The story of three women who have reached their 30s and the pressure they now face.

《三十而已》是一部关于三位 30 岁女性如何应对生存压力的故事。

Being 30 years old is the focal point of Xiaobo Zhang’s formidable series “Nothing but Thirty”. Whether it’s setting goals to reach by that age, or contemplating what the next decade will bring, existential rumination abounds in the poignant contemporary drama. As subtly philosophical as it is wildly entertaining and sometimes scandalous, anchored by three charismatic female leads, “Nothing but Thirty” introduces several major Chinese talents to US audiences – and hopefully paves the path for more to come.

“30 岁”是电视剧《三十而已》的焦点，无论是设定目标，还是思考计划，《三十而已》的故事中处处都充斥着对存在主义的反思。通过三位魅力四射的演员的出色演绎，在精彩有趣，有血有肉的故事中充满了对于人生哲学的思考。《三十而已》向美国观众介绍了中国电视剧最顶级的阵容，并以此为更多中国电视剧进入美国市场铺路。

Wang Man Ni (Jiang Shuying), aka Ni Ni, has lived in Shanghai for eight years. Every day, she has the same breakfast from the same stand and takes the same subway to her job at a high-end boutique. Man Ni is confident and determined, a stellar worker with an impressive list of preferred clients, utterly committed to becoming the store manager. Her daily trials and tribulations are put in perspective when she meets Liang Zhengxian (Edward Ma) on a cruise. A smooth, wealthy womanizer, he sweeps her off her feet. Yet their opinions on marriage fundamentally differ, not to mention the fact that he has a long-time girlfriend.

王漫妮（江疏影饰），又名妮妮，她在上海生活了八年。每天，她在同一个

摊位吃同样的早餐，乘坐相同时间的地铁去高档精品店上班。王漫妮自信而坚定，大客户都掌握在她的手中，她的目标就是成为店长。当她在游轮上遇到梁正贤（马志威饰）时，这让她之前所受到的考验和磨难都富余了更深刻的意义。梁正贤是一个圆滑且有钱的花花公子，他令王漫妮神魂颠倒。然而他们对婚姻的看法却有着根本的不同，更何况他还有一个交往多年的女朋友。

In the meantime, Gu Jia (Tong Yao) moves into a new, chic apartment with her son and husband Xu Huanshan (Li Zefeng), with whom she founded a successful fireworks company. “Mom is an intellectual,” Xu tells their child. Yet, despite securing Xu’s position as the company’s CEO, she is now delegated to being a housewife,. Gradually, Gu Jia faces potential financial ruin, suspects infidelity, and faces off against rich housewives who bully her son.And then there’s Zhong Xiao Qin (Mao Xiao Tong), who lives with her cat and domineering husband Chen Yu (Yang Le), who seems to love his fish more than her. They lead a self-described “average life”; she works on the bottom floor of a company, performing middling tasks; he works at a TV station. And yet, Xiao Qin maintains her cheerful disposition despite complications, like a pregnancy that Chen Yu clearly doesn’t want. “You can’t even take care of yourself, how do you expect to be a mother?” he demands. This leads to a devastating development, not to mention his beloved fish dying. Xiao Qin’s idea of a perfect marriage is gradually destroyed – but then an opportunity to pursue her true passion arrives.

   与此同时，顾佳（童瑶饰）带着儿子和丈夫许幻山（李泽峰饰）搬进了崭新的公寓，他们创办了一家成功的烟花公司。“妈妈是个知识分子，”许幻山告诉儿子。然而，现在的顾佳却是一名家庭主妇，她时刻面临着潜在的经济危机，怀疑丈夫不忠，还要应付那些欺负她儿子的有钱人家的家庭主妇。第三个主角名字叫钟晓芹（毛晓彤饰），她和她的猫以及丈夫陈屿（杨玏饰）住在一起，她的霸道丈夫似乎爱鱼胜过爱她，他们过着“普通的生活”。钟晓芹在一家公司做着底层工作，陈屿在一家电视台工作。钟晓芹在平淡的生活中依然保持着开朗的性格，比如陈屿不想要孩子，“你连自己都照顾不了，怎么能当妈妈呢？”陈屿的话导致了他们的婚姻向毁灭性的方向发展，更不用说他心爱的鱼也死了。钟晓芹虽然对完美婚姻的憧憬逐渐破灭，但追求真正激情的机会却来了。

The three women’s lives cross in various ways. Throughout the season’ s 43 episodes, scandalous truths emerge, resentments flare, and characters make life-altering decisions. “Nothing but Thirty” is light and breezy, but also contains moments of surprising depth and insight – and, of course, all the requisite drama.

这三个女人的生活在很多方面都有交集。在 43 集的故事中，丑闻真相不断

涌现，怨恨情绪不断爆发，主角们也做出了改变人生的决定。《三十而已》风格

轻快而轻松，但也包含着出乎意料的深度和洞察力——当然，也有所有必要的戏

剧性元素。

Speaking of length, 43 episodes of a foreign, subtitled show may prove daunting to jaded American viewers. I personally found it refreshing, a deep dive into these characters’ intricate lives and culture, the way they evolve and ultimately discover themselves. But Xiaobo Zhang’s creation covers so much more than that: social, work,     and particularly family dynamics in contemporary China; the booming real estate market; the true value of an expensive purse; female empowerment (those women are

BOSSES in every sense of the word); the many forms of discrimination; competition in an all-female workplace; the difference in social classes and how they manifest themselves; the male ego clashing with female wisdom and elegance.

