英语畅谈中国文化 50 主题 第 33 章 The Ultimate Luxury Products 顶级奢侈品A: Shanghai hosted its first trade show of luxury goods in 2005. In the 2006 show, the line of exhibits was expanded to include Chinese tea, porcelain, herbs, as well as Western cars and watches. You can see the differences between the Chinese and Western cultures from these exhibits. B: I think we need to have a second look at the definition of luxury products. Usually, luxury items only refer to high-end or high-tech Western products. Chinese luxury items, on the other hand, are related to nature in one way or the other. There was a sculpture at the 2006 show, carved out of a precious piece of mahogany, depicting Confucius with his students. It took a dozen or so master sculptors more than 80,000 hours to finish. While visitors marveled at the superb craftsmanship of the sculpture, many of them also said it wasn’t useful. They’d rather have a sports car. A: In general, Western luxury items with a price tag of over 800,000yuan, be it a sports car, a watch, or a mattress, are products with practical values. They are either processed or manufactured, using high-tech tools. They represent the perfection of an object. Chinese luxury products emphasize the convergence of man and nature and, therefore, and based on a product of nature, such as tea or liquor. Usually, Chinese luxury items are for collection by connoisseurs rather than their practical usage. The mahogany sculpture is a good example. B: The value of luxury goods goes well beyond their practical usage. From a practical point of view, we wear clothes to keep our bodies covered. If we choose brand names like Chanel, then we are indulging in luxury. From that standpoint, the Chinese items you’ve just mentioned are indeed luxury products. A: When Western merchants came to China more than 200 years ago, they brought along clocks and other manufactured products. In return, they took home tea and other agricultural products. In today’s world, a sports car is certainly more fashionable than tea or wood sculptures. Chinese culture is more inward-looking while Western culture is more out-going and ostentatious. That is why traditional Chinese objects can hardly be seen as luxurious because they are precious in their own right and there’s no need for them to be viewed as luxury items. B: No one knows what’s going to happen decades or even centuries down the road. If, some day natural resources are exhausted, a box of tea leaves could probably sell for the price of several sports cars. For someone stranded on a deserted island, an apple is more precious than a bucket of gold.
