中国的有钱人越来越多了,钱怎么花呢?
Charles Liu is one of the haves in a land of almost a billion have-nots. He made most of his hundred-million dollar-fortune through real estate, and is unabashed about his wealth.
When you have money,' he told me, 'you want the best quality for your money.'
Like a 16 000 square foot home designed by a French architect, with domed roof to resemble the U.S. Capitol, and seven purebred horses brought over from England. It's a long way from 20 years ago when most had little choice but to wear a Mao suit, the trademark uniform of the so called 'worker's paradise.' More like 'shoppers paradise' these days for a small but growing middle and upper class.
VAUSE: Esther Yim and Li Ya - both professionals - spend almost two thousand dollars each month on designer clothes hand-bags and shoes. . . almost half their monthly salary. . . and more than three times what China's farmers make, on average, each year.
RUPERT HOOGEWERF - "HURUN REPORT": I think there's been a revolution in the image of wealth in China.
VAUSE: Because in the new China, nothing quite says 'I've made it' like a bit of conspicuous consumption...speed boats, fast cars, expensive art. In this newest of new economies, there is only new money. Wealth, not style is a fashion statement.
China's billion-dollar-plus luxury spending spree is just getting started - analysts believe within a decade, China's upper and middle class will become the world's biggest consumer of luxury brands.
Highlighting a gap between rich and poor which is already greater than the U.S. and Britain. I asked Mr Liu - the son of laborers - what Chairman Mao would make of his newfound wealth.
'First he would confiscate it," he laughs. But then adds, 'I think if Mao were to come back today, even his attitude would change.'
In China's five thousand year long history, this could well be remembered as the Bling Dynasty. John Vause CNN Beijing.
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2007-03-10 
