Affluent Chinese ditching consumerism for the simple life

In a residential apartment in the south of Beijing, Duan Yan takes out all her clothes and accessories from the wardrobe, examines them one by one, puts what she really needs back and packs the rest in a cardboard box.

The office worker, 32, has got tired of her cluttered home and is trying hard to reduce her personal possessions and cut down on shopping in pursuit of a simpler and more well ordered life.

“I used to spend thousands of yuan every month buying new clothes, shoes and handbags. But actually the joy of possessing them is short and the trouble to find room for them and maintain them is long lasting. So I decided to make a change,” said Duan.

During the past two years, Duan has sold or given away more than 100 items of clothing and numerous household goods. She also plans to get rid of a brown-colour Prada handbag that cost her more than 20,000 yuan (HK$25,000). She bought it years ago but has barely used it.

While affluent Chinese consumers have shown strong purchasing power in recent years, some middle-class urbanites like Duan are starting to pursue minimalist lifestyles and reflect on what they truly need in life.

Zhu Rui, a consumer researcher and marketing professor with Cheung Kong Graduate School of Business in Beijing, said most well-off Chinese people, who had gone through the age of “material scarcity”, were now using possessions as status symbols, to prove they were living a good life.