This time last year, Shanghai — China’s capital of fashion and luxury — was in the throes of a ruthlessly enforced Covid lockdown. The city’s glittering high-end malls and avenues lined with flagship stores stood practically empty.

去年的這個時候，中國的時尚和奢侈品之都上海正處於殘酷無情的新冠疫情封控下。光彩奪目的高端購物中心和林立著品牌旗艦店的街道幾乎空無一人。

Today it is a different story. Huge crowds on a recent weekend flocked to top retail destinations on or near Nanjing Road, the hub of glamour in China ever since the country’s first large department stores began to open there in 1917.

如今的情況大不相同。最近的一個週末，大量人流湧進南京路或附近的高級購物場所，自從中國的第一家大型百貨商店1917年在南京路開業以來，這裡就一直是中國的魅力中心。

“I splurge more extravagantly,” Sunny Zhang, 24, said as she waited in line to enter the Chanel store at Plaza 66 mall, where the corridors are lined with shops selling some of the world’s most expensive apparel. Ms. Zhang, who works for a consulting firm, used to buy six handbags a year. Now, she purchases up to five handbags a month.

「花錢更猛了，」24歲的蘇妮·張（音）說道，她正排隊等著進入上海恆隆廣場的香奈兒專賣店，這個購物中心裡儘是世界上最昂貴的服裝品牌。張女士在一家諮詢公司工作。在過去，她一年會買六個手袋。現在，她每月最多的時候買五個手袋。

“I change my handbag every day,” Ms Zhang added. “I felt that everything was meaningless during the Shanghai lockdown, so we should enjoy the present moment in time.”

「每天換著背，」張女士補充道。「上海封城的時候就覺得沒有意義，還是應該及時享樂為主。」

Many Western fashion and luxury brands have been reaping the benefits of this renewed consumer mind-set. Last month, LVMH, the world’s largest luxury goods group by sales, and the owner of brands like Louis Vuitton, Tiffany & Company and Dior, posted a 17 percent increase in first-quarter revenue from a year earlier. Fashion and leather goods — the French company’s biggest division — were up 18 percent, driven in large part by the rebound in China.

消費者重新願意花錢的心態已經令許多西方的時尚和奢侈品牌獲益。上個月，全球銷售額最大的奢侈品巨頭LVMH公布的一季度收入同比增長了17%，該集團擁有路易威登、蒂芙尼和迪奧等品牌。這家法國公司的最大部門（時裝和皮革製品）一季度收入同比增長了18%，這在很大程度上是受中國消費市場反彈的推動。

Last week, LVMH shares soared to a record high, making it the first European company to surpass $500 billion in market value. Its French rival Hermès said sales in Asia (excluding Japan) were up 23 percent in the first quarter, “driven by a very good Chinese New Year.”

上週，LVMH股價飆升至歷史新高，讓其成為首家市值超過5000億美元的歐洲公司。其法國競爭對手愛馬仕表示，一季度的亞洲銷售額（不包括日本）增長了23%，「這主要是受中國春季期間銷量很好驅動。」

And Brunello Cucinelli, purveyor of $4,000 blazers and the “quiet luxury” trend, posted a 56 percent surge in first-quarter sales. Luca Lisandroni, the Italian brand’s co-chief executive, called 2023 “a golden year” for the China market.

布魯奈羅·庫奇內利銷售4000美元的西裝外套和「低調奢華」潮流，其一季度銷售額激增了56%。這個義大利品牌的聯席首席執行官盧卡·利桑德羅尼表示，2023年對中國市場來說是個「黃金年」。

Luxury spending in China is bouncing back even faster than the country’s overall economy. Retail sales of jewelry, gold and silver soared 37.4 percent in March from a year earlier, more than three times as fast as the rebound in overall retail sales, according to China’s National Bureau of Statistics. It was by far the biggest March on record for jewelry sales in China; indeed, March was the industry’s second-highest sales month ever outside the gift-giving season before Chinese New Year.

