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 9-13: Event Recap: Art Beijing 2011 The fifth annual Art Beijing Contemporary Art Fair took place last week at the Agricultural Exhibition Center of China, having united diverse contemporary art initiatives from its VIP opening on April 29 to its closing on May 2. The exhibition’s overarching theme, “Pushing Forward Chinese Contemporary Art,” brought together an ambitious amalgamation of over 100 art institutions from nearly 20 countries, including exhibition booths from 75 contemporary art galleries and ten photography galleries. Reflecting the growing interest in and importance of Chinese contemporary photography in the Chinese market, part of the fair comprised Photo Beijing, which included the thematic exhibition entitled “N/1 Mixed Media.” Additionally, the galleries represented at the event were joined by 13 art platforms, such as non-profit organizations, cultural centers and international embassies. Brownstone: A Sexy Cocktail Spot In Shanghai, Minus The Pretense With high-end cocktail bars becoming the new (and increasingly ubiquitous) trend in Shanghai, many in the fast-paced city are finding that bigger, flashier, and louder is not always better. For those more interested in real drinks made by real bartenders, rather than an ear-splitting velvet-roped scene, Shanghai veteran Bob Boyce (blue frog, KABB) has opened his newest venture, Brownstone. A stylish but unpretentious cocktail bar in Yongjia Road’s Surpass Court, Brownstone is all about drinks and music — tastefully presented for Shanghai’s non-nightclub set. Jing Daily recently sat down with Bob Boyce to discuss Brownstone, his thoughts on Shanghai’s current nightlife scene, and how his new bar is adapting cocktails for the local palate. Jing Daily Q&A: Helen Wang, Author, “The Chinese Dream” As companies around the world rush to tap the growing Chinese middle class, a key consumer demographic that’s projected to number 800 million within the next decade and a half, The Chinese Dream: The Rise of the World’s Largest Middle Class and What It Means to You ($17, paperback) by Helen H. Wang looks to demystify, examine, and explain the economic rise of China — and how many of the more alarmist projections about China’s future role in the world are both overstated and counterproductive. With the media narrative about Sino-US relations often focusing on contention and dissonance between the two powers, in The Chinese Dream, Helen Wang digs deeper and finds that closer cooperation could bring about the cure to America’s economic doldrums as well as China’s deepening environmental, health, and energy crises. Swiss Watchmaker Tissot Looks To Innovate In Crowded China Market While most well-known Swiss luxury watchmakers have benefited from China’s intensifying love affair with everything horological, brands that don’t quite have the visibility of Omega or Rolex are working overtime to get their names better known in the mainland China market. Recently, we saw this in Hublot’s partnerships with the wildly popular blogger and F1 racer Han Han and actor (and brand ambassador) Jet Li, TAG Heuer’s flashy ad campaigns featuring brand ambassador Chen Daoming, and Jaeger-LeCoultre’s China-only Enamel Lotus watch. Last weekend, in celebration of Mother’s Day, Swiss watchmaker Tissot looked to catch up to its competitors with a press conference at Guangzhou’s Tianhe Shopping Center featuring spokesmodel Barbie Hsu (大S). Wealthy Chinese Consumers Big On The “L” Word After a couple of years of doing the heavy lifting, this year China won’t be the only country fueling growth in the global luxury business. According to a newly released report by Bain & Co., stronger first quarter momentum in the US and Europe — along with steadily increasing growth in China — as well as emerging markets like Russia, Brazil and the Middle East, should see the luxury industry grow eight percent this year to US$270 billion. The study goes on to note that the rapid increase in the number of wealthy Chinese should see even more new store openings, but points out one very important trend that Jing Daily has previously profiled: mainland Chinese luxury consumers are getting much more sophisticated and demanding. At the same time that major luxury brands need to figure out how better to appeal to these more discriminating shoppers in an increasingly crowded high-end market, these brands (and the market researchers who follow them) also want to figure out what exactly it is that drives purchasing behavior in China.