Thriving middle class ‘will help China become jewel in crown of global entertainment’
Guo Guangchang, chairman of investment conglomerate Fosun Group, which owns 25 per cent stake in Cirque de Soleil, predicts mainland's future will be a box-office smash
Mainland China’s thriving middle class will help the nation become the crown jewel of the global entertainment industry in the future, says chairman of the country’s largest privately owned investment conglomerate, Fosun Group.
Guo Guangchang said the company was happy to invest in that belief, too; it bought a 25 per cent stake in Canada’s Cirque du Soleil earlier this year, and will introduce a permanent show, produced by the world renowned entertainment company, in Hangzhou in 2018.
In 2017 it will also be bring to the mainland Cirque’s forthcoming touring production, Toruk – The First Flight, a live show inspired by James Cameron’s hit film, Avatar, once the North American leg of the tour is over.
“The rising incomes of Chinese thriving middle class population are certainly enough to afford to buy tickets for the shows,” Guo told a press conference on Monday.
“In the future, mainland incomes are set to increase and they will also increase the percentage of their incomes that they spend on entertainment.”
A ticket for a Cirque show in North America will normally cost about US$100 – the equivalent of nearly one 10th of the average worker’s monthly salary in Shanghai – the mainland’s most developed metropolis.