Last week, we had a company trip to ZhangJiaJie, Hunan, which is a 3rd tier city (it was an awesome trip, by the way). We stopped at a Carrefour type of department store (but NOT Carrefour) to do a bit of shopping before leaving to go back to Shanghai. First, I saw this outside the department store:

I now have an official "clash of the modern and the traditional" contrast pic that is necessary for China "old hand" credibility.

Upon entering, I of course checked out the cosmetic counters as one of our clients is a big cosmetic brand. And I saw this:

Notice the brand name “Chcedo” which sounds like “Shiseido,” the Japanese cosmetic brand. The Chinese name is a combination of a local Chinese brand “自然美” (Zirantang) and 资生堂 (Shiseido). Quite creative.

Then, I saw this:

Never heard of the brand, but the spokesperson appears to be Jiang QingQing, who used to be spokesperson for Aupres. Google search yields no results saying she is a spokesperson for this brand. Hmm...perhaps she is new to the brand?....