(“穿越女” “Chuānyuè nǚ” Time-travelling woman)
This past summer, a young woman mysteriously appeared at an entrance to the #2 subway line in Shanghai dressed in traditional costume ... She sat on the ground and displayed a cardboard sign on which were handwritten the words: "I am from Qing Yuan village, I don't know how I got here, I'm penniless, I ask for travel money to return to my home, I will repay your kindness" [photo] ... 奴家本是清源村人士，无故穿越於此，身无长物，求盘缠回乡，来日报恩。” Nújiā běn shì qīng yuán cūnrén shì，wúgù chuānyuè yúcǐ，shēnwúchángwù，qiú pánchan huíxiāng, láirì bào'ēn ...
She was there at rush hour and attracted a large crowd of on-lookers ... When a man asked where Qing Yuan village was, she calmly answered, "Here, five hundred years ago" 一男乘客问道：“清源村是哪啊？”女子淡定而答：“在此500年前。” Yī nán chéngkè wèn dào：“Qīng Yuán cūn shì nǎ a？” nǚzǐ dàn dìng ér dá：“zàicǐ 500 nián qián"
He challenged her: "If I lend you the travel expenses today, how will you repay me?" “我今天借你盘缠你怎么还我啊？Wǒ jīntiān jiè nǐ pánchan nǐ zěnme huán wǒ a?” She replied in rather formal language that if he showed her kindness, she would one day return to repay him “公子有恩，可小女子近日思乡心切，等他日归来之时，小女子必报公子之恩。”Gōngzǐ yǒu ēn，kě xiǎonǚzi jìnrì sīxiāng xīnqiè，děng tārì guīlái zhī shí，xiǎonǚzi bì bào gōngzǐ zhī ēn ...
Still unconvinced, the man asked how he would be able to find her ... She then took a "pledge" booklet (包养证 bāo yǎng zhèng) from a bag and showed it to him as "proof" she would pledge herself to be someone's mistress (她在找人包养她成情妇 tā zài zhǎorén bāo yǎng tā chéng qíngfù) ...
All the while, she spoke to him in gracious, courteous language, but when the man continued to press her and express disbelief, she abruptly changed her tone, pulled out an iPhone4 and asked for his phone number ... 该女子口气不再“优雅”，更是掏出iPhone4，索要手机号码 gāi nǚzǐ kǒuqì bùzài “yōuyǎ”，gèng shì tāo chū iPhone4，suǒyào shǒujī hàomǎ ...
This caused some people in the crowd to think that this was a promotion for the iPhone 4
如此行为，有现场围观者认为可能是iPhone4在做宣传 Rúcǐ xíngwéi，yǒu xiànchǎng wéiguān zhě rènwéi kěnéng shì iPhone4 zài zuò xuānchuán...
Others who were familiar with internet gaming pointed out that the "pledge" booklet had the logo of a famous internet gaming company, so people began to speculate that this was a way for the company to attract attention 也有熟悉游戏的人认出，“穿越女”拿出的“包养证”上印有某游戏公司的LOGO，估计是为网游做的炒作 Yě yǒu shúxī yóuxì de rén rènchū，“chuānyuè nǚ”náchū de“bāo yǎng zhèng”shàng yìn yǒu mǒu yóuxì gōngsī de LOGO，gūjì shìwéi wǎng yóu zuò de chǎozuò...
Then someone who works for the subway system said that a week ago a young woman dressed as an ancient Greek goddess from Athens (雅典娜 Yǎdiǎn nuó) had appeared at the entrance to the #9 subway, and he suggested that since this is the middle of July, maybe these women are college performance artists 可能是大学城学生们的“艺术”行为 kěnéng shì dàxuéchéng xuésheng men de “yìshù” xíngwéi ...
Another said it could be a form of role-playing (角色扮演 juésè bànyǎn) or CosPlay (a popular form of entertainment for young Japanese women, who dress up in their favorite costumes) ...
As all this was going on, a railway official announced, "If this kind of behavior interrupts normal railroad operations, according to "Shanghai railway management operations policy," we will have to put an end to it" 对此，上海地铁运管中心相关负责人表示：“如果某些个人行为对地铁正常运营秩序造成影响，我们将按照《上海市轨道交通管理条例》予以制止。”Duì cǐ，Shànghǎi dìtiě yùn guǎn zhōngxīn xiāngguān fùzérén biǎoshì：“rúguǒ mǒuxiē gèrén xíngwéi duì dìtiě zhèngcháng yùnyíng zhìxù zàochéng yǐngxiǎng，wǒmen jiāng ànzhào《Shànghǎi shì guǐdào jiāotōng guǎnlǐ tiáolì》yǔyǐ zhìzhǐ...
Sources: http://news.longhoo.net/2011-07/21/content_6495151.htm and http://roll.sohu.com/20110722/n314246334.shtml
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