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Hello and welcome to World Today, the panel discussion with Mikko Anna in Beijing.
Fueled by rising consumption and attractive packages offered by tourism authorities, this summer promises to be a bumper season for tourism in China.
According to the Ministry of Transport, railway passenger trips during the summer break from July 1 to August 31 are expected to surpass 950 million.
That's a year -on -year increase of about 6%.
Travel platforms are also seeing a boom.
Group tour booking on 2NEW, for example, have surged by over 35%.
The growth has been spurred by the government's consumption policy, coupons issued by local tourism bureaus, and discount tickets for high school graduates.
The Ministry of Culture and Tourism has launched a nationwide summer consumption campaign featuring some 39 ,000 events, including theater performances, exhibitions, and nighttime cultural tours.
On top of that, over $80 million worth of subsidies are being distributed through travel coupons and bundled discount packages.
In addition to domestic tourism, Aoban Travel has also logged a robust growth.
Visa applications via Trip .com for destinations like Italy, Norway, and Germany have increased by over 80%.
So what does this summer travel frenzy reveal about the evolving patterns of Chinese consumer behavior?
How much signals a deeper shift in China's economic and social dynamics?
To delve into this, joining us on the line are Mario Cablo, founder and CEO of NFM Communications Group and senior fellow of Center for China and Globalization.
Thanks for joining us.
My pleasure, always.
Always. Mr. Chen Jiahe, Chief Investment Officer at Northern Arcade Technologies.
Great to have you. Well, thank you for having me.
Thank you. Professor Liu Baocheng, Director of the Center for International Business Ethics at University of International Business and Economics.
Welcome, Professor, as always.
Thank you. So, gentlemen, before we dive in, let's start with something chill.
Mario, have you planned any summer trips recently?
late. Did you come across any interesting or memorable summer exclusive consumption experiences?
Sure. And actually, I love the question because, as you might know from previous times when I've come on and talked about this topic, I am still and my family is still in the middle of discovering discovering our travels around wonderful, amazing northeast China since we moved here.
And it has been absolutely fantastic.
And this past summer so far, we did the same thing again, where, you know, Liaoning province is gorgeous.
Everybody in China always says, oh, you know, if you're going to travel, go to all of these places.
Zhangjiajie and Zhejiang province down down south of Hangzhou is so beautiful, but very few people talk about and don't understand how beautiful Liaoning province is.
And specifically, we do the road trip.
We're back to doing the local road trip.
We did it again twice this year so far over the summer.
And even better, my brother from the United States was back visiting with us and he is falling in love with these with these local road trips.
And the way we go from Shenyang is we head south southeast down through Bunxi and and beautiful, beautiful mountains and rivers.
And then we angle down south, heading down into Dandong and, of course, along the coast. I'll tell you more about it later in the show.
Yes, indeed, the northeast of China is too vast to explore in just one or two weeks.
Then, Professor Liu, how about you?
Any destination that's been blowing up your social media feed lately, ways like checking photos or travel posts?
Well, up to now, I've been immersed in massive reading and writing, but I do have a plan to visit Vienna next month for a tour in the keynote speeches and also in some of the promotion for academic exchanges.
But I would really be able to combine some of the travel experiences over there.
So, actually, normal summers, I would sponsor 20 pupils from a rural school to come to Beijing.
And also, I mobilize some volunteers from my university to help them to see the flag raising in Tiananmen Square and visit Summer Palace or Binnen City and some of the historical museums, etc. So, I find it's more meaningful.
for. And also as the Chinese saying that a true scholar will be able to understand the world without stepping out of your study.
I do observe many of the new transformative trends in Chinese summer economy, particularly to watch as a marketing professor, the consumption behavior of the younger generation and how they react to night markets, riverside camping, or night city Walks and music festivals now taught.
A movie is on after the future.
Now there is a stage.
So that's something that's very attractive.
This is really a very interesting summer.
And as an economist, I do see that there are some economic shifts in the buying behavior and also on the supply side.
I deeply respect your efforts in organizing organizing such meaningful charity tours for youth.
Mr. Chen, how's your summer?
Well, currently I'm staying in Hainan province, you know, the very famous tourism islands that China has set for the global tourists.
I spent the entire summer here.
So there are a few things that I think I want to mention.
