zhǎn dēng.
They were. Once finished, nobody lives in them: three lit windows to a block at night.
Auntie Wang
年轻人都出去了，剩下的全是我这个岁数的。你们那儿的小学，现在还剩几个班？
Niánqīngrén dōu chūqù le, shèngxià de quán shì wǒ zhè gè suìshu de. Nǐmen nàr de xiǎoxué, xiànzài hái shèng jǐ gè bān ?
The young have all gone, and the ones left are all my age. And the primary school there, how many classes has it left?
Zhang laoshi
这几年有个说法，叫收缩的城市。人口在减，地还在扩。
Zhè jǐ nián yǒu gè shuōfa, jiào shōusuō de chéngshì. Rénkǒu zài jiǎn, de hái zài kuò.
For some years now there has been a term for it: shrinking cities. The population falls and the built-up area keeps spreading.
Xiaoyu
那修的路、建的广场，以后谁养？
Nà xiū de lù, jiàn de guǎngchǎng, yǐhòu shéi yǎng ?
And the roads laid, the squares built, who maintains them afterwards?
Zhang laoshi
问得好。养不起，就慢慢荒了。
Wèn de hǎo. Yǎng bù qǐ, jiù mànmàn huāng le.
A good question. With no money for it, they slowly go to waste.
Chen Hao
我爸倒挺高兴，说房价跌了，总算买得起了。
Wǒ bà dǎo tǐng gāoxìng, shuō fángjià diē le, zǒngsuàn mǎi de qǐ le.
My father is rather pleased, mind you: prices have fallen and he can finally afford to buy.
Xiaoyu
买得起，可卖不出去。
Mǎi de qǐ, kě mài bù chūqù.
Afford to buy, yes. Not to sell on.
Auntie Wang
话别说得太绝。我老家那个镇，这两年反而有人回去了。
Huà bié shuō de tài jué. Wǒ lǎojiā nà gè zhèn, zhè liǎng nián fǎn'ér yǒu rén huíqu le.
Do not put it so absolutely. In the town I was born in, some people have actually been coming back these last two years.
Chen Hao
回去干什么？
Huíqu gān shénme ?
Coming back to do what?
Auntie Wang
开民宿，种果子，还有人在网上卖。不多，可确实有。
Kāi mínsù, zhǒng guǒzi, hái yǒu rén zài wǎngshàng mài. Bù duō, kě quèshí yǒu.
Guest houses, orchards, and some selling online. Not many, but they are there.
Zhang laoshi
城和城不一样。靠近大城市的还有机会，太偏的恐怕就难了。
Chéng hé chéng bù yīyàng. Kào jìn dà chéngshì de hái yǒu jīhuì, tài piān de kǒngpà jiù nán le.
Not every town is alike. Those near a big city still have a chance, the very remote ones will find it hard.
Xiaoyu
说到底，人跟着工作走，不是跟着楼走。楼可以等人，人不会等楼。
Shuō dàodǐ, rén gēn zhe gōngzuò zǒu, bùshì gēn zhe lóu zǒu. Lóu kěyǐ děng rén, rén bù huì děng lóu.
When all is said and done, people follow the work, not the buildings. A building can wait for people; people do not wait for a building.
Chen Hao
这句话，我们那条街的开发商当年要是懂就好了。
Zhè jù huà, wǒmen nà tiáo jiē de kāifāshāng dāngnián yàoshi dǒng jiù hǎo le.
That sentence — if only the developer in our street had understood it at the time.
别说得太绝: do not be so categorical. 绝 says a statement leaves no exception, and therefore no room for anyone who knows one. The phrase is the ordinary call to order in a Chinese conversation, and it is gentler than a flat contradiction: it does not say the other person is wrong, but that they closed the door too soon.
当年要是懂就好了: if only he had understood at the time. The construction expresses regret about what did not happen, and is recognised by its two ends, 要是 in front and 就好了 behind. Chinese has no past conditional; it is 当年 that places the regret in the past, and nothing else.
谁养 is said of a road as of a child or a dog: to feed, to keep going, to take charge of over time. Applied to a public square, the verb does in one word what English needs three for, "to maintain". The technical term exists, 养护, and it is the one on roadworks signs.
