The Power of the Purse Chinese Women and Consumption中英对照.doc

The Power of the Purse: Chinese Women and ConsumptionCall it the downfall of Chinese society or call it harmless materialism. If you like, you can call it a corrosive consumerism gnawing away at the root of an already decaying morality. But some call it the rise of the Chinese woman in her own society and in the world. Though it makes a person wonder if a designer handbag is the Chinese analogue to the shoulder-padded powersuit of the high-flying 1980s urban female, what is the significance of this symbol in real terms? In other words, what is the power of a Chinese womans purse?A portrait of the consumer as a young womanAccording to China Daily, in 2006, urban Chinese women spent 30% of their incomes on consumer goods. In just four years, in spite of a global economic crisis, that figure ballooned to 63%. Clothing topped the list of purchases over the four years surveyed, while their savings rate plunged over that time period from 55% to 24%. In the years since that savings rate has surely sunk further this in a country with a reputation for penny-pinching.What sensibility could possibly explain such willingness to spend such large swaths of ones hard-earned income on make-up, shoes and bags (especially given that just 2000 to 3000 RMB is starting salary for college grads in most cities)? You could dismiss it as foolish vanity, which was my original response. Or how about a more complex explanation: a naive lack of foresight, a childish sense of novelty, and an uncommon degree of insecurity, which when taken together make comparatively spoiled urban women all too readily exploitable by the flood of companies scrambling to seize the (almost mythical) opportunities presented by the Chinese market. Would we be short-changing urban Chinese women if we left it at that?Perhaps. Its clear that to some degree or another all consumers the world over, “spoiled” or not, naively conflate material possession with a specific standard of living, one that comes with a kind of romance that were all susceptible to. Its the dream we buy when we buy into advertisement, targeted as it is to our sense of lacking, presenting as it does an alternate future in which that lacking is accounted for by the enticingly concrete action of buying something.In that sense, whether Chinese womens choices as consumers are sensible or childish is an unfair question. Were all buying based on some complex personal calculus that necessarily involves a degree of insecurity and projection. In the most general sense, the power of the purse is the same for all of us to make ourselves more comfortable both materially and psychologically.So how do urban Chinese women themselves think about their spending? A big indicator is the language of “living standard” and “quality of life” that women employ to explain their consumption. There is a striking certitude among especially younger women that material possession goes hand in hand with self-improvement. Ownership means enhancement, enhancement means advancement.Then theres the undeniable aspect of novelty. But before you dismiss novelty as naivet, consider that the ability to afford such purchases even, (maybe especially) if affording means a degree of sacrifice represents a new kind of agency. In that sense, consumption probably does involve a life enrichment that urban women can sense in a deep and gratifying way. Importantly and to my point, in addition to apparel and cosmetics, women primarily express a desire to spend on travel. According to the 2009 Annual Report on Chinese Womens State of Life three in four surveyed wished to spend their money on just that as they were heading into 2010, which was the second-highest expenditure (after clothing) on consumer goods according to the next years report. Similar findings indicate that the process of allocating such a large percentage of income to consumer goods reflects not so much an image of a shallow consumer, but a consumer who desires to participate in the world and has grasped at consumption as a means to that end.She who holds the purse stringsIn a 2010 report, Mastercard Worldwide projected that the purchasing power of childless young Chinese women is likely to continue booming in a projected rise from $180 billion in 2005 to $260 billion