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Monday, 21 September 2009
Wealthy clients shell out 99,990 yuan for a golden hairy crab
Shi Tuanjie is not saying who, but someone has bought 11 pairs of hairy crabs from him for no less than 1,099,890 yuan (HK$1.25 million). Another customer bought one pair for 99,990 yuan.
Wealthy clients shell out 99,990 yuan for a golden hairy crab
He Huifeng 18 September 2009
Shi Tuanjie is not saying who, but someone has bought 11 pairs of hairy crabs from him for no less than 1,099,890 yuan (HK$1.25 million). Another customer bought one pair for 99,990 yuan.
The crabs themselves are not that expensive: they cost only a few hundred yuan a pair. It is the packaging that sets these crabs apart - the box they come in is made of gold.
And Shi, a crab culturist in Nanjing, Jiangsu, has 50 pairs for sale at that price.
So while the central government is anxiously cutting back on spending for the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic, rich mainlanders are indulging in more than a bit of extravagance for the other special observance that week - the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is on October 3.
Shi had decorated a male hairy crab weighing 300 grams with more than 200 grams of gold, and its 200-gram female partner with 135 grams of gold, the China Youth Daily reported. Also included is a box of eight traditional crab-cracking tools made of silver.
Some might sneer and say that crabs on offer at such an astronomical price would go begging. But Shi says he has made sales - a woman asked for a pair as a gift for her daughter, and a local businessman ordered 11 pairs for “very important clients”. He will not be any more specific about his clients than that.
And golden crabs are apparently not the only choice of the well-to-do this autumn.
Moutai now is promoting a limited edition 60th anniversary wine. The asking price of a single bottle is 300,000 yuan. Again, it is the packaging that sends the price soaring - jade, gold and silk.
Whether it is because of the moon festival or the tie-in to the big national celebration, this autumn just seems to be a time for luxurious gifts.
Besides the golden crabs and the limited edition Moutai, there are also golden mooncakes, watches, pens and cigarettes.
This is despite different government agencies having released regulations to try to curb excessive packaging for festivals.
In 2005, four national ministries and commissions jointly released the Public Notice for Regulating Prices, Quality, and Packages of Mooncakes; in 2006, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine released the Mandatory National Standard for Mooncakes, setting the packaging costs of mooncakes at less than 25 per cent of the price of the product; two years later, the Ministry of Commerce issued an announcement dedicated to appropriate packaging.
The giving of mooncakes in families is an ancient part of the MidAutumn Festival. The tradition has changed in recent years, as excessively packaged mooncakes are bought as gifts for clients, superiors and government officials.
Gradually, crabs, wines, watches and other items have joined the lengthening gift list.
Professor Wang Xixin of Peking University’s law school sees a disturbing trend in this kind of gift-giving. “The luxury gifts are not expressive gifts for friendships but instrumental gifts for givers getting what they want from the recipients’ power,” he said.
The only direct way to curb the bribes behind the gifts, he said, would be to push forward the official-property-declaration system
“If there’s a clear and detailed gift policy in enterprises and governments,” Wang said, “such gifts, also the covert bribes, will disappear”.
1 comment:
Wealthy clients shell out 99,990 yuan for a golden hairy crab
He Huifeng
18 September 2009
Shi Tuanjie is not saying who, but someone has bought 11 pairs of hairy crabs from him for no less than 1,099,890 yuan (HK$1.25 million). Another customer bought one pair for 99,990 yuan.
The crabs themselves are not that expensive: they cost only a few hundred yuan a pair. It is the packaging that sets these crabs apart - the box they come in is made of gold.
And Shi, a crab culturist in Nanjing, Jiangsu, has 50 pairs for sale at that price.
So while the central government is anxiously cutting back on spending for the 60th anniversary of the People’s Republic, rich mainlanders are indulging in more than a bit of extravagance for the other special observance that week - the Mid-Autumn Festival, which is on October 3.
Shi had decorated a male hairy crab weighing 300 grams with more than 200 grams of gold, and its 200-gram female partner with 135 grams of gold, the China Youth Daily reported. Also included is a box of eight traditional crab-cracking tools made of silver.
Some might sneer and say that crabs on offer at such an astronomical price would go begging. But Shi says he has made sales - a woman asked for a pair as a gift for her daughter, and a local businessman ordered 11 pairs for “very important clients”. He will not be any more specific about his clients than that.
And golden crabs are apparently not the only choice of the well-to-do this autumn.
Moutai now is promoting a limited edition 60th anniversary wine. The asking price of a single bottle is 300,000 yuan. Again, it is the packaging that sends the price soaring - jade, gold and silk.
Whether it is because of the moon festival or the tie-in to the big national celebration, this autumn just seems to be a time for luxurious gifts.
Besides the golden crabs and the limited edition Moutai, there are also golden mooncakes, watches, pens and cigarettes.
This is despite different government agencies having released regulations to try to curb excessive packaging for festivals.
In 2005, four national ministries and commissions jointly released the Public Notice for Regulating Prices, Quality, and Packages of Mooncakes; in 2006, the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine released the Mandatory National Standard for Mooncakes, setting the packaging costs of mooncakes at less than 25 per cent of the price of the product; two years later, the Ministry of Commerce issued an announcement dedicated to appropriate packaging.
The giving of mooncakes in families is an ancient part of the MidAutumn Festival. The tradition has changed in recent years, as excessively packaged mooncakes are bought as gifts for clients, superiors and government officials.
Gradually, crabs, wines, watches and other items have joined the lengthening gift list.
Professor Wang Xixin of Peking University’s law school sees a disturbing trend in this kind of gift-giving. “The luxury gifts are not expressive gifts for friendships but instrumental gifts for givers getting what they want from the recipients’ power,” he said.
The only direct way to curb the bribes behind the gifts, he said, would be to push forward the official-property-declaration system
“If there’s a clear and detailed gift policy in enterprises and governments,” Wang said, “such gifts, also the covert bribes, will disappear”.
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