One of the buzzwords of Chinese economic growth since 2008 – the Olympics year, which is generally seen as the cut-off point between “new money” and “old money” – is “tuhao”, which translates as “tacky rich” and is used as a derogatory term for the nouveau riche.

There is a popular joke about a Buddhist monk who meets a penitent young billionaire seeking true happiness. When he explains his riches, the monk reaches out his hand. The tycoon thinks it is a gesture that he should abandon his wealth, until the monk says: “No, young tuhao, let’s be friends!”

A recent crash between a Lamborghini and a Ferrari on a Beijing underpass was seen as classic tuhao behaviour.

For the children of the new rich in China, it's hard to shake off the perception that they were born with silver chopsticks in their mouths. The gold of the Apple iPhone six and the two gold Apple Watches – each worth about $20,000 – worn by businessmanWang Sicong's husky in photographs posted by him on social media are examples of "tuhao jin" – "tacky rich gold".

However, they now account for the lion's share of the European luxury goods market. And many of the waves of tourists in Europe would also be considered tuhao.