時事新聞:中國或成奢侈品消費第一大國

【英文原文】

Chinese Are the New Kings of Bling
The great spending party of the rich never ends; it just moves from one country to the next.

The latest to pop the champagne corks of conspicuous consumption is China. The government stimulus, rising consumer spending and 6% GDP growth has kept China's millionaire-making-machine well oiled. It also has fueled a no-holds-barred luxury-buying binge, as the newly rich Chinese seek to show their status.

An article in the Straits Times tells of a young Chinese woman who dispatched 30 Mercedes Benzes to pick up her $580,000 Tibetan mastiff from the airport last month. The canine caravan fueled growing public anger toward what the Chinese call the 'fu er dai' or 'rich second generation' Little Emperors.

A Goldman Sachs Group report ranks China as the world's second- largest luxury-goods market, after Japan. China could surpass Japan this year. Japan's wealthy registered net-worth declines of 16.7% according to this article, while Hong Kong registered a 61% decline.

A survey by New York market research firm Pao Principle found that almost 90% of 'well heeled' Chinese surveyed had purchased a designer handbag in the past year.

It said nearly two-thirds of the men surveyed and a third of women also bought a luxury watch in the same period, while another 30% said they had gone home with one of the signature blue boxes of high-end jeweler Tiffany.

Yes, some this is likely hype from the luxury industry (30% of affluent Chinese buying Tiffany?).

But as the sun sets on bling for the U.S., it is clearly rising in China.

Do you think the flashy spending in China will set off public unrest?

【中文譯文】

富人們的奢華盛宴從未結束，不過是從一個國家轉移到另一個而已。

一名清潔工站在北京一家奢侈品商店的櫥窗外，她身後是卡地亞手錶的廣告最新開啓炫耀性消費香檳酒瓶塞的國度是中國。中國政府的刺激計劃、不斷上升的消費者支出以及6%的國內生產總值(GDP)增速，中國的百萬富翁製造機器在這些因素的推動下正在高效運轉。這也引發了中國不加約束的奢侈品購買熱潮，因爲中國的新富階層希望以此來顯示他們的地位。

《海峽時報》(Straits Times)撰文介紹了一位年輕的中國女士上個月派了30輛奔馳轎車去機場接她那條價值58萬美元藏獒的事情。這起“香車名狗”的事件加劇了中國公衆對所謂“富二代”日益升溫的憤怒情緒。

高盛集團(Goldman Sachs Group)曾在一份報告中將中國列爲僅次於日本的全球第二大奢侈品市場。中國今年有望超越日本。 據的報道，日本富人的資產淨值減少了16.7%，而香港富人資產則縮水了61%。

紐約市場調查公司Pao Principle的一項調查顯示，將近90%的受訪中國富人過去一年內都購買了一個名貴手包。

調查說，受訪的中國富人中，將近三分之二的男士和三分之一的女士同期還購買了一塊奢侈手錶；另有30%的人說，他們還買過高端珠寶蒂芙尼(Tiffany)。

沒錯，這其中可能有奢侈品行業自我炒作的成分（三成的中國富人都購買蒂芙尼？）

但隨着美國那邊夕陽西下，中國這邊顯然正是旭日東昇。

讀者們，你們是否認爲中國的奢侈消費會引發社會不穩定呢？