The first thing is that you really see a lot of foreigners in Hainan province nowadays, you know, next to where I'm living, there being a hotel and you keep on seeing foreigners coming people from united states europe you know russia everywhere you see this you see so many people coming into hainan to visit basically because china has set visa -free policy for many countries for them to visit hainan so you actually see a lot of foreigners coming to visit and enjoy a trip in china in hainan province so this is really amazing this summer for me The rest of the things goes to that you keep on enjoying
the summer in this small island.
At the same time, you thank your air conditioner for taking very cool weather for you during the daytime.
I mean, nowadays, I don't think no one can live without an air conditioner in any place.
So the development of China's home appliances and electricity in this industry, the power industry, has been really, really important for people to enjoy a very good summer.
In my house is that air conditioner is never stopped throughout the day.
So I've recently seen that authorities say that this summer we will keep on supplying electricity at a very stable supply.
Basically because there has been a very sharp rising of using electricity.
Chinese people are using more and more air conditioner every day.
If you look at the selling of air conditioner, the companies are making a large profit and a lot of income and they have put a lot of pressure onto the power grid.
So currently the authorities are saying that they will do their best to keep the electricity supply because if you look at China's consumption of electricity, it's increasing at about 5 -7 % every single year.
This really tells you how fast the economy is growing.
growing. Indeed, from the vast north to Beijing, then to the tropical southern islands, China's summer economy is indeed thriving.
Gentlemen, back in my days, summer means popsicles and cartoons, or for some, it just means getting jobbed off at their grandparents' place in countryside.
What do you remember the most about your childhood summers?
And how do you think summer are different these days?
Professor Liu, would you like to start?
I was born in the countryside.
In the childhood and teenagehood, we would plunge into the local ponds and play with each other, throwing waters onto each other, driving cows, play with sheep.
We didn't really have a sense of summer like 50 years ago.
Well, summer holiday in that sense, but rather people never thought of any immediate entertainment and played with canes, you know, playing with some of the very primitive toys, etc. It was really a fond memory.
And how do you think the summer are different than this?
When you make a comparison, how do you characterize such difference between the two generations?
In the old time, there was no sense of even holiday.
Actually, during the mandatory planning period, like 40 years ago, then it shifted more to social mobility where people travel more freely And then they normally have excitement in taking pictures and tell their friend circle.
Now they use more of the WeChat to spread among their friend circle.
Now, I think observe, you know, in most recent years, we observe a new trend where there is a shift towards more personalized, experience -driven conception.
people no longer simply travel to see stuff and take selfies, but they travel for stories, for emotional resonance or self -expression.
So whether it's a drama location tourism or literature themed city walks or immersive music, they experience and parenting trips.
So consumers now, they design their trips before they build more of the knowledge and also they go for more lifestyle, more personal identity and education instead of simply for leisure and show.
show. Now, I think the heat is really also reshaping the people's travel plan.
Many people, they avoid the sun entirely and switch to nightlife consumption pattern.
That really gives further push to have the late -night economy like sports, music, and simply hang out in the beer bars.
Indeed. Mr. Chen, what's your take?
How were summers for you growing up?
And what feels is the most different now when you look at how young people spend their holidays today?
Well, so many differences.
I just tried to talk about them in two points.
The first one is, again, I want to say air conditioner.
It's really, really different.
I was born in 1984 and I spent my childhood in Nanjing, which is a middle city in the middle of China.
Nanjing is really, really hot during the summer.
How hot it was is that you can't sleep peacefully throughout the night.
Usually I remember that when I was kid, I had to get up at about 3 a .m. in the morning because I was too hot.
And I take a shower with cold water and I go back to sleep to about six or seven o 'clock in the morning.
That was going on when I was a child.
Nobody had the air conditioner back in the 1990s.
And now everyone has air conditioner.
So if you don't provide people with air conditioner and stay in China, and people say you're providing a working place, that is too bad.
They're not working for you in many cases.
So now this air conditioner becomes something necessary for almost everyone.
So this is entirely different.
I mean, back about three decades ago, we don't have air conditioner in the city.
You don't see them at all.
It was like a normal thing for you to get really hot during the summer.
It's natural, you know, but nowadays it's entirely different.
It's natural to have air conditioning.
So you see how, how fast the Chinese industry has been growing.
I mean, air conditioner is just one of them.
But if you look at things like automobile, we're producing about 30 million automobiles every single year.
