China: Tony Blair ended his trip to China yesterday and now people there can concentrate on the Englishman who really interests them - David Beckham. Mark Gorfery reports from Beijing
Only a small percentage of Beijing's 16 million people knew of Mr Tony Blair's visit this week.
Almost everyone knows David Beckham is coming to town shortly to play football with his new team Real Madrid.
It's understandable in a way: there's not much money to be made from Mr Blair's presence.
Beckham T-shirt, CDs, DVDs and hairstyles are all being copied, pirated, bought and sold in anticipation of his arrival.
No other personality is more bankable in Asia - western fast food outlets, drinks manufacturers and electronics makers and vendors all use his image to flog their goods.
Beckham knows his worth out here. As does Real Madrid. That's why they're here to play a side of Chinese first division and international footballers.
Whatever the result of the set-piece match in Beijing on August 2nd, the Spanish club's merchandising potential here is massive.
The publicity generated by the trip is set to make Real Madrid, and not Manchester United (as is currently the case) China's favourite soccer club.
A visit to a secondary school recently made it clear to this writer where schoolboy favour lies: David Beckham, Roy Keane and Ryan Giggs were names well known but nobody had heard of Raul Gonzalez, Real Madrid's versatile captain.
Chinese youth, increasingly affluent and positively consumerist, are big shoppers. Clothes shops and hair salons have been doing very well, feeding off the Beckham frenzy.
Young Chinese men and secondary school students are taking photos of Beckham with them when they go for the monthly "short back and sides". Only now the traditionally short and fashionless Chinese crewcut is being replaced by the high-maintenance blonde "slept-in" look preferred by Beckham this season. In some cases girlfriends and wives are opting for a new look in the style of Beckham's wife Victoria.
On Wangfujing, Beijing's wide pedestrian shopping street, the Posh 'n' Becks effect on Chinese youth culture is particularly apparent. China's younger generations, single children not even born when communist supreme leader Chairman Mao Zedong died, dress at least as fashionably as their western counterparts. And probably more so.
Beckham is a style icon and his mixture of rock star chic and sports star cool is a potent mix for China's urban youth, who shop in western and Japanese- owned chain stores like Gap, Jive, U2 and Samuel & Kevin for clothes to match the prevailing Posh 'n' Becks trend.
Huge clothes markets across the city sell cheaper wear of more questionable quality.
More careful lookers will have theirs made. A magazine with the latest photos of the most admired couple in Asia will suffice for a tailor or dressmaker to come up with the desired effect at a very affordable cost.
The arrival of Beckham and his wife is helping to spur the demand in other consumer luxuries.
Pirate CDs and DVDs sell for between five and 10 yuan in Beijing. Unlike European copies, however, the Chinese go to elaborate efforts in reproducing packaging as well as content. Thus a Beckham's Best Goals DVD looks as respectably real as the rip-off Spice Girls: Best Of CD you can buy in the same shop or from street-side vendors.
Beckham shirts and T-shirts are also selling briskly. Cheap copies abound in China.
Real Madrid shouldn't have much trouble disposing of the opposition when they play a Chinese 11 at Beijing's Workers' Stadium, but the world's most successful soccer club will have a harder time beating pirateers in the world's most populous land.
Real will undoubtedly become the most popular club but the financial reward of such a title among China's youths remains to be seen.