Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Hilary du Cros
Institute for Tourism Studies, Macao SAR, China
Introduction
interested in these articles, preferring instead to
seek out the genuine articles while travelling.
Why? Is it because these tourists are rediscovering
new aspects of Western culture after the insulation
of the communist regime or is this phenomenon a
new phase in appreciating it? This chapter will fi rst
investigate the nature of desire for certain Western
luxury goods in relation to the visual presentation
to mainland Chinese tourists of one of the most
consistently popular items: Western-made time-
pieces. Then it will examine the current situation
with Hong Kong mainland tourist shopping expe-
riences as a way of understanding how these
tourists are starting to consume Western culture
independently now they have more freedom of
movement and the economic means.
The income levels of Chinese tourists have risen
since the 1990s when they fi rst started to travel en
masse outside of China (Wong and Law, 2003).
The rise of materialism and conspicuous con-
sumption of Western luxury items is also becom-
ing evident in trade council and media reports
about China's more affl uent groups, some of
whom target Hong Kong and Macao for their
shopping activities [e.g. HKTDC, 2007;
South
China Morning Post (SCMP) Magazine
, 25 Feb-
ruary 2007]. In the last ten years, marketers from
Western countries have focused on China as a
highly desirable growth market for their brands.
Marketers of luxury brands are particularly inter-
ested in China's rapidly expanding urban middle
class and their appetite for consumer high-end
goods. Even the lower segment of this market is
relatively affl uent given that living costs and
accommodation are still heavily subsidized by the
government (Schiffman and Kanuk, 2007). These
consumer goods are then displayed as visual affi r-
mations of success: wealth defi ned by brands.
For many years, these consumers have spent
their discretionary income on locally produced
fakes and copies of Western items occasionally
purchasing the real thing. Now they are no longer
China's First Western Luxury Consumer
Goods of Desire: Clocks
Said's work has been instrumental in the analysis
of the nature of Orientalism in the Western mind
(Said, 1978). He cites the Treaty of Nanking in
1842 as a key turning point in Western trade pen-
etration into China in that more ports were
opened up and interaction could be carried on
outside of offi cial intermediaries of the Hongs.
1
1
These intermediaries were Chinese or Eurasian
compradores
(merchants) that were the people authorized by
Qing dynasty to work between Western traders and mandarin offi cials, particularly as traders were discour-
aged from learning Chinese because of the imperial decree that foreigners should not be taught it. The lack
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