If you’ve ever seen a shaggy-haired young person selling woven bracelets or playing drums near a tourist attraction, odds are you are familiar with the concept of begpacking.

The term is a portmanteau of “begging” and “backpacking” and is usually used to negatively describe people who are asking the public for money to fund their travels.

Typically, southeast and south Asian destinations like Thailand, India and Indonesia have been the hotspots for these so-called begpackers. Yet in most cases, the practice is illegal.

Someone who knows more about begpackers than most people is Stephen Pratt, department chair of the Rosen College of Hospitality Management at the University of Central Florida. He’s studied the phenomenon from an academic perspective. While in graduate school at the Hong Kong Polytechnic, he and several colleagues conducted fieldwork during which Pratt volunteered to pose as a begpacker himself. Armed with his ukulele and a sign reading “Please help me with my trip around the world” in Chinese, he set up in a busy park in Hong Kong’s Kowloon district.

A Cantonese-speaking colleague waited nearby to see who interacted with Pratt, then stopped them to ask questions — and, in some cases, return the money they’d given.

Generally, Pratt explains, begpackers can be divided into three categories: those who busk (playing music or performing in some way), those who sell something (such as jewelry, postcards, or a service like hair braiding), and those who simply ask for money without offering anything in return.

In turn, passers-by respond differently based on which of the groups the “begpackers” are in. During Pratt’s study, most people who gave him money made a mention of his ukulele — even if his playing wasn’t great, they said they appreciated that he made an effort.

It’s not entirely clear how long begpacking has been around. In his book “A Time of Gifts,” English travel writer Patrick Leigh Fermor recounts peddling juvenile sketches for cash during his 1933 journey by foot across Europe.

Will Hatton, founder of budget travel advice site The Broke Backpacker, pushes back at the word “begpacker” and the negative connotations that come with it. “I definitely don’t approve of people sitting on the curb begging,” he explains. But when it comes to people who busk or sell things to be able to afford more travel, “you’ve got these people who hit the road, who are being brave and trying to explore a different way of living.”

Words to Learn 相关词汇

【合成词】héchéngcí portmanteau a word made by combining two or more words or word parts

【卖艺】màiyì busk perform entertainment in a public place for money

如果你见过一个蓬头垢面的年轻人在旅游景点附近卖编织手镯或者打鼓，你大概熟悉“游丐”这个概念。

这个词是“乞讨”和“背包旅行”的结合体，带点贬义地描述那些通过乞讨资助自己旅行的人。

游丐通常出现在泰国、印度和印度尼西亚等东南亚和南亚目的地。然而大多数情况下，这样做是非法的。

中佛罗里达大学罗森酒店管理学院的系主任斯蒂芬•普拉特比大多数人更了解游丐。他从学术角度研究了这种现象。在香港理工大学读研究生时，他和同事进行了实地调查，期间普拉特自愿假扮游丐。

他带着尤克里里和一个用中文写着“请帮助我完成环球旅行”的牌子，在香港九龙区一个热闹的公园里摆摊。

一位讲粤语的同事在附近等着，看谁与普拉特互动，然后拦住他们问问题 — 有时候顺便归还他们给的钱。

普拉特解释说，游丐一般可以分为三类：摆摊卖艺（演奏音乐或以某种方式表演），兜售货品（如珠宝、明信片，或像编发这样的服务），还有些只要钱而不提供任何回报。

路人对不同类型的游丐常常作出不同的反应。在普拉特的研究中，大多数给他钱的人都提到了他的表演 —— 即使演奏并不出色，他们也表示欣赏他的努力。

现在还不很清楚乞讨的历史有多长。

英国旅行作家帕特里克•利•费摩在他的书《慷慨的时代》中讲述了他1933年徒步穿越欧洲时兜售青涩的画作换取现金的情形。提供穷游建议的网站The Broke Backpacker（破产背包客）的创始人威尔•哈顿对“游丐”这个词以及它的负面含义进行了反驳。他说：“我绝对不赞成人们坐在路边伸手乞讨。”但是，提起那些为了能够去旅行而卖艺或卖东西的人时，他说“他们事实上正勇敢地尝试探索一种另类生活方式。”(SD-Agencies)