Moncler invested $28 million in the one-day "The City of Genius" event in Shanghai, blending global vision with local creative culture. For foreign luxury brands, the Chinese market remains unparalleled, and Moncler’s showcase sets a powerful example of how to captivate and inspire younger Chinese consumers.

As offline stores shift back towards offering engaging experiences, foreign brands’ retail spaces have been renovated in Shanghai. Gentle Monster, ARCTERYX and FREITAG are 3 cases you can't miss!

Introducing Shanghai's independent art scene, what's currently trendy in Shanghai and how that influences the art scene

Can you name one event in your lifetime that has shaken the world more than Covid? The world has forever-changed since early-2020. Whereas many of Covid's consequences have been negative, there have been some silver linings which will hopefully stay with us long after the face masks and vaccine passes have gone.

With the Football World Cup beginning tomorrow, many Chinese will have their eyes on Brazil. Despite the fellow BRIC’s time zone being 10-13 hours behind China’s, CCTV is banking on a bumper of a tournament and a massive 530 million Chinese are expected to follow it online according to iResearch.

There are new stats and figures coming out about China every day. They are often staggering, and regularly inconsistent. China’s diversity and opaqueness means there’s often a few stray figures, but after studying enough China research and data, consistent trends and themes do come through.

Mention Shanghai to a Beijinger, and there’s a good chance they’ll scoff. Talk about Beijing to Shanghainese, and there may also be some jeering. Northern Chinese like noodles, southerners have a preference for rice. Travelling between regions in China, differences are evident in people’s appearance, diet and aspects of their culture, as well as climate variations. Whilst most of us are aware of this, curiously a lot of our marketing efforts still treat China as one big homogenous land, or at best, separates sophisticated high tier city consumers from the smaller ones.

Welcome back to our China readers, we hope you had a good break. If peak hour crowds at People’s Square or Xizhimen subway stations are your thing, then let’s hope you managed to get out to see some of China’s tourist attractions over the golden week just passed.

If you needed further proof that China is constantly changing, look no further than consumer habits. The Luxury segment, not long ago a bastion of guaranteed growth for western businesses in China, has hit the brakes. Chinese consumers are increasingly looking beyond the most expensive wares as the only ones to be seen with. For the first time in recent history, mid-range retailers grew faster than luxury retailers in China. Even in Hong Kong, where 35 million Chinese tourists annually have a big impact the retail industry, outlet stores are seeing much faster growth than mid-level malls, which are growing faster than high-end ones.

You probably heard the news late last week about China’s fake beef and lamb made from rat and fox. Couple that with the H7N9 chicken drumsticks, decaying pigs in rivers, hauls of putrid, dead fish flavoured with ginger infused with highly toxic pestacide – and that’s just in the past month. It doesn’t exactly leave you salivating.

Apple is again in the dog box in China, this time for having ‘obscene’ content in its App Store. It was just last month Apple was being slammed for poor customer service and substandard warranty policies. The company that was once elevated to hero status in China, is increasingly being labelled as the villain.

Online shopping in China is the new black. Almost 250 million Chinese consumers shop online, together shelling out 55% more in 2012 than in 2011. That’s pretty good growth even by Chinese standards. With Internet-connected smartphones costing less than $100, coupled with pollution and Bird Flu outbreaks keeping shoppers in their apartments, the rise of Chinese eCommerce is showing no signs of abating.

More and more Chinese consumers are taking trips abroad. China’s outbound tourism has grown almost 500% in the past decade, and 100 million are expected to travel this year. According to Global Blue, their overseas spending climbed 30% in 2012 alone. That’s fantastic for airlines, hotels, tourism operators and souvenir shops. But it’s also a great opportunity for other brands to win over a captive audience who could grow your market both at home and in China. The Chinese who travel are the affluent ones. They’re generally fond of foreign goods and are more likely to be key influencers. They’ll buy, recommend and even gift your wares to their family, friends and colleagues. They may even praise them on Weibo.

Although the Chinese New Year and Spring Festival has been the talk of the town in China this month, another celebration is getting it’s share of observers. Valentine’s Day is becoming increasingly fashionable with Chinese consumers; especially the young, urban and affluent. While romantics aren’t yet spoiling their loved ones with chocolates, jewelry appears to have become a popular gift. During the Spring Festival period from February 9-15, bank card transactions in jewelry shops increased 119% from the 2012 Festival period. That compares to a 43% increase for overall card usage in China and 33% overseas.

There's been a lot of talk this week, and for many weeks now, about China's slowing economy and how it translates to doom and gloom for businesses exporting to China. While a number of brands have lowered sales forecasts in China, there are still many businesses seeing runaway growth in China.