ABSTRACT
In the three decades after Deng Xiaoping proclaimed that “to get rich is glorious,” China has gone from being one of the poorest and most isolated nations to becoming the world’s second largest economy, second only to the US. China’s new rich are attracting the attention of the world’s companies, who vie for market dominance in everything from soft drinks to smartphones. Messages to consume more emanate from everywhere. Advertisements are as relentless and ubiquitous as socialist propaganda posters once were in China’s public spaces. Even the Chinese state encourages its citizens to spend more on vacations, cars, homes, and raising children, as a way to stimulate its economy. Chinese consumers are, in ever greater numbers, buying luxury goods, traveling abroad, and even celebrating the very un-Communist holiday of Christmas by shopping.
