Domestic market for economic bliss

China could overtake Japan as the world's second largest consumer market in the next decade. Its private consumption today is only about 16 percent and 56 percent of that in the United States and Japan. But China's strong GDP growth outlook bodes well for its domestic consumers, since it goes together with an increase in per capita income and the attainment of consumption thresholds.

Moreover, the Chinese government has an array of active policies oriented toward increasing disposable income and rebalancing its growth model toward domestic demand.

Many Western consumer and luxury brands have expanded into China after the global financial crisis struck, and have reported brisk sales, with some posting double-digit growth even during the global recession last year. One of the most concrete examples of this can be found in the automobile industry.