A Consumerist China

Term Paper # 103694

Asian Studies
Economics
Sociology

A Consumerist China

This paper discusses consumerism vs. poverty in China's capitalist development.

2,684 words () | 12 sources | MLA | 2008 United States

Paper Summary:

The paper examines the works of Maurice Meisner and Minxin Pei concerning the high social, political and economic price of China's approach to development. The paper then explains the phenomenon of Chinese consumerism that exists while millions struggle to obtain basic subsistence. The paper portrays the disparity in the American-style high consuming class and the working or unemployed poor.

Outline:
Introduction
Consumerism - Chinese Style
Disparities and Frustrations
Time and Unfulfilled Promises
Consumerism and Culture
Concluding Remarks

From the Paper:

"Meisner noted a small percentage of urban population are members of the nouveaux riches that support "the world's most rapidly growing market in luxury goods." (1999 534) Otherwise there is much conspicuous lesser spending. A report for business people planning to do retail business in the PRC in 2005 with China's permission of foreign distributors with World Trade Organisation membership stated that the Chinese consumer still shops daily, likes processed and packaged foods, expects shopping to be an outdoor, urban activity and favours products to do with sport, leisure and general convenience. (Iyengar 2004) Car ownership is proportionately low and the distances great so that distributors have to work hard, if promoting a new product in China, to see that it reaches every targeted region. Mail order business is unknown and Internet shopping just beginning. The leisure culture taking form in the 1990s showed little sign of declining. Consumers were less automatically taken by foreign manufactures but wanted goods that made their lives more convenient. A Euromonitor International article referred to a positive attitude in the PCR towards owning one's housing, letting housing out to others, high demand for household durables and leisure goods that allowed for a busier lifestyle. (2006)"

Sample of Sources Used:

Asian Development Bank. Poverty Profile of the People's Republic of China. Hong Kong: ADB, 2004.
Biddulph, S. "Policing and Punishment in China - from Patriarchy to 'The People'." Australia and New Zealand Journal of Criminology. 26. (1993): 274-277.
Davis, D.S. Ed. The Consumer Revolution in Urban China. Los Angeles: University of California Press, 2000.
Euromonitor International. Consumer Lifestyles in China. London: Euromonitor, 2006.
Farquhar, J. Appetites - Food and Sex in post-Socialist China. Durham, NC: Duke University Press, 2002.