Chinese wine used to be poor quality, made for export, and marked-up at inflated prices. But now it's the biggest market for red wine, with Chinese people buying 1.86 billion bottles in 2013. How did Jiuxian create wine connoisseurs and become China’s largest alcohol e-tailer?

While alcohol consumption in China still looks tame by international standards, the number of people who drink has steadily increased over recent decades. Fuelled by shifting social norms, average annual consumption rose from 2.5 litres of alcohol in 1978 to 6.7 litres in 2010.

For decades, the karaoke bar dominated Chinese nightlife in both its erotic and more innocent forms. But as young megacity dwellers develop more sophisticated tastes in alcohol, music and social scenes, karaoke is taking a supporting role.

Brands from around the world are keen to appeal to China's evolving middle market. But what do Chinese people want from foreign brands, and how do they choose between them? We spoke to marketing professor Lily Dong to find out.