A Roundup Of This Weekend’s China News
Prada in Beijing
Prada Cracking China, Miuccia Takes Beijing
This weekend, Miuccia Prada was in Beijing for more than just tourism; Her company held its first runway show outside of Europe at the Central Academy of Fine Arts Museum. Attended by celebrities like Gong Li and Maggie Cheung, and featuring a performance by the Pet Shop Boys, the Prada show was the place to be this weekend. (Photos at Stylites in Beijing)
As the AFP points out, Prada is now eyeing major expansion in the China market. As Jing Daily wrote last week, the company will soon open its first location in Chongqing, indicating that its coming expansion will increasingly target cities in China’s interior. From the AFP:
Coach
Could Coach Replicate its Japanese Market Success in China?
NASDAQ looks at Coach’s long term prospects in China, where the company is in the midst of a massive expansion effort aimed mostly at the country’s burgeoning middle class. (Previously on Jing Daily) According to the article, Coach’s current strategy in many ways mirrors that of its experience in Japan in previous years, where Coach positioned itself as an “affordable luxury” brand rather than a direct competitor to Louis Vuitton or Gucci.
Icewine
Reputations At Risk As Wineries Estimate 1/3 Of All Icewine In China Is Fake
Although Chinese wineries are fighting to be taken seriously as makers of high-quality icewine (a segment dominated by Canadian vintners), the reputation of icewine in general is at risk in one of its most lucrative markets, as insiders now estimate up to one-third of this category is counterfeit in China. As the Drinks Business wrote this weekend, unscrupulous fraudsters are using techniques such as harvesting grapes early and freezing them, using bulk icewine juice that doesn’t meet regulation standards, adding sugar and food coloring to low-end sweet wine, and counterfeiting labels from well-known producers.
While counterfeiting is a problem across all wine categories in China (previously on Jing Daily), as a relatively new wine segment in China, icewine’s reputation is far shakier. Producers, quite reasonably, see this problem as critical, particularly as they have seen great success so far throughout East Asia and want to continue to expand into emerging markets like mainland China.
NYU Abu Dhabi
New York University Cleared To Open University In Shanghai
New York University’s third degree-granting university, and its second outside of the United States, has gotten the go-ahead from China’s Ministry of Education, paving the way for greater exchange and study opportunities for American and Chinese students. In a campus-wide e-mail sent Friday, NYU president John Sexton and provost David McLaughlin called the approval from the Ministry of Education an “important step towards creating a campus,” but added that a litany of challenges remain to be dealt with, not least of which is the project budget.
Until the budget is finalized, NYU’s plans for NYU Shanghai will be “based around a financial model in which the district of Pudong would pay for the construction of the campus and the cost of operating the institution will be paid for by student tuition,” according to the Washington Square News. The remainder will be covered by the government of Shanghai.