And if you look at China's high -speed railroads, China's production of smartphone, TV set, everything, it's entirely different in three decades.
Another thing is that for traveling, when I was a kid, my daddy really took me out during the summer holiday to travel around China.
And at that time, we were taking the very old version, which we called the green chain.
So they were slow travelers.
It took you about two days from Nanjing to Xiamen City, where my granddad was born.
So it was about two days on the train.
And in many cases, you don't have much air condition on that train.
So it's really horrible traveling at that time, back about three decades ago.
But now it takes you like, I think it's about four, five hours on the latest version of China's high speed railroad, which travels at about 300 kilometers per hour.
or if you can take a flight it's just about two hours.
So I don't think today the kids would suffer from the pain that we were having when I was a kid.
Yes the summer experience has completely changed.
Mario I bet your childhood summers in the U .S. were full of fun too right?
Watching how your kids spend their summers here in China now if you had to pick just one word to describe today's a summer spending vibe in China, what would it be?
The one word is affordable, but I have to add to it affordable, like in the good old days, because when I was a kid, you made me realize a wonderful memory.
Maybe that's why I like doing road trips across China and around the outing so much. And that's because when I was a child, our son now is 14 years old.
And when I was his age, we would would pile in the family station wagon back in, say, early 1970s.
And we my dad would take us on a road trip and we would go on the famous East Coast road trip from New York down through Pennsylvania and Georgia and the Carolinas all the way down into Florida and spend some time at Disney World down there.
And that's what we used to do back then.
And it was amazing to be be able to go on those road trips.
And I remember my dad doing the daily budget, believe it or not, for going on those road trips, the daily budget of $100 US for everything.
It was pretty amazing compared to how much it costs now.
And likewise, here in China, and of course, it's not just Liaoning province.
You can jump in a vehicle and go on these amazing road trips.
I think people People are spending more time traveling because it's now more affordable.
Professor Liu, what's your take beyond the holiday season itself?
What other factors might be contributing to this boom of the summer economy in China?
Fundamentally, it's the continuous improvement of the infrastructure.
Rows are getting so smooth where people will not hesitate to drive their whole family to another place, which used to be a mysterious one.
And then the other is really the digital inspiration where platforms like Xiaohongshu, Douyin, they are bringing people more to the real site and give them the sort of a real site where people can really narrow their space between discovery and active purchase.
And now DeepSeek, Yuanbao, and these digital platforms can give you in immediate arrangement like a very candid secretary to build your travel plan and you're spending and some even help you to book tickets to get a multi -mode type of our travel plan and then the other is I also observed that as a consumer are getting more profound what we call is really reverse traveling It used to be that more of the local people from third -tier cities or even from the rural area, they go to bigger cities and those conventional spots.
But no longer so. The people value more of their personal experience discovering some of the remote villages.
Yes. And they look for more meaning and understanding.
and they get more mesmerized in historical happening.
For example, some people visit the part of the Yangtze River.
They rediscover the three kingdoms where they fight and who was more just to fall in winning the war, etcetera.
And also there is, on the supply side, it's getting more and more innovative.
The companies, local cities, they sponsor a lot more of the performance festivals, build more of the attractions for night walks along the river, if not on the seaside.
There are also the cross -cultural markets where they attract more of the interest beyond the traditional food they can really provide.
So all of this really combined gave people the temptation and also the affordability and then the facility for them to transform their travel experience.
A variety of enriching activities are provided.
Mr. Cheng, anything to add?
What do you think are the main reasons behind the growth of summer tourism in China?
That basically comes from the fact that Chinese people are just getting more income, more holidays.
And you see a growing GDP in the past four or five decades.
And currently China's per capita GDP is reaching this threshold of about 13 ,000 USD per capita.
And if you look at the growing of economics and industries, the GDP growth level between 10 ,000 to 20 ,000 U .S. deep capital is a very critical point, which means people's consumption are turning from what we call the compulsory consumption toward discretionary consumption.
that people no longer consume to you know to survive but they consume to make themselves happier they make they spend more money on more quality goods more entertainment all these kind of things and if you look at the tourism industry of almost every country it grows really faster between this period I mean if you look an economy going from like $2 ,000 USD per capita to 5 ,000 then during this period you won't see a boom of tourism industry because that's a you know a pre -development level of an economy but if you see an economy between 30 000 to 40 000 if it goes from 30 000 to 40 000 usd per
capita the tourism industry is not growing that fast because people already had enough money to travel but between 10 to 20 000 usd per capita is a very critical level for For people to put more and more of their income toward what we call discretionary consumption.
