China's Second-tier Cities- The Emerging Hot Spots

by Graham Thompson, Books Editor, China Briefing

For over a century it has been the ambition of foreign investors to sell to every Chinese citizen. As a 1921 US Department of Commerce report put it, “…the reason why the prospect of selling goods to China provokes queries is because even the slightest modification in the prevailing mode of life is capable of creating an enormous market…” The 1933 novel Oil for the lamps of China, a tale of foreigners aiming to put petroleum in every household’s lamp, caught the same mood.

But until the early years of the 21st century, however, this has been impossible due to China’s relative poverty, transportation and distribution inefficiencies, and local restrictions. Now this is changing. For the first time, it is becoming possible to reach consumers across the length and breadth of China who are both richer and, because of urbanization, more numerous and simpler to reach – it is easier to market to millions congregated in cities rather than out in the countryside.

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This article included in China Briefing Magazine
June 2006: China's Second-Tier Cities - The Emerging Hotspots