Week In Review: January 6-10, 2014

In case you missed them the first time around, here are some of Jing Daily’s top posts for the week of January 6-10, 2014. Japanese Brands Face A ‘Voldemort’-Size Problem In China Chinese model Sui He in a 2013 ad for Japanese beauty company Shiseido, which felt the effects of anti-Japanese sentiment following the 2012 riots in China. (Shiseido) Japanese car companies suffered the most public damage from the 2012 protests—literally. Enflamed rioters torched the Japanese vehicles of many unfortunate bystanders, while Honda and Toyota dealerships were burned down in Qingdao. Auto companies’ sales suffered the aftermath once the chaos subsided: Toyota and Honda both reported their first annual sales declines in China as a result of boycotts of Japanese goods. Recent sales numbers probably had these brands thinking they had survived the worst of the tensions, since Toyota and Honda both recently reported solid annual sales growth in 2013. Toyota saw an increase of 9.2 percent in annual year-on-year sales, while Honda sold 26 percent more vehicles last year. China’s Middle-Class Luxury Consumers Loved Buying Abroad And Burberry In 2013 The results of a new “Luxury Purchase Power” survey by Chinese news site iFeng delivers a comprehensive report on the preferences of China’s luxury consumers in 2013, including what items they were buying, where they were buying them, how they were using them, and more. The survey is in Chinese, but if you can’t read it, don’t worry: we have an overview for you here. Fan Bingbing's Potent 'Star Effect' Worth $74 Million On Taobao Brands such as Louis Vuitton, Chopard, Cartier, Mercedes-Benz, Adidas, Moët & Chandon , and L’Oreal knew what they were doing when they hired actress Fan Bingbing (范冰冰) as their celebrity brand ambassador: a report last month by online retail giant Alibaba’s Taobao revealed that the Iron Man 3 star has generated US$74 million (RMB450 million) in e-commerce revenue. How Luxury Brands Can Cash In On China's Booming Wedding Industry This sense of obligation drives the wedding experience: rather than being a day for the bride and groom, Chinese weddings are celebration of family, and an opportunity for the family to show off in front of all its most important relationships. The entire ceremony, from receiving line photos to after-dinner toasting, is a stage-managed production designed to put on a show for the guests and give face to the hosts. Why Apple's 'Champagne' iPhone Isn't True 'Tuhao Gold' Not gold enough for China's newly wealthy. What exactly is the point of having a 26,000 RMB (about US$4,300) solid-gold iPhone 5s? This was the question one People’s Daily writer set out to answer in a recent Chinese-language article, when he got his hands on an 18-karat tuhao gold iPhone and wrote about his experience using it in order to figure out the mindset of China’s “crass” nouveau riche.

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Week In Review: January 6-10, 2014