Addressing your later edit: > One way to think of it, if you can afford them: German luxury cars are among the best, so you buy a BMW or Merc; Italian sportsca

Addressing your later edit: > One way to think of it, if you can afford them: German luxury cars are among the best, so you buy a BMW or Merc; Italian sportscars are among the best, so you buy those; Milan and Paris fashion brands are among the best, so you buy those; likewise, US (along with UK 'Oxbridge') education is the best in the world so you go for that. Sure, but that doesn't explain the recent influx from China. Some of it's the artificial prosperity they created in the pursuit of a zero-unemployment/zero-revolt policy, but the reason it's changing is because their ship is sinking. When a given people suddenly avail themselves of BMWs or Mercs, Ferraris or Chanel bags, at astonishingly higher rates than ever before, it's not just because those items are the best available–they have been for decades–it's because there's now both the cash to fund such an appetite, and the motivation to do so.