Where tourism and traveling is one of the very important components of this discretionary consumption.
And that's why you see so many Chinese people traveling around.
Let's talk into details about the emerging trends.
Mr. Chen, driven by the heat, indoor sports like surfing and skiing have become increasingly popular in China.
How do you see the rise of winter sports consumption in summer these days in China?
Well, the winter sport is actually rising quite a lot because China didn't have a very strong position with winter sports in the past. So that's why you see its growth is so fast in recent years.
I mean, if you look at the most important economic zones of China, for example, Jiangsu province, Zhejiang province, especially the Guangdong province, including cities like, you know, Shenzhen, Guangzhou and Hong Kong, which we call the Greater Bay Area.
Most of these places are southern provinces.
They're not located in the north.
So historically, China was not very strong with the winter sport.
But that also means with a smaller base to start from, you can get a faster growth speed.
I mean, nowadays is that the winter sport is no longer concentrated, is no longer limited by the weather that you can only play it in the northern provinces during the winter.
winter, but because the prevailing of air conditioner, especially the air conditioner in giant shopping malls.
Even in Shenzhen, you can do winter sports at the hottest period of summer, and because it's so cool, doing too much sports when the weather is too hot is not really good for your health.
I have been doing that, it's really hurting.
You can't be sporting for too long when the weather is too hot.
I think I can last about 30 minutes and that's maximum I can get.
After that, it's just too much heat and your body can't get this heat out.
So even during the summer, there is a requirement of winter sport.
Or we say, we probably don't call it winter sport, we call it cool sport.
You can keep on training without losing too much of the water from your body because of the heat.
So these kind of things are starting to prevail thanks to all the air conditioning that has been used in these giant shopping malls.
Professor Liu, eight of the top ten indoor snow parks are actually located in the southern cities in China where it rarely snows at all.
What does this geographical shift suggest about the market potential for indoor sports in summertime?
Oh, I call it experienced democratization, where the accessibility was so difficult for people in the South to experience snow and also snow activities ice activities now it becomes more available therefore these cities they have the capital they have the market potential particularly among the younger people so therefore with the they will not really lose the opportunity to build more of the facilities for them to enjoy the entertainment, leisure of those snow parks, ice coverings, et cetera.
The massive infrastructure that's there becomes more of attraction, not only to be able to avoid the heat, but also it helps people to integrate their lifestyle, for fitness, and they also be able to enjoy some of the social aesthetic and curated life.
So surfing and skiing are now part of the hobby and part of the brag for some of the young people.
Then this can really have a very dispersive effect on many other of their people in their own concert so therefore you see there's more group activities to participate in such sort of events so this is really something that is very new but it's gonna be a trendsetter thanks gentlemen let's have a short break Coming back, we'll continue our discussion on China's summer economy.
Welcome back to World Today, the panel discussion with Mika Anna in Beijing.
Let's continue our discussion on China's summer travel boom and what it reveals about shifting consumer trends.
OK, gentlemen, let's shift gear to the next topic.
The study shows traditional destinations continue to dominate this summer, but lesser -known spots are also rising in popularity.
So, Mario, how do you see the rise of lesser -known destinations suddenly becoming popular travel spots?
Have you noticed any such places around you that have turned into summer hotspots in recent years?
Oh, yes. The idea that the lesser known spots are becoming the ones that are rising in popularity speaks exactly to the professor's comment earlier that I absolutely love, where it used to be that everybody from everywhere else in China, the third and fourth tier cities, the countryside, oh, they all want to go to the big city.
They want to go to Beijing, they want to go to Shanghai, they want to go to Shenzhen.
Now we have a reverse happening.
I love that observation.
And it's so true. It's exactly what I've been saying, that the people in the big cities are like, no, we want to go and have a more interesting experience and adventure, a road trip.
And that's what we've been doing.
And that's what a lot of our friends are doing.
And when you, as an example, do hit the road here in Liaoning Province and discover – do you discover lesser -known spots that are more popular?
