China Tourism Academy estimated that 80 million tourists would travel outside China in 2012 with a whopping 3 billion travelers discovering locations closer to home. With greater access to travel inside and outside China's borders than ever before, young Chinese are eager to explore the world around them and report back. Rapidly expanding communities are pushing ideas away from simple shopping tours to the world's glitziest cities into a more independent way of traveling that favors backpacking, solo traveling, and traveling without a tour. To help Chinese gain confidence in stepping off the grid, apps and websites are being built to provide information, inspiration, and ready-made communities.

3 platforms you need to know about how young generation travel:

“Starting now, will you hand over your monthly income to your wife?” This is a common question for young grooms in China who know that society (especially in Shanghai and its surrounding cities) often expects the woman to control the purse strings. 

Reviewing the biggest events of this year, we came across this fabulous illustration.

(top to bottom) the top 10 events of 2012 are:

① 18^th national congress of the Communist Party of China – Chinese new president (omitted in the illustration, you know)

② Diaoyu Islands – anti-Japan incident

③ CCTV’s “Are you happy” street interview

We are excited to see Coca Cola applying the trend of “future mail” we reported two years ago to grab consumers' attention. (More info on the previous blog: U.S. Trend “Future Mail” Comes To Beijing’s Pandamandy Store) At participating convenience stores this Christmas, consumers who buy two bottles of Coke will be gifted a free Christmas postcard that they can put in the Coke mailbox to be delivered next Christmas.

Louis Vuitton has been losing its appealing and luxury image among Chinese consumers. In an online poll, netizens showed their uncertainty about the luxury brand and fleshed out the brand's recent 15% drop in sales from last year. As of December 12, 52.48% voted “not looking good”; 30.04% were not sure about it and only 17.49% thought it “looked promising” when netizens were asked “what do you think about LV going mainstream in China?” When asked “would you buy LV products”, 69.42% said they wouldn’t, compared to 18.3% who still would buy.

If consumers are confused about what constitutes organic, we don't blame them. According to CNCA (Certification and Accreditation Administration of the People’s Republic of China), there are currently two official national seals for organic products. The first certifies organic products and the second signifies organic products-to-be (meaning the facilities are being converted to meet organic standards).