The social problems stemming from a steady diet of luxury products, as in the case of Sister Guo, weren't the first, and most certainly will not be the last.
High end luxury cars have also seen their fair share of controversy over the past couple years. Stories of luxury cars being owned by people in low income housing – how did they get the car? Where did the money come from? Should they really be living in low income housing? Who's scratching whose back?
Another incident, in Hangzhou in May of 2009 involved three rich kids in sports cars street racing and a subsequent collision that left one university student dead. The cars become the symbol of the event and public outcry was voiced when the perpetrators were only sentenced to three years behind bars. Is there any question what type of lifestyle and message the young kids were trying to send in racing their sports cars? Did the family of the perpetrators use any connections so their children would only receive three year sentences? Social implications start to boil over through incidents like this, and the downward slope is very slippery.
The car has also become a symbol that represents the gap between rich and poor. The haves and have nots. Those driving in luxury cars and the adjacent busses crammed full of countryside workers. This once again is different than the luxury goods market in the west. In the UK for example, wealth disparity is more uniform and consumption of luxury goods is relatively fixed. In China however, income disparity is large and growing, and the divide is clear for those who are able to partake in the luxury goods market and those who are not.
The uniqueness of the Chinese luxury market is also shown by the average age of luxury consumers. Data shows that average age in China is between 25 – 45 years old - 15 years younger than the market in Europe, and 25 years younger than that of the US.
It is not rich people that are despised in China, but it is what they represent. A system in which working hard does not always equal opportunities. The sight of government officials who cannot afford the lifestyle they're living raises questions of bribery, something everyone knows is going on. The end result is either the giving of luxury items as bribes, or the luxury items being purchased with bribe money. Either way though, the resulting social problems are obvious, seemingly here to stay, and not the correct ingredients for a harmonious society.
After nearly a decade, the luxury goods market in China is still evolving, but most would agree as far as social implications go – not evolving for the better. There is nothing inherently wrong with a Hermes hand bag, but as has been demonstrated, in the China of today stories that start with a hand bag have inopportune ways of ending in social unrest and public controversy.
