Last year a tea made from the Chinese kombucha mushroom that was promoted as a remedy for cancer caused four people to be hospitalized for conditions ranging from jaundice to headaches and nausea.

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Ms. Huang said Ms. Lu acted as a kind of matchmaker among Boston University's Chinese student community, helping people find roommates and make friends, Ms. Huang said.

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So while China's size will be a huge opportunity for Chinese people and the rest of the world as they consume more, it might not mean China and its customs will be copied all over the world, as has been the case for America over the past 50 years since it became so important.

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The move is seen by some Chinese economists as another step towards the renminbi becoming a major international currency, People's Daily reports.

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Even before people in the West knew such a thing as group-buying, Chinese consumers had showed up at some car dealers in groups to demand deep discounts.

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There is no doubt, though, that it will be a different world as 1.3 billion Chinese, and another 4.4 billion people who live in India and other emerging markets around the world, begin to have the same aspirations as the 1.0 billion who live in the West.

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In 1993, when I took a trip to Italy, people mistook me for Japanese, as there were very few Chinese traveling overseas then.

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Chinese wages are rising (something which we generally regard as a good thing, poor people making more money is a good thing), transport costs are rising and this changes the calculations about where is the best place to manufacture.

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Chinese people often spend as much as 8% of their annual discretionary income on a single trip, far more than people in other emerging markets, according to the Boston Consulting Group (BCG).

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That is why the billionaire Mr. Chen, who I wrote about in "What I Learned from A Chinese Billionaire, " walks the halls of hospitals giving out money to poor people as they wait in line for hours to see doctors.

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As an aside, in a previous decade I would tell American business people that Shanghai, Beijing and other Chinese cities were not irrelevant backwaters.

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