This is an excerpt from a Yahoo article today.
Next post my opinion in answer to post # 1778 by “Clubmaverick”,
More than 300,000 Chinese have a net worth over $1 million, excluding property, according to Merrill Lynch” There has been a revolution in attitudes toward wealth," says Rupert Hoogewerf". People don't appreciate how much cash there is running around in China today," he says.
Today the Chinese are the third-biggest high-end buyers on earth, with more than 12% of world sales, Goldman, Sachs & Co. reckons. Within a decade, China will likely leapfrog Japan and the U.S. to become the top luxury market, predicts Goldman analyst Jacques-Franck Dossin. "China is experiencing huge wealth creation, and there is lots of conspicuous consumption related to that," Dossin says. "People want to show they are successful."
How? By buying custom clothes, diamond-encrusted watches, pricey cars, gourmet meals, and fine wine. A 38-year-old restaurateur, real estate developer, and Ferrari owner from Shanghai, says he speaks no English, but he manages to pronounce "shopping" and "Tiffany" as he shows off his $50,000 Franck Muller watch. The Rolls-Royce outlet in Beijing is one of the brand's top-selling dealerships. And Bentley Beijing has sold a half-dozen stretch limos at $1.2 million each, the world's most expensive car -- more than any other dealership in the world. Cadillac plans to have 40 showrooms in China by the end of 2007. Christie's International says mainland buyers account for 20% of purchases at its Hong Kong auctions, compared with virtually none five years ago. And while most collectors prefer Chinese art, mainlanders now bid on Renoirs, Monet’s, and Van Gogh’s in New York and London, a Shanghai businessman paid $1 million for a Picasso in a private sale. By Dexter Roberts and Frederik Balfour
Business Week Online
