Bling bling: It's the yokel barons

A Chinese word, tuhao, has found special mention on the BBC recently for its widespread use in online conversations. The British broadcaster explains it to mean "nouveau riche", but everyone in China knows it means so much more than that.

It describes newly rich yokel tycoons who have worked their way up from the ground, yes, but it is also used to describe things considered particularly kitschy, including the gold iPhone 5S pushed out recently in a not-so-subtle rainbow of colors.

It describes unrestrained consumerism, especially those outside designer stores in Hong Kong, Paris or Milan and in flagship stores in Switzerland where timepieces are carted off by the dozens.