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 June 6-10:
Chinese Celebrities Becoming Budding Art Collectors
Following the lead of auction stalwarts like Liu Yiqian and Wang Wei and an ever-increasing number of entrepreneurs and investors, it appears that Chinese celebrities are now joining the ranks of the country’s “new collectors.” Echoing Jing Daily’s observations that volatility in China’s stock markets and property markets have seen wealthy Chinese flock to traditional investments, the BBC points out this week, “For China’s freshly minted millionaires and billionaires looking to spend their wealth, art is a natural choice.” This is, apparently, as true for filmmakers, actors, performers and sports figures as it is for hedge fund managers, property tycoons and entrepreneurs.
As the Chinese arts website Artxun notes this week, in recent years, superstars like actor Jackie Chan and director Feng Xiaogang (Aftershock, A World Without Thieves) have built up their art collections to diversify yuan-denominated assets, sidestep growing inflation, and take advantage of Chinese contemporary art’s “second boom.”
Louis Vuitton Latest Brand To Partner With Jiepang, “China’s Foursquare”
Following recent collaborations with Burberry for the grand opening of its new Beijing flagship and the Strawberry Music Festival, the Chinese location-based service Jiepang (often referred to as “China’s Foursquare”) today announced its newest partnership, a tie-in with Louis Vuitton for the French luxury giant’s “Voyages” exhibition. Currently up at the National Museum of China in Beijing, as Jing Daily recently noted, “Voyages” features rare pieces of Louis Vuitton luggage from the brand’s collection as well as a new video installation by the Chinese contemporary artist Zhan Wang (展望). Through August 30, visitors to the exhibition can now “check-in” through Jiepang and collect a special Louis Vuitton branded virtual badge, share details about the show with friends, and commemorate their trip.
Louis Vuitton has also created a brand page on Jiepang that will let the service’s more than 1 million users “connect and share design concepts,” according to a company release.
Tianjin Unveils High-End Mega-Outlet Mall, Florentia Village
This week, the Italian real estate developer and retailer RDM officially launched its Florentia Village high-end outlet mall on the outskirts of Tianjin, in northeast China. A 1 billion yuan (US$154 million) joint investment between RDM and the American Waitrex Group, as Jing Daily wrote earlier this year, Florentia Village is located in the Wuqing development area, roughly between Tianjin and Beijing. Covering an area of 60,000 square meters, with 42,000 square meters of gross leasing area, Florentia Village is a massive gamble on China’s nascent outlet mall industry. However, RDM seems to be confident that “if you build it–and sell discounted high-end goods–they will come.”
Built to resemble a Renaissance-era Italian city, and featuring more than 200 brands, including Prada, Burberry and Armani, Florentia Village advertises an average discount of 50-70 percent off of domestic retail prices.
To Caffeinate China, Starbucks Takes A Page From Burberry’s Playbook
Anyone who has set foot in China’s larger cities over the past five years has undoubtedly noticed the growing presence of Starbucks, which has exploded from its first mainland China location in 1999 to 450 today. Over the past few years in particular, as the company has dealt with the overexpansion-fueled crisis in its home market that saw it close hundreds of locations in the wake of the global economic crisis, Starbucks has turned to China as its “second home market.” Looking to leave its ever-increasing domestic and international competitors in the dust, Starbucks has spent the last two years in China expanding into relatively untapped third-tier cities, working with the Yunnan provincial government to develop the region’s nascent coffee industry, and taking on once-dominant brands like Nescafe with its Via instant coffee. Now, as part of its latest bid for coffee primacy in China, Starbucks has taken a page straight out of the playbook of high-end brands like Burberry and has bought back full control of stores from a Chinese joint-venture partner.
Last week, Starbucks signed an agreement with Maxim’s Caterers Ltd., its partner in south China (including Macau and Hong Kong), to assume control of its locations in the provinces of Guangdong, Hainan, Sichuan, Shaanxi and Hubei, as well as the municipality of Chongqing.
What Could French Label Cacharel’s New Chinese Artistic Directors Bring To The Table?
Women’s Wear Daily reports this week that the French fashion house Cacharel has appointed the Paris-based Chinese designers Liu Ling and Sun Dawei as the new artistic directors for its accessories and women’s, men’s and children’s collections. Harbin native Liu and Dalian native Sun met in Paris in 2004 at the prestigious Chambre Syndicale fashion institute, with both spending time at major fashion houses after graduation. (Balenciaga and Yves Saint Laurent in Liu’s case and Sun at Lolita Lempicka, Balenciaga and John Galliano.) In 2009, the duo launched their own label, Belle Ninon, which has largely flown under the radar since then, apart from a spread in BAZAAR China.