ABSTRACT
On March 15, 1999, Beijing Youth Daily, one of China's two most popular newspapers, published a feature article under a headline printed in unusually big characters: "The Springtime of Consumption." The author seriously advised readers that recent policy changes signaled the state's intention to stimulate mass consumption. To justify this policy shift, the author argued that "consumption used to be condemned as a kind of corrupt lifestyle and was always described with epithets such as 'hyperconsumption,' 'in-advance consumption,' and 'luxury consumption.' Some leaders even ordered banks to stop issuing personal loans for buying houses and automobiles. It is only now that consumption has been lifted to the unprecedentedly high level that it so much deserves. Consumption will be China's locomotive of economic growth." 1
