ABSTRACT
This chapter is based on over two decades of ethnographic research in China, and highlights five key dynamics that characterize the country's consumer revolution. The first dynamic is called 'conspicuous accomplishment'. Thorsten Veblen coined the term conspicuous consumption in the nineteenth century to describe how the nouveau riche behaved. The second dynamic is called 'brand ideologies'. While the state has retreated from several corners of citizens' lives, including daily household management, educational choices, and work, it has nonetheless remained a strong force in shaping the consumer experience. The third dynamic is called 'multiple nodes of cosmopolitanism'. China's consumer revolution is shaped by a complex set of cultural influences, emerging from both the West and the Global East. The fourth dynamic is called the 'public sphere of consumption'. Analyses of Chinese society today are often focused on whether there is the possibility of a 'true' public sphere to emerge. The fifth dynamic is called 'virtu-real spaces'.
