Never before has China’s consumption issue attracted so much attention from various countries as it has under the current gloomy economic conditions caused about by the global financial crisis. Domestically, China relies on national consumption to stimulate its own economy, which previously depended heavily on exports; Internationally, scholars in the United States alleged that China’s high savings rate was the origin of this financial crisis. Questions have been raised concerning the direction of China’s consumption trend and whether the country should shift into a high consumption gear similar to that of the United States and Europe. Beijing Review reporter Liu Xinlian interviewed Li Peilin, Director of the Institute of Sociology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China’s top think tank, for his insight into this issue. Edited excerpts follow: Never before has China’s consumption issue attracted so much attention from various countries as it has under the current gloomy economic conditions caused about by the global financial crisis. Domestically, China relies on national consumption to stimulate its own economy, which previously depended heavily on exports; Internationally, scholars in the United States alleged that China’s high savings rate was the origin of this financial crisis. Questions have been raised concerning the direction of China’s consumption trend and whether the country should shift into a high consumption gear similar to that of the United States and Europe. Beijing Review reporter Liu Xinlian interviewed Li Peilin, Director of the Institute of Sociology at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, China’s top think tank, for his insight into this issue. Edited excerpts follow: