Consuming ‘authenticity’? Reinterpreting the ‘new middle class’ in China through the lens of retailing changes

Abstract

If gentrification is occurring globally, we must understand the uneven intervention of globalisation in the production of a (global) gentrifier class. This paper adopts a comparative perspective to investigate the ‘new middle class’ within China’s urban context. Through the critical examination of subtle retailing changes, it discusses how recent place-making strategies have fabricated the aura of ‘authenticity’ built upon the history of traditional residential neighbourhoods, attracting gentrifiers, whose consumption practices have transformed the retail space of a gentrified historic neighbourhood. Using Nanjing as a case study by employing qualitative research methods, this study shows that the Chinese new middle classes have yearned for modern and elitist lifestyles, with a preference for consuming Western-style goods to manifest their distinctive tastes and social status. This paper’s research findings propose the concept of Xiaozi consumption, a specific term that challenges Western-developed concepts of ‘consuming authenticity’ by highlighting the planetary indigeneity of gentrification in the Global South.