..... the new shopping opportunities .....
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Either in the China World Trade Center...
... or in the "Oriental Plaza", Asia's biggest commercial complex, modern shopping takes place in huge and glossy malls.
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Shops with designed interiors woo customers with international brands.
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Few customers can afford it. The others dream: of new international fashion, swanky cars and everything capitalism has to offer.
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The modern Chinese woman cultivates her fashionable, western look.
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Some shopping centers offer more attractions than just consumption goods: e.g. the skating rink in the China World Trade Center.
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Even not so well-heeled customers find a way to satisfy their interest in Western consumption and cultural goods. Street vendors occasionally offer Western magazines and music. From Flamenco to Jimi Hendrix and Dire Straits you can get for a good price what is not easily found in Beijing's shops.
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Some people have developed a taste for French (snack-) cuisine. Cafe and croissant are no longer words unheard of in Beijing.
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But not everybody can participate in this new consumption. The growing gap between poor and rich people is one of China's most pressing problems nowadays.