snaps | a $40 bottle of water ::
Wednesday, February 25th, 2009:: yesterday at the Beijing airport while waiting for my flight back to Shanghai I came across a bottle of water priced at RMB 286 (at Mogi Cafe, a French coffee shop / deli chain). The product was a limited edition co-branded effort by Evian and Jean Paul Gaultier, imported from France. Fair enough I thought – afterall, it was Jean Paul Gaultier, and the packaging / bottling was quite well done. I asked the cashier how many bottles they had sold. She said two (1/2 of the entire stock) in two weeks. I asked to whom. She said to middle-aged “外地” Chinese businessmen (i.e. Chinese businessmen not from Beijing, Shanghai, or other major first-tier Chinese cities). Remarkable. As I secretly love this kind of stuff, I nearly bought a bottle, instead though, I walked away feeling better about only paying a ridiculous RMB 25 for an orange juice. // AjS
