New Yorker Sam Pryor, 16, is spending a magical six weeks in China. At the moment, he is staying with a family that lives in Hunan Province, a beautiful section of the country. For an American, the living conditions are a bit rough. There’s no running water — the family showers once a week — and no refrigeration, so leftovers are buried in the closet, where it is relatively cool. Thank heavens for the plasma television.

That’s right, his hosts have no plumbing but they do have TV, and a plasma to boot. This anomaly comes as no surprise to the president of Unity Marketing, Pamela Danziger. Ms. Danziger recently wrote a report for the Conference Board assessing the tastes and desires of luxury consumers. To get a fix on how high-end vendors might want to tailor their approach to different markets, she surveyed 1,800 wealthy buyers in seven countries: America, Britain, France, Italy, Germany, Japan, and China.

“The biggest surprise in doing the study was the similarities among all the different countries,” Ms. Danziger says. “People want pretty much the same things around the world. They want experiences and are generally not that materialistic. We’re talking mainly about baby boomers. What do they want? They do not want to buy another diamond necklace. They want to travel, to see their children, to see places and do things they’ve never done before. Except for China. China was the outlier in so many ways.”

For instance, despite drastically lower income levels, more Chinese respondents reported owning antiques, second homes, expensive jewelry, fine wines, and fur coats than those in any other country. Also, people in China reportedly are besotted with brands. In other countries, brands are viewed as merely suggesting quality, but for the Chinese the brand defines quality. Another difference is that in all countries but China, the greatest source of satisfaction and happiness derives from luxury experiences such as travel. In China, people rate owning items such as fine jewelry, fashionable clothing, and automobiles as giving them the most satisfaction.

This could be great news for companies such as Tiffany and LVMH, known for their iconic brands. As the Chinese prosper, there will no doubt be little blue boxes popping up all over Beijing; some may actually contain authentic Tiffany merchandise.

The report acknowledges that China is miles apart from the other countries surveyed, in more ways than those mentioned. China, after all, is still a developing nation. Ms. Danziger says it is not surprising that consumers there might be more interested in buying goods and services that highlight status or success.

Overall, income levels are substantially lower in China, even at the high end. The criteria were uniform across the study: Those included in the sample had to have incomes three times the per capita gross domestic product. Chinese respondents had an average income of roughly $12,000, compared to $186,800 for those in America and $123,000 in Italy, for instance. Still, those Chinese in the survey represent people with top-quartile income levels. Also, the report argues, income in China tends to be underreported.

Not surprisingly, the Chinese surveyed were considerably younger than those in other countries. This may account for the relatively low incidence of marriage. While 80% of the respondents overall were married or in long-term relationships, only 25% of the Chinese were so established. Similarly, only 50% of the Chinese own their own homes, compared with 88% in America and 82% in Britain, for instance.

China was not the only country that stood out in the survey. Investors in Japanese stocks will not be surprised to hear that the country’s consumers were described as “depressed.” Many years of being in a recession have taken a toll on the Japanese psyche, and despite many false starts, low consumer spending continues to restrain the country’s economic rebound.

More than 40% of Japan’s most affluent people described themselves as only “getting by” financially, four times the number in any of the other seven nations. In fact, the average income for the Japanese surveyed was about $119,000, just slightly below income levels for those living in Italy. Perhaps because of their rather downbeat assessment, Japanese respondents reported spending less than their counterparts in other nations, except for China. Overall spending on luxury goods (excluding autos) for the Japanese was $20,948, considerably below the average of $26,747 for all countries, including China.

In keeping with their relatively glum outlook, the Japanese were the least self-indulgent when deciding whether to buy luxury personal goods such as fashion and jewelry (and now we know why they are depressed). The Japanese respondents, 61% of whom were female, were nonetheless almost as brand-crazed as the Chinese.

What was the profile of the American high-end consumer? Prepare to be shocked. The author reports that though Americans are among the most affluent in the world and have plenty of luxury goods, they “tend to have a negative view of conspicuous consumption and luxuries such as status symbols.” Notwithstanding the global characterization of Americans as self-indulgent materialists, spending in America by high-income people is not commensurate with income. Where the Americans really stand out, though, is the pleasure they derive from searching out bargains. (Hence the proliferation and popularity of discount malls.)

On the other hand, “Italian high-end consumers, who spend most lavishly on all kinds of personal luxuries,” Ms. Danziger says, “have achieved la dolce vita.”

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