中國奢侈品消費的反彈速度甚至快於該國的整體經濟。據中國國家統計局的數據，今年3月份珠寶、黃金和白銀的零售額同比暴增了37.4%，是整體零售額反彈速度的三倍多。今年3月的珠寶銷售額創下了中國的歷史同期記錄；實際上，今年3月的珠寶銷售額僅次於春節前的送禮季。

“We expect China to be the luxury industry’s key growth engine this year, especially given a slight deceleration in other core markets like the U.S. and Korea,” Edouard Aubin, an equity analyst at Morgan Stanley, said on a call last week.

「我們預計中國將成為今年奢侈品行業的主要增長引擎，尤其是考慮到美國和韓國等其他主要市場銷售略有放緩，」摩根士丹利股票分析師愛德華·奧賓上週在電話會議上說。

He added that big brands “at the top of the pricing pyramid” with status-symbol value like Chanel, Hermès and Louis Vuitton were outperforming rivals. Those include Gucci and Burberry, both brands that have recently had a change of designer at their helm.

他還說，香奈兒、愛馬仕和路易威登等「處於價格金字塔頂端」、具身份象徵價值的大品牌表現優於競爭對手，比如古馳和博柏利，這兩個品牌最近都換了設計師。

“Much of the initial spend driving the rebound is, for now, less to do with the middle class of China and more to do with rich people spending more,” Mr. Aubin said, noting that he expected a resurgence in middle-class spending to kick in later this year.

「目前，推動反彈的大部分早起消費與中國中產階級的關係不大，更多的是與富人消費有關，」奧賓說道，並指出，他預計中產階級的支出將在今年晚些時候重新開始。

This desire for big-name luxury in China isn’t new. For more than a decade, the country, with 1.4 billion consumers, powered the Western luxury market, contributing as much as a third of market revenue. Two-thirds of that spending took place outside mainland China, as Chinese tourists flocked to Hong Kong, Tokyo, Paris and elsewhere to avoid their country’s steep import tariffs and consumption taxes.

中國人渴望大牌奢侈品並不是新鮮事。十多年來，這個擁有14億消費者的國家一直是西方奢侈品的主要市場，為它們貢獻了多達三分之一的營收，其中三分之二的營收發生在中國大陸以外的地方，因為中國遊客為躲避國內的高額進口關稅和消費稅，湧向香港、東京、巴黎和其他地方購買奢侈品。

But then came 2020, the worst year on record for the industry, as China closed its borders in response to the pandemic. Now, after three years of relying largely on online purchases, many shoppers in China exult in being able to touch fabrics, try on handbags and sunglasses and simply share companionship with others.

但奢侈品行業在2020年遭受了有記錄以來最糟糕的一年，原因是中國為遏制新冠病毒大流行而關閉了邊境。現在，在度過了以網購為主的三年後，中國的許多購物者為能夠觸摸面料、試手袋和太陽鏡，以及與他人分享購物樂趣而感到非常高興。

In the Zhang Yuan neighborhood, where heavily restored buildings have polished wood frames and elegant stone columns, a crowd gathered and waited outside the Dior store to watch for celebrities. The onlookers did not have to wait long: Annie Yi, the famous Taiwanese singer, walked out of the store accompanied by a young woman who carried a white Dior bag big enough to hold a flat-panel television.

在上海張園，保護修繕後的石庫門建築有著打磨一新的木門框和優雅的石柱，人群聚集在迪奧店外等候名人出現。圍觀者沒等太久，台灣著名歌手伊能靜就在一名年輕女子的陪同下走出了商店，她提著一個大到可以裝下一台平板電視的白色迪奧包。

Zoe Zhou, who was at the Dior store looking for a handbag owned by a member of the K-pop band Blackpink, said she had seen a frenzy to buy luxury goods in her home city, Nanjing, with people lining up outside of stores at downtown malls.

佐伊·周（音）在迪奧店裡尋找韓國流行組合Blackpink成員用的手袋，她說，她在老家南京已看到了購買奢侈品的狂潮，人們在市中心的商店外排起了長隊。

“Now that restrictions have been lifted, there are a lot of people buying handbags,” said Ms. Zhou, who was disappointed that the bag she wanted was sold out. “You can also go abroad. The price difference between domestic and foreign countries is quite large.”

