A Brief Discussion on China’s Luxury Consumption Status quo with Reference to Western Consumption Theory
----- Luxury Consumption Problems in Modern China
Abstract: China has represented a sizable proportion in world luxury consumption with the rapid development of economy. A number of serious problems appeared with the increase of luxury consumption, such as conspicuous consumption, symbolic consumption and other problems. Solving successfully these harmful problems is crucial to construct a harmonious society. According to materials that we have at present, former studies about luxury consumption mainly focused on the western developed countries, especially on the American society since the end of 20th century. However the studies concentrating on the Third World Countries represented by China are rare. It is absolutely impractical to solve the problems of China, which is a developing country in the period of social transformation, by imitating western theory totally. Under such background, this paper tries to explore the existing problems and their causes as well as put forward some ways dealing with these problems by contacting nowadays Chinese luxury consumption status with western consuming theory.
Key Words: Luxury; Conspicuous consumption; Symbolic consumption
从西方消费文化理论看中国奢侈消费现状
—当代中国奢侈消费存在的问题
摘 要：伴随着经济的迅速发展，中国已经占据了世界奢侈消费相当大的份额。伴随着奢侈消费的增长，大量的严重的问题也随之出现了，如炫耀性消费，符号消费等等。为了实现构建和谐社会这一目标，必须学会如何解决这些对社会有害的问题。根据目前我们拥有的资料，从20世纪以来，以前的研究主要是集中在西方发达国家，特别是美国社会。但是对以中国为代表的第三世界国家的研究少之又少。完全照搬西方理论来解决正处于社会转型期的中国显然是不切实际的。在此大背景下，本文通过将西方文化消费理论与中国奢侈消费的现状相结合的方法试图探索这些存在的问题和引起这些问题的原因。
关键词： 奢侈； 炫耀性消费； 符号消费
CONTENTS
Introduction 1
1. The philosophy and study about luxury consumption 2
1.1 The philosophy about luxury consumption 2
1.1.1 Foreign luxury consumption philosophy 2
1.1.2 Chinese luxury consumption philosophy 3
1.2 The study about luxury consumption 4
1.2.1 Conspicuous Consuming Theory 4
1.2.1.1 Background of the theory putting forward 4
1.2.1.2 Veblen’s conspicuous consuming theory 5
1.2.1.3 The shortcomings of Veblen’s theory of conspicuous consumption 6
1.2.2 Symbol Consuming Theory 7
1.2.2.1 Background of the theory putting forward 7
1.2.2.2 Baudrillard’s symbolic consuming theory 8
1.2.2.3 The shortcoming of symbol consuming theory 9
2. The analysis of modern Chinese luxury consumption 9
2.1 The history of Chinese luxury consumption 9
2.1.1 The first stage: more high-standard consumption demand appears with reform and opening to the outside world (1978-1997) 9
2.1.2 Foreign luxury brands pours into domestic market after joining the WTO (1997-2003) 10
2.1.3 Domestic luxury brands participate into the competition of domestic luxury market in recent years (2003-2005) 11
2.1.4 Chinese customers’ foreign luxury consumption increases day by day (2005-now) 11
2.1.5 The anticipation of Chinese future luxury market 12
3. The shortcomings of modern China's luxury consumption 12
3.1 Immature luxury consuming mentality 12
3.2 Illogical luxury demanding structure 13
3.3 Flawy luxury market structure 14
3.4 Faulty luxury selling channel 14
4．Correcting the wrong and advocating the right 15
4.1 Realizing the luxury merchandise’s positive role on the construction of a harmonious society 15
4.2 Setting up well media environment 16
4.3 Improving the luxury market structure 16
4.4 Changing consuming behavior and advocating correct consumption 16
5. Conclusion 17
Bibliography 18
