From Communist to Consumerists

Everyone knows China's economy is growing but my reaction to this fact is both positive and negative. It's great that over 1 billion people will have the chance to earn a decent wage.  It's wonderful that this country will have peace from war and military occupation.  Even better, China's growing international presence will grant Chinese citizens the privilege of traveling abroad freely without being denied visas for fear of espionage or illegal stay.

 

What scares me is the alarming rate at which China is growing and the scramble for jobs, homes, schools, and status that many Chinese have embarked on. Across the street from my office building on Shanghai's Nanjing Road is this monstrosity of a Louis Vuitton marketing campaign. [See picture below] 

 

 

 

I can not help but think, this ostentatious eyesore would have been the laughing stock and criticism of many if put in any other city---like New York for example. Who do the people at LV think they are?! Well in China, they are pretty much the cool kids table in a high school cafeteria. Everyone wants to be branded by them because it will mean that they have 'arrived.'  This goes the same for other leading luxury brand names, I just used LV as an example because they staged their campaign in my path.

If it were any other country's materialistic culture, I don't think I would be as worried. But China represents a lot of the world population---roughly 20%. So will China's rise be for the better or worse of our future? Have we created a monster in pushing China to become more capitalistic and less communistic?  I admit my inner doomsayer is craving to read up on the latest of these issues during my time off over Spring Festival. I hope you other doomsayers out there will do the same.  Here are my recommendations with content-appropriate titles that will send chills down your spine...

 

Johnathan Watts', When a Billion Chinese Jump: How China Will Save Mankind---or Destroy It

Karl Gerth, As China Goes, So Goes the World: How Chinese Consumers are Transforming Everything

Martin Jacques, When China Rules the World:The End of the Western World and the Birth of a New Global Order