Salaries in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou
A recruitment firm called J.M. Gemini has published the results of a salary survey based on compensation at the firm’s client companies in Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou. Read more
Posts from the ‘Consumer culture’ Category
Feb 2
Jan 28
Panic buying of water in Liuzhou – a report from the ground
BBC News — 26 January 2012: River pollution sparks panic water buying in China city
Ken Fletcher is a British resident of Liuzhou in Guangxi Province where the panic buying is taking place. He sent this report to Danwei on January 27. Read more
Jan 23
Spring Festival in Kedong, 2012
I’ve never really understood Spring Festival. Sure, I know the traditions and the stories, but I must admit, I’ve never really felt it. The first year I was in China, I spent the holiday wracked with fever, hallucinating in my apartment as exuberant Harbiners bounced fireworks off my windows. That’s fairly indicative of my Spring Festival experiences over the ensuing years. Read more
Dec 6
Teen digital habits in Beijing and Palo Alto
In August and September 2011, Danwei worked with the Stanford Program on Regions of Innovation and Entrepreneurship (SPRIE) on a survey of the digital and media habits of high school students born in 1993 and 1994. The results were presented at the China 2.0 conference at Stanford Graduate School of Business School in September 2011. Read more
Nov 16
Luxury consumption on Jinbao Street
Inhwa Chung and Lucy March are currently interning at Danwei. They have spent several weeks researching stores and consumers on one of Beijing’s luxury shopping streets by talking to sales staff and customers.
Jinbao Street screams wealth. Jinbao (金宝) means “gold and treasure” and the name is apt:
The Hong Kong Jockey club squats in the middle of the street, surrounded by stores that sell Bentleys and Ferraris with price tags in the millions (please refer to our previous research for more about the cars and background to Jinbao Street). Private drivers in expensive cars roll up to five-star hotels to pick up their customers. During lunch hour, men and women in designer suits come out from their offices suites and descend upon the street which is lined with stores offering luxury goods.
We asked sales staff at nearly all the stores on Jinbao Street what their most expensive and cheapest items were and for comments about their customer demographics. Some were more talkative than others.
The most expensive item on the whole street is a Pagani sports car that sells at 26 million yuan. Other products with outrageous price tags include:
• A password-protected cabinet with a price tag of 5 million yuan;
• A diamond encrusted watch for 6.6 million yuan;
• A medicinal fungus for 200,000 yuan;
• Men’ suits for a million yuan;
• A cell phone for 840,000 yuan.
Oct 10
What do people buy from corner stores in China?
I spent China’s October holiday traveling across the country on a work trip. In each city I visited, I went to a small corner store (known in China as xiaomaibu 小卖部). Such stores sell a range of goods similar to convenience stores, but usually packed into a tiny space. Many xiaomaibu‘s are so small that you cannot walk into them, but have to ask the vendor for what you want through a window.
I asked the person manning each store to tell me the most popular item they sold, and then took a portrait.
Chengdu 成都
Population: 14.05 Million
Name: Fan Wei 范伟
Top selling item: Lottery tickets (彩票)
China’s has two major lotteries; one supports sports teams and training, the other funds state welfare systems. According to the Ministry of Finance, China’s lottery sales totaled 138.12 billion yuan ($21.58 billion) during the first eight months of 2011.
Shenyang 沈阳市
Population: 8.1 Million
Name: Gong Nanhua 宫华南
Top selling item: Uni-President Iced Black Tea 统一冰红茶
Shanghai 上海市
Population: 23 Million
Name: Tang Zaihua 唐仔华
Top selling item: Mai Dong Energy Drink (Robust Group product) 脉动
Guangzhou 广州市
Population: 10.182 Million
Name: Qiu Xinfu 邱心富
Top selling item: Double Happiness Cigarettes 红双喜香烟
Zhengzhou 郑州
Population: 8.63 Million
Name: Zhao Xinzhi 赵新枝
Top selling item: Golden Leaf Cigarette 黄金叶香烟
Ms. Zhao (top picture) requested a portrait of her grandson Feng Yi (冯毅 - bottom picture) appear with the Golden Leaf Cigarettes with this article.
Beijing 北京
Population: 19.61 Million
Name: Dou Jiadong 窦家东
Top selling item: Huiyuan orange juice 汇源橙汁
Notes: This store is in a Beijing neighborhood where many foreigners live.
– Research for this report by Wang Miao 王淼 .
– Further photos by Jonah Kessel from the October holiday are on Danwei here, or see Jonah Kessel’s website for more.
Sep 22
Luxury cars of Golden Treasure Street
Danwei’s Beijing offices are on Jinbao Street (金宝街).
“Jinbao” means “golden treasure”, a tacky new name with no history: the street is the brainchild of real estate developer Chen Lihua, who is the subject of the chapter titled “The Rich Lady” in Out of Mao’s Shadow, by Philip P. Pan. Read more
Sep 7
Opening the door to American universities with lies
There’s a growing perception that American universities are admitting Chinese students based on fraudulent applications. How big is this problem, and who is responsible for it? Tim Hathaway investigated the problem for the Southern Weekly, and this is what he found:
Aug 28
Miss Universal Values
The band was playing Cocaine as the small entourage entered but it was highly doubtful any of them would ever touch the stuff: these were international representatives of China, “athletes” in a land of contradictions, competing for fresh spoils.
After years of half-organized humiliations, the country is determined to seize an unusual new prize this September: Miss Universe, a controversial trophy offered by a US organization headed by the failed Presidential candidate and China-basher, Donald Trump.
The stiffly embossed invitations to the after-party offered the opportunity to “mingle with stars, celebrities and Beijing’s elite” but, despite the dozens desperate for a moment, or ideally a picture, next to one, none of those at the centre of this civilized scrum were remotely famous (yet). They are the finalists from this year’s Miss Universe China – the grand pageant, an impressively well-organized, if somewhat dull, event in Beijing’s Mastercard Center, had just finished. Read more
