I don't buy your definition of need and luxury, but I agree that words like 'need', 'desire', and 'want' should be defined a bit more clearly. Yeah, my use of the word 'need' is perhaps a bit vague, but these words are used in a vague sense all the time.
Let's just say that working to produce things you can't afford to buy annoys a lot of people.
I think the discussion has started off topic in that it's about materialism - consumerist-materialism, anyway - in China specifically and the discussion (that I guess I veered off into) is about the consumerist-materialist impulse in China specifically.
If you want to discuss the subject in general terms, by all means start a thread, I'll be happy to kick in my point of view.


China hands out happy city awards, Kunming sad
发布者Social cooperation is also hard-wired into the individuals of an innately social species such as ourselves, without which the individuals of our species would not have survived to pass on any genes..Rouseau's 'noble savage' never existed, both he and Hobbes were wrong.
China hands out happy city awards, Kunming sad
发布者Subjective reports of happiness mean something, but I'm not sure what.
Kunming smells part II: The good, the bad and the ugly
发布者You get used to it all after awhile, as most of Kunming's 7 million inhabitants surely have.
Government sues parents to get kids back to school
发布者@nnoble: don't follow - who or what is rotting? I can think of various candidates, but I'm not sure which one you're talking about.
Government sues parents to get kids back to school
发布者There are economic issues concerning education in China for very poor communities, which obviously need a bigger share of the economic pie than they are getting. Yet China's 'socialist market economy' is increasing the overall level of economic resources within China.
What's wrong with this picture?