「疫情放開，買包挺多，」周女士說，她想要的包已經賣光，為此很失望。「現在可以出國，國內外價格差挺多。」

Many luxury brands have raised prices in recent months, notably in China. But traveling outside China remains far more difficult than it was before the pandemic.

近幾個月來，許多奢侈品牌紛紛提價，尤其是在中國市場。但出國旅行仍然比新冠病毒大流行前困難得多。

Airfares are higher, with a significantly reduced overseas flight schedule. As part of a national security campaign, the Chinese government has made it harder to obtain or renew passports.

現在的機票價格更高，飛往海外的航線明顯減少。中國政府加強國家安全的努力也加大了人們獲得或更換護照的難度。

As domestic destinations like the duty-free tropical island of Hainan continue to gain popularity, and retail hot spots like Chengdu and Hangzhou continue to emerge, the pivot by Chinese shoppers to buying more domestically is expected to continue. Social media posts about stock shortages and long lines have also become common.

隨著像熱帶島嶼海南島的免稅區等國內目的地繼續受歡迎，成都和杭州等零售熱門地點不斷湧現，中國購物者轉向境內消費的趨勢預計將繼續下去。社群媒體上，時常可以看到關於缺貨和排長隊的帖子。

“The domestic recovery may be well underway, but international travel is still far from pre-Covid levels, nor do we think Chinese tourists will be returning at the volumes they once did to Europe any time soon,” said Thomas Chauvet, head of luxury goods research at Citi. Short-haul destinations like Hong Kong, Macau and possibly Japan, given the weak Japanese yen, may see the return of Chinese spending sooner, he added.

「國內奢侈品消費反彈也許已在順利進行，但出國旅行仍遠未達到新冠疫情前的水平，我們認為中國遊客在短期內不會以之前的數量返回歐洲，」花旗研究奢侈品部門的負責人托馬斯·肖韋說。他還表示，短途目的地可能會更快地看到中國消費者的回歸，比如香港、澳門，考慮到日元目前疲軟，可能還有日本。

Not everyone has been coming out on top. Muted quarterly results last week from Kering, the home of Gucci and Balenciaga, reminded investors that a rising tide in China won’t necessarily lift all brands. The Paris-based group’s revenue grew 1 percent in the first three months of 2023, hampered by a slowdown in its U.S. and wholesale business, the dwindling popularity of Gucci and continuing fallout from a controversial advertising campaign published by Balenciaga at the end of last year.

並不是每個奢侈品牌的銷售都在增長。上週，古馳和巴黎世家的母公司開雲集團的季度業績表現平平，這提醒了投資者，中國奢侈品市場水漲並非一定船高。總部位於巴黎的開雲集團2023年前三個月的收入只增長了1%，原因是其在美國的業務和批發業務放緩、古馳人氣下降，以及巴黎世家去年年底發布的廣告活動引發的爭議仍在發酵。

According to Antoine Belge, an analyst at BNP Paribas Exane, “Strong brands with serious brand desirability are getting stronger.”

BNP Paribas Exane的分析師安特溫·貝尓格說，「有巨大品牌吸引力的強有力品牌正變得越來越強大。」

“Being bigger helps,” he added.

「品牌做大有幫助，」他補充道。

The same goes for luxury markets. Claudia D’Arpizio, a senior partner at the consultancy Bain, estimated that the population of middle- and high-income consumers in mainland China will double to 500 million by 2030. By then, she predicted, the country will account for around 40 percent of global luxury purchases.

奢侈品市場也如此。貝恩諮詢公司高級合伙人克勞迪婭·達爾皮齊奧估計，到2030年時，中國大陸中高收入消費者的數量將翻一番，達到5億。她預測，屆時中國人購買的奢侈品將佔到全球的40%左右。

“While African and Southeast Asian countries might be emerging luxury markets,” Ms. D’Arpizio said, “the sheer size of the China luxury market makes it unique and of great strategic importance.”

「雖然非洲和東南亞國家可能是新興的奢侈品市場，」達爾皮齊奧說，「但中國奢侈品市場的龐大規模使其獨一無二，而且在戰略上具有重要意義。」