Oh, you do. For example, a place called Lao Bien Go, which is just this absolutely idyllic, beautiful valley area that is so expansively beautiful and green.
And then you can stay in this lovely little cabins for, you know, only 300 RMB a night and you are on a crystal clear river and then able to go to a spot down the road where you do what's called a river rafting where you jump in your little tube and you go floating down this crystal clear river with campsites and barbecue all along the way for three or four hours.
And this costs 150 RMB, you know, some incredibly low amount of money for this wonderful experience.
Well, then I want to even add to that, as you're traveling around the different provinces of China, and this especially applies to the Northeast, because it used to be where the Japanese invaded.
And as you're out exploring these magnificent places, you also will run into the scattering shattering of memorial sites, showing some specific event that happened related to the Japanese occupation, related to when the Japanese invaded.
And you would never find that local history in the lesser known spot, right?
You only find it when you arrive there, when you get there.
These are just, again, they're amazing experiences because you're uncovering a touch of history and and a touch of culture, it's amazing for the kids, and it's amazing for the adults as well, and it's an exact reverse of the idea that normally you want to go to the big famous places.
No, you don't. You want to go to the lesser -known spots and make all of these wonderful local discoveries, and the last of that, of course, ends up being the local food from all the local family vendors, which, of course, is also very, very unique in China.
It's very common these days, merging study with travel experiences.
Mr. Chen, some lower tier cities have gone viral thanks to local festivals like Zibo's barbecue fair or some social media fame.
What do you make of this phenomenon that people tend to visit lesser known destinations these days?
Yeah, I mean, we can see this kind of increasing visits has provided a lot of opportunities for smaller cities who were out of the list of tourism industry before.
but nowadays you can grab a huge amount of tourists and local economies has been developed.
And this brought a lot of income for the locals, especially a lot of employment opportunities because tourism industry employs so many people.
And the reason behind this is, first of all, the rising of the overall tourism industry of China.
You know, people are getting more excited to go out because they've got more income and more leisure time, more holidays and everything.
The second very important thing is the prevailing of live stream and online internet video, all these kind of things.
Basically, because in the old days where we didn't have the new media, if a city wants to get itself famous in the tourism market, it has to put a lot of advertisement costs.
And this is really expensive.
It's really not affordable for smaller cities.
but nowadays the live streaming the social media is so prevailing that you don't really have to do much things you don't have to spend a huge amount for the advertisement cost what you all have to do is shut out why your place is so good for during the summer or during the winter and you put these advertisements and short videos on the internet and people just watch them on their mobile phone long terminals and many people would just come.
So the cost of advertisement has been significantly reduced.
And this brings a lot of opportunity for smaller cities, such as you said, Zibu and many other small places.
I mean, yes. Oh, yes.
Another thing is that China has been developing its transportation network by a very large extent.
So nowadays, it's just easier for you to travel.
I mean, previously it can take you two or three days to go to a small city but nowadays you just get high -speed railroad everywhere the station goes to the smallest city of china so it became just so easy for people from large cities like shanghai or nangjing or shenzhen to go out and spend three or five days in a smaller city that you would never dream of going to back to two decades ago because it just costs you too much time on the roads so this is also another very important reason yeah may i jump in yes please along this exact same line the professors have mentioned it that not only are people
interested in going to the local places the the smaller villages the out of the lesser known spots that turn out to be these lovely little paradises but when they arrive there as has been mentioned that the service level the local people have gotten it together they've gotten sophisticated they've learned how to use the new apps and social media and they've learned to up their game in terms of providing better local personalized service.
This is a kind of extra level of service that people are finding so much more easy and appealing.
They arrive at a local train station and there's now a booth with a full WeChat that's a mini program and a little information counter and you arrive and and you didn't even leave the train station yet, and you scan the QR code, and now you've got every bit of detailed information about the local area right at your fingertips.
And another final example that I have to mention, because we've been doing the road trip, and of course on the road trip you stop at what are called the gas station rest areas.
Well, China's gas station rest areas, I don't think I have to tell you what they used to be like 15 years ago, right?
They were pretty down, and what it was like when you you needed to go into the bathrooms in the countryside.
Well, now, wow, they have become the most comfortable, wonderful places to stop with varieties of local foods and vendors, restaurants, local knickknacks of things to purchase, which I've purchased at these local gasoline station truck rest stops.
