The Power of the Purse Chinese Women and Consumption中英對照

1、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 socie

2、ty 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

3、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 sa

4、vings 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, sho

5、es 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 degre

6、e 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

7、. 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

8、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

9、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 spe

10、nding? A big indicator is the language of “l(fā)iving 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 me

11、ans advancement.1Then 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 invol

12、ve 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 s

13、pend 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 mu

14、ch 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 cont

15、inue 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 fi

16、rms 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

17、 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 in

18、fluence. 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 empow

19、ering 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 pr

20、ice 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 w

21、ill 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 o

22、n 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.2Women wont single-handedly land the Chinese economy in the safe zone. Nor am I saying that the combination of urban Chinese wome

23、ns 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 Chin

24、ese 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 drea

25、ms,” 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.

26、 “Indeed, women hold up half the sky,” she confirms.叫它中國社會的垮臺或者說是無害的唯物主義。 如果你喜歡, 你可以叫它腐蝕消費主義 啃著已經(jīng)腐朽道德的根基。但是有些人也說這是中國婦女在自己的社會和世界地位的提高。 雖然它讓人疑惑一個設(shè)計師手袋是否類是雄心勃勃的 80年代女性的動力來源。這個符號 實質(zhì)上是什么意思?換句話說?中國女性消費的動力是什么?年輕女性消費者的描述:據(jù)中國日報, 2006, 中國城市婦女花了她們收入的 30%來購買消費品。 在短短的四年, 盡管全球經(jīng)濟危機,這一數(shù)字猛增到 63%。四年中購買最多的是服裝,而她們的儲蓄率在

27、 一定時間內(nèi)從 55%下降到 24%。之后幾年中,儲蓄率已經(jīng)越來越低, 這個國家吝嗇 的聲譽。什么能解釋這種感性消費意愿在打扮,鞋子和包上花費如此巨大的開支。 (尤其在 大多數(shù)城市大學(xué)畢業(yè)生的起薪是 2000至 3000元之間?你可以把它當作愚蠢的虛榮,這是 我原來的回應(yīng)。 或者是一個更復(fù)雜的解釋:一個天真的缺乏遠見, 幼稚的新異感, 和一種不 常見的不安全感, 而當兩者進行比較時被寵壞了的城市婦女都太容易被現(xiàn)今中國市場上的大 批公司抓住機會互相利用。如果我們保留這一現(xiàn)狀中國城市婦女的能在短期內(nèi)改變嗎? 也許。 很明顯, 在一定程度上或其他所有消費者的世界里, 被寵壞或者沒有被寵壞的都 天真的

28、將物質(zhì)財富和特定的生活標準相結(jié)合, 伴隨著一種容易影響我們的浪漫情緒。 當我們 買一樣廣告的時候我們也在購買一個夢想, 由于我們?nèi)狈δ繕艘庾R, 而造成了另一種迷惑人 的購買的具體行動。在這個意義上, 中國女性消費者的選擇是明智的還是幼稚的是一個不公平的問題。 我們 都是在一些復(fù)雜的演算基礎(chǔ)上購物, 這必然包括了一個人的不安全感和影射。 在一般意義上, 我們的購買力都是一樣的都是為了使自己的身心更舒適。中國城市婦女是怎么思考她們的花費的呢?她們用來解釋消費的一個大的指標是生活 標準和生活質(zhì)量。 尤其在年輕婦女間有一個引人注意的確定性, 物質(zhì)財富與自我完善相結(jié)合。 所有權(quán)意味著增強,增強意味著提高

29、。在新穎性方面不可否認。 但是在你不把新穎當作天真, 認為有這個能力買這些東西, 甚 至認為承受意味著一定程度的犧牲, 代表著一種新的代理, 在這個意義上, 消費就可能包括 生活的充實,城市婦女也可以感受到一種深層的滿足的方式。 重要的是,我的觀點,除了服3裝和化妝品,婦女主要是表達一種去旅行的愿望。根據(jù)公司 2009年年度報告,中國女性希 望她們能夠在 2010年的消費與 2009年一樣多,根據(jù)下一年的報告這是繼服裝后又一高支 出。 類似的結(jié)果表明, 收入分配中相當大一部分貢獻給消費與其說反映了一個目光短淺的消 費者不如說是消費者渴望去參與世界,并且將消費作為了一種手段。誰掌管著錢財2010報告, 萬事達卡國際組織預(yù)計, 無子女的年輕婦女的購