Jing Daily’s Top Posts for the Week In case you missed them the first time around, here are some of Jing Daily’s top posts for the week of December 5-9: Interview: New York’s Luxury Marketing Council Pursues Opportunity In China (Part One / Part Two) After his return to New York from Shanghai, where he was in town to launch the inaugural China chapter of the Luxury Marketing Council, founder Gregory Furman recently sat down with Betty Chen of Jing Daily to discuss the opportunities presented to luxury marketers and brands in China, consumer education levels there, and why now is the right time for his company to enter the Chinese market. Founded in New York in 1994, the Luxury Marketing Council — an invitation-only organization of more than 4,000 CEOs and CMOs representing more than 1,000 major luxury goods and services companies in 36 cities worldwide — brings luxury professionals together to explore best practices and critical issues and share intelligence on consumer and market trends. Scotland Cashing In On Chinese Demand For Premium Scotch Commemorating the one-year anniversary of Beijing’s move to give Geographical Indication of Origin (GI) status to Scotch whisky, this week Scottish First Minister Alex Salmond toasted the booming Chinese whisky trade on a trip to the Chinese capital. In town to promote one of Scotland’s most famous products, Salmond took part in an event organized by the Beijing-based retailer Xiamen Spirit Empire, which plans to create China’s largest Scotch whisky sales network — 300 stores in three years. This year alone, Spirit Empire plans to beef up its inventory with over £20 million (US$31 million) worth of whisky from Scotland. Accompanied by David Kilshaw of the trade group Scotland Food & Drink, at the event Salmond met Spirit Empire Chairman Ding Wei and Stephen Notman, whom Spirit Empire recently pulled on as a “whisky ambassador” to represent Chinese sellers in Scotland. Chinese Celebrities Jumping On Bordeaux Bandwagon Actress Zhao Wei’s acquisition is interesting in that she apparently plans to maintain her winery’s status quo, keeping winemakers on staff and keeping production focused on existing markets. As Jing Daily reported this past summer, after buying Château Laulan Ducos in Bordeaux, the Chinese Richard Shen (Shen Dongjun, 沈东军), owner of a large Chinese jewelry chain, decided to export all of the winery’s production to China. Zhao Wei’s decision to keep traditional markets while perhaps increasing exports to China is arguably a much smarter move, however. Not only are traditional consumer segments for her wine already “locked in,” but the crowded yet young nature of the Chinese wine market means shifting exports fully to China is far from a sure bet, even with her name recognition. “Brash & Flash” Mainland Chinese Lifeblood Of Hong Kong Luxury Market We’ve become accustomed to seeing droves of mainland Chinese tourist-shoppers crowding boutiques and high-end malls in Hong Kong for quite some time, but this week an article in the National details just how important these hordes of mainland “bling babes” have become to the city’s luxury market. With Hong Kong now seen as something of a “Toys ‘R’ Us for China’s nouveau riche,” as one bank executive put it, locals are feeling the squeeze, increasingly ignored by staff and greeted in Mandarin rather than Cantonese, jostling for space in stores alongside cash-flush and seemingly insatiable mainlanders. But this means little to brands that are relishing the sight of long lines of Chinese shoppers forming daily in front of flagships in Central and Causeway Bay. As a Bain & Company report noted in October, China’s appetite for luxury brands is expected to rise 35 percent this year to US$17 billion, a figure that’s even more impressive when you take into consideration that demand rose some 30 percent in 2010. Vogue China Holds Star-Studded “Vogue Talents Corner” Event In Beijing Jointly organized by Vogue China and the Yoox-owned e-commerce site thecorner.com, today an event was held at Beijing’s Central Academy of Fine Arts Museum celebrating the “Vogue Talents Corner” creative boutique project. The centerpiece of Vogue China’s January 2012 “New Chinese Energy” issue, the Vogue Talents Corner project spotlights the work of five of the country’s up-and-coming fashion designers: Christine Lau (刘清扬), Riko Manchit Au (欧敏捷), Shangguan Jie (上官喆), Uma Wang (王汁), and Zou You (邹游). Following their debut at this evening’s event, the work of these five designers will go up for sale on a special capsule section at thecorner’s Chinese-language site, thecorner.com.cn. As with seemingly every event in which Vogue China is involved, tonight’s soiree attracted celebrities and figures from the Chinese fashion world such as actress Fan Bingbing and designers Guo Pei, Ye Mingzi and Wan Baobao.