And all of this is at your fingertips before you've even arrive just from stopping at the rest stops it's all become such wonderful information and communications infrastructure that has made going on these trips much more easy and pleasant and convenient.
I think that's also why we see cultural and tourism officials across different regions are actively using social media to promote their local highlights in various creative creative ways.
Exactly. Professor Liu, what are your thoughts on this?
Do you think this trend can be sustained?
Definitely. I think in a nutshell, it's a meeting between inspiration and aspiration.
To inspire people, as you mentioned, there are a lot of catering that are there to give more of the appeals to attract the tourism from the cities into those local corners.
They also provide a lot more attractions, like even the cultural storytelling, music concert and even basketball competition in the villages.
So that's more attractive.
The other as also our professor mentioned that the local community is there to be available.
So that's the inspirational part.
Not to mention about the digital promotion at low cost. On the aspiration side, people are no longer seeking the prestige or luxury in a five -star hotel, but they seek for novelty, for local authenticity, and more of the emotional expression in the local area, particularly for those areas that have a long history and some of the relics that can give them more of the inspiration to ponder over what happened in history and how our ancestors really created certain type of arts, certain type of way of planting, etc. So this meeting is there to be able to bring localized itering versus personalized
meat so that's the trendsetter gentlemen let's take a closer look at generation z's spending habits exploring the power of youth through the post -exam economy after the national college entrance exam go call graduates become a major force in summer spending professor liu what new patterns have you observed from this particular group?
Well, I think one key word for this group is discovery.
They have been almost locked in the campus and then they won't get crazy simply you know the getting out of the campus and see a much larger world.
As a matter of fact, I was embarrassed that I recommended one of my students some years ago to a big multinational firm.
I put my credibility on it And then three months later, their boss called me that, where is your student?
He's no longer appearing in the office.
And then I called him and said, oh, professor, I'm sorry to tell you that I'm halfway driving my bike to Tibet.
Well, to our older generation, this guy sounds to be crazy.
But they have a good reason to do that.
One is that they no longer have to support their family because their parents have accumulated certain portions of the household expenditures.
Secondly, they really wanted to explore the world.
Then one thing I think that's very impressive is that they do a lot more homework before they go out.
So they build the knowledge, discover their real interest is, and also to build a very solid plan for their road at the bookmarks.
Also, they get connected online with some of the local, not only tourist agency, but to make some friends online so that they feel more comfortable to travel locally.
And then they also are ready to share through the WeTechWallops to their friend circle.
And some of them even do business out of this.
So as long as they build certain traffic, they can really recommend local producers and local arts so that they can really turn out to be a startup company.
So this is a very interesting development.
Mr. Chen, how do you see the spending habits of this group and their role in driving the economy today?
The younger generation is definitely having a much more tendency to spend more money with traveling with whatever that is they don't save as much as the older generations like me you know myself and the people for people in their 60s or 70s they save more money and the younger generation are just spending more and that's because the changing of habits for this generation of chinese is that they had a pretty rich childhood compared with their parents and and grandparents, so they didn't really form that much habit of saving.
The previous generations were always saving a lot because they got a pretty poor childhood, so they know saving is really critical for them.
If they don't save, on the other hand, they don't have much wealth because their parents didn't pass up much wealth for them.
But for the younger generation, the first thing is that they got the habit of not saving because they just got enough money to spend.
And the The second is that their parents have already accumulated a lot of wealth.
I mean, look at how much flats our family has.
We've got stocks. These stocks are given how much dividend every year.
That's probably enough to feed you for the next few decades.
They started believing that they're not really that needing to save that much money.
I mean, Chinese people still save a lot if you compare even the saving rate of the younger generation to the rest of the world.
The saving rate is still high.
but it's actually lower compared with the previous generation.
So these people just start to spend a bit more for their own recreation.
Travelling is just one of them, so you see them keep on travelling around the country.
I think the rise of this summer economy depends both on the right timing of fixed holidays and also on the growing consumer voice of the younger generation.
So under this dual influence model, based on your observation, which core demands of young consumers such as experience, social interaction, and value for money stand out the most in summer consumption?
They want nice experiences, but they definitely also are looking for value for money.
I just, as I was listening to the other comments, popped into my head that the Chinese young students, the post -Gaokao ones, are becoming more and more like the European young people.
And I compare and contrast that to the American who are completely different.
