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Riding high: The future of China’s electric bicycles
The Middle Kingdom was once the land of the bicycle. Pedal power provided the average Zhou with transportation and bikes were a symbol of self-reliance during the pre-reform era. Even in the 1980s and...
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Wages of Taobao: China’s shadow cash transfers
Taobao girl needs money to spend. China’s 30 million students are targeted by brands and retailers, despite being cash poor. Many students struggle to make ends meet and rely on family allowances. Such...
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Lust, caution: Did politics kill Chinese luxury?
CPPCC Committee member Xu Jiayin, sporting a 20k Hermes belt. Over the past few months, media reports were touting the the retreat of luxury shopping in China. They pointed to the slowing of economic...
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Starbucks China: Wake up and smell the pastry
Starbucks breakfast. App and running. China is the world’s largest grocery market and one of the top three markets for fast food. Over the past two decades, Western staples like ice cream, coffee, and...
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Withdrawal symptoms: China’s rice wine market
(Rice) wine and moan. Alcohol consumption, even over-consumption, carries a certain air of respectability in China. Important businessmen and great poets alike are expected to hold their liquor. But in...
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Chinese luxury: Will Beijing kill bling?
China. Blinded by the lux. For a long time, selling luxury in China was easy. Or so it seemed. Sales and profits were astronomical and rising; expansion jumped from the highrise heights of Beijing and...
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Paper idols: China’s gift industry up in flames
Burning rubber. Chinese consumers agree: it is better to give than receive, especially on Tomb Sweeping Day. A day of remembrance, Tomb Sweeping also finds China taking advantage of a rare chance for...
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After the Goldrush: China’s National Vacations
Time for a policy U-turn. “Chinese dream” is the new party slogan, but of what do the Chinese dream? Wealth, national power and…travel. Chinese tourists abroad make headlines, and for good reason: the...
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Side Effect: MNCs Get Healthy
Double your daily servings. Health is a priority for Chinese consumers, and so it should be. After countless food and product safety scandals involving rat meat sold as lamb, carcinogenic baby formula...
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China’s Baby Bust: Consumers, Birth Rates, and Government Impotence
China’s Baby Boom? China recently announced intentions to loosen its One Child Policy as part of a broader shift towards a consumption-based economy. As the theory goes, more births equal more demand...
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