The Nomura Research Institute, a Japanese think tank, recently conducted an investigation among young consumers in China. The investigation shows that young Chinese at the age of 25 and 35 are a group of people with a high income, a high consumption power and keen on consumption. For those who are at the age of 25-35 who make 4,000 yuan a month in big cities, they have a strong desire to buy expensive things.

In Beijing and Shanghai, 30 percent of these young people, otherwise known as the "affluent class", work either in Sino-foreign joint ventures, or cooperative businesses, or exclusively foreign-owned enterprises. It is these people who lead fashion in society and find it much easier than their parents to get the latest information about what's in vogue. They buy high-tech devices. Accepting the Western idea of consumption, these people pay much attention to their life style.

In light of their different characteristics, they can be grouped into four types.

The first type spends all their income every month. In light of their monthly income level, these people can be divided into two sub-groups, one that earn good money and would like to spend all this money buying things for themselves; the other that, after paying basic living expenses and continuing education fees, will not have much left.

The second type depends on their parents for a good life. These people, spend even more than the first type. In addition to spending their own savings and monthly income, they also ask their parents to subsidise them every month.

The third type is a group of people who returned after finishing their education overseas. In Shanghai, about 80,000 people went abroad to receive education and 50,000 of them have returned. Influenced by overseas culture, these people adopt a different life style and way of thinking from people in the mainland. They like to use foreign-brand goods, a habit they cultivated while studying and working abroad.

The fourth type is called the "golden collar" workers. As a matter of fact, most of them should be called white collar workers. However, since some work in well-known large corporations, they are also called "golden collar" workers. Most of these people are the backbones of their company, which is either a foreign-funded company or a collectively-owned domestic company. For most of the time, these people have a busy work schedule, so they seldom stay with their families. They live the high life and care much about the comfort and quality of their life.
 
(China News Service August 4, 2006)