gerth

Mr. Gerth: Luxury brands and cars are the most obvious beneficiaries and will continue to be so.

Prof. GERTH: To compete. That after all is the heart of the consumer-driven economy in society, right?

In an extract from his new book, Karl Gerth considers the changing role of food.

How China's companies rise to that challenge would be a worthy topic for Mr. Gerth's next book.

Apparently, Sheffield Nelson also helped, by pushing it to his contact at the New York Times, Jeff Gerth.

Mr. Gerth: There will be many positives, especially from the point of view of consumers.

Mr. Gerth: The implications of Chinese consumerism are wide-ranging, interconnected, and include both the positive and the ominous.

Karl Gerth: There is, of course, no single positive or negative implication of Chinese consumerism.

Mr. Gerth, who teaches modern Chinese history at Oxford University, does not have clear answers to the questions he poses.

Karl Gerth is a professor at the University of Oxford who teaches modern Chinese history with an emphasis on consumer culture.

Mr. Gerth also investigates the darkest side of Chinese consumerism: the trafficking in human organs and the sex trade.

Professor Gerth agreed to answer questions about his book, which is published by Hill &Wang, a division of Farrar, Straus &Giroux.

Mr. Gerth: Clearly, hundreds of millions of Chinese are still desperately poor.

Mr. Gerth: It's still early; Sony wasn't built in a day.

Karl Gerth, a professor at Oxford University, tells Steve Inskeep that Chinese consumerism already is changing the world.

Karl Gerth, author of "As China Goes, So Goes the World. "

Prof. GERTH: So rather than just buying things like a house, a car - those are probably the two biggest things that people are after now.

Prof. GERTH: If that isn't the power of brands in our consciousness, I don't know what is.

Prof. GERTH: Thank you very much for having me on.

Prof. GERTH: How about Volvo? Have you heard of them?