Elegance comes with a price tag to match

Chen Si has been visiting trendy department stores such as Lane Crawford since she and her husband bought a four-bedroom apartment in Shanghai.

The 38-year-old mother of two boys expects to move into their 20 million yuan ($3.23 million) home in September.

"I will probably spend another 3 million yuan on furniture and appliances," she said. "The apartment will be our home for decades, so I don't want to buy furniture that will date quickly."