时事新闻:中国或成奢侈品消费第一大国

【英文原文】

Chinese Are the New Kings of Bling
The great spending party of the rich never ends; it just moves from one country to the next.

The latest to pop the champagne corks of conspicuous consumption is China. The government stimulus, rising consumer spending and 6% GDP growth has kept China's millionaire-making-machine well oiled. It also has fueled a no-holds-barred luxury-buying binge, as the newly rich Chinese seek to show their status.

An article in the Straits Times tells of a young Chinese woman who dispatched 30 Mercedes Benzes to pick up her $580,000 Tibetan mastiff from the airport last month. The canine caravan fueled growing public anger toward what the Chinese call the 'fu er dai' or 'rich second generation' Little Emperors.

A Goldman Sachs Group report ranks China as the world's second- largest luxury-goods market, after Japan. China could surpass Japan this year. Japan's wealthy registered net-worth declines of 16.7% according to this article, while Hong Kong registered a 61% decline.

A survey by New York market research firm Pao Principle found that almost 90% of 'well heeled' Chinese surveyed had purchased a designer handbag in the past year.

It said nearly two-thirds of the men surveyed and a third of women also bought a luxury watch in the same period, while another 30% said they had gone home with one of the signature blue boxes of high-end jeweler Tiffany.

Yes, some this is likely hype from the luxury industry (30% of affluent Chinese buying Tiffany?).

But as the sun sets on bling for the U.S., it is clearly rising in China.

Do you think the flashy spending in China will set off public unrest?

【中文译文】

富人们的奢华盛宴从未结束，不过是从一个国家转移到另一个而已。

一名清洁工站在北京一家奢侈品商店的橱窗外，她身后是卡地亚手表的广告最新开启炫耀性消费香槟酒瓶塞的国度是中国。中国政府的刺激计划、不断上升的消费者支出以及6%的国内生产总值(GDP)增速，中国的百万富翁制造机器在这些因素的推动下正在高效运转。这也引发了中国不加约束的奢侈品购买热潮，因为中国的新富阶层希望以此来显示他们的地位。

《海峡时报》(Straits Times)撰文介绍了一位年轻的中国女士上个月派了30辆奔驰轿车去机场接她那条价值58万美元藏獒的事情。这起“香车名狗”的事件加剧了中国公众对所谓“富二代”日益升温的愤怒情绪。

高盛集团(Goldman Sachs Group)曾在一份报告中将中国列为仅次于日本的全球第二大奢侈品市场。中国今年有望超越日本。 据的报道，日本富人的资产净值减少了16.7%，而香港富人资产则缩水了61%。

纽约市场调查公司Pao Principle的一项调查显示，将近90%的受访中国富人过去一年内都购买了一个名贵手包。

调查说，受访的中国富人中，将近三分之二的男士和三分之一的女士同期还购买了一块奢侈手表；另有30%的人说，他们还买过高端珠宝蒂芙尼(Tiffany)。

没错，这其中可能有奢侈品行业自我炒作的成分（三成的中国富人都购买蒂芙尼？）

但随着美国那边夕阳西下，中国这边显然正是旭日东升。

读者们，你们是否认为中国的奢侈消费会引发社会不稳定呢？