The mystery of China’s big penders

They’re very picky about designer labels. They don’t spend money on DIY or lingerie. And they never, ever buy cheese.
Why are Chinese consumers such complicated creatures?

Whether it’s a Louis Vuitton handbag or a

bottle of top Bordeaux wine, looking rich is incredibly important
to China’s new consumers. If you look at Chinese tourists 10
years ago, they would mainly buy souvenirs. Nowadays,
they want to buy luxury products in Italy or Paris like Louis
Vuitton’s handbags and watches.
Of course, the majority of the population is desperately
poor. The Chinese economy grew 9.1 per cent in the last quarter compared with less than two per cent in
most Western countries – despite the fact that one billion people live a hand-to-mouth existence in rural
villages or deprived urban neighbourhoods. But this makes it all the more important, if you are a member of
the emerging middle class, to underline your “superior” status. There are, in effect, two Chinas and the need
to be one of the 300 million consumers with money to burn, means that it’s worth sitting for hours in a traffic
jam just to show off your new BMW or spending six months scrimping and saving to afford a Gucci bag. The
pace at which China has grown is hard to imagine. Currently, nine million Chinese move to a city every year –
the equivalent of the country building a city the size of New York on an annual basis. Today, those born in the
Seventies and Eighties under the one child policy – known in China as “Little Emperors” – have shed the
frugal habits of their parents and are the driving force behind a rampant consumerism. “So people don’t worry
that they have had to spend the past six months eating nothing, but pot noodles in order to afford the newest
Louis Vuitton handbag. China’s consumers represent an archipelago of wealth amid a sea of rural poverty,”
says Arthur Kroeber, the editor of the Beijing-based China Economic Quarterly.
However, some gourmet food manufacturers face a near-impossible task in China. Dairy products,
like cheese, are not popular partly because many Chinese are lactose-intolerant and most Chinese find the
smell of cheese unbearable. If they want to win customers, food manufacturers have to tailor their products to
the Chinese palate.
Chinese consumers are going to be crucial for both multinational companies and overseas tourist
destinations. Resorts all over the world are seeing an increasing number of customers from China. It now has
960,000 multimillionaires, who take holidays in Sanya, when they’re not holidaying in France, America or
Australia), play golf (their favourite pastime) and gamble up to 63,000 euros a night. In fact, Chinese
millionaires are on average 39 years old, 15 years younger than in the West, making travel all the more likely.
Car sales are also booming. The rich are buying Rolls-Royces and other ostentatious vehicles, sales of which
rose by 800 per cent in 2010. More cars are sold in China than anywhere else in the world, including the US.
One thing is for sure, the American dream — wealth that culminates in freedom — is becoming more and
more intoxicating for the Chinese, a nation that quickly races toward superpower status.

(Source: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/8994633/The-mystery-of-Chinas-big-spenders .html - abridged and adapted)

 I-A

A. Read the first two paragraphs of the text and write True or False next to the following statements.
Account for all your answers by quoting from the text.

1. China’s new consumers focus on a particular kind of product.

2. The gap is huge on what concerns the past decade of Chinese purchasing habits.

3. China’s economy has boomed in the past 25 years.

4. On the other hand, in nations, like for instance, the USA, there have been few economic losses.

B. Complete the sentences according to the text, without changing their original meaning.

1. In the provincial or underprivileged areas, people barely have enough to __________________________.

2. The existing gap between the very poor and the very rich makes the latter want to call attention
__________________________.

3. Some Chinese people are willing to live a frugal life as long as they are able to spare enough for
__________________________ merchandise.

4. Few people can envision how much __________________________.

C. Answer the following questions using your own words as far as possible.

1. According to what you have read, why has Arthur Krober used the expression “China’s consumers
represent an archipelago of wealth amid a sea of rural poverty” and not “China’s consumers represent a sea
of wealth amid an archipelago of rural poverty”?

2. Explain the third paragraph of the text using your own words.

3. Give two reasons why Chinese consumers are going to be crucial for both multinational companies and
overseas tourist destinations?

D. Write who or what the following words or expressions in bold refer to in the text.

1. this

2. your

3. their

4. a near-impossible task

5. of which
 II - B

Comment on the following statement in no more than 60 words. “We no longer live life. We consume it”.

III – C

Rephrase the following sentences so that they correspond to its original meaning.

1. “I’m saving up to buy this spectacular car you can see on the car dealer’s shop window.”

A middle class Chinese woman told her best friend …

2. I bought more than I can afford and now I don’t have enough money to last the rest of the month.

If I …

3. I seldom have time to go shopping nowadays.

Seldom ….

4. A multimillionaire wasted 50,000 euros just in one night at the casino.

50,000 …

5. My Chinese friend doesn’t eat dairy products. He is lacto-intolerant.

My …

6. Although I love shopping, I can’t relate to shopaholism.

In spite of …

7. I haven’t been to a shopping center for ages.

The last time I …

8. He doesn’t like ostentatious cars and he doesn’t like very frugal cars, either.

He neither …

9. “Who is this year’s richest person in the world?”

The young teenager was eager to know …

10. If you don’t put aside material things, they will one day totally engulf your spirit.

Unless …

IV – D

Choose either option A or B and write a well-structured text using about 120 words.

A. Your opinion on the environmental implications of unsustainable production and consumption patterns.

B. An argumentative essay on the pros and cons of working from home.