Expenditures of wealthy Chinese on luxury goods for the year fell by 15%, and for expensive gifts they began to spend a quarter less, the Hurun Research Institute found. This is a consequence of the Chinese authorities' struggle against corruption and excesses among officials and employees of state companies, analysts are sure. Among the millionaires themselves, the number of those who are preparing to resettle abroad is growing, Russian Jewelery Network reports.
The average expenditure of Chinese on luxury goods in 2013 fell as much as possible over the past five years - from 1.77 million to 1.5 million yuan (about $ 250 thousand). Such a conclusion Hurun experts made by interviewing 393 Chinese millionaire with a fortune of 10 million yuan ($ 1.6 million), about 20% of which own assets worth more than 100 million yuan.
As usual, a significant demand for luxury goods in the PRC created a long tradition to give gifts to business partners and officials. However, President Xi Jinping, who came to power in late 2012, launched a large-scale campaign against corruption, which, in his opinion, threatens the existence of the party. "The struggle of the authorities with the practice of giving luxury goods had an impact, reducing this gift by 25% compared to the previous year," said the founder of Hurun and the main author of the report, Rupert Hoogewerf.
"Chinese officials now prefer more modest gifts, for home use - something like Oriental medicine or massage chairs. People note that before they did expensive gifts, hoping to get something in return. But now officials have become more "closed", so they give something less valuable, just to maintain relations, "Shaun Rein, managing director of China Market Research, quotes The Financial Times. In this case, the only Chinese brand in the list of the most popular gifts was the liquor Maotai.