MCDONELL: Zhang Lan thinks that if junk food can be swept around the world using chain stores, so can her Sichuan style restaurants and she’s starting off by conquering China. What’s more, though her vision is big, she says she’s prepared to take the long view to achieve ultimate success – an attribute lacking in many businesses here.

ZHANG LAN: “Everyone wants to earn fast money but no-one pays attention to building a brand. In my lifetime, I may not earn really big money from building a brand – but the next generation will!”

MCDONELL: But she can’t be too critical of the fast money crowd as the company also has some very upmarket watering holes, like Beijing’s “Lan Bar” that are specifically designed to lighten the wallets of China’s nouveau riche.

This establishment is not for your average Chinese customer. There are drinks here that cost the same as a week’s salary for a factory worker. But these are not the clientele that this place is aimed at and it’s a measure of the affluence in this town that there is no shortage of well-heeled patrons who are more than happy to come along and fill these seats.

Many in China believe that their country is arriving at a powerful and privileged place, a place where international designers are flown in to create pleasure palaces like nowhere on earth. There’s not a lot of Communism in any of this. If you’ve got the cash in this country you can pretty much get whatever you want.

Well this isn’t bad is it! I’m sitting on a private jet flying in between Beijing and Shanghai. I’ve got my champagne and it’s pretty comfortable. Now I’m sitting her with Jean Michel Jacob from Dassault and it’s his business to sell these jets to Chinese people.

“So who are you mainly selling to? What types of people in China?”

JEAN MICHEL JACOB: “Our main customers are big corporations or private individuals owning big corporations.... bankers, real estate, mining.... and they buy these aircraft for developing their activity in China, in Asia and throughout the world”.

MCDONELL: “And how hard is it to be selling these jets at this moment in China?”

JEAN MICHEL JACOB: “It’s not that hard selling these jets today because they need them – the market is booming here, it’s booming elsewhere. They are rich. They can buy the world. They can invest everywhere and they need commodities so it’s rather easier compared to what it is in Europe or America nowadays”.

MCDONELL: In China the military controls all air space. Until recently this made it hard for private jets to operate but, as the space has been freed up, the mega rich have lined up to buy. To own one of these particular planes all you need is a spare $53 million. Then there are the running costs of around $2 million a year. The hefty price tag is not dampening sales.

JEAN MICHEL JACOB: “Three years ago we sold three aircraft and 2011, we sold 15 aircraft and we expect to sell much more in 2012”.