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One Night in Beijing, Luxury in China

For three days beginning on September 19, 2007, Beijing was invited to explore the lure of luxury during the TOP ESSENCE luxury exhibition at the China World Trade Center Exhibition Hall.

Featuring real international top luxury brands, some for the first time in Beijing, top brands such as NE·TIGER, Hennessy, Christofle, and Porsche created a star-studded world of fantasy, the stuff of dreams.

One highlight of the event was the “The Charity Night for the Excellent Luxuries–The Grand Passion and Ceremony,” an event that epitomized the social and fraternal aspects of luxury. About 500 guests, including social celebrities, TV and movie stars and foreign ambassadors to China attended this festival of charity and fashion full of treasure and beauty.

As the leader in the Chinese luxury industry, NE·TIGER, on charity night, displayed for visitors the grace of Chinese luxury with its marvellous fashion show featuring its 2007–08 fur and leather collection.

Zhang Zhifeng, the founder of NE ·TIGER said “the soul of luxury is to incorporate treasure and the beauty. To own luxury goods is just part of pursuing the best in all things. We simply want to pursue a beautiful feeling with beautiful methods… to create and enjoy a more beautiful life.”

Why are luxury goods so popular in Beijing? According to the National Statistics Bureau, in 2006, the per capita GDP in Beijing was 49,505 yuan (US$6,210), exceeding US$6,000 for the first time.

According to international experience, when a country’s per capita GDP reaches US$1,000, personal consumption will upgrade to a level of “enjoyment and development.” Since Beijing has exceeded US$6,000, the luxury market is likely to experience explosive growth. The powerful influence of Beijing, as the country’s capital city, will affect the prosperity of luxury markets in its peripheral regions. As the 2008 Olympic Games draws near, hardly any luxury brand, foreign or domestic, wants to miss this.

“Beijing combines the noble atmosphere of a former empire, and it also has the humanity of a civilization of thousands of years; it is a place where Chinese luxury brands can grow and develop. But we should know that the real purpose of an exhibition of top international luxuries is not to simply show-off the fortunes of crass commercialism, but to confirm the pursuit of a good life. This is the value of luxury brands,” said Zhang Zhifeng.

According to a report of Ernst and Young Investigation Corporation, in China, there are 175 million consumers or potential consumers of luxury goods. About 10 percent of them are rich enough to immediately pursue luxury, twice the population of Hong Kong.

The China Association of Branding Strategy has made a prediction that by 2010 there will be 250 million consumers of luxury goods in China, more than the combined population of Great Britain, France and Germany.

Nowadays, Parisiens who are too proud to speak English have to hire Chinese-speaking shop assistants in their luxury-brand stores. Back in China, the demand for luxury goods has become increasingly strong. The domestic luxury goods market has grown at an annual average rate of 20 percent for ten years in a row. In 2006, the figure was an astonishing 50 percent. Currently, 81.25 percent of the top luxury brands in the world have a presence in China.