年輕之味：從潮州和深圳看中國都市年輕世代的感官及社會消費品味

Taste of Young: Sensorial and Social Consumption of the Chinese Youth

「品味」既可指稱味覺感官，又可指稱審美標準和象徵性的社會區隔，但結合年齡不同來討論感官暨社會消費品味的研究尚不多。本文透過茶及相關飲品的消費，基於深圳和潮州的調查案例，來探討當代中國都市年輕世代的某些代表性的（即便不是全部的）感官和社會消費品味，分析年輕人對這些品味的詮釋，以及影響年輕人品味傾向的社會和文化要素。在探究年輕世代之味覺癖好的同時，本文亦從跨感官領域挖掘他們對其他感官如視覺影像的某些表達方式，並結合「生理身體」和「社會身體」互相調和的原理，來討論在相同的社會文化情境下幾種感官表達的共通性、以及它們所可能共同映射的某種「社會身體」的特徵。

Taste has been popularly explored in two directions, one as a gustatory sensation, and the other as an aesthetic standard and a symbolic social marker. Less has been said about the preferences of taste in terms of differences in age. This paper explores the correlation between young people’s preferences in gustatory sensation and the social realities they are confronting in contemporary China. Research is based on ethnographic fieldwork in two southern Chinese cities: Shenzhen, one of the first-tier cities in China that promotes fast-speed work and life, and Chaozhou, a third or fourth-tier city that is well-known for its slower life pace and traditional culture. Drawing on case studies about youth consumption in milk bubble tea, coffee and pure tea, I ask why a certain kind of taste is claimed to belong to the younger generation, and how young people interpret their consumption choices. Inspired by Mary Douglas’concepts of“physical body”versus“social body”, I aim to find out the embedded social meanings behind the taste among the young, in particular the Chinese young generation’s concern with health, lifestyle, happiness, and worries.