Source: CCTV.com

09-01-2008 11:14

Here's a trivia question - how many pairs of shoes are purchased in China every year? The answer is around 2.3 billiion pairs. The figure was revealed at a press conference at the 18th International Shoe, Leather and Industrial Equipment Expo held in May. That makes China the biggest shoe market in the world - ahead of the United States which sells 2.2 billion pairs a year. Three or four decades ago, Chinese people looked for shoes that were durable and warm. Today, the standard has changed. Chinese people look for shoes that are fashionable and attractive. And shoes have attained enough fashion stature in China that some kids even collect them.

Tan Lei and his collection

Tan Lei, is a big fan of the NBA. And he loves sports shoes and collects them.

Tan said, "As you see, this is most of my collection. It's concentrated on Nike's Michael Jordan series. I've never worn those shoes and never will."

Tan was spurred to begin his collection through his love of basketball. Former Chicago Bulls' all time superstar Michael Jordan was his favourite player. Tan started collecting Jordan series shoes by Nike, when he was still in high school. After he started university, he had more money in his pocket and could buy as many shoes as he wanted.

Tan said, "It was rather hard for me to collect those shoes. Many of them were not sold on the Chinese mainland. I had to ask friends living abroad to buy them for me. Like this pair, they are the 17th in the Jordan series. I spent half a year finding them. They're beautiful. These are a copy of the shoes Michael Jordan used in his third return to NBA. That was the pair seen in Jordan's film "Space Jam". I was really poor at that time and had only 440 US dollars for living expense. The shoes would cost me 350 US dollars. So I ate instant noodles for lunch and dinner to save money and finally got the shoes. That was a rather bitter experience."