A three-day luxury goods exhibition concluded on Sunday at the Shenzhen Convention and Exhibition Center. The exhibition ended with more than 100 million (US$12.5 million) worth of goods sold, the organizer said.

The exhibition, named Top Show, claimed to be the biggest show of luxury goods in South China. Luxurious items on display included a 100,000-yuan mobile phone decorated with crystal and gold, limousines from Bentley, Wiesmann and Spyker, a Sunseeker yacht, a 3-million-yuan table, a 10-million-yuan necklace and villas in golf resorts.

Sheng Lei, general manager of Borrison Expo Ltd., the organizer, said the exhibits were valued at some 700 million yuan.

"People's demand for luxurious goods is gradually increasing," Sheng said, who estimated that more than 10,000 millionaires paid a visit to the exhibition in the first two days, which was open only to people with invitation.

Invitees were also treated to a 4,000-yuan per head dinner at the opening ceremony Friday night. The event's sponsor, Cognac manufacturer Hennessy, promoted its top cognac Richard which is valued at 40,000 yuan per bottle and not for sale on the Chinese mainland.

Forty members of the public who had purchased 150-yuan tickets were allowed to visit the exhibition Sunday afternoon.
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(Shenzhen Daily December 18, 2006)