I’m not really excited to be leaving Turkey, especially my new friends here; however, the prospect of going back to what just might be my favorite city on earth where I have the ability to communicate with people on the street is almost overwhelmingly exciting. I literally spent an hour or two last night gushing with my Chinese room mate over coffee about how good the food is in Hong Kong, and I simply have no idea how I’m going to eat everything I need to eat in such a short period. I will only be in Hong Kong for a couple of days since my main purpose of going there is just so that I can get a visa for Mainland China.
This trip to China is going to be an incredible mix of revisiting the familiar and experiencing the new as I will be seeing many of my close friends in Beijing and revisiting Xiamen where I studied abroad; however, this time, I will also be going to Shanghai and Taipei, Taiwan (provided I get a multi-entry visa for the mainland, which I should).
I’m actually quite tempted to fast for a couple days before I leave Turkey just to prepare myself for the frenzy of eating that will take place upon arrival. You can be sure that you will see pictures of Starbucks’ peppery chicken puff (Hong Kong), 辣子鸡丁– spicy chicken pieces (Xiamen), 炒面– real fried noodles (EVERYWHERE), candied plums on a stick (Beijing), 百香冰沙– passion fruit slushy (Taipei/Xiamen), and who knows what else…
Despite what I make it sound like, I am, in fact, not going back to China to eat until I look like a stereotypical American. Actually, I’m going to complete my field research for my honors thesis on branding in modern China. In essence, what I’m doing is observing the way in which companies use aesthetics, images, and other forms of product communication (advertisements, jingles etc.). As I completed the fist part of this project as a integral part of my coursework while studying abroad in Xiamen, I already have a 30-page paper worth of research to get me started. As I continue to do online research in my spare time here in Turkey, I believe that I may have narrowed my subject matter down a bit to the point that I may have a title for my thesis: “Communicating Luxury: trends in contemporary Chinese brand establishment, adjustment, communication and management”
What I plan to do, more specifically, is to examine overarching trends in business practices of both domestic (Chinese) and international (foreign) companies and the ways in which they communicate messages of luxury to Chinese consumers. It will encompass field research, which is basically shopping supplemented with marketing theory blended with other disciplines, particularly the study of urban aesthetics and postmodernism. From what I see right now, my argument can be boiled down to the thought that both Chinese and Western companies are adapting the essence of their brand, what their product/name means, in a way that conveys the concept of “luxury” to the Chinese consumer, and they are doing so in 3 key ways:
1. Exoticizing
2. Urbanizing
3. Modernizing
Companies are creating these brand messages for their products, and I intend to explore these trends, their effectiveness, and what this phenomenon means in the grander context of modern Chinese society, the Chinese economy at-large, and future expansion.
As much as I’m sure you are all as deeply fascinated by my thesis topic as I am, I’m going to save the explosion of china-related blog material until I’m actually there. For now, I’m going to continue making to most of the time I have left in Turkey and with my new friends here. Also, I am hitting the streets with a vengeance to improve my photography, so hopefully you’ll be seeing some incredible shots in the near future. Until then…
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