Credit cards being swiped, cash registers swiftly opening and closing, and shopping bags (handfuls of them) filled with luxurious merchandise; these are few of the sights that surrounded Chinese shopaholics during the recently-passed “Golden Week”, China’s annual period of travel and mega-spending.
National Day, commemorating the day in which Chairman Mao declared the establishment of the PRC before crowds on October 1st, 1949, kicked off the seven-day vacation and nationwide shopping spree, which was grand in comparison to former years. Spending via the bank cards of UnionPay, China’s only domestic bank, rose 23.5 percent over last year’s gross holiday expenditure.
This statistic plus tangible evidence, such as the multitude of Porches and Lamborghinis racing down our host city’s highways, (and contrary to for tellers of economic doomsday in the West) are signs that China’s economic power shows no sign of waning. A new generation, eager to spend big, has been born to a society in which designer labels connote high social-class; why analysts suggest name-brand products are sought after by many Chinese nationals. Nothing quite highlights the (dubbed by The Economist) “Middle Blingdom’s” obsession with all things lavish and shiny quite like the stampede of customers that flood stores such as Louis Vuitton and Prada during China’s now-infamous Golden Week.
One mall in Yichang, Hubei province, used such social conceptions to their advantage last week, drawing shoppers through their doors by literally paving the mall’s walkways in solid bars of gold; US$32 million worth of the metal to be exact.
While luxury goods are purchasable within such malls in China (it takes only a casual stroll through Nanjing’s very own Deji Plaza to witness this for yourself), high import tariffs on foreign merchandise drove many Chinese shoppers elsewhere to whip out their credit cards this October. It has been revealed by China Southern Airlines that travel to overseas destinations, ranging from Seoul and Tokyo to London and Los Angeles, rose by 20 percent year on year during the holiday period.
The expansion of Chinese international tourism has been welcomed by foreign retailers and service providers with wide-open arms. Last week saw several shopping centers, such as west London’s Westfield Mall, appealing to brand-hungry Chinese shoppers with a fine array of specially tailored services, including translated mall guides, advertisements adorned in Chinese characters and staff fluent in Mandarin.
One enthusiastic shopper, who spent her holiday amid the London’s Malls and iconic shopping strips, told The Daily Mail, “It’s just like being Julia Roberts in Pretty Woman”.
While some celebrated the Republic’s 65th birthday shopping until they dropped, others preferred to visit family members in hometowns or travel to domestic tourist destinations.
Crowds, chaos and calamity typically accompany those visiting Chinese tourist sites during this busy time of year. After a quick Google search of the Great Wall of China during Golden Week, you will entirely understand the chaos of which I speak. Experiences in previous years seemingly left many disappointed tourists with a “bad taste” in their mouths, as 2014 saw a drop in domestic touring and visits to scenic sites. For example, visitors to Huangshan Mountain on National day neared average weekend values. Other destinations, such as Qiandao Lake, Mount Wutai and Mount Emei all saw 20-40 percent drops in tourist numbers.
Meanwhile, crowds still flooded China’s other tourist sites. Beijing’s Tiananmen square was jam-packed on 1st October, as 120,000 tourists witnessed the flag raising ceremony and dense traffic overwhelmed the capital’s roads, contributing to the severe “code-orange” air pollution which currently envelops the city.
Today, Chinese nationals will pay the price for their week of indulgence, high-end shopping and traveling; a beautiful Saturday spent at work in the office. To some, new and shiny Prada handbag in arms reach, the sacrifice is happily made. To others, the residents of Beijing who wore masks to work this morning, or those who just realized that their photos of the Great Wall captured more people rather than, well, actual wall, perhaps not so-much-so.
