A database of every pig’s face. Voice scans that detect hogs with a cough. Robots that dispense just the right amount of feed.一个记录了每一头猪的面孔的数据库。可以找到腹痛猪只的声音扫瞄。可以准确装备适度饲料的机器人。This could be China’s pig farm of the future.这有可能就是中国的未来养猪场。

Chinese companies are pushing facial and voice recognition and other advanced technologies as ways to protect the country’s pigs. In this Year of the Pig, many Chinese hogs are dying from a deadly swine disease, threatening the country’s supply of pork, a staple of Chinese dinner tables.中国企业正在前进面部和语音辨识等先进设备技术，用来维护中国的生猪。今年是猪年，有许多猪杀于一种可怕猪瘟，威胁到中国的猪肉供应——这种肉类是中国人餐桌上的一个最重要元素。So China’s ebullient technology sector is applying the same techniques it has used to transform Chinese life — and, more darkly, that the Chinese government increasingly uses to spy on its own people — to make sure its pigs are in the pink of health.所以，中国充满活力的科技行业正在应用于那些曾转变中国人生活的技术——这些技术还有更加阴郁的用途，中国政府于是以更加多地用它们来监控自己的人民——保证生猪的身体健康。

“If they are not happy, and not eating well, in some cases you can predict whether the pig is sick,” said Jackson He, chief executive officer of Yingzi Technology, a small firm based in the southern city of Guangzhou that has introduced its vision of a “future pig farm” with facial and voice recognition technologies.“如果它们不快乐，很差爱吃东西，在某些情况下，你可以可知猪生病了，”影子科技的首席执行官何京翔说道。这家规模并不大的公司坐落于南部城市广州，它明确提出了通过面部和语音辨识技术来构建“未来养猪场”的方案。China’s biggest tech firms want to pamper pigs, too. Alibaba, the e-commerce giant, and JD.com, its rival, are using cameras to track pigs’ faces. Alibaba also uses voice-recognition software to monitor their coughs.中国仅次于的科技公司也想要宠幸猪。

电子商务巨头阿里巴巴(Alibaba)和它的竞争对手京东(JD.com)正在用于摄像头跟踪猪的脸。阿里巴巴还用于语音辨识软件来监控它们的腹痛。

Many in China are quick to embrace high-tech solutions to just about any problem. A digital revolution has transformed China into a place where nearly anything — financial services, spicy takeout, manicures and dog grooming, to name a few — can be summoned with a smartphone. Facial recognition has been deployed in public bathrooms to dispense toilet paper, in train stations ;to apprehend criminals and in housing complexes to open doors.在中国，很多人乐意用高科技解决方案去处置一切问题。数字革命将中国变为了一个完全任何事情都可以用智能手机搞定的地方——金融服务、辛辣的店内、美甲和宠物狗美容等等。面部辨识技术早已经常出现在公共厕所（用作派发厕纸）、火车站，用作抓获犯罪分子以及住宅小区的形同虚设。This pig push, however, may be a step too soon.然而，用在猪身上有可能还为时过早。

“I like the idea, I like the concept, but I need to be shown that it works,” said Dirk Pfeiffer, a professor of veterinary epidemiology at the City University of Hong Kong. “Because if it doesn’t work, it’s counterproductive.”“我讨厌这个点子，我讨厌这个概念，但它的效果还有待证明，”香港城市大学(City University of Hong Kong)兽医流行病学教授迪尔克·法伊弗(Dirk Pfeiffer)说道。“因为如果违宪的话，就不会起着适得其反的起到。”Facial recognition won’t help unless China has a comprehensive database of pig faces to track their movement, he pointed out. Also, facial recognition doesn’t help “once the animal is in the slaughterhouse and they chop it into bits.”他认为，除非中国有一个全面的猪只面部数据库来追踪它们的动向，否则面部辨识会有什么起到。此外，“一旦动物入了屠宰场，被剁成块”，面部辨识也就不行了。

“How then can you connect the head to the rest of the carcass?” Professor Pfeiffer asked.“你要怎么脖子和身体的其余部分联系一起呢？”法伊弗问道。Many of China’s pig farmers are also skeptical. China is in the midst of closing and consolidating many of its small pig farms, blaming them for polluting the environment. But there are still 26 million small pig farms in the country, representing about half the number of farms, according to the agriculture ministry and experts.中国的许多养猪户回应也所持猜测态度。