And what I'm referring to is the fact that, you know, it's well known all over the world that Americans don't go anywhere.
You know, and this is just the truth.
Many Americans don't even have passports.
When they travel, they stay in their own country.
For whatever reasons, that's been known and understood that that's Americans.
But that's not Europeans.
When you graduate, the family encourages you and other young people, other young Europeans are ready to sling on the backpack for not a month, but three months, six months, even a year to just go and hit the road and go see the world.
And so now we're seeing the young Chinese are post -Gaokao, and they're out there going, all right, I want to go, I want to go, I can travel.
And as was mentioned, well, our family is, it's not like the previous generation, they didn't have any money.
This generation of people has money.
money. Two, three, even four apartments and every apartment's worth at least a couple million RMB and they got a good chunk of savings in the bank.
I mean, there isn't this pressure to save so much and be so frugal.
And we've just gone now and we're young and we have an opportunity to go ahead and hit the road, sling on our backpacks at the same time.
Go see the world, go see things, meaning including just even if it just means traveling all around china which which has many magnificent places to go visit it's great go discover your homeland first but not in a wasteful way they're not staying at five -star hotels and buying 60 uh 70 rmb margaritas and in bottles of beer they they want to and they are still doing and they still have the sense of frugality and and they need and want to see value in the money that they're spending.
They're still being careful with their budgets.
Gentlemen, another interesting phenomenon is the rise of the beauty economy after exams. According to reports, medical aesthetics clinics see a student consumption peak every June to August, mainly aged 18 to 25, with numbers nearly doubling.
Popular procedures include double eyelid surgery, rhinoplasty, etc. This is a rare moment for young people to refresh their look before a new life stage.
So, Professor Liu, let me start with you.
How do you interpret this growth?
What consumption trends does it reflect in China?
Fortunately, I have double eyelids by birth.
So, well, it seems that the older generation are not very happy seeing all that.
But the reality is that looks or experience become the currency, not only in the dating process, but in the job interviews, in their live streaming.
And that also helped them to enhance their need for self -esteem.
So the cosmetic procedures, they are getting increasingly normalized, even along the streets.
So it seemed to be a trade for self -optimization, much like the fitness or fashion.
So also, I think the digital platforms, they also gave a further push to show the differences before and after the century.
So that, you know, people are getting more and more incentivized to do that type of job.
And then this is also a lazy approach. Actually, instead of, you know, sweating in the gym, you know, they just there to do a surgery with the parent money.
And then it seems that I have a better tighten skin.
I have the double eyelids, etc. So this is something that can be understood.
But me personally, that's not really appreciative.
Mr. Chen, what's your stance?
Is this trend more led by parents or by the young consumers themselves?
What does it say about changing consumer attitudes these days in China?
That's basically the demand coming from the younger generations.
I mean, as far as I know, the parents are not really keen to pay money for these things.
It's a tradition in China not to do much things to your face.
You know, Chinese people don't really have this tradition in the past. But with the growing consumption power of the younger generation, in the first place, many of them start going to countries like South Korea and Japan, who had more mature industries compared with China back about a decade ago.
And they go to do the surgeries, more surgeries in these countries.
But now with the growing of China's own industry in the past few years, I would say past five or 10 years, more and more customers are starting to stay within the border because it just saves the trip.
It's easier for you to find the doctor after the surgery if you have to do some smart adjustments or if you get some sickness after the surgery.
It's easier if the hospital or the clinic is right next to your home.
So more and more people choose to do this kind of treatment inside the border of China.
I mean, this this growth of the consumption demand, this is the rising of a new generation.
And this is also happening because of the growing of this industry in China.
Mario, could you share with us some of perspectives abroad?
What does this tell us about shifts in consumption mindset?
Yeah, the idea of this into this area, it's happening.
and I do have a quite a local tidbit of news to share with you in this regard here in the city of Shenyang, just two blocks away from where I live, right on the south side of the riverfront at famous Ching Nian Bridge in the heart of downtown in this big beautiful 40 -story commercial building right on the riverfront is just opened and having their grand opening next month with the support of Middle Eastern billionaires investment money, what is the largest plastic surgery hospital in the world, not in China, in the world.
It's thirty four stories of hospital and they're having their grand opening next month.
Obviously, it's huge build in demand and huge investment happening in this area.
