Stocking up on the latest fashion trends.

I still can’t get over how vast the change has been. When we arrived in China in September 2003, few Chinese seemed to be interested in buying pricey Western clothing and luxury items.

My wife and I would sometimes stroll at the World Trade Center mall near our apartment in southeast Beijing and comment on how few people were actually buying.

Boy, are things different now. We went this afternoon to a second shopping center, called The Place, that is about five blocks from our home and walking distance to the World Trade Center. There’s an outlet of Zara, a stylish Spanish clothing store that is booming worldwide. It was packed with customers. A line of people extended from the fitting rooms. A second line snaked from the cashiers. It’s doing booming business.

Just as occurred in Japan three decades ago, urban Chinese are growing prosperous and leaving behind the cheap counterfeit merchandise for the real thing. 

A number of Western clothing and restaurant chains appear to be doing very well. We’ve had some birthdays to celebrate recently and have been in the local Haagen Dazs ice cream shop. It’s usually packed, and often with Chinese families ordering the most elaborate ice cream concoctions costing the equivalent of $25 or $30.