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Q: Luxury consumption in china, any cultural or historical reasons?
I understand that the changes in the economy and the drastic transition that has happened in 30-40 years can make the people suddenly able to access luxury items that were out of their reach in the past
But are there any historical/cultural reasons that support the behavior of the Chinese people toward luxury? Japan and China are the number 1 and 2 markets for luxury in the world, so I'm wondering if the east asian countries share some cultural trends that increase their need for luxury goods
People in China are told that China will grow and grow and they will only get more. So if you today have enough money for an expensive designer thingy then you will have enough money for several of those in a couple of years. The current generation of young Chinese people are the one child generation, their parents, who have seen extreme poverty and hunger is doing everything they can to give their offspring all they possibly can.
If you look at China historically, giving presents have in the past been a matter of symbolic value rather than economic.
You will also find that things like original art, although on the rise is no where nearly as common as commodities
It's all about face. Most of the items they buy will be products that they can show to other people so that those people would value them more. Many Chinese don't have the habit to save money. As soon as they get their pay, they would spend most of it on material products. The more expensive, the more face they can get. Now that more Chinese have higher income, they get access to more expensive or luxurious products
ambivalentmace:
depends on the person for saving, pregnancy , illness , retirement , many people save for this, maybe consumption will go up in future but most chinese i know save 30 percent or more. given how lousy employees are about paying on time, i can understand saving some back.
Traveler:
There was an article about that a few weeks ago. Chinese save a higher proportion of their wage than any other country - about 30%.
Scandinavian:
@Traveler. Yup, correct. It is the complete lack of a social safety net, no way (very difficult) to invest outside of China and limited investment options inside China (basically they only have precious metals and apartments) that makes the Chinese stash money in the banks. The policies are in place to make saving in banks at sub-inflation rates the preferred method of saving for the average-Wang, as this is a way of stockpiling cash in the banks so the government can reinvest peoples money as poorly financed property projects.
Face, like JustinF said, is a big factor as is the present giving culture and the blatant blanket of materialism that has been blinding so many in recent years.