by 2015. Similarly, female empty-nesters (women with grown children) can expect their total purchasing power to grow from $100 billion in 2005 to $150 billion by 2015. The numbers clearly matter to advertising and marketing firms a rush to understand the Chinese female consumer has paralleled the growth of their wallets.But what does it matter to anyone else? Were talking about the empowerment of a significant percentage of the worlds population here and the fate of a nation whose economy is an ever-significant factor in global economic well-being. Heres the bottom line: in their newfound agency as consumers and the social value that is bestowed accordingly, Chinese women are doing something significant for themselves and for their nation.There are several dimensions and possibilities encompassed by this kind of influence. For one, urban women helped China weather the storm of the global economic crisis not only by responding enthusiastically to the stimulus but by actually refusing to spend less. Some surveys indicated that urban Chinese women felt it was a duty of sorts to keep spending, signifying an empowering awareness of their own economic weight.Consider also that if Chinese women continue growing into savvier consumers, their dual concern for price and brand (as compared to Chinese men whose spending habits translate more strongly into a tendency to consider brand in spite, if not in light of price) means that in demanding more, Chinese women will decide if China can eventually develop better domestic products that can compete within China and ultimately internationally. The modest success of the Shanghai-based cosmetic brand Herborist is an example of the possibilities. Ultimately, China will require many more such brands to support the domestically strong market they will need in the long run. Cosmetics aside, Chinese women dont just shop for themselves, a fact not to be forgotten. They buy for baby, for mom and dad, in-laws and often for their partners. The Chinese economy depends on women performing this role and reliance of the family and the state on women and their purchasing decisions continues to confer a reciprocal degree of respect and power.Women wont single-handedly land the Chinese economy in the safe zone. Nor am I saying that the combination of urban Chinese womens purchasing power with the value of their spending habits constitutes some kind of womens lib movement. Ultimately, what I mean to say is this: if rising tides do indeed lift all boats, urban women are at the helms.A writerly conclusionSo back to my original question:Q: What is the power of a Chinese womans purse?A: Whatever the power of what it contains.Q: Well, what can you fit in a designer bag? A: Ask any Chinese woman who has scrounged and saved month upon month or year upon year to afford one. “A good designer purse can hold girly products, face wipes, gadgets, a compact mirror and dreams,” she may answer. “Yes. If the clothes make the man, then the shoes, the dress, the makeup, the hair, the nose, the evening plans, the travel plans, the plans you make on that touch screen doo-dad, the one that fits so nicely in your designer bag thats what makes the woman,” the mirror testifies. “Indeed, women hold up half the sky,” she confirms.叫它中国社会的垮台或者说是无害的唯物主义。如果你喜欢，你可以叫它腐蚀消费主义啃着已经腐朽道德的根基。但是有些人也说这是中国妇女在自己的社会和世界地位的提高。虽然它让人疑惑一个设计师手袋是否类是雄心勃勃的80年代女性的动力来源。这个符号实质上是什么意思？换句话说？中国女性消费的动力是什么？年轻女性消费者的描述：据中国日报，2006，中国城市妇女花了她们收入的30%来购买消费品。在短短的四年，尽管全球经济危机，这一数字猛增到63%。四年中购买最多的是服装，而她们的储蓄率在一定时间内从55%下降到24%。之后几年中，储蓄率已经越来越低，这个国家吝啬的声誉。什么能解释这种感性消费意愿在打扮，鞋子和包上花费如此巨大的开支。（尤其在大多数城市大学毕业生的起薪是2000至3000元之间？你可以把它当作愚蠢的虚荣，这是我原来的回应。或者是一个更复杂的解释：一个天真的缺乏远见，幼稚的新异感，和一种不常见的不安全感，而当两者进行比较时被宠坏了的城市妇女都太容易被现今中国市场上的大批公司抓住机会互相利用。如果我们保留这一现状中国城市妇女的能在短期内改变吗？也许。很明显，在一定程度上或其他所有消费者的世界里，被宠坏或者没有被宠坏的都天真的将物质财富和特定的生活标准相结合，伴随着一种容易影响我们的浪漫情绪。当我们买一样广告的时候我们也在购买一个梦想，由于我们缺乏目标意识，而造成了另一种迷惑人的购买的具体行动。在这个意义上，中国女性消费者的选择是明智的还是幼稚的是一个不公平的问题。我们都是在一些复杂的演算基础上购物，这必然包括了一个人的不安全感和影射。在一般意义上，我们的购买力都是一样的都是为了使自己的身心更舒适。中国城市妇女是怎么思考她们的花费的呢？她们用来解释消费的一个大的指标是生活标准和生活质量。尤其在年轻妇女间有一个引人注意的确定性，物质财富与自我完善相结合。所有权意味着增强，增强意味着提高。在新颖性方面不可否认。但是在你不把新颖当作天真，认为有这个能力买这些东西，甚至认为承受意味着一定程度的牺牲，代表着一种新的代理，在这个意义上，消费就可能包括生活的充实，城市妇女也可以感受到一种深层的满足的方式。重要的是，我的观点，除了服装和化妆品，妇女主要是表达一种去旅行的愿望。根据公司2009年年度报告，中国女性希望她们能够在2010年的消费与2009年一样多，根据下一年的报告这是继服装后又一高支出。类似的结果表明，收入分配中相当大一部分贡献给消费与其说反映了一个目光短浅的消费者不如说是消费者渴望去参与世界，并且将