Week In Review: May 17-21

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 May 17-21: Christie’s Asian Contemporary Art Auction: Blue-Chip Artists Within Reach Following strong sales figures at Sotheby’s in Hong Kong, Bonhams in London, and China Guardian in Beijing (where a painting by Zhang Daqian set a new record this week, selling for nearly US$15 million), many in the auction world are looking to the upcoming Christie’s Spring Auctions to validate recent ArtTactic and Artron projections that the Chinese art market would continue to tick upward in 2010. Powered mostly by domestic Chinese collectors — who worry about rising inflation, fears of a possible real estate bubble, stock market volatility and yuan revaluation – historical antiquities from popular Chinese historical eras (mostly Tang, Ming, and early Qing) and blue-chip modern and contemporary Chinese art is selling for healthy prices at international and Chinese auction houses. While aggregate prices remain lower than their pre-financial-crisis peak, after strong interest from collectors at autumn 2009 and spring 2010 auctions, 69% of ArtTactic survey respondents said they expect prices to continue going up in 2010 and reach 2007 levels within the next two years. For less experienced collectors who want to dip in to Chinese contemporary art — or who can’t compete with “super-collectors” for multi-million dollar works by Liu Ye or Zeng Fanzhi — is it too late to get in the game? Definitely not. From the upcoming Christie’s day sale of Asian Contemporary Art (taking place in Hong Kong on Sunday, May 30), here is Jing Daily’s list of “Blue-Chip Artists Within Reach.” Side Effect Of Euro Depreciation: More Chinese Tourists, Shoppers, Students? With the eurozone caught up in one of its most critical economic situations in recent history, the Chinese-language media is buzzing about the possible benefits that further devaluation of the euro may have for Chinese consumers — specifically those who hope to travel, shop or study in Europe. Nevermind the broader economic implications, positive or negative, that a prolonged euro crisis would have on the Chinese economy (see Michael Pettis’s excellent commentary on the trade implications of the euro crisis for China for more detail on that), many articles in China are focusing on the “discount” that Chinese shoppers would see in Europe on LV bags, and possibly on imported European items, as a result of further euro depreciation. A number of these articles also mention “Shopping Services,” online businesses that purchase luxury goods abroad for buyers in China to sidestep China’s high luxury tax. For more background information on these services, see this Jing Daily article from earlier this year. Ignore At Your Peril: “He Fashion” Trend If there’s one thing that stands out about China’s luxury consumers, it’s their age. According to a recent McKinsey study, 80% of wealthy Chinese shoppers are under the age of 45, and are on average 15-20 years younger than their Japanese or Western counterparts. Earlier this year, Jing Daily pointed out that Hong Kong high-end retailers had begun to more aggressively court mainland China’s so-called “young tycoons,” 30- and 40-something entrepreneurs and executives who have benefited the most from China’s booming economy over the past 10 years. From our translation of a Junzi Men story on “young tycoons”: Near Harbor City, in Hong Kong’s Tsim Sha Tsui district, one can hear their accents – on the street, in shopping malls, everywhere you go there they are, the shopping-mad mainland luxury buyers. The nickname Hong Kongers have given to mainland visitors — “Hawks” (a transliteration of the literal “luxury shopper”, “hao ke” – JD) — is well founded. For lots of mainland tourists, the places they’re most interested are Hong Kong’s shopping malls, rather than Disneyland. Asia’s Luxury Rebound Powered By Economic Optimism Yesterday, Jing Daily noted the results of a recent Marriott survey of Chinese business travelers that showed 81% of Chinese respondents said they think their economy will improve in 2010, compared with 35% from the U.S., 33% from the UK, and 33% from Germany. Encouraged by broad economic optimism, Chinese travelers — whether for business or pleasure — appear to be tying their shopping habits to their perceptions of their country’s future economic prospects. Recent reports from McKinsey, Bain and — most recently — the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences validate the idea that general economic bullishness is one of the greatest factors propelling Chinese shoppers to go upmarket, projecting that China will surpass Japan to become the world’s largest luxury market within the next five years. This week, a new MasterCard report concludes that the Asia-Pacific luxury market — powered mostly by China, Vietnam and Singapore – has quickly rebounded from its post-2008 dip, with more faith in the region’s economic recovery enticing consumers to increase their luxury spending. Dior’s “Lady Blue Shanghai,” Directed By David Lynch (Video) Following Chinese artist Yang Fudong's short film "First Spring" for Prada, which premiered earlier this year, Dior has released David Lynch's "Lady Blue Shanghai," a short promotional film in a similar vein starring the French actress Marion Cotillard. Take a look:

Week In Review: May 17-21

China’s luxury interlude that never really was

Upgrade to Pro

Sectors

Insights

Company

Week In Review: May 17-21

China’s luxury interlude that never really was