I read an interesting article last week. The title of the article was “ Increase 3 gao women in China.” It talked about the spending power by “ 3 gao women.” in Shanghai, Beijing, or other big cities. Women who have a high education, high income, and high social standing are designated as “ 3 gao women.” Their most interesting characteristic is celibacy. According to statistics in Shanghai and Beijing, there were only 100,000 spinsters in 1990. However, in the year 2002, the number of spinsters increased 5 times more compared to the year 1990. “ 3 gao women” tend to be interested in shopping, beauty, and health. For that reason, “ 3 gao women” are targeted by businesses such as hair salon, sports center or coffee shop. In Shanghai downtown, there has been a rapid increase of women private using spas and plastic surgery. Chinese marketers assume that woman's high social standing level causes 3 gao women spending power. However the article states that woman's social status in China is still inferior. It also states that the social standing of China women was ranked 12 in the world in 1994, but last year’s rank was only 28.
This article was quite a shock for me, because in my mind China was still a conservative country in regard to attitudes to women. Personally, I don’t want to be a “ 3 gao SPNSTER", but it’s definitely a kind of change for an typical traditional Asian women…
