"We have really cut back on all the fripperies, like lots of our friends have, " she says.

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Few expect them to pay much for such fripperies, at least at first.

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They ape their betters, he complains, splashing out on all sorts of fripperies that fail to buy them happiness.

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Meanwhile, the furniture and fripperies from China keep piling up.

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The money was supposed to be spent on bus fares, books and the like, but some recipients have frittered it away on fripperies such as make-up and mobile phones.

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They do without the fripperies of traditional Chinese hotels.

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