EVENING STANDARD 17/11/09

came across this article in the Evening Standard last night (hooray for free newspapers). some useful highlights:

"..in economic terms China is probably the most important phenomenon of not only our but also our children's generation."

"China's GDP has increased by about $3 trillion in just seven years. By the end of next year...it will have comfortably overtaken Japan to be the world's second-largest economy."

"...the credit crunch, forcing the beginning of a new, more sensible US consumer, has obliged China to deal with the consequences of reduced exports. In its place there is a new phenomenon: welcome to the age of the Chinese consumer."

i like this idea of the chinese consumer. obviously Condé Nast will have timed GQ China's launch perfectly, considering the emergence of what market researchers refer to as the 'Little Emperors' - large numbers of young, affluent male consumers...a result from the country's birth control policies in the 70's (an interesting subject in itself actually).

times they are a-changing.