Golden Week sales exceed expectations

I spent China's 70-year National Day festivities in Shanghai, China's global financial hub, and Guangzhou, the global trade hub of the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area. In both, China's massive transition toward consumption and innovation is now increasingly evident.

Like their peers in the United States, Europe and Japan, Chinese consumers are cost-conscious, increasingly discriminate and sophisticated in their spending. Indeed, sales of gold jewelry boomed during the holidays, fueled by gold prices, holiday festivities and the wedding season.

But unlike their counterparts in advanced economies, where the middle-class is shrinking, the Chinese middle income group continues to grow, expand and consume. That is creating great opportunities in China and overseas alike.