MODERN women display a higher appetite for luxury goods and property and expect to make their investments work harder compared with middle-class women, a survey has found.

Modern women in China - estimated at 17.4 million last year and likely to swell to 31.5 million in 2016 - are urban-based and aged 30 to 44. They have graduated from college and are professionally employed, according to the survey.

HSBC and MasterCard Worldwide conducted 1,736 interviews from February to May in Shanghai, Beijing and Guangzhou to identify the middle-class lifestyle and symbols of wealth and aspirations.

Fudan University was commissioned to devise questions and conduct the survey in the three cities.

Modern women display the strongest appetite for luxury goods with 85 percent having bought such items, followed by the middle class at 76 percent.

By Zhang Fengming 2007-12-8  Modern women’s insatiable appetite for sheer luxury