说到电视剧的长度，43 集带英文字幕的电视剧可能会让美国观众望而却步。我个人却觉得这部电视剧令人耳目一新，通过这部电视剧我们可以深入了解这些角色错综复杂的生活和文化，见证他们不断成长并最终找到自我的方式。但导演张晓波的创作意图涵盖的远不止这些：当代中国社会，尤其是中国家庭现状；繁荣的房地产市场；金钱的真正价值；赋予女性权力（这些女性在任何意义上都是自己的主宰）；多种形式的歧视；女性职场竞争；社会阶层的差异及其表现方式；

大男子主义与女性主义的冲突。

We tend to hurt the ones we love the most. People rarely are who they at first seem to be: arrogant ones turn out to be lifelong friends, while pleasant folks stab you in the back. In “Nothing but Thirty”, you’dbe wise not to judge a bo ok by its cover: poor-looking people end up making massive purchases; wealthy folks exhibit cheap behavior. Sure, things are viewed mostly through the prism of three upper-middle-class women, but the series contains a wide range of keensocio-political insights. The emotions it touches upon are truly universal.

我们往往会伤害我们最爱的人。极少有人一直保持他们最初的样子：傲慢的

人最终成为终生的朋友，而和蔼可亲的人则会背后捅你一刀。《三十而已》告诉

我们，聪明的人从不以貌取人，因为看起来贫穷的人可能会有极大的购买力，而有钱人一般都比较抠门。当然，这部电视剧主要是通过三个中产阶级女性的视角来看待生活，它包含了广泛而敏锐的洞察力和人类最普遍的情感。

Countless scenes exemplify this. Gu Jia grows suspicious of her husband because of a tangerine. Later, she fights off a man’s sexual advances, before unleashing fury on several arrogant moms. Man Ni judges a customer by her appearance, to rapidly get an expected dose of reality – but then another layer of heartrending subtlety is added. Xu gets arrested for fighting with young students. A guitar solo is performed in an aquarium. A character ends up in jail. Zhong Xiaoqin’s 30thbirthday monologues alone would be worth the price of admission, as would Man Ni’s visit to a decrepit

old town, which accentuates the aforementioned class differences. The list goes on and on.

电视剧中的无数场景都证明了这一点。比如顾佳因为一个橘子对丈夫产生了怀疑，反击了一个男人的挑逗，对几个傲慢的母亲大发雷霆；漫妮通过外表来判断顾客，以此迅速了解客户的真实情况——但其中还蕴含着一种令人心碎的无奈。许幻山因与年轻学生打架而被捕。单是钟晓芹三十岁的独白就已值得追剧了，漫妮走访破旧老城的场景也让人意犹未尽，这样的例子不胜枚举。

The three leads are poised, sophisticated, and progressive: strong Chinese women standing up against oppressive men and values, while also getting involved in compelling drama. Tong Yao is a force of nature, portraying razor-sharp wit and confidence. Mao Xiaotong possesses impeccable comic timing. As the youngest one of the trio, she manages to exude real pathos that matches her elders. But it’s arguably Jiang Shuying who forms the heart of the series, each gesture and flicker of expression conveying volumes.

三位主角是沉着、成熟和进步的，这部引人入胜的电视剧，正是坚强的中国

女性站起来反对男性和世俗压迫的浓缩。童瑶用一股自然的力量，塑造出顾佳犀利的智慧和自信。作为三位演员中最年轻的一个，毛晓彤用无可挑剔的喜剧元素，成功的诠释出与长辈们相比真正的悲怆。但可以说，江疏影构成了这部电视剧的核心，她的每一个手势和表情都传递着大量的信息。

Yingji Zhang’s lyrical, cerebral, and sometimes purposefully silly script brims with standout moments of dialogue. “People aren’t as lazy as cats because there’s no one to take care of us,” a character muses. “The spending here depends on earning money, not saving it,” comes another philosophical observation. “I want to buy an asteroid. Do you know where I can buy one?” a wealthy woman inquires. WeChat, the Chinese versionof WhatsApp, is hilariously mentioned a thousand times.

张英姬撰写的剧本抒情、理性，时而又有插入很多幽默的桥段，剧中的对

话也非常精彩。“人们不像猫那么懒惰，因为没有人照顾我们，”一个角色嘟囔

着。“这里的消费取决于赚钱，而不是存钱，”这是另一个哲学观点。“我想买

一颗小行星，你知道在哪能买到吗？”一位有钱的女士问道。值得注意的是，在各种回答中，微信，中国版的 WhatsApp 有多次露出。

“Nothing but Thirty” portrays life in Shanghai in minute detail. It’ s fast-paced despite lacking bombastic action, driven purely by skillful character development, confident filmmaking, and surprising revelations. More importantly, it demonstrates that the Chinese are producing progressive content that shames some of the inexplicably popular dreck on Western streaming platforms.

电视剧《三十而已》细致入微地描绘了上海的生活。尽管缺少刺激的情节，但它的节奏很快，专业的演绎、精良的制作、深刻的立意，它表明中国的创作者们正在往精品内容发展，这直接扯掉了西方某些垃圾内容的遮羞布。

 This wonderful series deserves to be seen by the widest possible audience.

这部精彩的电视剧绝对值得一看。