China's rich demographic bought 27.5 percent of total worldwide luxury goods worth $9.4 billion by the end of 2009, second only to Japan, according to figures from the World Luxury Association.

The association estimated China will spend $14.6 billion in luxury items in the next five years, topping other countries throughout the world.

China has 51,000 individuals worth more than 100 million yuan ($14.6 million) and 825,000 individuals worth more than 10 million yuan ($1.46 million), according to Hurun, a research company that has tracked China's rich for 11 years. The company also calculated wealthy Beijingers spent 6.88 million yuan ($1 million) in a year.

Data has shown that the rich have directly helped hold up luxury brands in the aftermath of the global market meltdown.

"In other countries, buyers of luxury goods are mostly celebrities or business elites. But in China, ordinary salary earners are also a big purchasing power of those products," said Tong Minqiang, Vice President of Hangzhou Plaza in south China's Zhejiang Province.

However, those robust figures cannot conceal the widening gap between the rich and the poor. The vast number of migrant workers, who have produced most of the world's "made-in-China" products, were paid minimum wages of 800-2000 yuan ($117-$293) a month.

Bridging the gap has become an important task for the Chinese Government.