In spite of this, it became more frequently seen in the trendy parts of Shanghai and Beijing, and became popular among local Chinese, who now had more disposable income to spend than their parents, and wanted to have a flashy status symbol to show off to their friends.

FORBES: For Apple, The Best China Strategy Was Not Having One

Gold has been a status symbol ever since humans began showing off.

WSJ: In Thailand, Those Seeking A Golden Glow Rush to the Spa

Hummer, the off-road vehicle that once was a symbol of America's love for hulking trucks, is now in the hands of a Chinese heavy equipment maker.

NPR: GM Sells Hummer Brand To Chinese Company

They tear off his dusty clothes and clean his body, a symbol of their perseverance.

CNN: Baby survives as family dies in Syrian onslaught

"You can see it for yourself, " Weaver moaned to a reporter, staring Friday at all the vacant lots, overrun with weeds that are taller than he is, at all the abandoned shells of former homes, many of them still marked with the spray-painted "X" that became the grim symbol of a great American city nearly wiped off the map.

NPR: New Orleans: A Tale Of 2 Cities Since Katrina

Of course, his arguments were rounded off in another fashion typical of New Labour: using a symbol to cover up for the vacuity of the argument.

BBC: Have your say

But its decision to build a five-kilometre (three-mile) chain-link fence sealing off the centre of the old city of Quebec created an unfortunate symbol of exclusion.

ECONOMIST: A cautious yes to pan-American trade

When the North Texas Oil business took off in 1911, Electra was at the center of the boom as a symbol of American industrialization and prosperity in small town America.

FORBES: Manhattan Oil Project By Josephine Meckseper