A fair in the lap of luxury in China

New Delhi: It's a fair in the lap of luxury in Shanghai. Luxury goods of all kinds were available in this Millionaire Fair of Communist China.

Millionaire Fair was an apt name for this Shanghai show. Now in its second year, this exhibition is a lavish display of wealth — from gold, silver and diamond jewellery to limousines, diamond-encrusted cellphone, a luxury villa worth more than $3 million and every other kind of luxury goods.

The fair targets China's growing ranks of the wealthy. China is now the world's third largest consumer of luxury goods and the market is expected to grow 20 per cent annually by 2008.

For foreign luxury retailers, it's an opportunity to win brand recognition.

"Basically, they can afford anything else comparable, same as other millionaires from the Western world. But they know less about luxury. So they are very eager to learn and to buy any other new things," David Zhong, CEO of Millionaire Fair, explains.

Admission to the fair was mostly by invitation. The lucky few got to see several fashion shows, tasted some of the world's finest wines with a gala evening ball thrown in.

Some tickets were on sale for the public, but at $80 each it was calculated to keep the general population out.