目前，中国正在重开、统合许多小养猪场，指出它们污染环境。但据农业部和专家称之为，中国仍有2600万座小养猪场，大约占到全国养猪场数量的一半。“We will not choose to invest in these things,” said Wang Wenjun, a 27-year-old farmer who won a modest amount of fame after he uploaded videos of himself singing to his hogs.“我们会自由选择投资这些东西，”27岁的农民王文军（音）说道。

他把自己对着猪唱歌的视频传遍网上后，取得了一点知名度。“Unless it’s a large-scale pig farm, farms that have just over a couple hundred pigs will not find a use for it.”“除非是大型养猪场，只有几百头猪的养猪场用不上它。”Broadly, the Chinese government in recent years has endorsed technology on the farm. Its most recent five-year plan, a major economic planning document, calls for increased use of robotics and network technology. In October, the State Council, or China’s cabinet, said it wanted to promote “intelligent farming” and the application of information technology in agriculture. In August, Beijing city agricultural officials praised “raising pigs in a smart way” using the A-B-C-Ds: artificial intelligence, blockchain, cloud computing and data technology.总体上谈，中国政府近年来大力前进科技在农场的运用。

在最近的五年计划里——这是经济规划方面的重要文件，敦促增大机器人和网络技术的运用。去年10月，国务院曾回应，期望推展“智能农场”，以及信息技术在农业上的应用于。

去年8月，北京市的农业官员对利用ABCD的智慧养猪广受赞许。A是人工智能，B是区块链，C是云计算，D是数据技术。

So when African swine fever swept through China’s farms, the country’s technology companies saw an opportunity. The disease has no known vaccine or cure. It can spread through contact between animals or through infected pig products, meaning it can lurk for months in sausages or ham. It doesn’t affect humans, but they can carry it. China has culled nearly a million pigs, set up roadblocks and built fences, to no avail.于是当非洲猪瘟席卷中国养猪场时，中国的科技公司看见了机会。该疾病尚不未知的疫苗或疗法。它可以通过动物之间的认识、或通过不受病毒感染的猪肉产品传播，这意味著它可以在香肠或火腿里潜入好几个月。

它会造成人类病毒感染，但人类可以沦为病毒携带者。中国早已捕杀了近百万头猪，设置路障，举起篱笆，但都无济于事。

There’s a lot at stake. China is the world’s largest pig breeder, with a current population of about 400 million, and its largest pork consumer. The meat is so important that the country has its own strategic pork reserve in the event of a shortage.这关系到很多事情。中国是世界上仅次于的生猪养殖国，当前养殖量大约为4亿头，也是仅次于的猪肉消费国。猪肉如此最重要，实在太中国有自己的战略性猪肉储备，防止经常出现紧缺。The disease could also ripple across borders. It has been found in sausages transported by Chinese tourists in Australia, Taiwan, Japan and Thailand, stoking fears that it could end up in the United States. A prolonged outbreak could cause prices to rise globally.非洲猪瘟还有可能波及到边境以外。

在中国游客带回澳大利亚、台湾、日本和泰国的香肠中都找到了猪瘟病毒，从而引起其可能会传遍美国的忧虑。长时间的疫情愈演愈烈可能会造成全球价格上涨。

Government rules to fight the swine fever prevent outsiders from visiting pig farms to see the technology in action, so claims by the companies couldn’t be independently verified. Local media and the companies said several big farms use the systems.政府发布命令的抗击猪瘟令其制止外部人士采访养猪场，查阅在用于中的技术，因此企业所声称的情况无法展开独立国家核实。当地媒体和一些公司称之为，几家大型养猪场在用这类系统。

The companies backing the technology say they can help farmers isolate disease carriers, reduce the cost of feed, increase the fertility of sows and reduce unnatural deaths. JD.com’s system uses robots to feed pigs the correct amount of food depending on the animals’ stage of growth. SmartAHC, a company that uses A.I. to monitors pigs’ vital statistics that offers commercially available services, hooks up sows with wearable monitors that can predict the pigs’ ovulation time.反对该技术的公司称之为，他们能协助猪农隔绝装载病毒的病猪，减少圈养成本，强化母猪的生育能力，增加非正常丧生。京东的系统通过机器人，根据适当的生长阶段，给猪进食适度食物。睿畜科技用于人工智能对猪只展开生命统计，并提供商用服务，他们给母猪帽子可预测猪受精时间的可穿着监测器。

