China's New Culture of Cool: Understanding the World's Fastest-Growing Market

In this dispatch from China, the authors shape the post-Maoist Chinese economic rise in terms of the youth market, ""a generation of early adopters, happily leaving a less colorful past behind and embracing all that business, technology, and commerce promise to deliver."" The authors make clear that whether trendsetters are care-free teens or entrepreneurs in their mid-20s and 30s, the new generation will drive consumer growth in the years ahead. In focused, detailed chapters, the authors address topics such as fashion, food, housing and transport, ""fundamental necessities (that) have evolved into expressions of lifestyle,"" and devote a whole chapter on individual profiles of modern Chinese youths. Sections on fashion encompass everything from clothing to the evolving perceptions of beauty and the science of looking good, including the Miss Artificial Beauty pageant-where all the contestants have had cosmetic surgery. Incorporated throughout the book are color photographs depicting new urban centers and shopping complexes. Anyone familiar with the capitalist economy currently en vogue in the so-called Middle Kingdom-or who hopes to successfully conduct business there in the future-should appreciate this book.