Prada, Louis Vuitton, Yves Saint-Laurent, Rolex - once reviled as symbols of the worst bourgeois excess, outlets for high-end luxury goods manufacturers like these can be found on main streets and in up-market shopping malls across China today.

And they're no longer restricted to the bigger cosmopolitan cities of the eastern seaboard – second and third tier cities are also sprouting luxury shopping streets, with developers seeing outlets for brands like these as key tenants in prestige commercial projects.

A new report says one quarter of the world's luxury goods were consumed by Chinese last year. And in the next five years, China is expected to be the largest consumer of luxury goods. Robert Polet, the CEO of Gucci, has been quoted as saying China will replace the United States as the second largest luxury products consumer next year. Insiders expect the Chinese to consume nearly 15 billion US dollars worth of luxury goods during the next five years. Statistics show Chinese consumers purchase luxury products when they travel overseas. Tourism operators say, when Chinese book tours to Europe, nearly all request some time to shop in luxury stores. Our researcher KEVIN JIA has been looking into online reaction to this story and we can join him now in the news room.

An annual survey of China's wealthy - the Hurun Rich List came out recently – amongst its findings: that 55 thousand people have a consumption capacity of nearly 100 million yuan – that's about 16 million dollars per year – each! The report says about 60% of that money is invested in real estate and much of the rest on luxury goods. So how do those with a little less to spend on themselves feel about this? Our reporter Julia Wang went out on the streets of Beijing to find out.

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In recent times hundreds of millions of Chinese people have been freed from worry about basic necessities - and many have acquired previously undreamt of wealth.
But with virtually no exposure to luxury goods until little over a decade ago, who can steer this new generation of consumers through the bewildering world of fashion and luxury brands.
BON's Niva Whyman recently sat down with one of the country's new "style leaders", who hopes to help fulfill that role.

As China's economy continues to grow, more and more Chinese now have money to travel- and shop.

Hong Kong has especially become a hotspot for many mainland shopaholics looking to get out of town while getting good deal on the latest luxury goods. But with the droves of mainland tourists now choosing Hong Kong as their travel destination an increased number unlicensed tourism agencies have also popped up- causing new problems for the region’s tourism council.

Yesterday we showed the first part of BON reporter Hattie Zhao's report on China's rise as the second largest economy in the world. We took a look at what contributed to the country's dramatic growth in GDP over the past several years, as well as the rising issues the country now faces due to its new clout as an emerging economic powerhouse- Issues that include migration, pollution, and growing inequality between classes. In Part One, we learned that China’s real estate bubble has dramatically widened the gap between the country's rich and poor. And this disparity can be evidenced in the fact that though China’s per capita GDP is less than that of developing nations like Namibia and Ecuador- it now boasts the world’s second largest consumption of luxury goods. Today, as we continue the second part of Hattie’s report, we take a look at the everyday life of ordinary Chinese people- how their lives are changing as their country’s economy continues to change. Yesterday we ended the program with Kerstin’s interview- as she spoke of the changes her family has experienced in the past 10 years of China's economic rise.

The Mid-West may not seem the likeliest place to sell Chinese culture and quality products to the US. But that's just what one enterprising Beijing-based investment company plans to do. And these ambitious entrepreneurs are confident they can make a profit too. BON's Kelda Yuen has more.

This coming August, Beijing's Toward Group will transform a currently vacant shopping Mall in the heart of the Mid-West into North America's very first Chinese shopping center.