Week In Review: September 2-6, 2013

In case you missed them the first time around, here are some of Jing Daily’s top posts for the week of September 2-6. New York Fashion Week Interview: Chinese Model Jing Wang On The Changing Face Of Fashion Chinese models are a rising force in the international fashion world with increasingly high incomes and a growing presence in print and on the runway. Before today’s start of Mercedes-Benz New York Fashion Week, we caught up with New York-based Chinese model Jing Wang, who will be taking part in her third show season and walking in the first show of the week. The 21-year old hails from Chongqing and modeled in Shanghai before arriving in the States, where she is represented by Wilhelmina Models. Last season, she walked for Venexiana, Houghton, David Tlale, and Hernan Lander. In the interview below, she talks about the differences between modeling in the United States and in China, her views on the growing demand for Chinese models, and her favorite designers. Chengdu's ‘Shrine To Shopping’: A Peek Inside The World’s Largest Building Last month, China unveiled the world’s largest building in the western city of Chengdu, a massive 1.9-million-square-meter space large enough to house three U.S. Pentagons or four Vatican Cities. When it’s completed, the New Century Global Center will feature a hotel, shopping with more than 150 stores, and a gigantic indoor beach longer than the Statue of Liberty is tall. Last week, CBS became the first American news crew allowed to film inside the building, and made its best attempt to convey the structure’s almost unfathomable immensity. The segment refers to the building as a “shrine to shopping”, and when a Chinese visitor is asked what he would tell foreigners who come to look at the building, he simply says, “welcome to China.” China's 'Mooncake Austerity' Leaves Mid-Tier Sales Intact As China gears up to celebrate the Mid-Autumn Festival on September 19, President Xi Jinping’s recent crackdown on official spending on extravagant mooncakes is making international headlines. The crackdown on boxes of these traditional treats, which can run from a few hundred renminbi per box into the thousands, is part of the newly minted president’s overall strategy to curb corruption among government ranks. Though mooncakes may seem like a harmless gift, in China they are largely seen as instruments of graft, part of a gifting culture that lines the pockets of officials in return for favors. Boxes of mooncakes are often re-gifted, or returned to a store in exchange for cash, while high-end mooncake boxes approach the ostentatious. Last year, the state-run news agency Xinhua reported on a department store in the popular shopping district of Wangfujing selling boxes of solid gold mooncakes for ¥42,900 each, a price that translated to ¥429 per gram. The Most Worldly Drink: Chinese Tea Comes Full Circle At Tranquil Tuesdays Tea. Whether a cup of Earl Grey at a British high tea or sipping out of a gaiwan at a traditional Japanese tea ceremony, tea is a drink of the ages, as it has been deeply embedded within many of the world’s cultures for hundreds of years. Originating from China, Western tea culture can be traced back to Yunnan, the southwestern province of China where the Camellia sinensis plant naturally grows. First used in China for its medicinal properties, tea was introduced to the West when Portuguese priests and merchants started drinking the steeped leaf. It was not until the 17th century that tea became prevalent in the Old World, as it was then that the British created direct trading routes that allowed the leaf to enter Britain and India. Hip Hong Kong Trade Show Serves As New 'Hub' For Fashion In Asia The new focal points of fashion are Asian consumers, niche brands, and high-quality products with an authentic story. All three of these trends were evident at The Hub, a fashion trade show held for the first time at the AsiaWorld-Expo Center in Hong Kong from August 28 through 30. The tightly edited set of brands, mainly from Europe and North America, but with a local presence, came looking to reach both highly desirable mainland China and Southeast Asian hotspots like Indonesia. The founders, retail, branding, and licensing veterans Peter Caplowe and Richard Hobbs, sought to shorten the distance buyers from the world’s fastest growing new markets have to travel to find the freshest products and to give brands a point from which to access complex, seemingly impenetrable markets.

Week In Review: September 2-6, 2013

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Published September 06, 2013

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Week In Review: September 2-6, 2013