and Lauren, great post. am surprised that LV opened a store there. I guess you have not seen the people that Mike hangs with. all they have is too much money to spend, do not even know what to do with it, so they waste it on taking a big group of people with them whereever they go and buying super expensive cars.

Actually, Nanjing people are not very different from Shanghai. real estate in Nanjing is booming, prices are super high and even though places are expanding to Jiang ling, not that many people want to live so far out.

I think you also see different aspects of China, depending on the type of people you associate with. but I do agree that the things about china that are worth keeping are quickly disappearing. in a few years, you probably think you are living back in the US, but in the China town part of it. LOL

Eventually the luxury market (and the high end styles) will become more diverse as legitimate Chinese luxury brands come out on the market.

My favorite LV bags are the shopping bags that the DVD shop across the street uses. Brown plastic with the gold LV pattern printed on.

Which leads me to agree with b. cheng, perhaps “style” will come next. As long as people stop wearing the Russian mob tracksuits.

Anyways, people are getting rich in these 2nd-tier cities and want the trappings that go along with it, they see their “sisters” in Shanghai with lots of money and LV bags and they want them too. Eventually, their consumerism should evolve into being less based on brands and more about a “style.”

@ China Law Blog: maybe that’s the point, to distinguish yourself from the masses of 1.2 billion others who are otherwise indistinguishable. And what more visible way to do that than through money? Although as Steven points out, you can’t always tell the reals from the fakes. It’s following the same path as evolution: before, it was obvious who had the fit genes because they were easily distinguishable from the unfit. Now we have plastic surgery, evolution’s answer to fake designer bags!

Nice bit of thought about the craziness of it all. Just so many better ways to put such money to waste – really quite the shame. Donations, education, starting a business, early retirement… the possibilities are endless but the final choice is really quite strange.

Don’t worry – China will always be different in some way or another. They are, after all, at the center of the universe.