Consumer China

Luxury: A rising profile

  • Published 01 Oct 2009

China's market has recovered strongly with luxury spending predicted to rise significantly this year.

Conspicuous consumption in China seemed to go undercover during the economic shock early this year. But this month in the northern city of Xian, it returned with a bark. A wealthy woman identified in media reports only as 'Mrs Wang' bought a Tibetan mastiff for Rmb 4m ($586,000, €402,000, £351,000) and had it delivered from the airport by a motorcade of 30 Mercedes Benz cars. It may be that the 18-month-old mastiff, called Yangtze River Number Two, has broken the record for the world's most expensive dog, eclipsing a cloned Labrador called Lancelot Encore bought by a family in Florida for $155,000 (Rmb 1.06m, €106,300, £97,340) earlier this year. According to the China Daily – which expressed concern over how such an exhibition of wealth could raise tensions among poor people – the dog will be kept in the style to which it has grown accustomed. "The dog will live in an air-conditioned room and eat beef and chicken and drink mineral water," the newspaper reported.

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