Opinion / Liu Shinan
Gorgeous mooncake boxes
By Liu Shinan (China Daily)
Updated: 2005-09-28 06:16
More than a week has passed since this year's Mid-Autumn Festival but I
am still enjoying the exquisite flavour of mooncakes. It is not that I
received too many gift boxes of the sweet, oily food. I bought the cakes
I have loved to devour since my childhood - but at discount prices.
Every year before the festival I receive a few boxes of mooncakes as
presents from friends and relatives, but seldom eat them. I give them to
other friends and relatives. To treat myself and my children, I buy
non-packaged cakes, which are much cheaper than their equivalents
ensconced in those fanciful receptacles. I often buy them after the
festival because they become at least 50 per cent cheaper the very moment
the full moon begins to wane on the 15th day of the eighth lunar month.
The mooncakes I bought before the festival, which fell on September 18,
cost 9 yuan (US$1.12) each. But a box of six of the same size and same
quality would sell for between 200 yuan (US$25) and 300 yuan (US$37),
depending on how gorgeous the box looked. That means the container,
usually made of wood or metal with satin lining, costs three or four
times what the contents do.
A mooncake's main function is to tantalize the taste buds. Is it not
strange to spend so much money on packaging? In the past, mooncakes came
in paper cartons with beautiful designs printed on them. Why should we
use more expensive materials?
Most of the cornucopia of boxes are thrown away after the mooncakes they
contained have been eaten. Last year, Chinese people spent nearly 10
billion yuan (US$1.25 billion) on mooncakes, according to an official
from the China Baked Food and Confectionery Industry Association.
He did not elaborate on the ratio of packed and non-packed mooncakes.
Let's assume it is half and half. Then about 4 billion yuan (US$500
million) ended up in dust bin, given the aforementioned ratio of packing
to content.
What a waste!
So when did we become so fascinated with the form rather than the
substance of products that we happily spent our hard-earned cash on
things of no use?
Some argue it is not a waste because nice packaging improves rapport
between friends, colleagues and relatives. My question is: Can't the
mooncake itself serve this purpose? Can we Chinese afford such a lavish
practice as spending so much on useless things? Have we suddenly become
very affluent?
Just a few days ago the World Bank revealed China's per capita wealth is
US$9,387, less than 2 per cent of that in the United States. American
visitors were surprised to see the advanced mobile phones many Chinese
are using.
I had a mobile phone made by Samsung. I liked it very much because it
functioned pretty well. Its antenna circuit was broken after I
accidentally dropped it on the ground early this year. The maintenance
personnel told me to buy a new phone, for "the model is several years old
and it is difficult to obtain spare parts." I asked why Samsung stopped
producing that model, only to be met with a scornful answer: "Who would
want that kind of model with a black and white screen?"
I had to buy a new model with a colour screen and chord ringing. It looks
attractive and the ringing sounds are wonderful. The viewing and sending
of messages, however, is intolerably slow, because colour messages take
up too much of the random access memory.
I understand young people like anything fanciful, novel and exotic. But I
do not understand why so many older people upgrade their mobiles to
models with functions they will never use.
It seems we Chinese have a tendency to pursue luxury after the "problem
of adequate food and clothing" is settled.
Home decoration is an example. Urban residents refurbish their home on
average every seven years. Wardrobes, sofas, beds and TV sets that are
still in good working order and surplus building materials are thrown
away.
According to a survey carried out by the China Interior Decoration
Association, 30 billion yuan (US$3.74 billion) worth of materials are
wasted annually after home decoration splurges. The association predicts
the nation's interior decoration market will exceed 650 billion yuan
(US$81.3 billion) this year.
That may sound pleasant for economists for it means a huge part of
domestic consumption, a major contributor to the nation's gross domestic
product growth.
Can we, however, afford economic growth accompanied by such an appalling
waste of energy and resources?
(China Daily 09/28/2005 page4)
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