Festival puts inequality in focus

Rich Chinese spent $7.2 billion abroad on luxury goods during the weeklong Spring Festival holiday, becoming the most powerful purchasing group in the process. Contrast this with migrant workers struggling to travel home for that all-important annual family reunion and then return to cities, with many even riding pillion on motorcycles to save money.

Over the last few years, it has become a trend among the rich to travel abroad during the Lunar New Year, which is not surprising given the rising affluence in China.

In high-income Western countries, conspicuous consumption reflecting financial success starts with a nice home and furnishings and then moves on to a desirable automobile. The third consumable is a "status vacation". If one cannot get a "winter tan" on a sun-baked beach in a tropical country, there is always a ski resort as an exhilarating alternative. A cruise vacation is another dream many Westerners aspire to realize.