At the PSFK Conference Asia 2008, Nick Barham (Wieden Kennedy, Shanghai) explores the anxiety, opportunity and extravagance of the Chinese middle class.  Deliberately not speaking about the “Olympics, the Dali Lama, Tibet, the earthquake, their amazing economic growth, or all the reason why the West is scared or worried about China growing,” Nick focuses on the aspirations of China’s middle class and the broader social changes that are happening at that level.
Noting that the number of new credit cards issued in China jumped from 3 million in 2003 to 90 million in 2007, Nick describes how the middle class are [...]