中国在节日里的购物

The May-day holiday is now upon us. It's this time of year that thousands upon thousands of Chinese will make journeys to and from various parts of the country, and abroad, in the search for relaxation and stories to tell friends. And one aspect of the Chinese travel culture is buying things.With this country's growing middle class, the days of spending on the bare essentials are quickly fading, and a growing rise of consumer spending on luxury items is being seen not only on China’s more affluent east coast, but in the secondary markets as well. Hello, you’re listening to the May-day holiday edition of People In the Know, your window into the world around you, online at www.crienglish.com here on China Radio International. I’m Lin Lin in Beijing. So to start out our May-day holiday series on Tourism, we’ll take a look at spending trends here in China.  We’ll get perspective from both a market analyst and a high-end retailer.  So let’s get started.

(Music)

First, we head to Hong Kong, one of the favorite travel destinations for mainland tourists for being a shopping paradise.  For more on that, we’re joined by Macy Leung, Director of Corporate Communications of Sa Sa International, a local cosmetic and beaty product retailer.

(Dialogue with Sailor)

We’re going to take a quick moment here to reset and regroup.  When we come back, we’ll analyze the trends in the holiday shopping sector here in China.

(Promo)

Hello, you’re listening to the May-day holiday edition of People In the Know, your window into the world around you, online at www.crienglish.com here on China Radio International.  I’m Lin Lin in Beijing.  In this edition of our show, and all during the holiday, we’re going to be focusing on tourism and tourist-related topics.  To that end, this morning we’re talking about consumer spending during the holiday period.  For some in-depth insight into the holiday shopping trends in this country, we’re joined on the line by Mr. Jim Sailor, Managing Director in Greater China for TNS, the second largest market research company in the world.

(Dialogue with Chen)

And with that, we close out the first May-day holiday edition of People In the Know, online at www.crienglish.com here on China Radio International.  Traveling throughout China is a unique experience, and buying something on a trip to help you remember only enhances that experience.  Questions or comments for us can be sent to crieng@crifm.com.  For Executive Director Wang Lei and our regular host Paul James, I’m Lin Lin in Beijing.  Enjoy your May-day holiday.