A nursery class closes for want of children. Four neighbours look for the reason, and agree neither on the cause nor on the cure.
Auntie Wang
今年我们小区的幼儿园关了一个班，说是招不满。
Jīnnián wǒmen xiǎoqū de yòu'éryuán guān le yī gè bān, shuō shì zhāo bù mǎn.
This year the nursery in our compound closed a class, they say they could not fill it.
Xiaoyu
不奇怪。我们这一层楼八户人家，只有两个孩子。
Bù qíguài. Wǒmen zhè yī céng lóu bā hù rénjia, zhǐyǒu liǎng gè háizi.
No surprise. Eight households on our floor, and only two children.
Chen Hao
我表姐生了一个，说什么也不肯生第二个。
Wǒ biǎojiě shēng le yī gè, shuō shénme yě bù kěn shēng dì èr gè.
My cousin had one and will not hear of a second whatever anyone says.
Auntie Wang
我当年带三个，不也就这么过来了。
Wǒ dāngnián dài sān gè, bù yě jiù zhème guòlai le.
In my day I was raising three, and I managed well enough.
Chen Hao
阿姨，那时候奶奶外婆都在一个院子里。现在呢？两个人带一个，还请不起人。
Āyí, nà shíhou nǎinai wàipó dōu zài yī gè yuànzi lǐ. Xiànzài ne ? Liǎng gè rén dài yī gè, hái qǐng bù qǐ rén.
Auntie, in those days both grandmothers lived in the same courtyard. And now? Two adults for one child, and no money to pay anyone.
Xiaoyu
关键还不是钱。是生完以后，职业上丢的那几年补不回来。
Guānjiàn hái bùshì qián. Shì shēng wán yǐhòu, zhíyè shàng diū de nà jǐ nián bǔ bù huílai.
The crux is not even the money. It is the years of career lost after the birth, which cannot be made up.
Zhang laoshi
这话我在会上听过。可真到招人的时候，还是有人打听女同事的打算。
Zhè huà wǒ zài huì shàng tīng guò. Kě zhēn dào zhāo rén de shíhou, háishi yǒu rén dǎting nǚ tóngshì de dǎsuàn.
I have heard that said in meetings. But when it comes to hiring, there are still people who enquire about a female candidate's plans.
Xiaoyu
打听了也白打听，谁会说实话。
Dǎting le yě bái dǎting, shéi huì shuō shíhuà.
They can enquire all they like, who would tell them the truth?
Auntie Wang
那发钱呢？我听说有的地方生一个给补贴。
Nà fā qián ne ? Wǒ tīng shuō yǒu de dìfang shēng yī gè gěi bǔtiē.
What about money, then? I hear some places pay a grant for each birth.
Chen Hao
一个月几百块，顶不了什么用。奶粉、托班、以后的补习，哪一样便宜？
Yī gè yuè jǐ bǎi kuài, dǐng bù le shénme yòng. Nǎifěn, tuōbān, yǐhòu de bǔxí, nǎ yī yàng piányi ?
A few hundred a month does not weigh much. Formula, nursery, tutoring later on: which of those is cheap?
Zhang laoshi
所以补贴治的是表，托育和假期才治里。
Suǒyǐ bǔtiē zhì de shì biǎo, tuōyù hé jiàqī cái zhì lǐ.
So the grant treats the surface; childcare and leave treat the depths.
Xiaoyu
而且得让男的也休。只给妈妈放假，等于告诉公司别招女的。
Érqiě de ràng nán de yě xiū. Zhī gěi māma fàng jiǎ, děngyú gàosu gōngsī bié zhāo nǚ de.
And men have to take it too. Giving the leave only to mothers amounts to telling firms not to hire women.
Zhang laoshi
你说得比我那份报告清楚。
Nǐ shuō de bǐ wǒ nà fèn bàogào qīngchu.
You put it more clearly than my report does.
Auntie Wang
我就觉得，一个家热闹点儿好。可这话，现在不敢随便说了。
Wǒ jiù juéde, yī gè jiā rènao diǎnr hǎo. Kě zhè huà, xiànzài bù gǎn suíbiàn shuō le.
I just feel a lively house is a better one. But that is something you no longer dare say lightly.
Xiaoyu
您说吧，阿姨。想得不一样，不等于不能说。
Nín shuō ba, āyí. Xiǎng de bù yīyàng, bù děngyú bù néng shuō.
Say it, Auntie. Thinking differently does not mean you cannot speak.
说什么也不肯生第二个: whatever anyone says, she refuses. The construction 说什么也 + negative expresses a refusal that nothing will shift; its equivalents are 怎么也 and 死活也, the latter more colloquial. The 说什么 has no question value here, which is disconcerting at first.
Zhang borrows from Chinese medicine its distinction between 表, the surface, and 里, the depths. Treating the 表 brings the fever down without curing the cause. The image has passed into the ordinary language of public debate, and its twin 治标不治本 is commoner still.
打听了也白打听: they may enquire all they like, it comes to nothing. The pattern verb + 了也白 + the same verb declares the action pointless before even giving the reason. You hear it everywhere: 说了也白说, 等了也白等. It is one of the most economical forms in spoken Chinese, with no direct English equivalent.