They pitch their technologies as an alternative to the tagging of pigs’ ears, a practice that many farmers find cruel. The tags — which are far cheaper — can be manipulated by humans or fall off if pigs get into fights, they point out.他们标榜自己的技术是给猪戴着耳标的替代方式，后一种作法让很多猪农深感残暴。他们指出，低廉得多的耳标可以被人为伪造，如果猪碰架来则可能会开裂。JD.com’s facial technology can detect if a pig is sick and try to find out why, said a spokeswoman, Lu Yishan. Its system would then notify the breeder, who can then prescribe treatment. The company said that it has put the system into use at a farm in China’s northern Hebei Province that it created with China Agricultural University in Beijing, and that it is for sale to willing farmers.京东的面部辨识技术可检测猪否患病，并企图找到病因，发言人陆一姗（音）称之为。

其系统随后不会通报圈养人，以便他开药化疗。京东称该系统早已应用于北方省份河北的一座养殖场，是京东与北京的中国农业大学联合创立的，此外也不会对外出售给不愿出售的猪农。Alibaba’s system monitors hog activity and allows farmers to track the swine in real time, the company said in a statement. It would then prescribe an exercise plan to improve their health. Its marketing video shows pigs running in the woods and playing with a ball. Alibaba said Tequ Group, a large pig farming company based in the southwestern province of Sichuan, uses the technology. Tequ didn’t respond to a request for comment.阿里巴巴在声明中称之为其系统可监测猪的活动情况，使猪农以求动态追踪猪瘟疫情。

系统还不会制订磨练计划以提高猪的身体健康。营销视频表明猪在林子里跳跃玩球。阿里巴巴称之为，总部坐落于西南省份四川的大型养猪公司特驱集团用于了该技术。

特驱并未对此置评催促。Pig facial recognition works the same way as human facial recognition, the companies say. Scanners and software take in the bristles, the snout, the eyes and ears. The features are mapped. Pigs don’t all look alike when you know what to look for, they said.猪脸辨识和人脸识别工作原理完全相同，两家公司称之为。猪鬃、猪嘴、猪眼和猪耳被载入扫描仪和软件，将这些特性绘制出来。

如果你告诉该往哪里看，猪的相貌并非一模一样，他们说道。“It’s just like how a human face is different from others,” said Mr. He, of Yingzi.“和人脸的彼此之间完全相同是一其实，”影子科技的何京翔说道。

The pigs don’t always cooperate. Yingzi, which introduced its products commercially last year, uses video to capture them in motion.有时候猪会不不愿因应。去年发售了商用产品的影子科技用视频捕猎猪的动态。

“You can’t take a single picture of a pig,” said Mr. He, who is trying to add to his database of more than 200,000 pig images. He said his technology, which is being used in a pig farm in the southern region of Guangxi, won’t eliminate swine fever but could help farmers detect it sooner.“你无法只是拍电影一张猪的照片，”何京翔说道，他企图把20多万张猪的图片加到到他的数据库中。他说道他的技术无法避免猪瘟，但能协助猪农早地检测到病情。其技术目前在南方省份广西的一家养猪场以求应用于。Not everybody in the pig technology field agrees on approach.在养猪技术领域，并非人人都表示同意这种作法。

Chen Haokai, the co-founder of SmartAHC, said farmers don’t really need facial recognition. According to Mr. Chen, the cost of trying to map a pig’s face is about $7 versus $0.30 for tagging a pig’s ear. He said his products are used by four pig breeding companies.睿畜科技牵头创始人陈浩凯称之为，猪农只不过并不需要猪脸辨识。他回应，绘制一张猪脸的成本大约为7美元，给猪戴着耳标则只需0.3美元。他说道他的产品有四家养猪公司在用。

“We found that in trying to capture the faces of pigs, the labor cost far exceeds that of tagging,” he said.“我们找到，在捕猎猪脸方面，工本相比之下多达耳标，”他说道。Wang Lixian, a research fellow of animal and veterinary science at the Chinese Academy of Agricultural Sciences, is optimistic that the cost of the technologies will drop.中国农业科学院畜牧兽医研究所研究员王立宪悲观地回应，这类技术的成本将不会上升。“Right now, these applications may not have reached their desired levels,” he said, “but in the future they will become more and more extensive.”“眼下，这些应用于有可能还没有超过理想价位，”他说道，“但未来它们不会显得更加普遍。

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