When the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) came to power in 1949, trade with foreign countries was cut or greatly reduced due to the Korean War and subsequent sanctions, leading to the diminishing of foreign brands in China, although existing users still cherished items such as Parker pens, Singer sewing machines and numerous Swiss wristwatches, and many items still found their way to China during the Mao era in smaller quantities.
During this period forms of consumer culture altered in response to the country's political atmosphere, which emphasizes hard work and frugal living (艰苦朴素).
After the reform and opening, China underwent drastic economic changes that fueled the emergence of a large, vibrant and diverse commodity economy and the rise of consumer culture, including a growing interest in luxury brands.
Within two decades China transformed from a poor but rather economically egalitarian socialist country to a market economy in which Gini coefficients, a measure of income inequality, keep rising.
The Qianlong Emperor made a very famous comment on the issue when he spoke to an embassy led by George Macartney in 1793: "The celestial empire......has all kinds of exotic and valuable items as you have seen......We do not need to trade with you for anything.
Industrially manufactured goods like cloth flooded into China after the Opium War due to the much lower tariff rate specified in the unequal Treaty of Nanking and the following tax agreement in 1843.
[14] Sometimes there were also promotion teams wielding advertisements on the street, giving out small samples of products or merchandises like calendars, posters or diaries.
Department stores also became pioneers in employing advanced technology like elevators and air conditioning to create a modern and comfortable shopping environment.
[16] Shanghai, with its large numbers of rich or middle-class people and convenient transportation, was the most notable place in nurturing new consumption forms.
Among them four were the most prominent: Xianshi (先施), Yongan (永安), Xinxin (新新) and Daxin (大新), together they were referred to as the "Four Majors" (四大).
People began to increasingly define their own identities through consuming branded commodities, those concerns evolved into a prolonged political movement in 1930s, dedicated to establishing China as a nation state.
Actresses and female singers like Hu Die would actively endorse national goods and personally buy them to promote their popularity.
[20] Despite comprehensive efforts from various parties, the elevation of Japanese invasion in 1937 interrupted Chinese plans to promote national goods and industrial capitalism.
The best example of this kind of contradiction is embodied by the manufacturing and distribution of three major luxury items known as the "big three" (三大件): sewing machine, wristwatch and bicycle.
But as the country's industry recovers from prolonged warfare and increased state control on economy, the big three became more and more available, even in remote areas.
During the Mao Era, most markets were eliminated, and it was extremely difficult for the Chinese population to buy necessities for themselves in order to survive.
Due to the lack of regulation from the government, these markets would sell the services of wet nurses, sex workers, human organs, illegal drugs, young brides and even children.
However, after Deng Xiaoping started to make economic reforms in order to reduce famines, Chinese farmers were to privately grow and produce their own source of food, and were allowed to directly sell their products to consumers.
However, many farmers chose to hunt wildlife in order to provide for themselves and sell, and this led to the rise of wet markets in China.
These wet markets would also create damage to the environment and ecosystem as many endangered animals who were already at risk of being extinct were now being sold off for consumption.
Rising incomes as a result of the new economic reforms, that allowed for more people to purchase rare animals in these wet markets.
The consumption of these endangered animals in banquets was portrayed as a symbol of wealth and luxury, a lifestyle that was valued highly in China's new consumer culture.
Many children who are left unsupervised for a short period of time are at risk of being kidnapped and sold in these extreme markets, even if they are in their own homes.
[27] Also, due to economic changes introduced back in the end of the 1970s, the Chinese population has grown accustomed to eating large proportions of food, especially meat.
The consumption of meat was now considered in Chinese society to be a symbol of luxury, which was life that many people in China desired to have and showcase to their peers.
Meat like beef, pork, and chicken is extremely common in almost every Chinese meal today, and this results in an increasing amount of livestock to be raised for future consumption.
The burning of coal in heavy production and other human activity in China also resulted in a mass amount of sulfur dioxide gas, methane, nitrous oxide, and fluorinated gases released into the air.
The increasing amount of sulfur dioxide gas in the air has resulted in multiple cases of acid rain to occur in China.