Roseman quotes Liang Haoji, one such consumer, who said “I’ve been fond of high-quality coats since I was very young. A good quality jacket priced at no more than 20,000 yuan is acceptable to me. I work hard, so I should treat myself better,” he added.

Though global growth may have flatlined, China has become one of the primary players in the world’s luxury market.

“Following China’s entry into the WTO, global luxury brands are jostling to expand in a country that opens wider,” explained Michael Ouyang of the World Luxury Association.

“Cooling red-hot housing prices is just like putting out a wildfire,” explained Wang Haibin of Shenzehn World Union Properties Consultancy Co. “Now we can say the fire won’t spread further, but it will still take time before its extinguished.”

In the report, Roseman writes: “Consumers spent a record high 7.1 billion yuan ($1.1 billion), up an annual 17.6%, at 5,000 stores of 456 large and middle sized local retailers during October 1^st to 7^th.”

Though last year’s National Holiday week yielded more sales, this year’s increase still holds a 6.1% higher record than the Spring Festival.

Chen Linhui of the Department of Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation explained that the measures will induce a slowdown in export growth as well as boost domestic consumption.  “They will include simplifying the approval process for domestic sales, establishing convenient financing, expanding sales channels and enhancing brand image,” he said.

He quoted Xie Zhenhua of the National Development and Reform Commission, stating: “China will soon release detailed plans on ensuring that its goal for reducing carbon intensity from 2011 to 2015 is attainable, and it has started looking at technical options for cutting carbon dioxide emissions after 2020.”

Su Wei of the Department of Climate Change of the NDRC also said “The targets surely need to be handed over to local governments, and a specialized blueprint for cutting greenhouse-gas emissions is a necessity.”

Adam Roseman of ARC Investment Partners explained in a newsletter, stating that:

“A figure above 50 denotes expansion, while a reading below that level points to contraction. At its current level, the Chinese PMI suggests that manufacturing growth has nearly stalled in month-on-month terms. The question now is whether the next step for Chinese factory growth will be outright contraction or stabilization. A separate PMI published by HSBC a week ago had pointed at contraction, but the official PMI on Monday offered grounds for cautious optimism.”

Jean Sun, a partner at PricewaterhouseCoopers China, said “Despite the decrease in China’s IPO market activity in the first six months this year, we believe the momentum remains robust for 2011, due to high confidence in the growth of China’s economy and domestic demand. Other factors, such as the large amount of capital and limited investment channels, will also help stimulate the market.”

PwC also predicted that China’s IPO market leaders will be the manufacturing industry, information technology, financial services and retail, consumer goods and services.

Aiming to raise 20 billion yuan, or $3.1 billion, the China Culture Industrial Investment Fund was launched by the Ministry of Finance and three other companies.

“The cultural industry still lacks vitality and companies find it hard to raise funding and invest in others; the fund is intended to ease these problems,” explained the Vice-Minister of Finance Li Yong.

The China Culture Industrial Investment Fund is one of many new investment funds in the field. Venture capital and private equity companies are also taking interest in the cultural sector.

“The market is full of potential but many cultural companies are not competitive enough to thrive. That’s why culture has to marry industry to make itself big,” Yu Feng of the Yunfeng Fund said.

According to Scilla Huang Sun, equity head at Swiss & Global Asset Management, on average, Chinese consumer companies “have a higher valuation that consumer companies elsewhere. But that’s also due probably to their higher growth potential. Also, all these Chinese companies have almost 100 percent exposure to the Chinese market, whereas luxury companies including Prada have only a partial exposure.”

Starbucks said the transaction would enable it to increase profitability in China, because it would give the company more direct control of the stores in Chongqing municipality as well as five other provinces.

The agreement states that Maxim’s will be given 100% control over Starbucks branches in Hong Kong and Macao.

According to the company, they intend to have 1,500 Starbucks-branded stores opened in China by 2015.