经济学人：“苏超”是网红，还是长红

作者：一天一篇外刊         来源：一天一篇外刊            

Suzhou is one of China’s most important electronics manufacturing centres. But who cares about that? On June 29th nothing was more important to the city than its team beating nearby Yangzhou in a football match. The fierce rivalry stretches back more than 1,000 years to when the cities competed for pre-eminence along the Grand Canal. For centuries they also sought to outdo each other’s sublime gardens. Suzhou, the larger and richer of the two, was victorious during the Song dynasty. It continued its winning streak in 2025, comfortably beating Yangzhou 3-0.

苏州是中国重要的电子制造中心之一，但如今这个头衔似乎已不那么引人注目。6月29日这天，对苏州人来说，没有什么比在“苏超”联赛中战胜扬州更令人振奋。这两座城市的竞争可以追溯到一千多年前，当时两座城市就在大运河沿线争夺霸主地位。几个世纪以来，苏州与扬州还在园林艺术上较劲，彼此争艳。苏州面积更大、经济更强，在宋代便已展现出优势。2025年6月29日，苏州在“苏超”比赛中延续连胜传统，以3比0轻松击败扬州。

Since the local football league was launched in May, China has been engrossed by matches in Jiangsu province, an eastern coastal region. Stadiums of 40,000 seats regularly sell out. Attendance is sometimes double the average for China’s professional Super League. Touts resell tickets for 60 times the original price. At the match in Suzhou, hundreds of people, including your correspondent, were forced to watch a live stream of the game outside the stadium because they could not get their hands on a ticket.

今年5月，中国启动地方足球联赛，江苏省（东部沿海地区）的联赛就持续吸引全国人民的目光。拥有4万个座位的体育场常常座无虚席，上座率有时甚至是中超联赛的两倍。黄牛将门票炒到原价的60倍。在苏州的比赛中，数百人（包括本文记者）因买不到票，只能在体育场外通过直播观看比赛。

As one of China’s leading manufacturing provinces, Jiangsu’s cities are richer than most. Suzhou has a bigger economy than the Czech Republic; Wuxi, a nearby conurbation, boasts a GDP per person higher than Portugal’s. But the region is also one of the first places to feel the pain from China’s trade war with America. Some 9% of China’s exports to America came from Suzhou alone last year, most in the form of electronics and machinery. Youth unemployment was said to be particularly high in Kunshan, the area of Suzhou that hosted the match on June 29th, even before the trade war got going.

作为制造业大省，江苏的城市比大多数省份都富裕。苏州的经济规模超过捷克；邻近的无锡，人均 GDP 甚至高于葡萄牙。但江苏省也是首批感受到中美贸易战的地区之一。去年，中国对美出口的约 9%来自苏州，主要产品是电子产品和机械设备。

Officials came up with the idea of a league earlier this year, and have done all they can to promote it. The results look good. Tens of thousands of football fans have been showing up in Jiangsu. Airlines and hotel bookings are up considerably from last year, as are visits to local tourist sites and restaurants. Beer sales on one delivery platform have risen 90% month on month in Jiangsu since the league launched.

今年初，江苏的领导们便提出了举办“苏超”的想法，并竭尽全力进行推广。现在效果看起来不错。全国成千上万的球迷来到江苏。机票和酒店预订量较去年大幅增长，当地旅游景点和餐厅的客流量也大幅增加。自苏超联赛启动以来，江苏外卖平台的啤酒销量环比增长了90%。

Will Jiangsu’s amateur footballers also lose appeal? A few factors have made the league especially marketable. Perhaps the most important is heated inter-city rivalries (and horticultural feuds). Locals joke that Jiangsu province does not exist. Instead, it is a collection of cities with little in common and plenty of ill-feeling. For example, Nanjing, the provincial capital, is often mocked by other cities because its local culture, cuisine and dialect have more in common with neighbouring Anhui province. These types of rivalries are usually played down by officials, who want to project a sense of unity. This time, though, Jiangsu’s cadres have fanned the flames, helping the tensions go viral.

“苏超”热是否会逐渐降温？有几个因素为“苏超”推波助澜。其中最关键的因素就是城市间的竞争（以及苏州围绕各城市园林文化的较劲）。当地人打趣说，江苏由一座座彼此差异巨大、互相暗自较劲的城市组成。例如，省会南京就常被其他城市嘲讽，说南京的本地文化、饮食习惯和方言更像邻近省份。这类地域对立在过去往往被官方刻意淡化，以营造团结氛围。但这一次，却主动推波助澜，让城市竞争的情绪迅速走红网络。

Loose sponsorship rules have also played a part. The Chinese Football Association mandates that sponsors of professional leagues must be legitimate brands with “positive social images”. Jiangsu has skirted these rules. Heineken, a Dutch brewer, is a sponsor; so, too, are local barbecue stalls. This gives the league a more authentic feel 。Fans in Suzhou say the league is “pure”, meaning they will overlook the amateurish talent.

宽松的赞助规定也是促苏超热的一个因素。中国足协本要求职业联赛的赞助商必须是具有“正面社会形象”的正规品牌，而苏超则巧妙地绕开了这一规定。从荷兰啤酒品牌喜力到当地的烧烤摊，这些都是赞助商。这就显得苏超更加真实接地气。苏州的球迷表示，这项联赛“很纯粹”。

作者：一天一篇外刊         来源：一天一篇外刊