I guess young people, as mentioned earlier, are viewing it as part of things that are physical and fashion, right?
You know, everything that has to do with your looks, which would be you go physically to the gym to look better and feel better and fashion and makeup and hair.
And I guess now this has moved over into even some of these reconstructions as well, as all part of outward physical appearance.
And right here in Shenyang, like I said, the largest new plastic surgery hospital in the world, right here in Northeast China.
China. I think a lot of young people, they just want to get themselves ready, looking good, feeling strong and mentally prepared before heading to college so they can take on the road.
Gentlemen, let's turn to the final question.
In your opinion, can the current consumption boom boost confidence in the overall domestic market in the second half of the year?
Professor Liu, would you like to start?
Based on the performance of the first half of the year IMF has raised their prediction over China's economic growth by 0 .8%.
So this is something that's very encouraging.
So as long as people have the affordability by increased income, this trend shall sustain.
On the other hand, some of the sectors of Chinese economy are also So going through some painstaking effort to go for transformation and the private sector are not as robust as expected.
Therefore, I think for younger generation, they have to be prepared for some reality in their job seeking process after they get a whole while of crazy during the summer.
Then the older generation now China has gradually raised the bar for retirement.
So, therefore, they have to prepare to work more.
Now, as for the deep -seeking type of experience and discovery, I think this trend will be there to continue.
So, more of the localities, more of the unique offering in some of the remote area in the local township will be able to survive and even prosper.
Mr. Chen, how do you see the summer economy influencing the broader economic trend in the month ahead in China?
Well, if you look at the summer economy, it has been growing pretty well.
We have seen a large rally with the traveling industry.
We can also see that China has been keep on giving subsidies for consumption.
And recently a large subsidy has been given for new birth child and all these subsidies has been helping the growing of China's economy.
So this has been a pretty promising economic growth at this moment.
So currently looking forward to the next, we've got five months left for this year, we can see that investors and consumers are having pretty large confidence because the performance has been pretty good in the first half of the year where the record has been showing us that.
And also because currently China is having a soft landing property market.
I mean, the property market has been coming down for the past four or five years and it's reaching a soft landing.
So the impact from the property market is reducing to the economic growth.
And also the tariff from the United States has been going on for, you know, ever since the Trump administration started this tariff wall.
And if you look at China's economic growth, we are withholding this pressure coming from the Trump administration.
And we can also see that the trading of China with many other economies around the world is still rising amid this war from Trump.
So it's basically, if you look at every economic sector, it looks like pretty promising at the moment.
And that's why you see the stock market has been growing pretty fast these years.
So basically speaking, yeah, I mean, people do have confidence towards the economic growth in the next few months.
Mario, how might the booming summer economy affect the overall economic outlook in the month to come, in your opinion?
I'll find the booming summer economy is just another indication of my doubt -free confidence that China's growth will continue.
you. I want to say a very specific point here that there's some deflation happening, right?
We've talked about some things becoming more affordable, which some call deflation, right?
It's deflation. And it's true.
There's a lot of inventory of stuff in China right now.
And so pricing is down.
If you are out buying, as we are ourselves, in fact, if you're out buying furniture and doing things to redecorate your home and do a drawn show, these things are less expensive.
So there's some deflation.
And every Western pundit is going to tell you about, oh, that that's just means China's economy is weak.
No, it doesn't. And not at all.
As we've talked about today, greater affordability is leading to greater spending.
We're seeing the greater spending.
We're seeing it at every major Chinese national holiday.
Right. Right. So, for example, the May holiday that just passed, we're seeing it this summertime with the families.
We're going to see it again.
We're going to see record breaking spending in October for the October holiday.
It's going to happen.
We're going to see record breaking spending next year for the February China, you know, for the January New Year holiday and then for the February Chinese New Year holiday.
This is the pattern.
This is what it's been for years.
I have zero doubts and concerns about it.
China is now the largest, as I love to say, China is now the largest safe, stable, successful, capable, civil and peaceful country on the planet.
They're going to continue growing and growing and growing into their new role.
The rising China across the world is the new global superpower even.
And domestically, we're going to be fine.
Thanks, gentlemen. That was a really enlightening discussion.
Many thanks to our panelists for their in -depth perspectives.
That's all the time for this edition of A Word Today.
I'm Gui Anna. Thank you so much for listening.
Until next time.
